Table of contents for 664 in Computeractive

Elderly viewers are switching from traditional TV to streaming services at a record rate, Ofcom has found. It said that the viewing figures for over-65s watching broadcast channels such as the BBC and ITV fell by 10 per cent in 2022. Overall, the proportion of people who tune in each week was down from 83 per cent in 2021 to 79 per cent in 2022. The statistics come in Ofcom’s annual Media Nations report (www.snipca. com/47117), which surveys the “media habits and preferences of people across the UK”. It also found that the average time a person watches broadcast TV per day fell from two hours 59 minutes to two hours 38 minutes. The number of programmes attracting over four million viewers has more than halved over the past…

Google has sent its second reminder to users that it plans to close inactive accounts from 1 December. It has emailed accounts warning that any which haven’t shown signs of activity for two years will be shut down, and all content in them erased. Google first contacted users in May, when it outlined criteria for deciding whether an account is active. These include reading or sending an email, using Google Drive, sharing a photo, downloading an app and using Google Search. It says that security is the main reason for closing an inactive account. Ruth Kricheli, Google’s vice president for product management, said extended periods of inactivity might indicate that the accounts have been compromised. “This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that…

A police camera van has used artificial intelligence (AI) to detect people using mobile phones while driving. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and Thames Valley Police carried out the operation between July 17 and 21 on the A34 and A303. They identified 86 motorists suspected of using a phone, and a further 273 of not wearing a seatbelt. The van uses two cameras to capture the footage. The first, set at a shallow angle, can detect a phone close to the driver’s ear. The second camera uses a steeper view to see if a phone is being used for texting. Once the AI software has identified the offences, humans check the footage before passing it to the police. This ensures that only “clear offences, which are reviewed by at…

Gumtree also has fake buyers You gave sound advice when warning your readers about criminal Facebook buyers who come to your home then trick you into thinking they’ve transferred cash using an app (Issue 663, page 11). I want to point out that fake buyers also exist on Gumtree, which might not be as popular as Facebook Marketplace, but is used by many people in the Suffolk town where I live. My elderly neighbour was nearly conned a couple of weeks ago. She had arranged to sell a tablet for a couple of hundred pounds, and agreed with the buyer that it should be paid for in cash. But when he arrived he feigned ignorance of this agreement, and instead whipped out his phone and showed her an app that…

SYSTEM TOOL FixWin 11.1 www.snipca.com/47106 What you need: Windows 10 or 11 You can fix many problems with Windows by tweaking the registry or running special commands, but unless you know what you’re doing, you could further mess up your PC. FixWin provides one-click repairs for dozens of common issues and annoyances, in an attractive, easy-to-understand interface, and it works with both Windows 10 and 11. The program’s Welcome screen provides handy shortcuts to run the System File Checker (SFC) and DISM commands, which are often all you need to fix PC errors, as well as the option to create a system restore point before you make any changes. If these don’t help, you can explore its range of fixes, which are organised into logical categories, such as File Explorer,…

LAPTOP-TABLET | £1,293 from Lenovo www.snipca.com/46914 Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 Screen star This device looks stunning. It’s slim, attractive, and available in a subtle Oatmeal shade (pictured) or a more subdued grey. It has a high-quality OLED screen that easily matches the quality of the overall design, and can be flipped all the way back to convert into tablet mode. Indeed, in terms of its appearance it makes our current favourite laptop, the Acer Swift 3 14in (£1,049 from www.snipca.com/44367 – see page 30), look positively humdrum. “A stunning device with a sleek design and one of the best screens we’ve ever seen” However, despite Lenovo fitting the Yoga 9i with an Intel Core i7-1360P processor, which is a newer-generation chip than the Swift’s i7-1260P, performance levels were pretty…

Carrion filming This is an intriguing proposition for bird enthusiasts – a seed feeding tray that can house an outdoor security camera (not included) to provide you with a close-up view of your garden’s winged visitors. The case can take a variety of square-shaped cameras, with the manufacturer claiming full compatibility with the Blink Outdoor Camera, Wyze Cam V3, Wyze Cam V3 Pro, Wyze Cam Outdoor and Ring Stick Up Cam. You’ll need to factor in spending another £80 or so if you don’t already have one of those cameras. That still works out more affordable than rivals that come with cameras, such as the £199 Netvue Birdfy Lite (www.snipca.com/46931). It’s easy to put together. We installed a camera into the case in less than a minute. We mounted it…

What you need: Specialist photo printer or inkjet printer Time required: Depends on how much and where you print We may live in a digital age, but photo-printing is far from dead. In fact, the market is thriving, with numerous companies such as Shutterfly, Moonpig and Photobox all eager to turn your digital images into glossy, colourful hard copies. Sending your pictures to a printing service is one option, but current inkjet printers can produce stunning results at home. So perhaps it’s not surprising that the inkjet market is predicted to grow by more than 40 per cent in the next five years. So if you still like to print and display your favourite photos, you’re far from alone. The question is, should you be looking to print them for…

Russian spies targeted governments around the world by posting as tech-support staff on Microsoft Teams. Microsoft said a campaign of “highly targeted social engineering attacks” saw Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) try to hack into around 40 organisations worldwide. They chose to attack through Teams because it’s one of the most popular tools for work employees to chat with each other. The hackers, which Microsoft calls Midnight Blizzard, managed to trick victims into clicking links in messages, giving them access into the organisation’s computer systems. As well as government departments, the spies attacked charities and companies in the IT services, technology, manufacturing, and media sectors. What made the attack significant is that the hackers sent messages that appeared to come from Microsoft’s genuine tech-support team, using an email address ending…

Sky has obtained a High Court order to force internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to services illegally streaming its sports coverage and TV shows. The order is similar to the one granted to the Premier League since 2019, but is intended to block a broader range of content. Sky will now be able to shut down individual pirate sites at specific times. It’s expected to use this power when it’s broadcasting a major sporting event, such as a Premier League match or England cricket international, or for a new episode of a popular show. Blocking will be carried out by a third-party group that looks for IP addresses and servers to identify the source of illegal streams. This information is then passed to ISPs, who’ll use it to…

The death of DVDs has been long predicted ever since Blockbuster went bankrupt in 2010. Apart from a brief respite during lockdown, sales have nosedived over the past decade. And Disney may have hammered the final nail in the coffin by announcing that it will no longer release DVDs and Blu-rays in Australia. It follows the company’s decision to stop selling DVDs in some Asian and Latin American countries, and industry analysts expect the company to do the same in the UK and US. The move has huge implications because Disney is one of the world’s biggest media brands, owning the Star Wars, Indiana Jones and The Simpsons franchises, as well as National Geographic and the entire 20th Century Fox back catalogue. “Streaming is now the most popular way to…

Can I remove all traces of Kaspersky? Q I’m finally planning to do something I should have done last year, which is remove all traces of Kaspersky from my computer and switch to Microsoft Defender. But I know that antivirus programs are very stubborn and have a habit of leaving files scattered on your system. Is there a specialist tool for deleting it? Roy Heighway A Yes, you should use Kavremover, which is Kaspersky’s own tool for uninstalling the program. Visit www.snipca.com/46911, then scroll down and click the green Download button at the bottom. Once you’ve clicked the kavremvr.exe file to launch the tool, it will search for the specific Kaspersky program you have installed. Select this from the dropdown menu (1 in our screenshot), type the CAPTCHA code to prove you’re…

Core blimey! The last Minisforum mini PC we reviewed was the tall MC560 (£283 from www.snipca.com/46260) in Issue 660. This NPB7 model has a more traditionally squat design – wider and deeper. Instead of an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, it has a current-generation Intel i7-13700H chip, alongside 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. “Much quicker than our favourite mini PC when carrying out resource-heavy jobs” This is closer in specification and price to our current favourite mini PC, the Beelink SER6 Pro 7753HS (£594 from www.snipca.com/46416, reviewed in Issue 661), which has an AMD processor – the Ryzen 7 7735HS. The SER6 Pro also has twice the memory of the NPB7 – a compromise that allows the latter to squeeze in its more expensive processor. This made for interesting…

SMART SPEAKER ❘ £45 from Amazon www.snipca.com/46944 Amazon Echo Pop Slice and easy The Echo Pop replaces the Echo Dot as the most affordable device in Amazon’s range of smart speakers. It’s a decent alternative to the company’s more expensive speakers, but the lower price means some compromise in sound quality, which is fine at lower volumes but starts to distort if you turn it up. The new design looks like an Echo Dot that’s had the front sliced off at an angle. Above the front-facing speaker is a curved LED bar that lights up when Alexa is active. Behind that are three microphones for picking up voice commands and three buttons: volume up and down and a mute button. The power socket is at the rear of the unit and…

SMART TV | From £330 from Amazon www.snipca.com/47091 Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Voice box Amazon’s Fire TV devices usually convert non-smart TVs into smart models, or upgrade older smart TVs with improved features. Amazon has previously produced sets with built-in Fire TV software in collaboration with big-name TV manufacturers, but this is the first TV to be branded as an Amazon product. There are four models in the range – a 43in model for £330, 50in (£430), 55in (£480) and 65in (£680). We reviewed the 65in set, which is already being heavily discounted, having launched at £1,000. Having the Fire TV software built in means you get an interface that’s easy to use and a home screen that’s packed with apps. These include the usual streaming suspects, such as…

What you need: Nearby Share; Phone or tablet running Android 6.0 or later Time required: 30 minutes There are several ways to share files between your phone/tablet and PC, but few are as quick and easy as Google’s Nearby Share. Install it on your PC, and you can use Android’s built-in Nearby Share to send files to your computer without a cable. Neither will you need to use clumsy alternatives, like emails andattachments, or syncing via online storage. All transfers are encrypted, and it also works in reverse, so it’s just as easy to send files from your PC back to your phone. A recent update has moved it out of beta, and it can now estimate how long a file transfer will take, as well as preview images before…

Stop blurring and pixelating your info Blurring or pixelating your personal information is normally good enough to hide it from human eyes, but not from advanced software. All you’re doing is rearranging the data, not actually removing anything. Studies have shown that AI tools can be trained to decipher details that have been obscured in this way (see www.snipca.com/47108 for proof). Cybercriminals will be delighted that they have another weapon with which to scam victims. Another technique to avoid is scribbling over text using digital marker pens. These tools simulate actual markers or highlighters, so the ‘ink’ is applied with less than complete opacity. Anyone seeing this image could download it, drag it into an image editor, and use brightness/contrast controls to see the text pixels underneath. Redact screenshots with…

Microsoft is releasing a Windows update that confirms its decision to shut down Cortana. The company announced in June that it was ending support for the voice assistant, as it focuses instead on building AI tools into the operating system. At the time it said it would start ending support for Cortana in “late 2023”, but has now brought that forward to August (see www.snipca.com/47129). Once the update is installed, clicking Cortana shows a black screen with the message ‘Cortana in Windows as a standalone app is deprecated’. Microsoft uses the term ‘deprecated’ when it intends to “remove a feature or capability in a major future release”, though the feature in question “will continue to work and be fully supported until it is officially removed”. The company launched Cortana in…

Websites will be forced to remove fake adverts that claim to be endorsed by celebrities, under new laws to clamp down further on online scams. The move has been welcomed by MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis, whose face has often been added to financial scams to make them appear legitimate. In July, he warned about a deepfake video that appeared to show him recommending an investment called ‘Quantum AI’ that was labelled as ‘Elon Musk’s new project’ (www.snipca.com/47062, pictured). Lewis said that it was “weird and pretty frightening” to have his face and voice imitated in the advert. The new rules form part of the Government’s Online Advertising Programme, which place more responsibility on tech companies to regulate adverts that appear on their sites. It also covers advertising services such as…

Search for railway accidents Many of our ancestors worked in dangerous occupations where health and safety was a low priority. Those employed in the railway industry, who worked in a hazardous environment of shunting trucks and steaming locomotives, were particularly at risk from injury and even death. Narrow your search using dropdown menus If your ancestor was involved in an accident, search a new database recording railway accidents in Britain and Ireland from 1888 to 1939. Created by the University of Portsmouth, the National Railway Museum and the Modern Railways Centre at the University of Warwick, it currently contains details of nearly 50,000 incidents. The information is available to download as an Excel spreadsheet – visit www.snipca.com/46875 and click the green ‘Download Now’ button at the bottom. Sheet one covers…

TABLET | From £549 from Lenovo www.snipca.com/46989 Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen) Contrasting results Given that most interaction with a tablet is via its screen, it could be argued that it’s the most important element of the device. That certainly seems to have been the reasoning behind the superb screen of this Lenovo Tab P11 Pro model. Its 11.2in screen with a 2560x1536-pixel resolution uses OLED technology, which means its contrast is superb – providing very deep, dark blacks and bright whites. “The best screen we’ve seen on a tablet so far, but its battery life and performance are a huge letdown” We measured the accuracy of the screen using a colorimeter and it reproduced 129.6 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour palette on its Bright setting. This is…

LAPTOP PRICE DROP Acer Swift 3 14in £849 from www.snipca.com/44367 Tested Issue 648 Comes with a powerful 12th-generation Intel processor and 1TB SSD to make Windows tasks feel incredibly fast. Also has a decent 2560x1440-pixel IPS screen and comes with plenty of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4-compatible USB-C. ALTERNATIVE Lenovo Yoga 6 Gen 7 Has a slower processor, and half the storage and RAM, but remains a good laptop for the price. £549 from www.snipca.com/44950 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 £749 from www.snipca.com/42211 Tested Issue 634 Samsung has replaced its own Tab S7+ to become our favourite Android tablet. It’s fast with a stunning 11in screen, and has a longer battery life than the iPad. This model gives you 128GB – you’ll need to pay around £649 for 256GB.…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Make NirLauncher easier to use As a long-time user of NirLauncher (www.snipca.com/46479), I was delighted by Issue 662’s Workshop (page 38) revealing both new and hidden tools in the program. Your tips were very handy, but I’m guessing you didn’t have time to explain ways to tweak NirLauncher’s design to make it easier to navigate. Please allow me to do so instead! Once you’re running NirLauncher, click View and select ‘Mark Odd/Even Rows’. This alternates the rows by white and grey (1 in our screenshot). Next, click Options and select Show Description Text. This will bring up a pale yellow box at the top which explains what each program does when you click it 2. I also create my own groups to store NirLauncher’s software. One…

X Twitter is no longer Twitter, and Larry is looking for a new nest What is it? It’s the new name for Twitter. The social media site’s owner Elon Musk announced the change in late July, saying that the 24th letter of the alphabet embodies “the imperfections in us all that make us unique”. What did he mean by that? Lord only knows. He has a habit of making cryptic statements designed to either provoke or confuse. He has also got rid of the bird logo (nicknamed Larry) – it has expired, ceased to be and joined the choir invisible. The new logo is a stylised X (pictured right). There’s a new URL too, though for now typing www.x.com still takes you to www.twitter.com. Does that mean we no longer…

Copy old audio CDs to his phone About a year ago in this column (Issue 638 to be precise), I complained that my landlord had increased my rent by a ridiculous amount, forcing me to cancel my subscriptions to various streaming services. He recently did it again, which means I’m now paying 27 per cent more than before the cost-of-living crisis began. “If ripping old audio CDs saves me money then it’s groovy enough for me” I’m sure I’m not the only person in this financially precarious situation, but I am the only one living in a draughty flat below a lead-footed neighbour who has a singing voice like a strangled parrot. So that’s it for me and overpriced London, I’m outta here, and it’s also the end of the…