Table of contents for November 2018 in Windows Help & Advice

Time. It’s something we never seem to have enough of – especially when it comes to getting things done on our PCs. Luckily, our lead feature (page 11) is packed with 60 tips and tricks (as well as another 40 shortcuts) to help make using your machine faster, easier and more efficient. And just think what you could do with all the time you’ll save: You could use it to get creative with your photos (page 27); thrash your enemies in the incredibly popular online game Fortnite (page 44); or even become a latter-day George Martin and set up your own home recording studio – PC-based, of course (page 46). Or you could just use it to sit back, relax and discover all the other…

Whoa, slow down... Yes, alright. The October 2018 Update is only just landing. But in reality, it’s been mostly ready for a few months, and Microsoft tends to work on two update streams at a time: what it dubs, to those in the Insider program, ‘Fast’ and ‘Skip Ahead’. So the groundwork is already being put down for the next twice-yearly update, currently codenamed 19H1. Alright, so what’s in it? Glad you asked! We don’t know. But you’re going to speculate, right? Correct. First up, if you’ve been following Discover for a few issues you’ll know that we would put money on a refined, re-thought implementation of the Sets app-tabbing feature making an appearance next year. Microsoft is also looking at changing the way it applies updates, which should help…

Tired of waiting for an app to launch – or, worse, having to switch to File Explorer’s Large Icons view – to see what one of your files contains? Want to look at more than just images, and get a preview of the contents of videos, text files, and a whole lot more? Seer is for you. It’s been designed to offer a quick preview of any file, and you can view more info, too – pull up a preview of a photo, for example, and it can tell you all the hidden information in the file, like the camera that was used to take the shot. You can also copy directly from a Seer preview, or use Seer’s control bar to (among other things) navigate through files of the…

Create and customise an alternative Start menu The menu that appears when you right-click the Start button or press [Win] + [X] – confusingly named the Quick Access Menu – contains quick shortcuts to various parts of your system, but you’re not limited by the default choices. It’s possible to customise the menu to your tastes so the shortcuts you want – whether to programs, system tools or more – are just a couple of clicks away. Download and run the free – and portable – Win+X Menu Editor tool from https://winaero.com/download.php?view.21 to add and remove tools, as well as to rearrange the menu order. Create a GodMode shortcut The GodMode shortcut is so-named because it provides one-click access to the entire Control Panel – and, given Microsoft’s slow deprecation…

Packed with informative tutorials Every issue, we guarantee to pack the magazine with great tutorials teaching you all the best things you can do with your PC. Each article features step-by-step instructions to make learning new skills fast and enjoyable. Customise Windows to work your way We all know how to do the basics but getting the most from Windows isn’t always easy. Our dedication to the operating system means you get the very best tips and tricks for all versions of Windows. Get more from your favourite websites We all have our list of favourite sites but often we miss out on great features because they’re difficult to use or hidden from sight. We’ll show you how to do more online, for a more satisfying web life. Discover new…

Your guide Mark Wyciślik-Wilson says… “Make your Internet connection secure and unlock inaccessible global websites with Windscribe” There are two primary reasons for wanting to use a VPN. The first is to increase the security of your Internet connection, and the second is to make it appear as though you are located somewhere else in the world. Both of these benefits are due to the fact that when using a VPN, your web traffic is encrypted and routed through secure servers. A VPN can make it seems as though you are browsing the web from another country by assigning you a foreign IP address – which is great if you want to access, say, the US version of Netflix or sites that are blocked in your country. Free and paid-for…

Your guide Nate Drake says… “It’s the world’s most popular videogame – and we’re going to show you how to join the fray” According to the most recent figures released by Epic Games, 3.4 million people currently playing the online videogame Fortnite. Epic Games released Fortnite as two separate games, but Battle Royale is the most talked about of the two. In Fortnite: Battle Royale, 100 players parachute from a flying bus where they glide onto an island then battle to the death. As the game progresses the map shrinks in on itself, moving players closer together, decreasing their chances of survival. In this guide you’ll discover how to get started using Fortnite as well as some excellent tips for beginners. This includes pointers on first entering the game by…

1 Add your browser After installation, TinyWall will block most applications from accessing the network by default – including your favourite web browser. Open your browser, then click ‘^’ on the Taskbar notification area, right-click the new TinyWall icon and choose ‘Whitelist by window’. Click inside the browser window, and it should now work correctly. 2 Add other apps You can repeat this process for all your other open applications, or you can choose ‘Whitelist by executable’ to manually locate a program executable. If the app is running, try ‘Whitelist by process’ to select it from a list of running programs. To whitelist it, simply highlight the program’s process name and then click Select to do so. 3 Use Autolearn Some applications use multiple processes, which can be tricky to…

You’ve tightened your router settings, but what about the devices connected to your network? The growth in smart home tech means many more wireless devices are now communicating over the Internet, so make sure these are locked down too. We’ll show you how to use strong passwords and other measures to lock down any account settings screens on page 62-63, but you should look out for firmware updates that can help close security loopholes. If you have a webcam attached to your PC make sure it’s not in a place where it could be used to spy on you. Keep an eye on the activity light – it should only be on when you’re using it. If the camera is a USB model, consider unplugging it when not in use…

Do you often stay in touch through instant messaging apps such as Skype? While they can be great fun, the bad news is that Skype, in particular, isn’t that secure. If you want true end-to-end encryption for voice, video and text-based chats (as well as secure file sharing), then you’ll need to look into using an alternative solution. The most secure we have found is Retroshare (www.retroshare.net). The only catch is that you’ll have to convince all your contacts to use it too – if this is a deal breaker, take a look at Jitsi (https://jitsi.org/), which supports a number of different messaging platforms. You can install Retroshare (choose the QT5 version when at the download page) to your PC’s main storage drive or run it as a portable application,…

When you enable two-factor authentication, logging into the account on a new device or application should trigger a prompt to confirm your identity, but some older devices and apps – including emails apps Thunderbird and Outlook – don’t work nicely with it. The good news is you don’t need to source a separate app or compromise your security – most services that offer two-factor authentication offer what’s known as one-time passwords. These are passwords you can use in place of a regular password to log into an application or device. If an app refuses to work properly even after entering the correct password, try one of these instead. If you’re a Google user, for example, go to accounts.google.com and sign in. Choose your username, then My Account. Click ‘Sign-in &…

Can you help? I’m unable to get the advanced search function working in Websitezip Viewer. Edward Cumming Make sure the feature is ticked under Options > Advanced – it should work in Windows 10 as we found with our tests. I’m unable to remove an icon – YouWall – from my desktop. All Windows methods have been exhausted. Help! Arvin Gilman The icon is actually part of the desktop wallpaper itself – verify this by clicking Start > Settings > Personalisation and trying a different wallpaper or a solid colour. Can you recommend a clutter-free text editor with minimal distractions? Sian Lewis Try FocusWriter (https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/) – there’s no Word document support, unfortunately, but it does work with RTF, TXT and ODT (LibreOffice) files. Samsung Magician no longer runs at startup…

Microsoft Authenticator ( www.microsoft.com/authenticator ) is a free app for iOS and Android that adds an extra layer of security to apps such as Office, Outlook and OneDrive – if someone tries to log into a sensitive area of your account, they’ll be asked for a code generated by the app, that only someone who has your phone (ideally you!) will be able to see. It’s a great way to prevent unauthorised access.…

1 Windows 10 Head to www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10 and click ‘Download tool now’. Once downloaded, open MediaCreationTool.exe. When prompted, select ‘Create installation media’ and follow the prompts to create either a USB flash drive or an ISO file (for burning to DVD). 2 Windows 8.1 Download the Media Creation www. .com - download/windows8 – input your language, edition of Windows 8.1 and PC architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) and then click Next. Choose to create either a USB flash drive or an ISO file and then follow the prompts to the end. 3 Windows 7 Go to www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows7 and enter your product key – choose a 32-bit or 64-bit version as required. Once downloaded, double-click the file to burn to DVD, or use the Windows USB Download Tool (https://wudt.codeplex.com) to create a USB…

1 Reboot for media you re , or have Fast Boot disabled, insert your boot media and start your PC. Look for a ‘Press any key to boot from CD or DVD’ option (even if you’ve booted from a USB flash drive) – press the key and you should find the Windows install process starts. 2 Tweak boot options If you boot back into Windows, restart your PC again, but this time press a key, such as [F11], when prompted to open a boot menu. Do so, select your boot media (choose UEFI if the option appears) to boot; otherwise, enter Setup to change the boot device order. 3 Windows 8.1/10 If Fast Boot is enabled, open Settings in Windows and navigate to ‘Update & recovery’ > Recovery, then click…

Love music, but hate listening to it using Windows Media Player or Groove Music? You re we’re giving four of the best free alternatives a whirl – you can see which one’s best on page 88. We also go hands-on with the latest flagship ZenBook Pro laptop from Asus, and its rather natty ScreenPad (page 78); find out whether Eero’s achingly expensive mesh Wi-Fi system is worth the cash (page 80); and discover whether the LIFX Beam (page 84) really can brighten up the smartest of homes. Plus: the latest in gaming headsets (page 86).…

1 MusicBee  https://getmusicbee.com/ MusicBee is simply the best free app around for managing and playing your music collection. Unlike some music apps that try to cover all forms of media, MusicBee is dedicated entirely to music, and that laser-like focus shows. MusicBee lets you import tracklists from both Windows Media Player or iTunes – and getting your tunes organised is easy, too. MusicBee labels your songs using industry-standard metadata, and does a great job of searching for missing information online. If there’s anything it doesn’t get quite right, everything can be edited manually. MusicBee is also packed with thoughtful little touches – such as its ability to display photos of the artist while their music plays, and even display song lyrics – without you having to do a thing. It’s…

Depending on when this issue reaches you, and when it eventually lands on your PC, you may already be seeing the new features of Windows 10’s October Update. Even if that is the case, some of them aren’t going to be apparent unless you look for them, so let’s break them down. Windows Defender has seen a name change (and a slight redesign) While the Sets feature, much to our chagrin, doesn’t look like it’s made the cut, Microsoft’s long-awaited File Explorer dark mode does make an appearance. It arguably brings the whole desktop together, and affects things like the Desktop’s right-click menu, open and save dialog boxes, and supporting apps from the Microsoft Store. Head to Settings > Personalisation > Colour to switch it on. MORE NEW FEATURES If…

Happy birthday, big guy! Google is 20 years old. Or maybe, depending on your definition, closer to 22. The company formally incorporated in late 1998, although the initial seeds of the search engine were planted in January 1996 when creators Larry Page and Sergey Brin created a research project (then dubbed ‘BackRub') at Stanford University. From that simple project – which concentrated on ranking pages based on the number of other pages that linked to them – grew the world’s largest search engine, which now (along with the rest of Google’s many side projects) consists of two billion lines of code, all accessible to the company’s 25,000 engineers, and an overall catalogue of somewhere in the region of 130 trillion individual pages – that’s an astonishing number. THE FUTURE FOR…

3.4 BILLION  money by US recording industry from streaming services so far in 2018 – 75 percent of the total. Digital downloads chalked up 12 percent, and physical media (including CDs and vinyl) accounted for ten percent. Most of the money made from streaming – according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) – came from subscription services including Amazon, Apple Music and Spotify. $2,899.99 Cost of Sony’s latest Aibo robot dog, which is now available for pre-order in the US, with shipping in time for Christmas. The Aibo – First Litter Edition is so named because this is the first time the ‘bot has officially gone on sale in the US; it’s previously only been available in Japan. One caveat: if you live in the State of Illinois…

Master the Timeline The latest update to Windows 10 adds a new timeline slider to Task View – press [Win] + [Tab] to open it, then scroll down. Beneath the default view of your currently opened windows you’ll find a grid-like view listing the files you’ve opened (as well as their parent apps). Click one to reopen it, or right-click for options to remove either that individual item or all entries from the same day. Use multiple desktops Task View is also where you can set up multiple virtual desktops – as many as your PC can handle – and then move program windows between them. You could set up one desktop for work, for example, and a second for all your media applications. Drag windows from here to a…

Universal keyboard shortcuts We’re not talking about the well-known shortcuts you should have mastered such as [Ctrl] + [C] (copy), [Ctrl] + [X] (cut) and [Ctrl] + [V] (paste) – instead, it’s making use of the [Alt] key. Press [Alt] and look out for underlined letters on menus – press this letter and that option will be selected (or menu opened to reveal more shortcuts). But [Alt] also works with the Ribbon – press it and you’ll see a list of keys to press to activate specific tabs or features. Take control of your touchpad or mouse Are you taking full advantage of your mouse or keypad? Try running X-Mouse Button Control (www.highrez.co.uk) to take full control of your mouse – including the middle mouse button. If you're using a…

Your guide Nate Drake says… “Tweak your Windows 10 wallpaper, icons, colours, sounds and much more to suit your taste” Windows 10 has been designed to be highly customisable. You can tweak its appearance to suit your tastes. In this guide, you’ll discover ways to choose snazzy backgrounds for your system as well new colour schemes and icons. You’ll also learn about how to change the position of the Taskbar, reconfigure your Start menu and change the default system sounds. One of the best Personalisation features involves changes the colours used for the Start menu, Taskbar and system windows. You can even choose a specific colour ‘accent’ if the default options aren’t to your taste. If you’re interested in truly personalising your Windows experience, you can also download themes from…

Your guide Mark Wyciślik-Wilson says… “Thanks to Windows Defender, securing your PC doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive” While it’s something that many people don’t like to think about too much, the threat of viruses and malware to your PC is very real. There are all manner of security programs you can buy and install to help keep your computer safe, but Windows has its own built-in tool called Windows Defender. You can use Windows Defender to keep your computer automatically protected against all of the latest virus threats as well as a range of other security issues. While this valuable protection tool keeps you safe by running in the background, there are some extra options that it is helpful to know about since they will give you more…

If you back up data to the cloud, you may be concerned about its security. All cloud providers promise to encrypt your data for privacy purposes, but what kind of encryption is provided, and where are the keys required to decrypt your data stored? If you’re at all paranoid, you will want those keys kept in your personal possession, a technique which is known as client-side encryption. Sadly, not many cloud backup providers offer this – neither Dropbox nor OneDrive do, for example. If this is a concern, you can encrypt your data locally before uploading it to the cloud – if you’re already using VeraCrypt, for example, you could simply create an encrypted volume inside your cloud folder and store all sensitive data in there. On the other hand,…

1 Check out an app's Internet needs Any app on your computer (or other device) that needs access to the Internet should make it clear what you need to do in order to open up access to it. You should start by looking into the program’s own settings to find out where you determine which ports it requires and the steps you need to follow to make it work. 2 Set static IP address If you’ve not already done so, you’ll need to set up a static IP address for the device that is running the application. In Windows 10, you should follow the guide at https://portforward.com/networking/static-ip-windows-10.htm.Make sure that you give the device an IP address which doesn’t clash with your router’s DHCP server. 3 Add new port Armed with…

1 Set up Enigmail First, you need to install the Enigmail plug-in for Thunderbird. To do that, open the Thunderbird menu and select ‘Add-ons’, then click the ‘Get Add-ons’ button. Type Enigmail into the search box, then click Install next to Enigmail. When it’s downloaded, click Restart Now to restart Thunderbird. 2 Add PGP After installing the Enigmail plug-in, go to Extensions and click Options > Enigmail. You’ll now be told you need GnuPG – click the Setup Wizard and follow the prompts, choosing ‘Install GnuPGP…’ when prompted to download and install the required components (be sure to tick Kleopatra, which is on the list). 3 Create certificate You will now be prompted to create a new key pair for each email account that you have. Enter a passphrase to…

1 Remember logins Once you have installed LastPass, browse to a website and log in using its username and password in the usual way. After logging in, LastPass will pop up a green bar offering to save the website’s credentials for you. Do so, and when you next visit the site, you’ll see a LastPass button appear in the login fields – click this to fill your details in quickly. 2 Update passwords If an existing password you use is a weak one, go to your account’s settings and look for an option to update your password. Click the small padlock button next to the password field to generate a new random password. Be sure to set the password length to longer than the default six characters – ten or…

Camera Roll A folder created by mobile cloud apps that serve as a storage point for photos taken on a mobile device’s camera. Windows.old A folder created when you upgrade or repair Windows. Files from the previous version are stored here. IMAP Stands for Internet Message Access Protocol and is a standard for email clients to retrieve email messages from a mail server without downloading (and thus removing) them. Focused Inbox A specialist view in Outlook 365 that divides Office 365 and Outlook.com inboxes into two tabs: Focused (most important messages) and Other.…

You can trust our reviews Our reviewers are 100 per cent independent, with years of experience in the world of computing. Our rigorous testing procedures mean that only genuine, high-quality products are awarded high star ratings. If you see an item of hardware bearing a high score, you can be confident that it is an excellent product. We choose the best products Thousands of new PC products are released every year and choosing between them can be an impossible task. Our experts select only the best hardware and software to feature in this magazine. Even better, our star rating system makes it simple to find the best products, giving you a fast, trustworthy guide. How we review Our expert reviewers guarantee to test every piece of hardware rigorously and thoroughly,…

Supplier www.asus.com Processor 2.9GHz Intel Core i9-8950HK Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB GDDR5 RAM 16GB DDR4 (2,400MHz) Display 15.6-inch LED-backlit 4K UHD (3,840x2,160) touchscreen Storage 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen 3 x4 SSD Connectivity 802.11ac Gigabit Wi-Fi (up to 1.7Gbps); Bluetooth 5.0; 2x USB Type-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2); 2x USB Type-A (USB 3.1 Gen 2); 1x Full-sized HDMI 1.4; 1x audio jack; 1x microSD card reader Camera VGA webcam Weight 1.88kg Size 365x241x18.9mm…

£300 | $349 www.sony.com The one thing that’s truly surprising about the new Sony WH-1000XM3 it’s that they’re entirely consistent with what Sony has released in the last two years in the form of the WH-1000XM2 and MDR-1000X. To wit, they’re a noise-cancelling pair of headphones that can beat anything Bose has with their arms tied behind their back. That’s because, while Bose has done a tremendous job working out its noise-cancellation algorithm over the years, Sony’s spent that time perfecting audio playback while simultaneously creating an adaptability algorithm that doesn’t just create a single sterile sound barrier, but multiple kinds that can adapt to the situation you’re in. That excellent combination from last year, compounded with subtle tweaks like a more comfortable pad along the bridge of the headphone,…

Windows 10’s major updates are rarely all that major – they’re small hops rather than gigantic leaps. But the October 2018 Update does bring some new visual flair to proceedings, and some apps have undergone major renovation on the way. It doesn’t feel like a whole new operating system, but that’s a good thing: waking up one day to find that Microsoft has thrown everything out would be a rather unpleasant surprise.…

1 How many floppy disks did Windows 95 originally come on? A 4 B 13 C 432 2 What was the storage capacity of all but the first Windows 95 disk? A 2.33MB B 1.44MB C 1.64MB 3 What was the special formatting used by the disks called? A Windows Installer Format B Distribution Media Format C Big Disk-o Format 4 What name did IBM originally give the floppy disk in 1973? A Type 1 Diskette B Installomatic C Floppy Tape 5 Amstrad’s ‘80s home computer used which size floppies? A 8-inch B 3.5-inch C 3-inch 6 Sony’s HiFD disks (released in 1998) could store how much data? A 1.44MB B 14.44MB C 200MB…

Save your searches The best way to search PC remains File Explorer’s search bar – use the tools on the Ribbon’s Search tab to help narrow results by file type, size and other properties. Recently used search terms remain available via the ‘Recent searches’ drop-down menu, but if you keep coming back to the same terms again and again, click ‘Save search’ to permanently store them. These searches are accessible from the Searches folder inside your user folder, but you can pin them to the Start menu for easier access (right-click a search entry to do so). Configure Quick access The ‘Quick access’ menu in File Explorer’s left-hand Navigation pane is your best friend – pin frequently accessed folders here for quick access when needed by dragging them into place…

In this month’s Explore section you’ll discover all kinds of way to doing more with your PC – from customising its look and feel (page 24); to tapping into its hidden features to bring back old favourites and discover new ones (page 39). You’ll also learn how to open closed eyes in your portrait photos using a nifty new feature in Photoshop Elements 2018 (page 27); an easy way to install Kodi on your Amazon Fire TV stick (page 42); and how to survive and thrive in Fortnite (page 44). And that’s just the start. Have fun!…

Your guide Dan Grabham says… “It’s easy to find whatever you want in Windows 10, but here are a few tips and tricks that can making finding even similar files much simpler” Not so long ago, it used to be rather hard to find files in Windows, but that’s no longer the case. In Windows 10, it’s easier than ever to find what you need and it’s much quicker, too. There are also more options for finding things, such as the integrated search bars in many system windows, as well as Cortana, Microsoft’s virtual personal assistant, which is baked into Windows 10 and is constantly getting better thanks to updates. It’s true, however, that sometimes finding the right file can be harder within Windows. especially if you have many similar…

VPN VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, a tool that can be used to make it appear as though you’re in a different country by masking your IP address. IP address Short for Internet Protocol address, this is a number that is used to identify your PC online – much like a phone number. Encryption A way to scramble data so that it cannot be easily read. Encrypted data cannot be accessed unless the correct key is used to decode it, making it a common method for securing sensitive information – and it’s what VPNs use to keep your data secure when online.…

Your guide Rob Mead-Green says… “It’s time to level-up your Amazon Fire TV’s streaming skills – here’s how to add the powerful and popular Kodi app to your setup” KKodi is one of the most popular media players around. As well as enabling you to access your own media files from a number of platforms, it’ll stream from hundreds and hundreds of sources across the world. It’s a powerful app and one that has attracted its fair share of erm, controversy, too. You can get Kodi on a wide range of platforms, and one of the best-suited is Amazon’s Fire OS, as used by Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick (commonly known as Firesticks). Both devices sit proudly at the top of our list of the best Kodi streaming…

If you’re having problems with your PC, many of them can be solved by performing a repair or reinstall of the operating system – whether you’re running Windows 7, 8.1 or 10. On page 70 we’ll show you how to set about repairing your existing Windows installation – it will leave your existing apps, files and settings in place, but can work wonders if Windows has got its knickers in a twist. Our guide to a full, destructive reinstall on page 72 is more drastic, but can sometimes be the best way to fix your PC. And on page 74 we’ll reveal some other reinstallation options for you to try.…

Supplier www.sony.com Headphone type Closed, dynamic Drivers 40mm, dome type Impedance 47 ohm (1kHz) (via headphone cable, unit on); 16 ohm (1kHz) via headphone cable, unit off) Frequency response Normal/active: 40Hz-40KHz; Bluetooth: 20Hz-20kHz (44.1kHz); 20Hz-40kHz (LDAC) Sensitivity 104.5dB/mW (1kHz) (via headphone cable, unit on), 101dB/mW (1kHz) (via headphone cable, unit off) Connectivity Bluetooth 4.2 (A2DP, AVCRP, HFP, HSP); NFC; stereo mini-jack Battery life Max. 30 hours (NC on); max. 38 Hours (NC off) Supported audio formats SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC, SCMS-T…