Table of contents for October 2019 in Windows Help & Advice

As you’ll see over the page, it’s increasingly tricky for malware to infect your PC with little or no resistance. That’s why modern malware is increasingly based on deception, designed to trick you into clicking a web link or opening an infected file. Many of these so-called phishing attempts originate from emails or instant messages. They attempt – with varying degrees of success – to make themselves look genuine, with the aim of getting you to open a file or click a link to visit a fake website where you’re asked to enter sensitive security information to ‘verify’ your details. In actual fact, what you enter is captured by the hacker. There is also a growth in emails claiming to have hacked the user’s computer. They claim to have recorded…

1 Initial steps Download and install Windows Firewall Control from www.binisoft.org/wfc – once installed, type ‘wfc’ into the Search box to launch Malwabytes Windows Firewall Control. The original status screen will reveal it’s currently set to Windows Firewall defaults, allowing all outbound connections. 2 Switch the profile settings To start monitoring outbound connections, switch to the Profiles section and select ‘Medium filtering (recommended)’. Also tick the failsafe ‘Automatically set’ box. Now switch to Notifications and select ‘Learning mode’ to switch monitoring on. 3 Review and allow All digitally signed and trusted apps will be given network access automatically, but you’ll start to see pop-up notifications for other apps. If they’re trusted (not all safe apps are signed), click ‘Allow this program’. If you’re not sure, press ‘Block…

You’ve got the essentials sorted – anti-malware software in place, plus any tools you’ve downloaded from the previous spread on cleaning malware infections (even if your PC is currently behaving itself, now is a good time to collect them together somewhere safe, like on a USB flash drive). Now you’ve locked down your PC, what other steps can you take to secure other parts of your online life? Secure online accounts Browse to www.haveibeenpwned.comwhere you’re almost certain to discover your trusted passwords of old have been involved in at least one security breach – even if you weren’t personally affected, common passwords like ‘fred1234’ are bound to have been used by others and subsequently exposed too. We recommend installing a strong password manager like BitWarden (www.bitwarden.com) to store and generate…

1 Choose your image source If you’ve already been using Google Photos, this should look familiar: Google shows you the most recent ones when you log in, as shown here. To add more images, look at the icons towards the top right of the window and select the Upload one. This gives you two options: you can upload images from your computer, or you can add photographs stored in your Google Drive. 2 Access your Google Drive Google Drive and Google Photos no longer automatically sync with each other, so images you add to Google Drive won’t appear in Google Photos unless you specifically add them. To do that, choose the Google Drive upload option. As you can see there are four tabs here: recent images, your Google…

1 Advanced Startup Options The first step to fixing Windows is to access Advanced Startup Options. In Windows, you can open Settings, go to the Update & Security section and click Recovery followed by the ‘Restart now’ button under ‘Advanced startup’. If Windows is not starting up, you can press F11 during the boot process. Select Troubleshoot followed by Advanced options from the blue menu. 2 Start-up Repair You will be presented with six options, the first of which is Start-up Repair. Use the arrow keys to select this and press Enter. When your computer restarts, select your user account from the menu, enter your password and click Continue. Windows will then try to find and fix any startup problems. If no problems are found, click ‘Advanced options’…

1 Finding apps to download When you want to find apps, you need to head to the Microsoft Store. You’ll find shortcuts to the Store in your taskbar and in the Start menu – its icon is a shopping bag with the Microsoft logo. Click the Apps link, and you can browse through the categories and look through lists of the most popular apps. There’s a search option to the upper right of the window too. 2 Installing apps from the Microsoft Store Click the name of an app you like the sound of so you can visit its page and read more about it. To install a free app, click the Get button followed by Install and it will be downloaded and installed. When it comes to…

According to its website, “Handbrake is a tool for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs.” Although it’s certainly worth exploring, we should state that Handbrake is not easy to understand if you’re a novice – the program is clearly designed with the power user in mind. Nevertheless, with some tutorial scenarios, we can hopefully break it down into something more easily digestible, and make the interface less intimidating. Handbrake’s interface is slightly unconventional and can be confusing at first, but stick with it, as some parts function beautifully and really make Handbrake stand out from the pack. We don’t have space to cover the entire program, but hopefully we can take you through enough of the interface for you to be able…

RAM is a core component of any computer. With DDR4 now well and truly entrenched in the memory market and DDR5 on the horizon, manufacturers are looking out in different directions: massive 64GB and 128GB sets running across eight channels, and faster speeds than ever seen before. Frequencies only continue to rise, with companies such as HyperX and Corsair pushing commercially available sticks at well over 4,000MHz. But it ain’t cheap. RAM price-per-GB skyrocketed between 2016 and 2018, although recent trends have shown that DDR4 kits have slowly lowered in price from the latter half of 2018. RAM offering 3,000MHz and above remains expensive, with a seemingly endless list of brands and product lines to choose from. It’s daunting. The vast majority of modern memory comes packaged with integrated heatsinks,…

Windows LOCAL ACCOUNTS IN WINDOWS 10 With the recently released 1903 update, I decided to reinstall Windows from scratch. During the setup process I was only given the option to create a Microsoft Account using an email address. Has the option to create a local account on a PC been scrapped? Jay Derbyshire Ian’s solution The local option is still present in the 1903 update, and in fact is slightly easier to find now – when prompted to create an account, click ‘Offline account’ followed by ‘No’. Some PC manufacturers have hidden the option during the setup process – if you can’t find it, restart the setup process while disconnected from the internet to hopefully force it into view. Similarly, the option for creating new local user accounts in Windows…

Start by stress-testing your desktop to verify that everything works as it should – sometimes the repair can introduce more problems than it solves, in which case if you’re running Windows 8.1 or 10 you can undo the changes. Go to Start > Settings > ‘Update & recovery’ > Recovery and look for an option to go back to your previous version – click ‘Get started’ and then follow the prompts. If the repair doesn’t appear to fix your underlying problem, Windows 8.1 and 10 users can take one more intermediate step – the reset or repair. It will see you waving goodbye to all those desktop programs you’ve installed (including MS Office and your third-party security software), but it will preserve your Microsoft Store apps, files and Windows settings.…

Once Windows is reinstalled, open Windows Update to bring Windows fully up to date – don’t be surprised if there are hundreds of updates still to apply in the case of Windows 7 and 8.1. Once it’s fully up to date, consider reinstalling Macrium Reflect Free and taking your first drive image – a vanilla backup you can restore in future instead of reinstalling Windows itself. Next, it’s a case of reinstalling your core apps. Once in place, open CloneApp from your data drive. If you click the Restore button, every single program setting you backed up will be restored – if there are any backup settings you don’t want to restore, select Options to locate the backup folder, then open it and move any program folders you want to…

1 Partition hard drive You partition your up space on which to store your copy of Windows. The best tool for the job is AOMEI Partition Assistant (www.aomeitech.com/ aomeipartition-assistant.html). Start by clicking Make Bootable Media under Wizards to create rescue media. 2 Shrink main partition your (typically C:) Move Partition under Partition Operations. Use the slider to free up at least 30GB space to the right of the Windows partition. If your drive is an SSD, click ‘Advanced>>’ and tick ‘Allow partition alignment…’ Click ‘OK’. 3 Add new Windows partition Now select the newly created Unallocated space to the right of drive C and click ‘Create Partition’ under Partition Operations. Verify NTFS is the file system and click ‘Advanced<<’ to give the partition a suitably descriptive label, such as Win7…

From £1,400 | $1,500 www.gigabyte.com What’s the right recipe for a great gaming laptop? It starts with a fast GPU and a solid CPU. Then you want a great display. These days that means a quality LCD panel, probably based on IPS technology, with a triple-digit refresh rate. Then add plenty of fast RAM and a quick SSD with enough space for a decent games library. Oh, and if it is all packaged up in a nice-looking chassis with fairly portable proportions and decent battery life, that would be nice, too. It’s a lot to ask. And when you get the right answer, the price attached to it is usually megabucks. But not with the new Gigabyte Aorus 15. It’s a 15.6-inch gaming portable with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti…

£869 | $799 www.msi.com Can a glorious 34-inch curved LCD panel with support for 144Hz refresh, adaptive sync and HDR stand out in the crowded monitor market these days? The new MSI Optix MPG341CQR offers all that, plus some gamer-friendly extras, and does it all at a price that looks pretty punchy compared to several key competitors. For starters, MSI has gone for VA rather than IPS screen tech. It has also fitted the Optix up with some snazzy RGB LED lighting. But this panel will have to deliver on its core proposition as a 34-inch super-wide gaming monitor. While the extras sweeten the deal, the Optix MPG341CQR has a tough fight on its hands versus the usual suspects in this category. In general terms, MSI has priced this panel…

60%  of new passwords are secure against guessing attacks – meaning it would take an attacker over a hundred million guesses before identifying the correct password – according to figures from Google Password Checker. is the number of cassette tapes predicted to be sold by the end of 2019, in an unlikely uptick for the dreadful old format. 50,000 were sold in 2018, accounting for 0.2 percent of album sales. A return to software sales on cassette remains unlikely, but we’ll keep you posted. 10 The version number of the latest release of phone operating system Android, despite being the 15th named version since the OS came out of beta in 2009. The idea of jumping to 10 is very popular, with Windows 10 being around the 19th released version…

Threats to your privacy and security come in many shapes and forms these days. Let’s start by taking a brief tour of the different types of malware around to provide you with a better understanding of what to look out for. Virus/worm Traditionally malware was conflated with the term ‘virus’. However, viruses are a specific form of malware: code inserted into other files (such as macros in Microsoft Office documents, which is why macro supported is now disabled by default in Office). Along with worms – standalone programs rather than malicious code hidden inside other files, viruses are primarily a mechanism for delivering so-called malicious ‘payloads’, and are designed to replicate themselves as far and wide as possible, such as through copying to shared network folders or hiding inside emails.…

When it comes to protecting your Windows 10 PC, both antivirus and firewall protection are built into the operating system, and while it’s strictly no-frills, Windows Security is capable of keep most malware off your system. We tested it with a range of live malware samples, and it detected them all, throwing up a warning dialog offering to remove or quarantine the malware in question. Windows itself is also packed with malware-thwarting technology too. User Access Control (UAC) is the confirmation dialog you see whenever you open a file or program that wants administrative access to your system. Windows 10 also introduced the SmartScreen filter, which automatically pops up a warning about program files that aren’t digitally signed. Many are legitimate, but it provides you with an extra step of…

When your security protection works as it should, you’ll either enjoy a hassle-free life or see the occasional alert pop up when your antivirus tool spots – and blocks – a potential infection from taking hold. But if your security regimen is compromised, you’ll have to take remedial steps to clear any infection from your machine – sudden sluggish performance, random popup alerts and other strange behaviour might all point to infection. The simplest thing to do is try and run a scan with your existing security tools having first attempted to install the latest updates – if they detect the threat, let them attempt to clean or quarantine it, then reboot and run full scans again. If infections keep cropping up, or you’re unable to open your security tool,…

Windows Security has plenty of built-in protection against system exploits, rootkits and the like, but there are still gaps – many behavioural related – that you can close with the help of free software. Start by keeping an eye on programs that need software patches with the help of Patch My PC (https://patchmypc.com/home-updater-overview). Add protection against PUPs with Unchecky (www.unchecky.com),while IObit Uninstaller (www.iobit.com/en/advanceduninstaller.php)has a Bundleware section that can help root out PUPs already on your system. Worried about the security of sensitive data backed up to the cloud? Ensure your files are protected by an extra layer of encryption before being uploaded with Cryptomator (https://cryptomator.org/). Add extra protection against potentially harmful websites by adding traffic-light security ratings to web pages and search engine results using one of Norton’s Safe Web…

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

1 Print Screen By far the simplest way to take screenshots is to just hit the [Print Screen] key on your keyboard – although you may find that it is labelled Prt Sc, Prt Scr or something similar. Don’t be surprised when you press the key and nothing happens. All that pressing Print Screen does is to copy an image of what is currently on your screen to the clipboard. 2 Importing screenshots To make use of screenshots captured via [Print Screen], you’ll need to import them into an image editor. This can be anything from Pain, included with Windows 10, all the way up to Adobe Photoshop – the process is the same. Having pressed Print Screen, fire up your favourite image editor, open a new file…

Video codecs are the formats that compress raw video into something smaller and easier to handle. Although many kinds have existed, it all really started with MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) back in 1988. Advances in processing power meant video compression algorithms became more sophisticated, so you could squeeze more video quality into a smaller file size. DVD’s MPEG-2 was a big step up over MPEG-1, and video file sharing really kicked off in the early 2000s when DiVX/ MPEG-4 was able to squeeze near-DVD quality video on to a single CD. However, each major step in video compression requires hardware to advance with it. MPEG-4 required a decently beefy PC back in the day, but eventually hardware MPEG-4 decoding was built into basic consumer devices, such as DVD players…

Because EE was the first company out of the gate with 5G, it’s been setting the tone for 5G pricing. And you can expect that tone to be pretty costly for the first generation of 5G adopters. It’s not that you’ll be charged anything as crude as an extra fee for getting the full 5G speed experience, it’s just that all of the initial 5G phones are top-of-the-line, so it’ll only be the higher-end contract that includes 5G support (along with all the other benefits). The OnePlus 7 Pro 5G will set you back from £59 per month at EE, with £170 up front, for 10GB of data. The max contract is £79 per month, £10 up front, with 120GB of data, which even a 5G connection will find hard…

Some PCs with built-in speakers are showing some odd behaviour after installing the May 2019 Windows 10 update – they stop playing nicely with external Bluetooth speakers. Here’s a quick fix if you’re experiencing wireless sound drops or crackles. You’ll need to run the Command Prompt as an Administrator, so may need an Admin password. SFC, the System File Checker, will scan and repair your system files.…

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

1 Reboot for media If you’re running Windows 7, or have Fast Boot disabled, insert your boot media and start your PC. Look for a ‘Press any key to boot from CD or DVD’ option (even if you’ve booted from a USB flash drive) – press the key and you should find the Windows install process starts. 2 Tweak boot options If you boot back into Windows, restart your PC again, but this time press a key, such as [F11], when prompted to open a boot menu. Do so, select your boot media (choose UEFI if the option appears) to boot; otherwise, enter Setup to change the boot device order. 3 Windows 8.1/10 If Fast Boot is enabled, open Settings in Windows and navigate to ‘Update & recovery’ > Recovery,…

£1,200 | $1,500 www.lg.com LG’s Gram 14 2-in-1 looks and works just like a standard laptop. And with a quick rotation of the display, it converts into a tablet. Inside each box is a stylus, driving home the point that LG views the Gram 14 2-in-1 as an ultraportable device that can bend and fold to the will of its users. The Gram 14 2-in-1 weighs very little, has a respectable spec sheet, and is reasonably priced. But, as with any laptop, the big question is whether the promised experience of what’s on paper translates into a proper experience in the real world. That answer is a resounding yes. The Gram 14 2-in-1 will set you back £1,200 (about $1,500, AU$2,136) for the configuration we have here. That’s right in…

The top contenders for the best student laptops put value over having the top-of-the-line processors and graphics cards. And yet, they still have enough juice to get you through your demanding workload at school – as well as let you partake in some post-school entertainment like light gaming and Netflix. In fact, some of our picks for the best laptops for students are among the most wallet-friendly devices on the market. But make no mistake: just because they’re very affordable, doesn’t mean they look cheap. In fact, they also exude style, tout power and offer portability, all without breaking the bank. 1 Hauwei Matebook 13 £1,100, www.huawei.com/uk Available for much less than its RRP online, the MateBook 13 comes closer to striking that perfect balance of price and performance…

When you buy a keyboard, you’re stuck with the keyboard you’ve got. The switches activate exactly where they activate – if you’re a light typist and your keyboard doesn’t register until you bottom those keys out, you’re out of luck. The SteelSeries Apex Pro, at £199, is not a cheap keyboard, but you can customise its keys to activate at whatever height you’d like – and switch on the fly using its built-in screen.…

SkybotF-850 From £75 million en.roscosmos.ru In definitely-not-alarming news, a six-foot-tall humanoid robot has been launched by the Russian space agency to the International Space Station, sitting in the commander’s chair of a Soyuz capsule as if it were ready to take control at any moment. And it potentially could. While the Terminator-like robot, known as Fedor, is capable of running autonomously, it can also mirror the movements of an operator wearing some fairly standard PC virtual reality gear. The human scale of the ’bot means it can use human tools, potentially including laptops – previous, Earth-based Fedors have driven cars and handled electric drills. They have also, and we’re sure this is nothing to worry about, fired guns from each hand and done the splits. Whether that was at the…

One grey area when it comes to malware is that related to Potentially Unwanted Programs, or PUPs. Some application installers offer you additional programs, toolbars and other software during the set-up process – most are perfectly legitimate, but there are question marks over the practice. This so-called ‘bundleware’ is used to help fund development of programs, ensuring they remain free of charge, but the practice can be abused. Most PUPs are harmless – and definitely not malware – but some can harbour spyware, browser hijackers and other unwanted programs. The major problem is that they’re often pre-selected for installation by default, and the terminology for rejecting the offer can be confusing. What exacerbates the problem is that most security software ignores program installers that offer PUPs as they technically require…

While Windows Security performs well against malware, there’s one weak link – its firewall. The Windows Firewall is configured only to monitor incoming connections – in other words, those made to your PC over your network or the internet. It assumes all traffic originating from your PC is legitimate – but this can include any malware that’s sneaked through your defences and has established a backdoor connection to the internet. These can then dial home to begin wreaking whatever havoc they’ve been designed to inflict. This step-by-step guide reveals how to add two-way protection to Windows Firewall using a free add-on package from Malwarebytes, but if you want a more user-friendly alternative then reputable Internet Security packages from the likes of Norton, Kaspersky and Bitdefender all ship with two-way firewalls.…

1 Take a fail-safe backup Repairing Windows can lead to unforeseen consequences. Start by creating a full drive image using your back-up tool – Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx) is our go-to tool. Make sure you’ve also created emergency rescue media – just in case. 2 Reboot into Safe mode Click Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and click ‘Restart now’ under ‘Advanced start-up’. Choose Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Start-up Settings to select Safe mode (we recommend the ‘Safe Mode with Networking’ option to retain internet access). 3 Fix Safe mode If Safe mode won’t work, reboot or restore your backup if your PC no longer boots. Install and run Windows Repair (www.tweaking.com), switch to the ‘Repairs – Main’ tab, click ‘Open Repairs’. Untick…

1 Install Disconnect Go to https://disconnect.me/disconnect and click ‘Get Disconnect’ to locate the plugin in your browser’s add-on store, then install it from there. Once installed, you’ll see the Disconnect button appear in your browser toolbar. You do not need to donate if you don’t want to. 2 Monitor website Now browse to one of your favourite websites. You’ll see the Disconnect button display a number – this is the number of trackers it has detected. Click the Disconnect button for a summary, split into four sections – click one to reveal the specific requests made. 3 Block trackers Any trackers ticked and marked green are blocked by default; grey trackers are safer, but can also be blocked by ticking the box. You’ll see statistics revealing how…

1 Find the Styles In Photoshop CC and its forebears, a simple double-click on a layer is enough to open the Styles palette. In Elements, you either go to Layer > Layer Style > Style Settings, or click the Styles button at the bottom right of the app window. These open different things: the former is the more hands-on, manual approach, the latter the one-shot filter approach. 2 Style Settings Styles work on a floating layer. The Background one generated when you first open an image will not do. One of the best uses for Layer Styles is to jazz up text, so first create some using the Type tool. The type layer goes on top of the Background layer. Select it. Next, head up to Layer >…

1 Restart then troubleshoot The first thing to try when Windows Update doesn’t work is our old friend, the restart. If that doesn’t work, the next step is to run the Windows Update troubleshooter. On Windows 10, you can find that by typing “troubleshoot” into the search box, and the first result will take you to this screen. Scroll down until you see Windows Update and select it. 2 Download the troubleshooter The troubleshooter is included in Windows 10, but if you have Windows 7 or 8 you’ll need to download it directly. If you use the Edge browser, searching for ‘Windows Update Troubleshooter’ will provide direct download links as shown here with the Help From Microsoft logo. On other browsers, use a search engine and make sure…

Not all reinstalls require a complete wipe of your hard drive. A repair or refresh installation leaves your programs, settings and files in place, and restricts itself to installing a fresh copy of your Windows files over the top of your existing copy. If your problem is linked to a corrupt file or Windows setting, the repair installation can usually fix it. All repair installs share one common characteristic: you must launch them from Windows itself. You can’t boot from your install media and repair Windows through that; you need to boot into Windows, then start the repair process from there. If you’re unable to boot into Windows, therefore, you’ll need to skip to page 72 and perform a full destructive recovery instead. Start the repair Starting a repair install…

Reinstalling Windows from scratch – namely, wiping your system drive to install a fresh version of Windows on to it – is the ultimate choice for anyone looking to revive a slow PC or resolve a major, non-hardware issue. Here we’ll step you through the entire process – if you’re simply looking to repair an existing Windows install, turn to our guide on page 70. Before you begin, make sure your PC is fully backed up by following the ‘Back up Windows 10’ tutorial on page 43 of issue 148. A full reinstall really is destructive – nothing left on your C drive will exist once you’ve finished. If you’d like to transfer selected program settings from old installation to new, download the portable CloneApp tool (www.mirinsoft.com) to your backup…

So far, we’ve covered both traditional reinstall techniques, but there are other reasons – and methods – for reinstalling Windows. First up is the recovery option. Most pre-built PCs come with a built-in manufacturer’s recovery partition that enables you to restore Windows to its factory shipped condition. The main advantage of this method – aside from being cheaper and easier for the manufacturer, of course – is that your PC is restored to a guaranteed working state, with all the drivers it needs to function. The downsides are that a lot of extra unwanted software is usually installed alongside Windows, you need to exercise extreme caution not to lose everything on the drive, and that if the recovery partition corrupts – typically due to hardware failure – you’re left with…

£1,400 | $1,700 www.canon.co.uk The EOS RP is the second full-frame mirrorless camera from Canon. While the EOS R was met with something of a lukewarm reception, the EOS RP aims to aggressively target sales of other brands by launching at a very attractive price. It will even come bundled with an adapter to allow you to use any existing Canon EF lenses that you might already have in your kit, too. To that end, you can pick up the EOS RP for around £1,399 body only (with the adapter). If you want to pick it up with a 24-105mm f/4 L USM lens as well, it’ll set you back around £2,300. Neither of these figures are loose change, sure, but it’s a reasonable price for a brand new full-frame…

REINSTALL WINDOWS The nuclear option of the past is now a viable choice for refreshing and improving your PC FACEBOOK LIBRA Could this be the currency of the future? We investigate Zuck’s plans HOW TO ● Customise Windows ● Set up a new monitor ● Find and install fonts ● Make your PC accessible * Contents subject to change Catch up with us on… www.facebook.com/windowsmag www.twitter.com/windowsmag www.windowsmag.co.uk…