Table of contents for September 2018 in Windows Help & Advice

The problem with PCs isn’t usually to do with Windows or the PC itself, instead it’s often down to a malicious program infecting it, or a program behaving badly and putting files all over the place that slow things down. There are also programs that specialise in taking over your PC – insisting that they run and getting in the way all the time. And what’s worse, these programs often have the habit of circumventing your security settings and getting on to your PC once you are connected to the Internet. The good news is that you can detox a PC from these sorts of apps very easily, and shore up your security settings to stop them getting a foothold again. So if you suspect that a rogue program is…

You’ve reclaimed control of your PC and banished malware along with unwanted software and other useless files. How can you protect yourself – and keep your PC clutter-free – going forward? Let’s start with security. These days, threats to your computer come in many shapes and forms. In spite of the best efforts of security vendors, there’s no one-size-fits-all-approach to protecting your PC, so examine what threats are out there and – crucially – how to protect yourself against them. The threats Malware is a constantly evolving beast, from its humble beginnings as a virus – a piece of code that replicated itself to spread havoc. The virus became a worm – a standalone program that can cause damage as well as spread, which in turn became a Trojan, which…

Windows has been designed for maximum compatibility, which means that while it’ll run on a wide range of PCs, it’s not been particularly optimised for any of them. This is where the selection of apps in this part of the feature come into play. They give you the tools required to speed up your PC in several different ways. As is usually the case with apps, less is more – there’s no point recommending 100 apps whose combined demands outweigh the benefits of using them in the first place, which is why we’ve pared this down to five apps. You’ll find our favourite tool for managing startup, enabling you to both monitor and improve the way Windows loads. If you’re frequently blighted by lockups, then Process Lasso will keep those…

There’s no foolproof way to completely stop yourself from receiving spam – if your email address falls into the hands of a spammer, all you can do is find effective ways of filtering it out. Consider installing a third-party tool such as Mailwasher (www.mailwasher.net) that you can use to screen your emails. Once installed, take the time to ‘train’ the app so it recognises the kind of spam emails you receive and then configure it so it deletes them automatically before they reach your inbox. You can also minimise spam by switching to plain text view by default and never opening a spam message – it’ll almost certainly contain some form of tracking device to alert the spammer to the fact your address is active and in use. If you…

The Microsoft Store doesn’t want for photo-editing apps. They run the gamut from simple one-click filter apps to a full version of Photoshop Elements 2018, but occasionally an app comes along that does things differently. One such is Polarr, made by a Californian company that specialises in Artificial Intelligence (AI). While the photo-editing app doesn’t display much in terms of AI – there’s a companion version for iOS called Polarr Album+ that has all the clever stuff included – it’s still a very intelligently-designed program. Polarr Pro uses a subscription-based model (costing £2.09 per month or £19.99 per year), but you can use its premium features by clicking the ‘Try now’ button when prompted. You just won’t be able to save anything you create with them. In fact, though we…

1 Download the app you want Like iTunes, Grover Podcast is a free app on the Microsoft Store (access the Store via the ‘shopping bag’ icon in the Taskbar). Various podcasting apps are available, but we’ve found Grover to be one of the best. Like all the best apps, it’s simple to use and just works. Note that it can also be given a ‘light’ or ‘dark’ theme. We’ll stick with the light theme for this tutorial. 2 A simple look and feel Grover Podcast looks just like a Microsoft Store app should – easy to navigate via options on the left-hand side. My Podcasts is the default view and is where you’ll see the podcasts you’ve added. Playlist is a list of individual episodes, while you can also see…

With modern digital cameras, it’s easy to take a lot of photos. It’s not like you’re wasting film, after all, and with memory cards of up to 256GB easily available and reusable, you can come back from holiday with a bulging collection of images that will need organising and sorting through. That’s where image organising software comes in. Being able to arrange your images, even if it’s just by date, into a coherent collection is important if you want to be able to quickly find your photos as your collection grows. Apps are available to help you, one of the best being Adobe’s Photoshop Elements 2018, which bundles an image-editing program with a standalone Organizer that takes a lot of the effort out of organisation, including GPS tagging and facial…

1 Install OBS Screen Recorder Go to https://obsproject.com/download, make sure the Windows icon is selected and click ‘Download installer’. Open the downloaded file and click Yes. Make sure you’re happy with the terms and conditions, then click Next twice. Leave the suggested plugins selected and click Install, then Finish. When OBS Studio launches, check the license agreement and select OK. 2 Configure the software Click ‘Yes’ to run the Auto Configuration Wizard and select ‘Optimize just for recording’. OBS Studio will detect your monitor settings and suggest a resolution and frame rate for you. Leave these selected and click Next. OBS Studio will calculate the optimum recording quality for your PC, and recommend either hardware or software encoding. Click ‘Apply settings’ to accept. 3 Choose a source Click the ‘+’…

Updating Windows is an incredibly important part of your day-to-day maintenance, but many people put off the updating experience – if they can. This isn’t laziness – Microsoft has quite the reputation for releasing patches before they’re ready for general consumption, and there are horror stories of Windows installations falling over (turn to page 53-54 for troubleshooting help). Despite this, in most circumstances it pays to ensure you’re at least up to date with the latest security hotfixes, so opting out of updates altogether – even where possible – isn’t practical. Let’s see what you can do about ensuring the Windows Update process works with you and not against you. Take back control When Microsoft released Windows 10, it took control away from the end user running Windows 10 Home,…

Ideally, Windows Update should be virtually invisible – other than alerting you when updates are ready to be installed, and while they’re being configured on startup. In the real world, we all know better of course. Some Windows updates might require two or three attempts before finally installing, while others may stubbornly refuse to install full stop. Windows Update might even stop functioning completely, or your PC may suddenly refuse to reboot after you’ve installed the latest updates. So what’s the solution? General troubleshooting If Windows Update refuses to work correctly – for example, it throws up errors when you attempt to install an update or scan for updates, or you’re struggling to install a specific update – start by running the Windows Update troubleshooter to see what it finds:…

They may no longer be the “in thing”, but a home without a desktop PC is somehow bereft. They’re typically more powerful than their laptop cousins, and provide a central point for everything from word processing to gaming. Desktop PCs are more affordable than ever, but the problem is that you can’t always guarantee you’ll get the right model for your needs. Of course, desktops are infinitely customisable – unlike laptops, you can easily swap out any component for repair or upgrading purposes. But if you’re in the market for a new desktop, you’ll be missing a trick if you incur the expense of an off-the-shelf model only to compound it by having to purchase additional components to bring it up to spec. Here’s another thought: why not build your…

This is typically one of those components you’ll be reusing from your old machine – see ‘Cannibalise your old PC’ (left) – but if you’re in the market for a new display, you can buy a 24-inch Full HD monitor for as little as £80. Things to look out for are the display’s resolution (1,920x1,080 is Full HD) and connections – most monitors give you VGA and one HDMI or DVI port. The latter are digital, so offer a superior signal, but make sure your motherboard supports them (some cheaper models don’t). Fancy taking advantage of Windows 10’s touchscreen support? Touch-friendly models are thin on the ground, but they do exist – one worth checking out is HannsG’s 21.5-inch HT225HPB (£200, Ebuyer.com/751120), which comes with full 10-point multi-touch, built-in speakers…

You’ve picked out your perfect components (our suggestions on pages 60 and 61 are simply a guide – you should take the time to pick and choose exactly what you want) and they’re now sitting in your dining room, ready to be unpacked and put together. Before you begin, unpack everything to see what cables and screws are supplied, and whether or not you’ll need to buy any extras. Note your processor will come with its own fan and a one-time thermal paste or pad already applied to its heatsink. Should you ever upgrade the fan to a larger or quieter model, be sure to purchase a tube of thermal paste (Antec and Arctic Silver are reputable brands) to apply to the processor before fitting it. Constructing the PC is…

Ripping CDs WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER HAS BEEN HOBBLED Q We’re constantly reminded of the advances made in the 1803 (April) Update, but it’s not all progress. I rip my music CDs for my personal use, and since the 1803 update Windows Media Player throws up a “webpage cannot be found” error when I attempt to find information for more obscure albums. It continues to work fine on my Windows 7 laptop. Is there a remedy for this? Malcolm Shore Rob’s solution Malcolm had already noted that Windows Media Player has changed the site used to obtain music metadata to fai.music.metaservices.microsoft.com. It may well be that the problem is fixed in a subsequent update, but Microsoft is deprecating Windows Media Player over time, and so now might be the moment to source…

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’ll need to partition your drive to free up space on which to store your copy of Windows. The best tool for the job is AOMEI Partition Assistant (www.aomeitech.com/aomei-partitionassistant.html). Start by clicking Make Bootable Media under Wizards to create rescue media. 2 Shrink main partition Select your Windows drive (typically C:) and click Resize/ 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…

“Most, if not all, malware should be sufficiently crippled in Safe Mode to allow complete removal” Step one of the decluttering process is to make sure your PC is infection-free. Start by opening your anti-virus tool to search for malware infections such as worms, Trojans, rootkits and spyware. Make sure its definitions are up to date, then allow it to perform a full scan. If infections are found, follow the instructions to either quarantine or attempt removal of the malware – you’ll almost certainly be prompted to reboot when you’re done, in which case run a full scan again to verify the infection has gone. Some infections can be stubborn – if after two or three attempts the infection is still present, reboot into Safe Mode. Those running Windows 7…

If your PC came with Windows pre-loaded, then all the bloatware that came with it is waiting to make a return the moment you restore Windows following your manufacturer’s instructions. If you prepare properly by following our ‘Perfect Windows Reinstall’ guide from issue 148, you can craft your own streamlined Windows 10 installation, free from all those unnecessary programs and trials. If there are programs you will miss – say a DVD Player – then visit the downloads section of your manufacturer’s website where you should be able to download those individual applications that you do use (along with all the hardware drivers you’ll need).…

One of the biggest causes of clutter are programs that leave traces of themselves – leftover files and Registry entries – behind when you remove them. Use a tool, such as IOBit Uninstaller (www.iobit.com/en/advanceduninstaller.php), to thoroughly scrub programs from your PC – it’ll also work with Microsoft Store apps, including those that came pre-installed with Windows. The latest version of IOBit Uninstaller also drops the annoying prompts to install Advanced SystemCare, but remember to skip the prompt at the download screen to add a new tab to your browser. Think twice before installing any program – and get into the habit of using Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx) to take an exact copy of your PC’s main drive on a regular basis, using differential backups to keep the file size down.…

1 Install Polarr Polarr Photo Editor is available from the Micrososft Store. Unless you’re signed up as a subscriber, you’ll get the free version. You can still use the Pro features in the free version, but you can’t save what you’ve done. If you’re using an earlier version of Windows, you can go to www.polarr.co/windows and download an older version, although this is no longer maintained. 2 The interface Open the app to be given a guided tour. It’s worth sitting through this, as the interface can be a little daunting. Generally speaking, you have filters and overlays on the left, and adjustment sliders on the right. Luckily, you can drag and drop to rearrange the tool icons, so you can group the ones you use the most so you…

1 Sign into OneDrive If you use Windows 10, then you already have OneDrive on your PC. To use it, you’ll need to sign in to Windows using your Microsoft account – if you don’t have one, create one at https://account.microsoft.com/account, then log in to Windows 10 using that ID. You can also click on the OneDrive icon in the notification area of the Taskbar on the lower-right hand corner of your screen. 2 Use OneDrive in Windows As OneDrive is built into Windows 10, you can use it as if it were a standard drive on your PC. Start the OneDrive app for the first time and it will show you the default location of your OneDrive Folder. To change the default, click ‘Change location’. Otherwise, click Next to…

1 Import images In Windows, there’s a lot you can do to organise a large collection of files, even if it’s just splitting them into folders based on the date they were created. When you import photos from your camera, it’s likely to do this for you, dumping the resulting dated folders into your Pictures folder. To do it manually, sort the memory card’s Explorer window by date, to make things easier. 2 Name your folders It’s worth adding more information to the names of your image folders, even if it’s just the name of the place or event you were taking photos at. Renaming a folder is simple enough in Windows: click on it, then either click on the name until it’s highlighted in blue or select Rename from…

1 Install Grammarly Point your web browser at www.grammarly.com/. If your browser is supported, you should be able to click the relevant link to install Grammarly – for example, ‘Add to Edge’. The Microsoft Store will automatically open. Click ‘Get’ to confirm installation. Once the download’s complete, click Launch to return to Microsoft Edge. Select ‘Turn it On’ to start using Grammarly. 2 Register with Grammarly Once Grammarly is activated, your browser will load the sign-up page. You can sign in using your Facebook ID, or Google account. Alternatively, you can register using your email address. If you choose to do this, you must also create a password. Click the white arrow to continue. Complete your registration by entering your name before clicking Sign Up. 3 Grammarly basics Click ‘Continue…

The clue is in the name: Windows Update is designed to keep your copy of Windows up to date through the delivery of special files that ‘patch’ Windows in various ways. The most obvious updates are security hotfixes, which patch vulnerabilities and security holes in the operating system that could be exploited by malware, as well as bug fixes that aim to resolve specific issues. Windows Update also delivers bigger updates, too – what once were Service Packs and then point releases (Windows 8.1) have now evolved into feature updates, delivered bi-annually to add new features and change the way existing features work in Windows 10. The latest feature update is the April 2018 Update (version number 1803), set to be superceded in autumn by the as-yet-untitled 1809 update. Microsoft…

Windows Update provides ‘optional’ updates that include additional components such as Microsoft Silverlight. They also include Microsoft-delivered drivers for a wide range of hardware. Windows 7 and 8.1 users can review and install these via Windows Update as shown in the main text, but these updates are hidden from view in Windows 10 – installing driver updates is a hit-and-miss affair involving going into Device Manager and clicking Update Driver from the Driver tab of selected devices. To see what’s available – and install them directly – download the Windows Update MiniTool (http://bit.ly/2v9BwtK). Extract its contents and then run wumt_ x64.exe (64-bit) or wumt_x86. exe (32-bit) depending on your Windows system type. Click the ‘Check for updates’ button under Update History after verifying ‘Include drivers’ is selected. From here you…

It’s rare – but not unheard of – for updates to screw your system up so much it can no longer boot into Windows successfully. After several failed attempts, Windows should give you the option of booting into Safe mode or bring up the recovery menu. From here try Startup Repair or System Restore to roll your PC back to the Restore point taken before the update was installed. Note: this may not be an option if you’re running Windows 10 and didn’t switch System Restore back on after installing the April 2018 Update. Other options will involve recovery media – if you regularly back up using a tool like Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/reflectfree), roll back to your last backup using its boot media. Or you could boot from your…

Motherboard and CPU The motherboard (or ‘mobo’) is the most critical component inside your PC. It determines your PC’s power in terms of the processor and memory it supports, as well as its connectivity. If you plan to connect lots of external peripherals, for example, you’ll need to ensure that you have plenty of USB ports. Another thing to consider are the number of internal expansion ports (PCI-Express typically) – a key factor if you’re intending to buy a separate graphics card. See the annotation on the facing page for a breakdown of motherboard features. In many ways, your choice boils down to whether you plan to go down the AMD or Intel route. AMD offers more bang for your buck, so our budget dream machine pairs a Gigabyte motherboard…

You’ve followed our guide to the letter, pressed the power button and then – nothing. Or, if nothing, a series of beeps which suggest something’s not well. If the power doesn’t come on, switch off, then check your connections – particularly the front panel ones and the ATX plugs on the power supply. If your PC powers up, but emits a series of beeps before shutting down, go to www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm to search for clues. Most codes refer to incorrectly seated RAM or the CPU, so check these. Also check that the CPU fan is plugged in. If you get persistent RAM errors, try removing one stick and trying again. If it works, reseat the second stick of RAM and you may find that all is now well, or it may…

Asus only updated its ZenBook Flip S a few months ago, but then Intel released some new Kaby Lake R eighth-generation processors and Asus felt the need to squeeze them into its product lines. And we’re glad it did, since the ZenBook Flip S UX370 is a laptop with plenty of performance to spare, while keeping the base frequency low until it’s needed. Beyond the hardware thrashing away inside this machine, the externals are pretty much the same, which is no bad thing, since the ZenBook Flip S is a joy to use. If you’ve not had chance to play with a 2-in-1 convertible, it’s worth trying to get hands on with one, as what seems like a gimmick at first actually has some practical uses once you get used…

Fujifilm’s X-T100 is the brand’s latest entry-level mirrorless camera, slotting in above the X-A5 and below the X-T20. Looks can be deceiving, though, and while the X-T100 shares a design more closely related to the X-T20, many of its internal features are borrowed from the X-A5. While the X-A5 is geared towards novice users looking for a simple-to-use camera that delivers better pictures than their smartphone, the X-T100 is a step up. With a built-in viewfinder, and offering a greater degree of control, the X-T100 is designed for those looking to get more creative with their photos. Features The X-T100 features a 24.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor with a more standard bayer array than the X-Trans design featured in more advanced Fujifilm cameras. It also means the camera is capable of…

Microsoft Surface Go Price £379.99-£509.99 www.microsoft.com The Microsoft Surface is a brilliant example of a portable Windows tablet “done right”, but its premium price tag has limited its appeal. That is until now. Unveiled in July, the Surface Go is not only the smallest and lightest Surface Microsoft has ever made, but it’s also the most affordable with prices starting at £379.99 for the Wi-Fi-only base model, which comes with a 10-inch touchscreen PixelSense display, seventh-generation Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y CPU, 64GB of eMMC storage and 4GB of RAM. A higher spec version is also available with a 128GB SSD and 8GB of RAM for £509.99. An LTE model is due later this year. To make the Surface Go even more versatile you can team it with a Surface Pen…

1 Zap nasty malware If you can restart your PC in Safe Mode – see the main body text opposite to find out how – with networking, then go to www.vipre.com/support/rescue/ to download a free tool that specialises in removing stubborn malware. If you can’t get online in Safe Mode, download it on a clean PC and transfer it across. 2 Scan with two engines If you can boot your PC, but can’t get into Safe Mode and have limited access to your system, download and install the portable Emsisoft Emergency Kit (www.emsisoft.com/en/software/eek/) on to a USB flash drive on a clean PC. Be warned, it’s 311MB, so make sure the drive has enough free space. 3 Prepare the scanner Launch the tool on your clean PC, and select the…

1 Check for PUPs If you’ve not already done so, run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. The free version is all you need: select Scan and choose Threat Scan if you want all PUPs treated as malware, or select Custom Scan to be alerted, enabling you to choose whether or not to remove the detected programs. 2 Enable System Restore Some of the following tools will offer to take a Restore point in case you mistakenly remove the wrong program. Press [Win] + [Pause/Break], and click System Protection. If your system drive isn’t protected, select it and choose Configure to do so. Set it to around 5GB or five percent of available space. 3 Get rid of adware Malwarebytes’ AdwCleaner tool targets other areas of your PC. It’ll detect software and browser add-ons…

Let’s start by tightening Windows 10’s privacy controls. Even if you diligently went through the setup wizard when you installed the current April 2018 Update, it can be confusing knowing which settings to pick – and even then, you’ll find that there are other privacy tweaks you should consider applying. Windows 10 thoughtfully scatters these settings far and wide throughout your PC, but by downloading the latest version of the free O&O Shutup10 tool from www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 you can view and manage them easily. Once downloaded, double-click OOSU10.exe and give it administrator access when required. If you’ve previously run the tool, it’ll detect previous settings; otherwise, you’ll see a list of switches you can click on for an explanation. Either flick switches manually, or go with O&O Shutup10’s recommendations via the…

1 Install FreeOffice 2018 SoftMaker will ask you for an email address prior to download: make sure you’re received your product key before you install. FreeOffice 2018 comes as an MSI file rather than an EXE. Double-click it to begin the installation process, or right-click it and select Install. Move through the installation windows and, enter the product key when prompted. 2 First look Now for some more choices. During installation, you’ll be asked if you want to associate FreeOffice with common Office file formats, as well as others such as Open Document Format (ODF) and Rich Text Format (RTF). Then, on first running one of the FreeOffice apps you’ll be asked to choose an interface: either a modern Office-like Ribbon bar, or an older menus-and-icons look. 3 The apps…

1 Show file extensions By default, Windows 10 hides file extensions such as ‘.docx’ to stop you from accidentally removing it. This can cause issues if you want to open a file with a different application. To fix this, open the View menu and choose Options > ‘Change folder & search options’. Click the View tab. Under ‘Advanced Settings’ untick ‘Hide extensions for known file types’. Click ‘Apply’. 2 A more detailed view Windows 10 usually displays files as simple icons, making it difficult to navigate large numbers of documents. To see a more detailed view, choose View from the Ribbon at the top and then Details. You can now view the date the file was last modified, its size and type. To fine-tune details, right-click a column title –…

1 Back up your PC As we’ll be editing the Registry, we recommended that you back up your PC before you begin. In the Start menu, type Restore Point and click ‘Create a restore point’. From the Window that appears, click Create. You’ll be asked to give the restore point a name. This is a good idea to help you quickly identify it if something goes wrong and you need to restore your PC. 2 Open the Registry You’ll need to open the Registry so you can edit it. In the Start Menu’s search bar, type regedit and press [Enter]. Windows 10 may show a window asking you if you want to allow the app to make changes to your device. Click ‘Yes’. The Registry will open. On the left-hand…

Windows 10 users need to be aware of a feature known as Delivery Optimisation, which affects how Microsoft delivers updates to PCs over the web. Head to Settings > Windows Update > ‘Advanced options’ and click the Delivery Optimisation link. Here you’ll see a setting called ‘Allow downloads from other PCs’, which basically means when the feature is switched on (as it is by default), it’s possible to receive your Windows updates using peer-to-peer technology from files stored on other PCs across your network and the Internet. In turn, these files can also be sent from your PC to other computers, too. Click ‘Activity monitor’ to review how much data is being transferred and how much bandwidth is being used, then click ‘Advanced options’ to set manual limits that should…

One way to reduce the cost of your new PC is to reuse items from your old one – obviously if you’re selling it or keeping it on this isn’t practical, but if it’s died a death there may be some parts that you can reuse, such as the keyboard, mouse and monitor, for example. If your old desktop has a built-in DVD drive or spare hard drive, you may also be able to reuse these, although make sure that they’re of the newer SATA variety and not IDE for compatibility purposes. You might have an older graphics card to recycle as well, but visit a site such as http://gpuboss.com/compare-gpus to see how it compares with the graphics on your new CPU before assuming it’ll be better. If you plan to…

REAR CONNECTORS Where you’ll find connectors for graphics (VGA, DVI and/or HDMI), USB, sound, network and more. PCIe SLOTS Use these slots to plug in internal boards, such as discrete graphics cards or extra networking ports. PROCESSOR AMD and Intel motherboards are not cross-compatible. Some mobos only support a single processor family. ONBOARD CONNECTORS These are where you plug in the case connectors – for example, front-mounted audio and USB ports. RAM You’ll typically find two or four slots for memory – add RAM in pairs for maximum performance and stability. SATA These L-shaped connectors are where you plug in your PC’s internal drives: one drive to each connector.…

You’re ready for the final stage: Insert the flash drive containing the Windows installation files and start your PC. If your PC doesn’t automatically detect the drive and start the Windows installation process, look for an option to access the boot menu, then select the flash drive – if two entries appear, choose the UEFI version. Now follow the installation prompts – choose the Custom option when asked. You’ll be asked to choose which drive to install to – make sure you select your SSD drive from the two choices given (use its Total Size to guide you), even if it’s listed as Drive 1. After this, Windows 10 should install and activate itself. Once you’ve logged in for the first time, you’re ready to begin setting up Windows the…

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 74 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 72. 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…

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw Microsoft release a range of peripherals for Windows PCs that, thanks to their relative simplicity, reliability and ergonomic designs, became very popular among computer users. One of the most well-loved devices made by Microsoft during this time was the IntelliMouse, and now the company has revisited the iconic brand with the Classic IntelliMouse which – according to Microsoft – is inspired by the IntelliMouse 3.0. We’ve seen that targeting the nostalgia for older hardware can be very successful – take a look at the popularity of the Nintendo SNES Classic Mini, or the Lenovo ThinkPad Anniversary Edition 25. As our devices become ever more complex and convoluted (as well as delicate), there is a lot to be said about older hardware that’s solidly…

Designed to produce a tailored listening experience, the Audeara A-01 headphones were developed in tandem with medical professionals. Much like you’d wear prescription glasses matched to the capabilities and weaknesses of your eyes, Audeara offers an audio device you can customise to your listening needs. The company has some curious beginnings with its first pair of headphones, having come into being thanks to a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. The audio startup managed to raise over £260,000 ($350,000) in Australia, where the company’s based, although the £375 ($675) headphones also ship worldwide. With a stated mission to ‘deliver perfect sound, always’, do these A-01s live up the hype? Design The design of the Audeara A-01 headphones is largely understated. The straightforward black headphones come in a simple, matte finish, with the…