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Where does choosing whether to upgrade to a new operating system stand in the hierarchy of life’s great decisions? Lower than who to marry or where to live, naturally. But it feels higher – or at least more interesting – than which bank to save with, or energy company to switch to (assuming there are any left by the time you read this). I’ve always savoured the dilemma. Some decisions were easy – I didn’t ponder long before upgrading to Windows 7 and 10. Others took a while. Could Windows 8 really be that bad? Yes, I concluded, a few months after launch. Now it’s time to consider Windows 11. To me, it feels like a very strong maybe, rather than an instant yes. Please tell me if our Cover…

The world of computing has mourned the death of Sir Clive Sinclair (pictured below right), whose range of ZX devices helped to popularise home computers in the 1980s. Sinclair, who died on 16 September aged 81 following a long battle with cancer, released the ZX80 in 1980 as the UK’s first mass-market home computer for under £100. This was followed by the ZX81, but it was the launch of the iconic ZX Spectrum in 1982 (pictured) that triggered a generation’s interest in coding and playing games. It was released in eight different models over the next five years, selling five million units. Together with the Commodore 64, the Spectrum helped to establish the UK’s world-leading games industry. However, his C5 electric vehicle was an expensive flop, and in 1986 he…

DOWNLOAD YOUTUBE VIDEOS FROM PC YouTube is testing a feature that lets you download videos when browsing on your PC, though only for Premium subscribers (£11.99 a month), and only on Chrome, Edge and Opera. Premium members can already download videos when browsing on phones and tablets. The trial will end on 19 October. Visit www.youtube.com/new to try it. MORE THAN 16 MILLION NOW USE NHS APP More than 16 million people have now downloaded the NHS app, the Government has announced. Health Secretary Savid Javid said that 12 million people have started using it since the COVID Pass was added in May. He added that 265,000 people have registered to donate organs through the app, including 150,000 new registrations since May. Read more at www.snipca.com/39557, and download the app…

Amazon has also announced the Kindle Paperwhite 5 ebook reader, which adds adjustable ‘warm’ lighting (pictured) to make it more comfortable to read at night. It replaces the microUSB charging port with USB-C, and increases the screen size from 6 to 6.8 inches. The standard edition starts at £130, with 8GB storage (www.snipca.com/39554). The ‘Signature’ edition increases this to 32GB, and includes wireless charging (£180 from www.snipca.com/39555). Both are available for pre-order.…

GET CO-OP FOOD VIA AMAZON PRIME Amazon Prime members can now get next-day grocery deliveries through the Co-op. The supermarket has launched the service to Prime customers in Glasgow, before expanding to other UK cities (read more at www.snipca.com/39478). Prime members can already get deliveries from Morrisons - search for nearby stores at www.amazon.co.uk/grocery. SKIP TV ADVERTS IN SKY GO APP Sky Go viewers can now skip some TV adverts, as part of a major update to the phone and tablet app. The company says it lets you “jump right into what you want to watch, faster than before”, though it admits not every advert will be “skippable”. You can also now stream on two screens, not just one. For more new features visit www.snipca.com/39505. UK HAS 43RD FASTEST BROADBAND…

If in doubt, try right-clicking. No matter which program you’re using, opening the context menu can reveal options you were looking for – and others you didn’t know existed. Doing so in the new version of password manager KeePass brings up commands for Auto-Type. This is a clever tool that lets you automate an action based on keys you press – such as typing a username and password, then pressing Enter (KeePass explains this at www.snipca.com/39446). It means that now, when you create an action, you should right-click it to see the following options: ‘Copy Item(s)’, ‘Paste Item(s)’, ‘Duplicate Item(s)’ and ‘Select All’ (see screenshot). These options will add to KeePass’s core appeal, which is that, unlike many other password managers, it saves your passwords locally (on your computer) rather…

Who’s responsible for my lost smartwatch? LEAD CASE Q I bought a smartwatch for £19.95 from the online retailer K Smartwatch (ksmartwatch.co.uk), but returned it because the battery life was so poor. The retailer provided me with a prepaid Hermes returns label, which I used to return the smartwatch. However, the seller now says the watch hasn’t arrived, and that the tracking number I provided is incorrect. Hermes is refusing to help me, leaving me in limbo. Can you help me instead? Alistair Robertson A We’ll try, because it’s a nightmare not knowing whether you should chase the courier or retailer, particularly when they both seem to be happy to pass the buck. When returned goods go missing, it’s usually the customer who notices first because their expected refund doesn’t…

Church records are a rich source of family history information, covering baptisms, marriages and burials. They can be split into two basic categories: parish records cover members of the established church, namely the Church of England (CoE), Scotland or Wales, while records covering other denominations, from Catholics and Presbyterians to Methodists and Quakers, are grouped under the label ‘non-conformist’. Here, we’ll explain where to find the latter. Research available records Non-conformist records stretch way back to 1567, so you could easily get overwhelmed by the amount of information. To start, read a summary of English and Welsh records, which begin with the catalogue code ‘RG’, held by the National Archives (www.snipca.com/39339). A summary of Welsh records within this collection is provided by the National Library of Wales (www.snipca.com/39340). Those looking…

What’s the best free PC clean-up tool? Q Cleaner was driving me nuts so I uninstalled it. Is there a better (preferably free) alternative for performing PC clean-ups? I’m sure you’ve covered this subject before, but I can’t find it in an old issue. Neil Dunford A Like many former CCleaner users, we’ve been disappointed by the program’s decline over the past few years, though we know it still has many fans. Particularly annoying are the ads it now displays for its paid-for Pro edition, the CCleaner Browser and products from Avast (which bought CCleaner’s developer in 2017). Our favourite CCleaner alternative is BleachBit (www.bleachbit.org), an open-source program that works in much the same way, but is free to use – with no nags to upgrade to a paid-for version,…

As if its wall-to-wall TV ads weren’t bad enough, We Buy Any Car has also been barging its way into people’s inboxes without their permission. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found the firm guilty of sending nuisance emails and text messages. And we’re not just talking one or two – it sent a staggering 191 million emails and 3.6 million text messages, without first getting the necessary permission. The ICO fined the company a pathetic £200,000, which equates to about one tenth of a penny for each nuisance message. “Sports Direct and Saga received similarly puny fines for also bombarding their customers (see www.snipca.com/39481). I’m not sure who’s the real villain here – We Buy Any Car and its spam-sending chums, or the chocolate fireguard that is the ICO.”…

PHONE £949 from Amazon www.snipca.com/39451 We’ve been sceptical about the concept of foldable phones up to now, but this phone has confounded many of those expectations. Admittedly, a phone that costs just short of £1,000 remains out of reach of many. However, if you see your smartphone as one of life’s little indulgences, we think you’ll find this convenient design – which harks back to a time when phones were easier to pocket – might just be worth the money. A phone with a tall, high-quality screen that performs well and fits in your pocket This phone starts at £949 for the 128GB model, or you can double the memory for an extra £50 (www.snipca.com/39450). Folded, the phone is half the size of a regular smartphone, and you only get…

SECURITY CAMERA £180 from Google www.snipca.com/39475 While we’re on the subject of new Nest devices, Google has also launched a security camera that can be used inside or outdoors and is weather-proof rated to IP54. You can buy one unit for £180 or a twin pack for £320. Each camera comes with its own charging cable and magnetic plate for mounting. Attach the plate to a wall using screws or magnetically (depending on what you’re attaching it to) and the camera clips on and off easily. The camera is capable of recording 30fps video at 1080p resolution (1920x1080 pixels) and a reasonably wide 130-degree field of view. There’s a built-in speaker and microphone for two-way audio communication and the camera provides automatic, black-and-white night-vision recording with the help of six…

LAPTOP PRICE DROP Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 (256GB) £579 from www.snipca.com/38429 Tested Issue 601 Weighing just 1.16kg, this is an excellent lightweight laptop with a great screen and an AMD processor faster than many Intel rivals. It has two USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports and a microSD card reader. Battery lasts nearly 16 hours. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 New Intel CPUs and a taller screen make this a more powerful, all-round slim laptop. Prices start at £1,499 from www.snipca.com/36642 ANDROID TABLET PRICE DROP Lenovo Tab P11 Pro £549 from www.snipca.com/38585 Tested Issue 609 A fast tablet that comes with a magnetic stand and keyboard that means you can also use it as a laptop. It has an outstanding screen, 128GB storage and a 17-hour battery life, while its excellent…

1 Launch VLC media player and click Tools, followed by ‘Plugins and extensions’. If you’ve never installed any add-ons before, the list will be empty, as you’ll see if you click through the categories in the sidebar. Remedy this by clicking ‘Find more addons online’ 1 at the bottom. As soon as it’s updated the list, that button will disappear. 2 You can now click through the categories, or use the search box at the top if you know which add-on you want to install. The descriptions beside each one are short, but there’s rarely any need to revert to the website for a fuller explanation: click whichever add-on looks interesting, then the ‘More information…’ button 1. If you’re happy, install by clicking the Install button 2. 3 After a…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Cut your web connection with Net Disabler With regard to Mike Whitehead’s question ‘How do I disable Ethernet to stop ransomware?’ in Issue 614’s Problems Solved (page 65), another possible solution would be to use the excellent program Net Disabler by Sordum. I use it on a dual-boot Windows 7/Windows 10 PC to disable network access on the Windows 7 partition. There are four methods available for blocking your network connection. I’ve found that the ‘Disable Network Adapter’ option works best for me, so with that option pre-ticked (1 in our screenshot), you only need to click the Disable Internet button 2 to block the internet connection. To re-enable when required, just click the Enable Internet button 3. This latest version has the option to disable…

WINDOWS 11 Increase font size In Windows 11 Microsoft has moved the option for making system fonts larger. First, open Windows Settings (press Windows key+I), then click Accessibility in the sidebar on the left (1 in our screenshot below), followed by ‘Text size’ 2 in the middle. Next, move the ‘Text size’ slider until you get the size you want (you’ll see it as a percentage above the slider). When you’ve decided, click Apply. All open windows will now refresh, showing you the larger text size. To go back to the default, select the size as 100 per cent. The method in Windows 10 is similar, except that in Settings you have to click ‘Ease of Access’, then Display. WINDOWS 10 See all Alt keyboard shortcuts in File Explorer It…

You can make emails from different people appear in certain colours and fonts so they stand out. In Office 2013 and 2016, open Outlook’s View tab, then click View Settings followed by Conditional Formatting. Now click Add, give the colour-code/font rule a name, then click Font. Select a colour, style and size, and click OK (see screenshot). On the next screen click Condition, then in the From box type the email address you want to colour-code. For multiple people, separate the email addresses with a semicolon. You can apply this change across all your folders by clicking View, then Change Views, followed by ‘Apply Current View to Other Mail Folders’. Now select the relevant folders, choosing at the bottom whether to select ‘Apply view to subfolders’.…

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. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 7z Also known as 7-Zip. A free, open-source file archiver. 8K Video with a resolution of 7680x4320 pixels. ADK Assessment & Deployment Kit. Microsoft’s system for evaluating overall computer performance and automatically installing Windows on to new PCs. Administrator Someone who can make changes to a computer that will affect others who also use it. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. An alternative technology to LCD for creating flat-panel screens. Most commonly used in smartphones, tablets…

You can now sign into all your Microsoft accounts on a Windows 10 computer without typing a password. The company has extended this option to home users, having previously made it available only for businesses. It lets you access your accounts using ‘passwordless’ methods of verifying your identity. Microsoft's recommended option is to use its Authenticator app (logo pictured right), which either sends you an approval request to tap, or shows a one-time code (pictured far right) that you have to type into your account. You can also sign in using Windows Hello, which recognises your face and fingerprint, a USB security key, or a two-factor authentication (2FA) code emailed or texted to you. Microsoft says all these methods are much safer than using a password because they can’t be…

Apple may be forced to add USB-C charging ports to iPhone and iPads after the European Commission (EC) proposed a new law to create a universal charging option for devices sold in the EU. The EC said the change would reduce waste by encouraging consumers to re-use existing chargers when buying a new phone, tablet, laptop, smart speaker, digital camera, games console or headphones. Research from the EC estimates that 11,000 tonnes of waste are generated every year by people throwing away unused cables. However, Apple criticised the move, saying it would “stifle innovation”. Currently Apple uses its own Lightning port on iPhones, though some iPads do have USB-C ports (listed at www.snipca.com/39578). Having to adopt USB-C within the EU would in effect mean doing so worldwide, because Apple would…

More bus shelters, street lamps and CCTV poles could be fitted with 5G equipment in a Government-sponsored “competition” to boost coverage. The two-year project aims to “ramp up use of street furniture and public buildings” so more people can receive 5G signals. The Government is asking for ideas to make it easier and cheaper for phone networks to use such infrastructure because currently it’s difficult for firms to check whether a structure is large enough or close enough to a power source. It can also be tricky for firms to negotiate access to these structures with local authorities. When approved, they can provide 5G to busy public areas, such as shopping malls and tourist attractions. Ministers want companies and councils to jointly apply for part of the £4m fund being…

Scammer claimed he found lost cat An elderly neighbour of mine was distraught when she lost her pet cat. Her daughter told her to register the disappearance on a missing pets website, stating her phone number. A few hours later she got a call from a man who claimed to be from the RSPCA. He said he’d found the cat and asked for her bank details to pay for its return. Fortunately, my neighbour’s daughter answered the call and knew it must be a scam. I notice that the RSPCA warned about this scam in June: www.snipca.com/39437. Pamela Baxter Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

Reader Frank Davidson was hoping Dell would offer him a more powerful device after it failed to fix his faulty Inspiron 5406 laptop-tablet (pictured, see Issue 615), which he bought through Dell Outlet (www.snipca.com/39328) in May. Dell didn’t go this far, but as well as a full refund (£610) it has offered Frank 15 per cent off his next laptop purchase. Dell had initially said that Frank wasn’t entitled to a refund because his extended warranty didn’t cover software, which it claimed was causing the problems. The company was using the warranty as justification for offering to attempt another repair of the device. But Frank knew that the Consumer Rights Act entitles customers to a full refund if a device fails within six months and a repair can’t fix it.…

I think my Family Tree Maker (FTM) file is damaged. How do I go about fixing it? It’s backed up to Ancestry, but not on my PC. Alys Johns Visit FTM’s support pages (www.snipca.com/39333) for several techniques to try: compacting the file, downloading a fresh copy from Ancestry, or exporting your file as a GEDCOM to reimport as a new tree. Once you’ve regained your tree, regularly back it up by clicking File, followed by Backup. Have a genealogy question for Nick? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

Back in 2005, my work PC started making a weird grinding noise, and yet it continued to work fine. Complacently, I assumed the sound wasn’t a sign of a major problem. But a few days later something inside the case shorted and fried the motherboard and everything attached to it, including the memory and hard drive. This was long before we could back up data to online storage. Because I’d never got around to setting up a scheduled backup, all my data – work and personal – vanished in a puff of smoke. Literally. It took a week before the metallic burning smell abated. Since then, I’ve backed up continually using the Community Edition of Paragon Backup & Recovery (free from www.snipca.com/39440), an approach that saved me when ransomware attempted…

SMARTPHONE£399 from Amazon www.snipca.com/39533 One of the more worrying aspects of smartphones is their fragility. Even the most expensive phone can be rendered unusable the first time it slips through your fingers. The new Nokia XR20 aims to solve this problem with a tough exterior that can survive the odd knock or two, and does so without sacrificing its looks. “Tough as old boots, but its specs are poor for the price” The outer rim of the phone may be protected by rubber ‘bumpers’, but it still looks relatively sleek. The whole thing fits nicely in your hand, despite it being bigger than the average phone, and the textured rear offers a firm grip. The front is covered by a protective layer of Gorilla Glass Victus, and the device is…

Q I want to get a good remote control for listening to the music on my laptop, which mostly sits on a desk rather than my lap. The last one I tried came with a terrible infrared receiver, which plugs into the laptop and was hopeless at picking up the signal from the remote. Can you suggest a better one? Stephen Murchieson A The option we like the look of is the DroiX G10 (pictured). It’s actually an air mouse, so you can control the cursor on the screen if you want to, but you don’t have to use this function. It also operates as a simple remote control that lets you click through options, and has enough media controls to adjust key elements of music playback, such as volume…

PC £497 from Currys www.snipca.com/39537 Chrome OS is Google’s operating system for desktop PCs and laptops. Instead of running a wide range of programs, as Windows does, it simply runs a web browser (Chrome), through which you can access online versions of software, such as Google Docs for office work, web-based email, and any other essential software that has a web-based alternative. The upside of not having to install anything is that Chrome OS is fast and secure. The downside is that you can’t run any of your favourite Windows programs unless they’re also available online. “If Chrome OS provides all you need, this is a good choice” However, this new Chromebox from Acer can also install and run Android apps from the Google Play Store. It’s configured as a…

Issue 613’s competition to win this triband router was so popular that we’re giving you another chance to win one. Netgear’s Orbi LBR20 is a 4G LTE & Tri-Band Mesh WiFi router that works with any compatible network, including EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. Insert a nano-SIM card to get speeds up to 1.2Gbps. It connects with Orbi satellites to create a mesh Wi-Fi system throughout your home, covering up to 1,500 square feet. It has two Gigabit Ethernet ports to keep your wired devices connected. You can control and set up guest networks using Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, while parental controls let you pause or schedule device access, set online limits, view which sites have been visited online, and block sites from being visited. It comes with advanced…

1 Browse or search the catalogue at https://addons. videolan.org/browse. When you’ve found an add-on you want to install, check the listing for any minimum version requirements to make sure it will work with your version of VLC 1. You can find the version you’re running by switching back to VLC media player and pressing Shift+F1. 2 Click the large blue Download button. You’ll see a box with two options: the main download location, or a ‘mirror’, which is an exact copy of the file, stored on a second server. We’d recommend clicking the first, labelled simply Download 1. 3 When the download has finished, open a new File Explorer window and click Downloads in the ‘Quick access’ section of the sidebar. Right-click the file you’ve just downloaded (it will end…

CHROME Force websites to use secure connections Chrome has now switched from a six-week release schedule to a four-week one, so version 94 of the browser is already upon us (we covered Chrome 93 in Issue 615’s Best Free Software). The most notable new feature ensures that you always browse securely by automatically upgrading websites to their encrypted HTTPS connections. When that isn’t possible because a site only uses unencrypted HTTP, Chrome will stop it loading and display a warning (see screenshoot 1 below), leaving you to decide whether you want to continue to the site or go back. This HTTPS-only option (which has long been available in Firefox and Brave) is disabled by default, but it’s easy to turn it on (and off again, if it starts to annoy…

Collaborate with members on Google Maps Most people use Google Maps for directions, but it’s also a great tool for creating your own route maps, which you can then share and collaborate on with others. Anyone you allow to edit your map can replace anything you’ve added - so make sure you give this power only to people you trust. Choose a map style In our example, a walking club is planning a week-long hike around the Cotswolds. Some of the members have been there before but most haven’t. To prepare for the trip, we’ll create a basic map of walking routes, then ask our more experienced members to add to it. To create a collaborative map, first sign into your Google Account. Next, go to Google Maps (www.google.co.uk/maps) and…

Subscribe to computer active today and save on the single issue price. Each issue of Computeractive will be delivered directly to your device each fortnight. SEE NEXT PAGE FOR SET-UP INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO SUBSCRIBE … on an iPad or iPhone STEP 1 Return to the Computeractive library STEP 2 Choose your subscription term and tap twice on the 'price' box STEP 3 Choose whether to create an optional PixelMags account STEP 4 Enter your Apple ID password to confirm … on a Kindle Fire Kindle Fire subscriptions corne with a FREE one month trial. STEP 1 Tap 'Free Trial Subscription' in the Computeractive library STEP 2 Chose your subscription term from the drop down menu on the popup that appears STEP 3 Tap 'Subscribe' … on an Android device STEP…

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT Can I enlarge Peek on my desktop? Q I was interested to learn in Issue 610 that a Windows tool I often use is called the Peek bar. Is there a way I can make this bigger? When displaying my desktop in Teams meetings, I often need to return to the desktop to access other folders, but the red Teams display window covers this Peek bar, so trying to click it can be rather hit and miss. Can you advise? Ian Henderson A Strictly speaking, this mere sliver of a button is called ‘Show desktop’, not Peek. However, hovering the mouse pointer over it activates a feature called Peek, so many people, including us here at Computeractive, simply call it that. Naming aside, although many users…

The tech industry has a history of pushing innovations that the public isn’t ready for, and we wonder whether passwordless log-ins will be next. Few of us relish the challenge of remembering passwords – juggling letters, numbers and upside-down pound signs – but 2FA infuriates many people. You often tell us that you resent having to reach for your phone when signing in. It’s such an annoyance that in our next issue (out Weds 20 October) we’ll explain ways to make it easier – or avoid it completely.…

OPENREACH’S AIR WAND BREAKS NEW GROUND Openreach is using machinery known as the ‘Air Wand’ (pictured) that uses compressed air or high-pressure water to make holes in the ground for engineers to install telegraph poles. It’s being tested in Derry/Londonderry, as a way of speeding up the rollout of FTTP broadband. Watch Openreach’s video at www.snipca.com/39543. APPLE INCREASES iPAD MINI SCREEN SIZE Apple has released a new version of the iPad mini, its smallest tablet, increasing the screen from 7.9in to 8.3in. It works with 5G for the first time, and comes in four colours: Purple, Pink, Space Gray and Starlight. It’s available to buy now from www.apple.com/ipad-mini, with prices starting at £479 for 64GB. We’ll review it in our next issue.…

Police have warned hundreds of thousands of people not to use illegal streaming services to watch Sky TV, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video for free. It comes as West Midlands police announce they’ve shut down a major illegal streaming network that was providing cheap access to more than 100 paid-for TV services from around the world. After disabling the network, the police delivered on-screen messages to viewers warning them they were breaking the law. Officers worked with the anti-piracy organisation FACT to investigate the illegal operation. They arrested two men, aged 53 and 35, and a 40-year-old woman on suspicion of copyright infringement, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Kieron Sharp, head of FACT, said: “Users and subscribers of illegal services should be aware that not only are they committing…

Google’s parent company Alphabet is now testing internet speeds of 20Gbps by sending signals in pulses of light, rather than through fibre-optic cables. Called Project Taara (https://x.company/taara), the trial connects Brazzaville and Kinshasa in Africa across the Congo river. The cities, capitals of the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo respectively, are only 4.8 kilometres apart, yet connectivity is five times more expensive in Kinshasa because broadband cables have to travel over 400kms around the river. Taara aims to solve this problem by sending lasers between two terminals that have a clear line of sight. Its engineers say the signals can be transmitted reliably over 20 kilometres, which is much further than has been possible before. Typically, signals sent over this distance can be weakened…

What’s the threat? Impersonation scams – calls, emails and texts – doubled in the first half of 2021, according to UK Finance. Research from the trade body shows that between January and June cases rose from just under 15,000 to 33,115, while the amount of money stolen increased from £57.9m to £129.4m. In these scams, fraudsters pretend to be from a trusted organisation such as a bank, the police, a Government department or a service provider. They use a range of stories to trick you into handing over your bank details, including the need to protect your account from fraud, to pay a fine, or to enable you to receive a tax refund. How can you stay safe? One way you can protect yourself is simply by being less polite…

My 18-month-old BenQ GL2780 PC monitor (pictured right) started failing in July this year. I replaced the HDMI cable, but it still failed for long periods of time. I tried using the TV as a monitor and all worked fine, so I concluded that the monitor was faulty. I sent an email via BenQ’s site outlining the problem. Within a couple of hours I had the offer of a replacement monitor from their repair agents Equinox Maintenance (www.equinox.co.uk), based in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. This arrived the next day by DHL who also picked up the faulty monitor. As I hadn’t realised my guarantee was for three years, and dreading having to return the monitor without knowing if the guarantee would be honoured, I thought this was a fantastic service. Richard Avery…

NETWORK MONITOR GlassWire 2.3.343 www.glasswire.com What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 GlassWire is a fantastic program, but slightly frustrating because it lets you try all its tools for free for seven days, then charges you £29 (for its Basic plan) to keep using some of them. Happily, its permanently free version includes its best feature, which monitors network activity on your PC and tells you which programs are connecting to the internet in the background. The latest update to GlassWire improves its alerts system for the suspicious activity it detects. One of the most common complaints about GlassWire is that it bothers you with unnecessary notifications, in the form of pop-ups above your system tray, for activity that need not worry you. Version 2.3.343 fixes this problem by…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: Opera The three-word tagline in the Google search results for the Opera web browser reads ‘Faster, safer, smarter’. It seems they’ve missed a word off, though: sneakier. Opera was once the plucky, ethical underdog of the browser market. Now, not so much. I installed Opera on my Windows 10 machine recently. I clicked through the innocuous-looking installer then, just as the installation had finished, I saw the Windows Settings menu flash up for the briefest of moments before disappearing again. You might call it the Phantom of the Opera. What Opera had surreptitiously done was set itself as my default web browser. It’s fair enough that a browser might lob a pop-up in your face to check if you want to make it the default…

What does it do? All batteries have a power rating, measured in milliamp hours (mAh). It’s a useful specification for comparing phone batteries. However, it won’t necessarily tell you how long a battery will last in any given device, because each device requires a specific amount of power, depending on factors like their processor’s speed and screen’s resolution. You can’t therefore assume that a battery with a high mAh will last longer than one with less. How does it work? mAh is a measure of capacity. Phone-battery capacity typically numbers in the thousands, such as the 2,800mAh Samsung battery (pictured right). This means it could run a phone that draws at a rate of 100 milliamps (mA) for 28 hours. What are the specs? The average phone battery is around…

SMART DOORBELL £180 from Google www.snipca.com/39474 Google’s latest Nest Doorbell works as both a video camera and a doorbell. The camera captures 30fps video at a resolution of 960x1280 pixels, with a 145-degree field of view. The device sends you alerts when people approach your door and when someone presses the button. The one thing it won’t do is go ‘ding dong’ because it doesn’t come with its own chime unit. However, you can wire it to an existing unit or make it ‘ring’ on any Nest smart speakers you may have. There are plenty of installation options. You can either wire it to your existing doorbell wiring, have it professionally installed if you don’t have wiring in place, drill a hole and feed a supplied cable to an existing…

What is it? Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 8 (pictured) has launched with a screen that has a refresh rate of 120Hz. Most tablet screens have a refresh rate of 60Hz, meaning the screen is updated 60 times per second. What does it do? By increasing a touchscreen to 120Hz, everything feels much smoother, from scrolling to animations. Apple and Samsung’s top-end tablets already offer this refresh rate, but this is the first 120Hz tablet that runs Windows. What’s the catch? A 120Hz screen needs the graphics power to ensure that the screen’s ability to update can be fulfilled by the rest of the hardware. It also requires more power, so may drain the battery faster. The Surface Pro 8 seems to have these bases covered. So can I do without…

What you need: VLC media player Time required: One hour VLC media player is one of the best audio and video playback programs on any operating system. It can handle all common video and music formats – including DVDs – works with subtitles, and is free, with no surprise fees. Indeed, unless you’re committed to an alternative, we’d recommend giving it a go: you’ve nothing to lose. The default version of VLC is packed with features. Its developers could have added more, but this would have consumed time and resources better spent improving the program. Instead, they designed it in such a way that third-party developers could add their own features, which appear within VLC’s menus. Many of these are organised in the VideoLAN Add-ons catalogue. Visit addons.videolan.org/browse then click…

iOS Block distractions with new Focus mode Although iOS 15, which was released on 20 September, isn’t a radical overhaul of Apple’s mobile operating system, it does offer some great new features. Our favourite is Focus mode. This expands on your iPhone’s Do Not Disturb option to block specific distractions depending on what you’re currently doing and when. For example, if you’re working on a joint project, you can set your phone to accept messages only from colleagues and block notifications from apps that have nothing to do with your work. Alternatively, when you’re relaxing at home, you can set Focus to silence calls and notifications from everyone except close friends and family members. When you launch Focus — you can access it from Control Centre or manage it from…

MICROSOFT WORD Add Venn diagrams to documents You can use the SmartArt tool in Word to add Venn diagrams to your document. To access this tool, click the Insert tab, then SmartArt. Now click Relationship on the left to see diagrams that represent relationships to each other, including cog icons and pie charts. Scroll down and you’ll see Venn diagrams at the bottom right, such as the Basic Venn (which we chose). Double-click the diagram you want and it’ll appear in a new document. Click the ‘Text’ headings inside each circle and type your own. Now you need to draw a text box where the circles overlap, so click Insert, select Text Box, then Draw Text Box. Click and drag your mouse cursor over an area to draw the box,…

What is it? It’s the end of the web as we know it. That’s according to scientists at the University of California, who warn that a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the Sun could disable undersea fibre-optic cables that connect countries to the internet. It could be severe enough to keep millions of people offline for months. Wait – what’s a Coronal Mass Ejection? It’s a huge expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s corona, its outermost layer, equal to the power of 20 million nuclear bombs. When this hits the Earth, it can interfere with our own magnetic field, producing Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs) through metal structures such as electric lines and railway tracks. This burst of power can short the systems, causing mass disruption. How often…

Can I search for symbols? Q Issue 614’s Workshop (page 38) on inserting special characters was excellent, but it didn’t say how to search fonts for the symbol I want. It took me ages to find a paperclip, for example. Is there a way to search a font for a particular symbol? Can I be sure all my company colleagues who use Outlook email will see the symbols I insert? Thanks for one of the few magazines I wait for impatiently. John van Someren A We’ll answer in reverse, because there’s never any guarantee that fancy symbols typed into the body of an email message will make it through to the recipient. Common ones generally will, but once you get into the long grass, as it were, there are so…