Table of contents for 540 in Computeractive

As my better half will vouch for, I love putting things off. I try to postpone them for the day after tomorrow, which is just long enough for me to accept that whatever it is I have to do isn’t going to get done by anybody else. I’m stricter with my PC, though. At the end of every day I devote 10 minutes to removing junk, in whatever form I find it, from small 70KB screenshots to chunky 70MB programs. It took a while, but this practice now feels as routine as cleaning my teeth. I credit it with keeping my PC lean and fast. It helps that, over time, I’ve become more confident about what’s safe to remove, and how best to blitz it. Much of this knowledge you’ll…

Forgotten passwords have been blamed for UK customers leaving nearly three billion pounds untouched in savings accounts. A survey of 4,000 customers from the National Savings and Investments (NS&I) shows an estimated seven million people have lost track of money in savings accounts or pensions. Half of those said they couldn’t remember the passwords needed to log in. One problem the research found is customers needing to recall numerous passwords for multiple accounts. However, 78 per cent of people believe digital technology has made it easier to manage their financial products. This figure rises to 89 per cent of 16-24 year olds, but falls to 69 per cent of those aged over 65. The research also shows that of those who believe they’ve lost savings, 34 per cent are unaware…

MPs have branded the government’s response to a parliamentary inquiry into fake news as a “missed opportunity”, with ministers accepting just three of 42 recommendations. Several proposals, including changing the rules on political campaigning to limit individual donations and a levy on tech firms to fund digital literacy, were rejected. A slew of others, including a call on the Electoral Commission to devise a social media code of practice during election periods, were ignored. “The government’s response to our interim report on disinformation and ‘fake news’ is disappointing and a missed opportunity,” said Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee chair Damian Collins MP. “We need to see a more coordinated approach across government to combat campaigns of disinformation organised by Russian agencies seeking to disrupt and undermine our…

Chrome 70 www.google.co.uk/chrome If you feel uneasy about allowing a web extension to “access data on all websites”, you’re in good company. Google shares your concern, and has added options in the latest version of Chrome (version 70) to restrict which websites an extension has ‘permissions’ for. Extensions need certain permissions to work - a password manager, for example, needs to know which site you’re visiting in order to fill in your login details. But some extensions will seek approval for sites they don’t need to work on. Whether intentionally or not, they could end up taking your data. In Chrome, right-click an extension’s icon in your browser bar, then hover your cursor over “this can read and change site data” to see three options (see screenshot). The most secure…

I had to chuckle reading Ben Crossley’s letter in Issue 538, in which he thanks Microsoft for bringing back Skype 7. Just five minutes earlier I had read online that Microsoft had decided to scrap Skype 7 on 1 November (confirmed in Computeractive in Issue 539, page 8). I feel sorry for people like Ben who have dedicated time and effort into getting familiar with a program, only to have it all yanked away by software developers whose motto is ‘change for change’s sake’. Myself, I got fed up with endless tweaks to Skype a while back, and tried using WhatsApp and FaceTime instead. I liked both, and continue to use both. More people should be encouraged to try them. Terence Goode CA SAYS We agree, which is why we…

Just as you wouldn’t expect your lawyer to be an expert on root-canal treatment, it would be a surprise if your dentist started quoting paragraphs of the Consumer Rights Act (CRA) to you. It’s why Chris Dawson, Operational Lead for NHS Dental Services, got in touch with us to say that unhappy patients should contact the NHS with a complaint if they have no luck explaining their rights to their dentist. He was referring to the case of Tony McCall’s ill-fitting dentures (see Issue 539). Tony got an apology and refund (£256) from his dentist, who perhaps has a good knowledge of the CRA. But if your dentist won’t refund you, or offer further free treatment, Mr Dawson said you should complain to NHS England and Wales (www.snipca.com/29365) or your…

My great-grandfather died at the London Hospital in May 1905. How can I find out where he was buried? The hospital only has details of his death, not his burial. Graham Arnold Perhaps the hospital contracted someone local for the burial, so start your search in London’s cemeteries. Also check Ancestry’s probate records – if he left a will, it will be recorded there with potential clues to location (did he survive a spouse and ask to be buried with her, for example?). Use this info when searching online burial records, including Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com) and Deceased Online (www.deceasedonline.com). Have a genealogy question for Nick? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

I use a lot of browsers. Perhaps too many. Even Microsoft Edge gets the occasional run out, primarily for its fantastic Reading view that makes articles blighted by adverts, pop-ups and other annoyances much easier to read (Chrome take note!). But since it’s launch 10 years ago, Chrome has been the one I use most often. While it’s lost some of its stripped-down charm and become more bloated over the years (I know the feeling), it offers better features than other browsers, and the kind of hidden tools I love exploring. Like any good program, Chrome comes with a selection of time-saving shortcut keys. Always keen to avoid reaching for the mouse, I will happily cycle through Chrome tabs using Ctrl+Tab. But the shortcut I couldn’t do without is Ctrl+Shift+T,…

What does it do? From a San Francisco startup that bought the rights to the Palm brand, famous in the 1990s for its handheld computers, the new Palm (www.snipca.com/29464, pictured) is a tiny 3.5in Android phone. Available in silver or gold, it feels as much like a scaled-up Apple Watch as a scaled-down phone. There’s a decent camera on the back, as well as one on the front for selfies and video chat, and it’s IP68 waterproof. Why would I want it? Described as a ‘companion device’, the Palm is an alternative to taking your full-size smartphone when you go out to socialise or exercise – the latter facilitated by an accessory that straps it to your arm. But isn’t there already an accessory that people often strap to their…

What’s the best monitor for photo editing? Q I want to upgrade my partner’s PC monitor for Christmas. She’s into photography and currently has a BenQ G2420HD. What would you suggest? Keith Gladwell A Your priority will be a screen that covers the full sRGB colour gamut, give or take a few per cent, with a low Delta E, indicating high accuracy. BenQ’s PD2500Q Designer Monitor (£255 from Amazon www.snipca.com/29435, pictured) promises full sRGB and, for video Rec 709, though you’d need to spend more for wider colour spaces like Adobe RGB or DCI-P3. With a heightadjustable, pivotable stand, it’s bigger than the G2420HD and has a higher 2560x1440 resolution. AOC’s Q3279VWFD8 (£200 from CCL www.snipca.com/29437) shares this resolution at a huge 31.5in. Although it doesn’t quite cover sRGB, a…

Digital assistants are easy to rank by how likely they are to meaningfully answer a question: Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri, Cortana, a house brick, then Bixby. This isn’t the whole story, though. Google Assistant and Alexa are available in apps for Android and iOS, although opening the app wastes time. Siri only exists on Apple devices, Cortana on Windows, and Bixby in Samsung devices. Google’s Home speakers and Apple’s HomePod (pictured) contain their assistants just as Echo does Alexa. There’s no equivalent for Cortana, while a Samsung Galaxy Home speaker is coming soon. The biggest difference is in the ability to add custom features, led by Alexa’s ‘skills’. Google’s ‘actions’ are more limited, though both work with a wide range of home-automation gadgets, as do Cortana and Siri. Overall, Google…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2017 Back Issue CD: £15 from www.snipca.com/26848 LAPTOP HP Envy 13 £849 from www.snipca.com/29285 Tested Issue 539 The combination of an eighthgeneration quad-core i5 chip and MX 150 graphics makes this an excellent all-round laptop, let down only by the poor colour reproduction of its Full HD touchscreen. Seven-hour battery life is adequate, and it’s nicely made. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 This premium laptop starts at £1,200, but the best deal is with the brand new quad-core i7-8550 and QHD touchscreen. £1,349 from www.snipca.com/26796 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 9.7 £470 from www.snipca.com/27058 Tested Issue 501 Samsung’s new mid-sized tablet has a wonderful HDR screen and comes with a pen, unlike Apple’s iPad Pro. But its processor isn’t the…

What you need: Google Chrome; Remote Desktop extension Time required: 60 minutes Tablets, smartphones and laptops are the perfect travelling companions, giving mobile access to email, journey-planning apps and documents stored online. Best of all perhaps, you can use them to access your home PC from anywhere. In this issue, we’ll show you how Google’s free Chrome Remote Desktop extension lets you connect to your PC remotely, from anywhere in the world. You’ll have access to your files and use software you’ve downloaded. If you’re visiting friends and family this Christmas, setting up remote access before you leave home will let you check that it’s working well in advance. Even if you aren’t leaving home, we’d urge you to follow our instructions. As well as giving you access to your…

Irecently experienced a few problems with Internet Explorer on my Windows 10 PC, which included losing a number of menu options. After the usual troubleshooting methods – such as killing the browser’s background process, rebooting my PC, and so on – failed to fix them, I decided to reset the browser to its default settings. Microsoft describes how to reset Internet Explorer at www.snipca.com/29465. Unfortunately, all the options in my Tools menu were greyed-out, which meant I couldn’t use this method. After researching online, I came across an old Command Prompt solution to reset Internet Explorer 9 on a Windows 7 PC. I’m happy to report that this method works with Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10. It was the only method that restored my browser to its original condition…

ANDROID & iOS Share your location and find car-charging stations near you Google Maps has recently been updated with a few useful new features. These were introduced on the Android app (www.snipca.com/29478) earlier this year, but the iOS app (www.snipca.com/29479). You can now share your current location, route and estimated time of arrival when you’re travelling to meet someone. And for the first time users can share their current location using third-party messenger apps, including WhatsApp Messenger and Facebook Messenger. Moreover, if you drive an electric vehicle you can now locate charging stations anywhere in the UK. To share your travel progress, tap the three-line menu icon inside the search field at the top left of the app, then ‘Location sharing’, followed by Get Started. You can choose how long…

WINDOWS 10 Respond to Windows’ confirmation prompts quicker Windows displays pop-up boxes prompting you to confirm certain actions. For example, if you delete a file, Windows will ask you to confirm this with Yes and No options. If you struggle to operate your trackpad or mouse, to save time you can make your cursor automatically go to the default option of your choice (Yes, for most occasions) when these pop-up windows appear. To set this up, open Settings, click Devices, Mouse on the left, then click the ‘Additional mouse options’ link. In the window that opens, click the Pointer Options tab, tick ‘Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialogue box’ (see screenshot below), click Apply, then OK. Now, whenever a confirmation prompt opens, your cursor will be…

What is it? The new name for 802.11ax Wi-Fi. Er, OK. But what’s that? The old name for Wi-Fi 6! But seriously, it’s the latest Wi-Fi standard, four times faster than its predecessor 802.11ac. Better still, in a rare outbreak of common sense among tech experts, it has a name people can actually understand. In fact, previous standards have also been renamed. And they make sense too? Amazingly, yes. So 802.11ac (released in 2013) is now called Wi-Fi 5, while 802.11n (2009) is Wi-Fi 4, though it stops there. So there’s no Wi-Fi 3? Not officially, because it’s no longer widely used. But counting back it would be 802.11g (2003), with Wi-Fi 2 (1999) being 802.11a and Wi-Fi 1 being 802.11b (ditto). Got all that? Think so. Who’s made these…

Most junk programs disappear when you uninstall them, but the dodgy ones can leave malware. This could be anything from software that tracks your PC usage to target adverts at you, to a keylogger that detects each key press you make, stealing passwords and other data. If you have up-to-date security software, this malware should be detected, but if you’re concerned some has slipped through or just want a second opinion, it’s worth running the excellent Malwarebytes tool (www.snipca.com/29446). The free version is designed to sit alongside your existing security software. Unlike the paid-for version (£29.99 per year), you’ll need to run scans manually, but this means it won’t conflict with your existing security software. Simply run the program, then click Scan Now.…

The lengths some websites go to in an effort to install junk on your computer is quite astonishing. And we’re not just talking about criminal websites. Visit popular websites such as Download.com, MajorGeeks.com and countless other download mirror sites, and you’ll drown in fake ‘Download Now’ buttons. Click one of these and you could end up downloading software you don’t want or – even worse – a virus. Ironically, you’ll even find these fake download buttons on web pages for PC-optimisation programs that are designed to clean junk. To further confuse you, the download link you actually need is often purposely hidden away to the side (see screenshot). Even tech-savvy uses are likely to accidentally click one of these fake links. We know, because we’ve done it, and it’s infuriating.…

When Microsoft acquired Skype in 2003, it seemed like a no-brainer. The service was already a massive success – surely, under Microsoft’s guardianship, it could only continue going from strength to strength? But time hasn’t been kind to this once-brilliant service and, while Microsoft hasn’t provided any figures that would suggest a decline in users, there’s no escaping the feeling that, in its current incarnation, Skype is a pale shadow of its former self. What went wrong? A big part of the problem is that Skype has struggled to maintain relevance in the smartphone age. Back in its glory days, competition was scarce. But since then, lots of other online communication tools have sprung up (see page 63), many of which offer a simpler, more modern take on Skype’s core…

Q Can you advise me how my laptop can connect to my Wi-Fi when I’m in the shed at the bottom of my garden? Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi signal reaches only about threequarters of the way. I have tried Googling for answers but I’ve only become more confused. Any help would be appreciated. Incidentally, there’s no mains electricity in the shed. Diane Pole A Without power to your shed your options are a tad limited, at least for Wi-Fi – but we’ll come back to that. First, though, have you considered running an Ethernet cable from your router to the shed? Almost all routers have one or more spare Ethernet ports for creating wired connections to a computer, so take a look at yours to see what’s what. The cable would…

Q I’ve read many Computeractive articles relating to editing the Windows registry. However, I cannot recall any explanation as to where the various key and value names come from. For example, where did the LongPathsEnabled value come from? Is there a dictionary somewhere of the words or phrases used, or are they just made up to reflect their effects? I have no problem with editing the registry by following these instructions, but I’m just curious about all this stuff. Brian Harding A Do you really want to go down this rabbit hole? Because that’s a good analogy for the registry: it’s a complex, organic structure in which it’s easy to get lost. The registry is a hierarchical (layered) database, and any one example might contain tens or even hundreds of…

Q I was rummaging through Windows 10’s settings recently when I spotted a bunch of old devices in the AutoPlay category, under Devices. I’ve not connected to these in months or years, and will not do so again. For example, there’s an old Android tablet that I’ve since sold! I don’t think these are a security risk as such, because this is a desktop PC that only I use, but I have no idea why they’d still be listed here, and I couldn’t see any way to delete them. Could you advise? Martin Smith A They’re still listed because Windows knows that you once connected them, and deigns never to forget. The intention is to be helpful, by remembering what you did (or did not) ask AutoPlay to do when…

1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 1920x1080 pixels. 32bit/64bit A measure of how much information a computer can process at once. Most older computers are 32bit, more modern ones are 64bit. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 802.11ac A standard for wireless networks that allows for much higher transfer speeds than 802.11n Adobe RGB A colour space with a larger range than the more widely used sRGB alternative. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. An alternative technology to LCD for creating flat-panel screens. Aspect ratio A measurement of the shape of a display. Traditional PC screens are 4:3. Widescreen displays are 16:9 or 16:10. Bandwidth A measure of how much data can be transferred through a connection at one time.…

Amazon has launched its first waterproof Kindle Paperwhite ebook reader, offering protection for a depth of two metres for 60 minutes. The company says the ‘All-new Kindle Paperwhite’ will survive “getting splashed at the beach or dropped in the bath tub or pool”. It’s also thinner and lighter than the previous Paperwhite, and has twice the storage (8GB for £119). A bigger model with 32GB costs £150 (pay £219 to add 3G). Some of that storage can be used for audiobooks, because it’s the first Paperwhite that supports Audible, Amazon’s own audiobook service. It has Bluetooth too, letting you listen to audiobooks on compatible headphones or speakers. Screen size is the same as before, at six inches, but it now has a ‘flush front’, meaning its level with the bezel…

Manufacturers of ‘smart home’ devices have been given Government advice on how to make their gadgets safe from attack by hackers, as fears grow about how vulnerable they are. Ministers working with experts at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have drawn up a voluntary code of practice to cover gadgets that aren’t computing devices, but still require an internet connection. Often called the ‘Internet of Things’, such devices include smart TVs, doorbells, smartwatches, security cameras, toys and burglar alarms. There are expected to be 420 million in use in the UK by 2021. The guidance encourages companies to “embed security in the design process of new technology rather than bolt it on as an afterthought”. It contains 13 steps to boost protection, including securely storing customer data, and requiring…

HMRC wants to arrest me I’m a wanted man! That’s according to an automated phone call I received recently, apparently from HMRC. It said there was a warrant for my arrest because I owed a huge tax bill. If that’s true, I thought, why don’t they just come to my house and arrest me? The message told me to ring a number to pay the outstanding balance. But as a former employee of HMRC, I know they would contact you by post - not phone or email - if you owed them money. I live in Lancashire, but it looks like the scam is common in neighbouring Cumbria too, according to this report: www.snipca.com/29324. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

Following David Sutton’s letter in Issue 537 (‘Reader recommends’, page 43) about the Motorola Moto G6 phone, I recently bought the cheaper ‘Play’ dual-SIM version of this phone - and I’m delighted with it! It does everything I need it to do speedily and without fuss. A week after I received my phone, the on/off button fell off. I contacted Amazon, where I bought the phone, and they passed me on to the Lenovo/Motorola service in Norwich. I posted my phone for repair on Tuesday afternoon and received it back on Friday morning, repaired free of charge with the operating system (Android) updated to the latest version. The engineer I contacted was extremely helpful. 10/10 for service. I recommend this phone to anyone who wants a reasonable device that operates…

DESIGN TOOL Sweet Home 3D 6.0 www.snipca.com/29500 What you need: Windows Vista 7, 8/8.1 or 10 We covered Sweet Home 3D in Issue 539’s Cover Feature as one of our must-have free tools and, since then, the brilliant interior-design tool has been updated with lots of new features that make it even more essential.Whether you’re redecorating your house or just planning to rearrange your furniture, Sweet Home 3D lets you visualise your plans so that you get a clearer idea of what’s possible and what looks best. The program makes it easy to create a 2D plan of your room by dragging it into the correct shape and size, then dropping in doors, windows, furnishings, lighting fixtures and more from a library of items. Brilliantly, the program renders your 2D…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: Microsoft Office 365 When I signed up for an Office 365 subscription, Microsoft promised “instant access to new features every month”. It turns out that translates into a near-constant stream of junk updates installed by stealth, adding features I don’t want. The trouble with Office 365 updates is that Microsoft installs them behind the scenes. They don’t ask permission or even let you know they’re being installed. So, quite often I’ll start work in the morning, only to discover that an update has installed new features that I’ll probably never use, or has altered existing tools in such a way that I have to waste time working out how to adapt. Worse is the fact that, as with their Windows equivalents, major Office 365 updates…

In a world where iPhones cost a grand and have names you can’t pronounce, it’s refreshing to see a smartphone for 70 quid that’s just called ‘1’. Then again, Alcatel is French (though now part of Nokia), so is it ‘one’ or ‘un’? Let’s just admit that it doesn’t really matter, because you’re not going to be asking for one. Or un. The 1 has a tall 18:9 screen, like all this year’s top phones. That’s where the similarities end. This screen format started with the iPhone X, which kept the overall shape of a conventional phone but stretched the screen all the way to the edges, eliminating the empty areas above and below. However, Alcatel’s screen doesn’t go all the way to the edge – there are still sizeable…

Notepad Microsoft rolls out these big Windows updates adding new tools and features to the operating system, but they often neglect their own programs in the process. Notepad is a perfect case in point. This is a tool I’ve used for many years, but with each major update Microsoft seems to overlook it, so that it’s being left behind by alternatives. For example, you can only undo your last edit, the program doesn’t let you open notes as separate tabs, and you can’t even change its theme to liven things up a bit. Other things are just annoying. While it has a Find (Ctrl+F) tool, it will only search the section between the position of your cursor and the end of the document (but won’t cycle back to the beginning…

Pocket Free Android www.snipca.com/29482 iOS www.snipca.com/29483 Our favourite app for reading online articles offline has added audio functionality, so you can now listen to articles saved in your reading list (similar to how you’d listen to podcasts). You can change the narration speed, skip forward or back, and choose from over 20 voices. Assistant Shortcuts Free Android www.snipca.com/29486 Assistant Shortcuts lets you reset the default Google assistant button (circular button at the bottom of your device) to carry out other functions of your choice. For example, you can set it to view your notifications, open settings, take a screenshot, switch on your device’s torch or launch an app. Apple Music Free Android www.snipca.com/29484 iOS www.snipca.com/29485 Apple has updated its music-streaming service with a range of great new features. The app…

Sending newsletters via email is one of the best ways to keep in touch with members of your club, but it’s not always the most effective. With so many people now using Facebook, it can be a brilliant way to bring your members together in one place to share ideas, organise events and swap photos. Here we’ll explain what you need to know before setting up your club's Facebook group. Facebook page or group Facebook provides two main ways to connect with club members. You can create a Facebook page or a group. A page has a wider reach because anyone on Facebook can ‘like’ (follow) it, receive updates and comment on posts. While this is useful if you want to spread public awareness of your club or run a…

Download from the developer Although no guarantee that you’ll avoid junk, downloading software from its developer’s site is less risky than using a third-party download mirror site. If you download elsewhere, you may find the installer contains added PUPs. Beware of fake search results Google has a nasty habit of displaying ads in search results that deliberately attempt to hijack your download. Since these appear at the top of the results, it’s easy to accidentally click one. Our advice is to ignore any search result with ‘Ad’ next to it. For example, when we typed VLC Download into Google, the top two links were adverts (see screenshot). The first just led us to an unresponsive website, but the second took us to a site that wanted to install a completely…

Q I’ve just got a new monitor, which is somewhat bigger than the old one it replaced. Everything is all bright and clear but on this new display the text-entry marker is really thin. I think this might be because the monitor’s resolution is much higher than before but the upshot is that sometimes I can barely see where the line is, so I don’t know if I’m about to type in the right place. This means I have to click with the mouse to confirm my typing position, which is an annoyance I didn’t have before. Do you know of a way to make this text-entry indicator more prominent? I use Windows 10 and Microsoft Word 2013, by the way. Charles Oakes A The marker you’re referring to is…

Nvidia has once more attempted to disprove claims by conspiracy theorists that the Moon landings were faked, by using its new GPU (graphics processing unit) to recreate the Apollo 11 mission. Four years after using its GeForce GTX GPUs to render the way light would behave on the Moon, Nvidia has used its Turing GPU to recreate the event with greater precision. Conspiracy theorists have long argued that the lighting in footage of the Moon landing is incorrect and proof that the whole thing was filmed in a studio. But Nvidia has used real-time ray-tracing technology to capture the reflection of light as it happens. In October, the company demonstrated its recreation of astronaut Buzz Aldrin climbing down the lunar module’s lander (pictured) at GTC - a graphics technology conference…

FEWER PEOPLE FALLING FOR SCAMS Fewer people are falling for tech-support scams, according to Microsoft’s annual survey of security behaviour (www.snipca.com/29444), which involved 16,000 people in 16 countries, including the UK. It found that only 25 per cent of people think companies will contact them out of the blue about a problem with their computer, down from 37 per cent in 2016. Microsoft said people have developed a “healthy scepticism” about unexpected emails, pop-ups and phone calls. EBAY SUES AMAZON FOR ‘STEALING’ SELLERS EBay has filed a lawsuit in California against rival Amazon for allegedly using the auction site’s internal email service to poach sellers. The company claims that since 2015 thousands of messages have been sent to eBay sellers, trying to persuade them to switch. It is seeking damages…

Sunk up to my chin in Windows XP If Mike Hitchcock (Letters, Issue 539) thinks people using Windows 7 are stick-in-the-muds, what would he make of dinosaurs like me? I still use Windows XP about 80 per cent of the time, switching to my Windows 10 laptop only when I need to browse the web. I’m not so much stuck in the mud as sunk up to my chin in it. Perhaps he could lend me a shovel? Howard Graham Let’s calm down the Windows debate Oh dear. The debate over which version of Windows to use is becoming stupidly heated. I wish we would avoid the kind of divisive language used so often now in political discourse (particularly on Brexit), but my heart sank when I read Steve Sanford…

LEAD CASE What can I do if a firmware update ruins my device? Q I bought a Sony PS4 Pro gaming console (pictured) with a new Samsung 55in 4K curved TV, and all worked well until a firmware update for the console. Now my PS4 is impossible to use and at one point wouldn’t even display anything on my TV. Apparently a quick fix is to reduce the PS4’s resolution to 1080p or less, which is not acceptable to me. Who’s obligated to remedy the situation - Sony or Samsung? And can I seek a full refund? Dave Forge A Yes, Dave is due a refund, and he should contact Sony because it is responsible for the flawed firmware update. Dave is covered by the Consumer Rights Act (CRA), which…

One of the joys of genealogy is going deeper with your research to expand your ancestors’ life story beyond a simple collection of dates and places. Here, we’ll focus on the early lives of your ancestors, particularly those born in the 19th and early 20th centuries. You’ll need a rough outline in place, including their birth date (an exact date courtesy of their birth certificate, an estimate based on the birth index – accurate to within three months – or census records) and name of at least one parent. From here, you can build a more complete picture of their life before they became adults. Christening and school If you’re struggling for a birth date, try your ancestor’s baptism record (it’s highly likely they were christened). It will also contain…

How can I watch Blu-ray discs on my PC? Q I’ve been trying find a program that will let me play Blu-ray discs on an external player. I have the VLC media player for 64bit Windows 10, but I can’t make it work. I’ve also tried the 32bit version. Can you help me please? John Taylor A We’ve got a soft spot for Blu-ray, which is capable of delivering films at much higher visual quality than a lot of the compressed versions you’ll find on most streaming services. But there’s no escaping the fact that the world’s appetite for physical, disc-based formats is in decline. Bluray drives for PCs are a rarity, and even if you’ve got one, that’s only half the story – you’ll also need a program that’s…

Free trials used to come on CD-ROMs stuck on the front of computer magazines and were, in general, a good thing. Now, free trials are just the latest way for scammers to squeeze money out of their victims. Unscrupulous app developers are conning users into downloading apps as free trials, only to hit them with sneaky payments. One example is Scanner App for iOS. According to many reviews, this has started taking money from users without their permission. In some cases, it has recharged users who had already paid for the product. Its free trial lasts a measly three days, which must catch out many people. Another iOS app, TinyLab’s QR Code Reader, was caught tricking users into a £120-a-year subscription, via a payment prompt disguised as a ‘Start’ button.…

Amazon has revamped its Echo smartspeaker range. The second-generation Echo (£90, see our review, Issue 517) remains, as does the bedside Echo Spot (£120, see Issue 521). But there are new versions of the Echo Plus, Echo Show and Echo Dot, and now an Echo Sub, which can be added wirelessly to pump up the bass. The Echo Show (£220) is completely redesigned, with a bigger, brighter 10in screen and an angular fabric-covered case. As before, a camera lets you videochat with friends who have a Show or Spot, or the Alexa app, and ‘drop in’ on your own Echos in other rooms, creating an intercom. The Show is also much improved as a speaker, though it doesn’t go party loud, and we turned down the bass a bit for…

What was it? Announced in April 2012, Glass (pictured) was a headmounted wearable, for connection to a smartphone, that projected a ‘head-up display’ directly into the user’s eye. Controlled by voice and a built-in touchpad, it also had a camera capable of shooting continuous video. The idea was that we could be constantly connected without having to look at a screen. Starting a year later, developers and early adopters could buy an Explorer Edition for $1,500 (then £985). Most people found it creepy. Several users were assaulted by passers-by and Glass couldn’t help making the wearer look like a Terminator. After a flurry of media attention, it faded away. How did it die? Technically, it hasn’t. Following a reported redesign, Glass Enterprise Edition (www.snipca.com/29499) is now sold to industries by…

KitSound’s Hive X is a rugged and compact bluetooth speaker with 20 Watts of portable power - rivalling speakers twice its size. It has an IPX6 water-resistant rating - so it’ll survive a drop of rain. Recharge your device through the USB port and you’ll be able to listen for up to 20 hours. It has stereo pairing, so if you buy two speakers you’ll add genuine depth to the sound. The sturdy design means it’s anything but delicate, letting you enjoy your music, whenever you want, wherever you want. To enter, email your address to cacomp@computeractive.co.uk by midnight 20 November. You can buy the KitSound Hive X Bluetooth Speaker for £79.99 from www.kitsound.co.uk. Visit the website for more KitSound products, including the Hive 2+ Bluetooth Smart Speaker (£59.99), the…

If you’re running Windows 10 Pro, you can just as easily use Microsoft Remote Desktop to connect to another computer across your local network. To find out which version of Windows you’re using, click in the Windows search box and type about my PC. Select the first result, then scroll through the About pane until you come to ‘Windows specifications’. If the version shown on the Edition line is Windows 10 Pro, follow the instructions below to use its Remote Desktop tools. 1 Enable Remote Desktop Click the Windows button, followed by the cog, to open Settings. Click System, then Remote Desktop (in the sidebar), and click the switch beside Enable Remote Desktop to On. Windows will warn you that this lets you and other authorised users connect to the…

PASSWORD MANAGER Sync your KeePass passwords across all your devices I enjoyed reading your ‘Have your Passwords been Hacked’ cover feature in Issue 538 (page 50). However, you mentioned that password manager KeePass (www.keepass.info) doesn’t sync your passwords across your devices. I’ve been using KeePass for many years and discovered a great little plug-in called KeeAnywhere that does just that, by letting you store your passwords in any cloud-storage service, including Google Drive and OneDrive. Personally, I use my Dropbox account, which I can access from all my devices (iOS and Android) using the KeePass app. To install the plug-in, open KeePass, click Tools, Plugins, then click Get More Plugins. This directs to the website where you can download the KeeAnywhere.zip file. When prompted for your download location, navigate to…

Amazon Echo Dot £49.99 from Amazon (www.snipca.com/29468) It happens to us all, I suppose, but the older I get the more things slip my mind. I was intrigued by the possibilities when I saw my son’s Amazon Echo in action, so I bought one for myself – and before you could say ‘Alexa’ it was making my life so much easier. I now just ask it to set timers for cooking, as well as to remind me of upcoming birthdays, make quick calculations and conversions, read the weather forecast, and even to tell me the time in the various countries where my sons and daughters live (so I don’t wake them up with a phone call in the early hours). I’ve never been great at typing or tapping so this…

Google Keep Free www.snipca.com/29487 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/29488 (iOS) Since its launch five years ago, Google Keep has developed into a great note-taking app that now automatically syncs your notes across PCs, phones and tablets. These can be accessed via a Chrome extension or any PC browser at keep.google.com. Best for: Auto-syncing across devices Notebook Free www.snipca.com/29489 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/29490 (iOS) Zoho’s Notebook app lets you add eye-catching notebook covers, and combine and group notes as ‘stacks’ that you can expand by tapping. We love that it lets you insert photos, then annotate them. You can access your notes online at notebook.zoho.com. Best for: Grouping and annotating notes iA Writer Free* www.snipca.com/29491 (Android) £4.99 www.snipca.com/29492 (iOS) If you tend to write longer notes (for example, recipes or diary entries), then iA…

STEP 1 Click Groups in the left-hand panel, then +Create Group at the top right. Name your group 1 and enter the names of Facebook friends you want to invite 2. Next, click the note icon 3 to invite those people 4. Finally, choose your group’s privacy setting 5, then click Create. STEP 2 Facebook adds a generic background image 1 to all groups. To use your own, click Upload Photo 2, then navigate to and select your photo. Later, you can select a photo uploaded to the group 3, from your Facebook account 4 or use one of Facebook’s illustrations 5. STEP 3 You can now create a post, organise a meeting or create a poll 1. Click the More button to tag events, friends and check into places.…

PUPs Potentially unwanted program - in other words any software on your PC that installed either without you knowing or inadvertently by you while installing other software (see box on p53 for how to avoid this). Examples include unnecessary plug-ins, toolbars and browser hijackers. Bloatware Technically a form of PUP, this software comes pre-installed on new PCs. Trial versions of security software are the most common example, but Microsoft is often accused of automatically installing its own bloatware, such as Skype and OneDrive (see page 56 for more). Temporary files Many programs create temporary files to help them operate smoothly (for example, Word keeps a copy of the document you’re currently working on), but when no longer required, they’re just clogging up your hard drive (usually stored in the ‘Windows\Temp’…

As we discovered, some startup items are very cryptic. On our PC, we found an item named ‘Program’ (see screenshot right), which rang alarm bells. Clicking ‘Search online’ ran a web search on the term ‘Program program’, which wasn’t very useful. However, we found out more by right-clicking the category bar and selecting the ‘Command line’ option, which displays where startup items are located. We were then able to establish that ‘Program’ was in fact ‘WSHelper.exe’, a tool associated with a Wondershare video download tool we’d long since uninstalled. The directory reference no longer existed, but because we’d got this far we wanted to kill it off. Under the ‘Start-up type’ column, Task Manager indicated it was linked to an entry in the registry. While we don’t recommend using CCleaner’s…

Keen to find out how much we might save on a second-hand phone, we uncovered some great deals. Bear in mind that this is just a guide: prices for second-hand (and new) phones fluctuate, so these precise deals may not be available when you search online. Samsung Galaxy S9 64GB New: £739 from Samsung (www.snipca.com/29511) Second hand: £515 from CEX (www.snipca.com/29512, see screenshot) Condition: ‘Grade A’, 24-month warranty Saving: £224 Apple iPhone 7 32GB New: £449 from Apple (www.snipca.com/29516) Second hand: £270 from MusicMagpie (www.snipca.com/29517) Condition: ‘Good’, 12-month warranty Saving: £179 Apple iPhone X 64GB New: £899 from Argos (www.snipca.com/29513) Second hand: £785 from CEX (www.snipca.com/29514) Condition: ‘Mint’, 24-month warranty) Saving: £114 HTC 10 32GB Grey New: £300 from Amazon (www.snipca.com/29518) Second hand: £200 from Smartfone Store (www.snipca.com/29519) Condition: ‘Grade…

Q I am repeatedly being advised by Windows 10 that I have low disk space on my drive I, which is some kind of preinstalled recovery partition on my PC’s SSD. It’s really annoying to be frequently advised of low disk space when it seems to be out of my control to rectify the situation. Can you possibly help me? Mervyn Bryce A We can understand how that would quickly become annoying. Fortunately, you can suppress this warning with a quick addition to the Windows registry. Back up your PC first, then press Windows key+R, type regedit and press Enter. Next, in the left-hand pane, navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. Click to select Explorer in the left-hand pane and then, in the right-hand pane, right-click any blank area then…

Q What’s the best method of writing a description ‘on the back’ of digital images? I think there are specialist apps, but I would prefer something that travels with the image when shared and be accessible without specialised software. I have read about metadata that will carry this information, but I see no way of adding this within Windows’ basic filemanagement system. Any help would be appreciated. Bill Anderson A It depends what you’re trying to achieve. The specialist tools you mention are ‘digital watermarking’ systems, which embed an electronic signature or symbol into the image data itself. These watermarks can be invisible or visible but either way, they’re all but impossible for someone else to remove. You might do this if you need to protect your photos, to later…

Q The Promotions tab of my Gmail account usually includes a couple of messages at the top of the list that I can delete, but cannot block. Some are of the ‘Date Russian Women’ variety. Is there a simple, foolproof means of stopping these? John Lindley A These are adverts served up by Google, not messages. That’s why you’re able only to delete them. However, there are a few things you can do to either stop seeing these commercials or otherwise change the sort you see. First, if you don't want any adverts masquerading as messages, or actual email messages that Gmail has identified as promotions, click the Settings cog at the top-right of the Gmail window, and then click ‘Configure inbox’. Clear the tick from Promotions, then click Save.…

Q My old Samsung display is going on the blink, so I’m looking to buy a new monitor. I find myself confounded by all the jargon. In particular, I don’t understand the difference between screens described as QWXGA, QUXGA and so on. My demands aren’t high, because my old display is just 15in with a 1024x768 resolution, and it’s served me with honour. However, since I need to buy a new one anyway, I wouldn’t mind something at least little better. Can you explain to me what all these XGA terms mean. Peter Rice A If you want to keep it simple then just ignore these alphabet-soup designations and focus on the resolution and aspectratio (screen-shape) numbers (see screenshot). Why? Because that’s all these XGA labels are intended to convey,…

Why won’t my VirtualBox launch? Q I followed the “How I use… VirtualBox” instructions in Issue 536 (page 20), but when trying to start a virtual PC I see a message saying there’s an error relaunching VirtualBox. George Perry A This could mean that the installation somehow went wrong. It sounds like you haven’t yet added or set up any virtual PCs, so the simplest thing to do would be to uninstall VirtualBox, then try again. Click Start followed by the Settings cog, then Apps followed by Oracle VM VirtualBox. Now click Uninstall followed by Uninstall again to confirm. Now reinstall VirtualBox. Alternatively, try repairing your existing VirtualBox setup by instructing the program to reinstall its own drivers, and then starting the relevant Windows service manually. To do this, press…

My name is Jane and I am a BitTorrent user. OK, you can unclutch your pearls, I haven’t turned to the dark side. I’m not downloading pirated copies of Photoshop and Game of Thrones. Instead, I’m feasting on silent movies and MS-DOS programs that wouldn’t know a licensing restriction if they sat on one, and I’m using the maligned torrent network to do it. “The Internet Archive recommends torrents for downloading, and I trust it almost as much as I trust Blue Peter” Why? Because The Internet Archive (https://archive.org) recommends torrents (BitTorrent is the official term) for downloading (see screenshot), and I trust The Internet Archive almost as much as I trust Blue Peter. This online trove of digital treasure spans everything from Tamagotchi for Windows 3.1 (www.snipca.com/29360) to the…