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I may contact Guinness World Records to see if they will recognise Jane Hoskyn’s achievement in this issue’s Cover Feature, because I doubt anyone has ever unticked as many software boxes in 24 hours as she did. It may not have been as entertaining to watch as Olga Liashchuk crushing three watermelons between her thighs in a record 14.65 seconds (www.snipca.com/20687), but it will prove incredibly more useful. We’re not saying you should avoid the programs we mention in the feature. On the contrary – they are all excellent. But these days even reputable software can contain lots of pointless junk. Sadly, it’s becoming clear that the only things you can be certain of in life are death, taxes, and pre-ticked boxes when installing programs. Daniel Booth editor@computeractive.co.uk PS: We’ve…

Here’s how Microsoft will extend the ‘free upgrade’ period Computeractive, you’re getting cynical in your old age (just like me). I chuckled at your suggestion in Issue 476 (News, page 6) that Microsoft is secretly plotting to extend its deadline for getting Windows 10 for free. I’ve since thought about this, and I think it’s obvious that’s precisely what they are doing. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to believe it. This is what will happen: first, for the next few weeks, Microsoft will endlessly remind everyone that time is running out. They will find a way to display lots of messages on PCs across the world – as they have with the prompts to upgrade to Windows 10. This will scare loads more people into upgrading rather…

SMARTPHONE ❘ £250 from Very www.snipca.com/20745 Does anyone else remember PDAs, or did we dream them? Before there were smartphones, there were pocket computers from companies like Psion and Palm. And their black-and-white screens came with that essential accessory: the stylus. It seems odd to feel nostalgic for something we were only too happy to give up. Glorified cocktail sticks are frustratingly easy to mislay, after all, but we can generally find our fingers. So it’s not immediately obvious why a smartphone company would want to revive the stylus. Except that it’s already happened, with Samsung’s Galaxy Note series, and although the Note 5 never made it to the UK, a Note 6 is eagerly anticipated. “You can scribble notes and diagrams or annotate documents with Pop Scanner” So LG’s…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2015 Back Issue CD: £15 fromwww.snipca.com/19124 LAPTOP Asus UX305 £550 from www.snipca.com/19439 Tested: Issue 447 13.3in is a practical size for a laptop, and this light but sturdy ‘ultrabook’ has a smart and slim design that does justice to its capable performance. Upgradeable to Windows 10, it’s limited mainly by its 128GB SSD, which makes it work fast, but might leave you needing more space. ALTERNATIVE Toshiba Satellite C40-C This 14in Windows 10 laptop looks like it costs a lot more. It’s not the most amazing PC, but it’s fantastic for the price. £200 from www.snipca.com/20245 DESKTOP PC Mesh Elite Essential Skylake CA £499 from www.snipca.com/19822 Tested: Issue 471 This compact tower system spends your money wisely on an excellent…

Boost+ is a new, free app that works on any Android device. It has several features that help you recover valuable storage space and speed up your phone or tablet. These include freeing up RAM by closing apps that run in the background and deleting accumulated junk files (such as the cache and temporary internet files) from the apps you use. It also lets you uninstall all your redundant apps in one go. We managed to recover around 3GB of storage space after using it. STEP 1 Install the Boost+ app from www.snipca.com/20451. When you open the app you’ll see its main screen. The app will analyse your device and provide an overview of its storage and memory 1 , with five options below. Tap Boost 2 to analyse apps…

Handy hints and tips from your fellow readers Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Transfer Android files from phone to PC My Android phone recently got updated to the latest version (6.0 Marshmallow). It’s much faster, but I couldn’t figure out how to transfer files from my PC to my mobile – and vice versa. Before the update, whenever I connected my phone to my PC, the phone would begin charging. But, as well as that, I could see the phone added as a device to My Computer on my PC. From here, I could access all its files – videos, music, photos, etc – and transfer them between my PC and phone. The phone still charges after being connected to my PC. However, clicking the phone’s…

AGES 0-5 Mr. Fox and Shapes HD £2.29 www.snipca.com/20759 (iPad only) Your toddler will love this app’s cute characters and simple shape-based games, including puzzles and hunting missing pieces. We enjoyed the game in which you drag a shape to form an object, which then comes to life as an animation. AGES 6-10 Fast like a Fox* Free www.snipca.com/20760 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/20761 (iOS) In this entertaining game, your child plays as a fox running through the wilderness. Tap the back of your device to accelerate and the screen to jump. They need to overcome obstacles and collects coins to win additional points and extra lives. AGES 11-16 BBC Bitesize Free www.snipca.com/20762 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/20763 (iOS) Bitesize is a new study app from the BBC to help teenagers through their exams.…

IOBIT UNINSTALLER www.snipca.com/20650 This tool uninstalls multiple programs and gets rid of all registry litter they might leave behind. Annoyingly, the Free Downloadqww button redirects you to download mirror site MajorGeeks, and the very first stage of the installer has a tiny (and we really do mean tiny) pre-ticked unwanted extra: IObit Advanced SystemCare. Untick ‘Install Advanced SystemCare…’ before going any further. IOBIT DRIVER BOOSTER 3 FREE www.snipca.com/20651 You can fix and update your drivers with this easy-to-use free program. The Free Download button is (presumably unintentionally) accompanied by a photo of a Prince William lookalike, but don’t be lulled into a false sense of respect. The button redirects you to Cnet’s Download.com site, which is boobytrapped with junk-filled installers. In the installer, untick Advanced SystemCare (“speeds up slow like…

Microsoft has a nasty habit of suddenly killing off its own tools and services. Windows XP, Office 2003 and older versions of Internet Explorer have all found themselves unceremoniously dumped on the digital scrapheap in recent years, forcing millions to upgrade or adapt. Now, it’s users of the popular email program, Windows Live Mail 2012, who are set to suffer. The program is part of Microsoft’s Windows Essentials package – a suite of free tools that also includes Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. Currently, you can still download and use it (from www.snipca.com/20626), but Microsoft’s recent announcement that the program will no longer work with the company’s own Outlook.com has all but sealed Windows Live Mail’s fate. So what’s happening exactly? Microsoft isn’t actually ending support for its Outlook.com webmail…

Can’t share files between PCs Whenever you try to join a network on your PC or laptop (whether at home or in your local cafe), you’ll see a prompt asking you whether the connection is Public, Work or Home. What you select here determines the level of security that Windows applies while you’re connected to the network. If you have selected Public, you’ll be subject to more restrictions as to what you can do (file sharing, for example). As long as you trust the network, changing this setting to Home lets you copy files between PCs. To do this, click the Start button, type control panel and press Enter. Next, click ‘Network and Internet’ then ‘Network and Sharing Center’. Under the ‘View your active networks’ section you should see a…

MESSAGING WhatsApp www.whatsapp.com/download What you need: Windows 8.1 or 10 WhatsApp? What’s up with us, more like. Why devote this page to an app for kids instead of the latest open-source Windows Explorer alternative? Well, as many of you know, WhatsApp is too good to leave to smartphone-savvy youngsters. I’m halfway to 90 and I’ve spent years using WhatsApp on my phone, tablet and, more recently, in my browser (https://web.whatsapp.com) to swap long messages with my mother. At first it was a friendlier alternative to SMS texting, with no word limits or fees, other than mobile-data charges where applicable. WhatsApp grew into a communications hub for sharing photos, videos, audio clips, documents and web links. It’s more informal than email, and more versatile than SMS. On the downside, your recipient…

PC ❘ £563 from Dell www.snipca.com/20638 Look around any electronics shop, and you’ll find the computers they sell from the shelves aren’t the same ones they use on the counter. That’s because most big PC brands make entirely different ranges for consumers and businesses. Dell’s Optiplex 5040 series is definitely aimed at the office, not the home. But it’s cheap enough to consider for home use. The first thing we noticed was the quality of the case. Most affordable PCs come in a basic black plastic box that aims to keep costs down, or a curvy multi-coloured confection designed to catch shoppers’ eyes. By contrast, the Optiplex looks like a piece of serious industrial equipment. “Some serious kit, with a practical design and room to expand” The front fascia has…

Transcend JetFlash 710S 16GB USB 3.0 Metallic £9 from Amazon www.snipca.com/20773 A USB ‘thumb drive’ is a handy way to expand the limited built-in storage of a modern laptop or convertible PC, but if left sticking out it can get knocked, causing data corruption. Extra-small models are made to solve the problem. The JetFlash leaves only a centimetre protruding, with a loop to attach to a keyring. Kingston DataTraveler 64GB Micro USB 3.1 £13.49 from Amazon www.snipca.com/20774 This sturdy keyring drive sticks out a bit further than the Transcend, making it a borderline entry in the ‘extra small’ category. Its write speed (how fast data copies to it from the PC) is slow, but read speed is likely to be more important, and it’s good value for its capacity. PKparis…

Win 1 of 4 VideoStudio Ultimate X9 Compatible with Windows 7, 8 and 10, Corel’s VideoStudio Ultimate X9 has over 2,000 customisable effects, transitions and titles to help you edit the perfect video. New tools include the Multi-Camera Editor, which lets you switch angles, add transitions and synchronise and align your clips. There’s also new Multi-Point Motion Tracking, and more audio tracks than ever before. To enter, email your address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk with ‘videostudio’ in the subject line by midnight 21 June. VideoStudio Ultimate X9 is available to buy now priced £79.99 from www.corel.com/gb. For the latest information on Corel products follow @corelsoftware on Twitter and ‘like’ www.facebook.com/Corel.…

ANDROID & iOS Tracks flights on your phone or tablet A little-known feature of Google Now (default app on Android; iOS www.snipca.com/20752) is that it can track the status of any flight – whether that’s future flights you’ve booked or current flights that a friend or relative is on. You only need to know the flight number (for example, BA 1479). If you had your flight booking emailed to you and it’s in Gmail on your device, then you’ll automatically see its status in Google Now a few hours before departure. This is useful because it informs you of any flight delays and even tells you the gate number as soon as it’s announced. To check someone else’s flight status, type their flight number into Google Now, then tap Enter.…

WINDOWS 7, 8, 10 Access Task Manager in five different ways Task Manager is one of the most useful tools in Windows because it gives you a detailed overview of all the programs, apps and services running on your PC (including those in the background). You can, for example, use it to instantly close a problematic program that has crashed and frozen your PC. To do that, right-click the program’s entry in Task Manager, then click End Process. There are five simple ways to open Task Manager. The most common is to press Ctrl+Alt+Del and, from the list of options, click Start Task Manager. The quickest way to access it, however, is by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Esc. The third way is to the right-click the taskbar, then click Start…

OS Maps Release date: May 2016 Format: iOS (iPad version tested), Android (smartphone version tested) Website: www.snipca.com/20633 Price: Free version available, or Premium version from £19.99 for 12 months Setting off on a hike through Epping Forest on a sunny day with nothing but my smartphone was very liberating. My main goal was to test the new OS Maps phone app, which digitises the classic Ordnance Survey maps of old. It marks your route on maps and, like Google Maps, uses GPS to pinpoint your location – thereby ending any arguments with your companions about where you really are. The Premium version of OS Maps (at £19.99 per year) gives you access to all of Ordnance Survey’s 1:25,000 scale Explorer and 1:50,000 scale Landranger maps (see screenshot above) via the…

STEP 1 First, you must delete your Outlook.com (or Hotmail) account from Windows Live Mail – all your messages, contacts and calendar data will be kept online, so don’t worry about losing anything. Right-click your account in the left-hand pane and select ‘Remove account’. STEP 2 Next, click the Accounts tab, then the Email icon in the Ribbon (the one with the green cross). In the ‘Add your email accounts’ screen, enter your Outlook.com/Hotmail address, password and display name, tick ‘Manually configure server settings’, then click Next. STEP 3 Under ‘Incoming server information’, select IMAP from the ‘Server type’ menu, then type imap-mail.outlook.com under ‘Server address’ and 993 under Port. Tick ‘Requires a secure connection (SSL)’ and type your email address as the Log-on username. In the ‘Outgoing server information’…

CHROME TO END FLASH SUPPORT Google will end support for Flash in its Chrome browser by the end of 2016. It means that for most sites that require Flash, you’ll need to activate the plug-in manually. However, this restriction won’t apply to the world’s 10 most popular Flash-based sites, which include YouTube and Amazon. Google says that HTML5 is safer and faster than Flash at loading multimedia content. NEW ONEDRIVE APP FOR WINDOWS 10 Microsoft has launched a new OneDrive app for Windows 10 that lets you see on your PC what files you’ve stored online. It means that you no longer need to synchronise and download your files and folders to browse what’s in your OneDrive account. The free app, which works on both touchscreen and non-touch computers, is…

Tell us what’s on your mind Email: letters@computeractive.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive Twitter: @ComputerActive www.twitter.com/computeractive ‘Unfair’ to call Nero rip-off software I think it’s unduly harsh to describe a reputable product like Nero as “rip-off software” that we “must never use” (Cover Feature, Issue 475). While some entries in your software list are undoubtedly dodgy and disreputable, Nero isn’t one of them. The software is a complete toolkit for those (and there are still plenty of us) who use discs for any number of valid reasons. Nero’s biggest problem is the same old one of trying to present a consistent front end to such a wide range of tools and helping us choose which one to use; after more than a decade of using Nero even I still get confused sometimes. There’s…

Cold-callers forced to display numbers All cold-calls are annoying, but the most troubling are those that don’t display their phone number. It’s estimated that around a fifth of all marketing calls are from anonymous or withheld numbers. The Government has taken on this menace by changing the law so that marketing companies must display their numbers on your phone, even if their call centres are based abroad. This will make it easier for you to decide whether you should answer the phone. The change came into force on 16 May following a public consultation by the Government, which showed that last year alone the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued fines of £895,000 against companies making nuisance calls. The move will also make it easier for the ICO to do its…

What can I use to tidy my desktop? Q My Windows 10 desktop is already crammed with program shortcuts, portable tools, Notepad files and favourite photos. I like having them there – if I hid them in Library folders, I’d lose track. I just want a way to organise the mess better than using ‘Sort by’. Can you help? Mike Fowley A The most sophisticated tool for this job is Fences (www.snipca.com/20593), which lets you ‘draw’ shaded areas on your desktop to house different categories. You can then drag the shaded boxes around, create rules to organise icons automatically, and swipe between multiple pages of boxes. However it’s not free - but at a reasonable $9.99 (£6.95) you may decide it’s worth the cash, and there’s a free trial. Our…

Computeractive is owned by Dennis Publishing, which owns a hi-tech facility for testing the latest technology. You’ll often read references to our benchmark testing, which is a method of assessing products using the same criteria. For example, we test the speed of every PC and the battery life of every tablet in exactly the same way. This makes our reviews authoritative, rigorous and accurate. Dennis Publishing also owns the magazines PC Pro, Computer Shopper, Web User and Micro Mart and the website Expert Reviews (www.expertreviews.co.uk). This means we can test thousands of products before choosing the most relevant for Computeractive. FAIR AND IMPARTIAL Our writers follow strict guidelines to ensure the reviews are fair and impartial. The manufacturer has no involvement in our tests. OUR AWARDS We award every product…

Should I buy a Chromebook for my granddaughter? Q My 7-year-old granddaughter loves her tablet, but says she would sometimes like a proper keyboard. I immediately thought of a Chromebook, but I recall you mentioning that not all Android apps will work on one. Is this correct? Duncan Bird A It’s worse than that, Duncan: no Android apps will work on a Chromebook, because Android and Chrome OS are two entirely different operating systems, even though both are made by Google. You must be psychic, however, because as we were putting this issue of Computeractive together, Google announced it would enable selected Chromebooks to run Android apps, starting this month. Models include Acer’s Chromebook R11 (pictured, see our review, Issue 470). You can find a full list at www.snipca.com/20679. If…

SUMMER 2016 It’s now thought that AMD’s next range of graphics processors, known as Polaris, will appear in cards called the R9 470 and 480, following on from the likes of the R9 390 (pictured). AMD chips could end up in Apple’s next MacBook Pro models. SUMMER 2016 Despite rumours it would be here in Spring, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5 stylus phone has yet to go on sale in the UK. Now speculation is turning to the Note 6, expected in the summer. Interestingly, Samsung has registered trademarks for ‘Iris’ and ‘Eyeprint’ technology. AUTUMN 2016 We’d hoped there might be news of a revamped Nexus 7 tablet at Google’s I/O conference last month, but nothing appeared. Still, we have high hopes that it will arrive later this year. 2017 Now…

What you need: PrivaZer; Any Windows version (XP to 10) Time required: 1 hour We’ve tried countless PC-optimisation programs, but none clean your computer’s hard drive as thoroughly as the free program PrivaZer. It scans your PC before removing over 100 types of junk files – including your cache, cookies, broken shortcuts, leftovers from uninstalled programs, and even junk left behind from previous versions of Windows. It also deletes your browsing data to enhance your privacy and protect you from hackers. Give the program a try and you could retrieve more than 30GB of storage space. STEP 1 To download the program, go to www.snipca.com/20645 and click the blue Download button. Launch the downloaded setup file, then click Yes. You’ll now see three options: you can either install the program…

What you need: Microsoft Outlook; Any version of Windows Time required: 10 minutes We’ve all made the mistake of sending an email, only to wish we hadn’t – perhaps because we forgot to include some important details or, worse still, sent it to the wrong person. Outlook has a useful hidden setting that, when activated, delays sending your emails for up to two hours, giving you enough time to rectify any errors you’ve made before resending. We’ll show you how to set this up to avoid any embarrassing mistakes. STEP 1 To delay outgoing emails, you first need to create an Outlook ‘rule’. If you use Outlook 2007 or earlier, click Tools at the top, then click ‘Rules & Alerts’. If you use Outlook 2010, 2013 or 2016, click File…

Android Pay Free Android: www.snipca.com/20755 With this app, you can now use your Android phone to make contactless payments. First, go to www.snipca.com/20756 to check whether your bank supports the technology. The page also has information on how to use the app to make payments and keep track of them. Gboard Free iOS: www.snipca.com/20757 Google’s iOS keyboard app has all the features you’d expect, including swiping your fingers across letters to type words and a predictive text tool. But its unique selling point is its ability to carry out Google searches with a single tap. You can then add your search results to the app you’re using. Send Anywhere Android, iOS, Windows Phone: www.snipca.com/20758 New to Windows Phone, this app lets you share lots of files (up to 1GB) in…

SWAY Add photos and videos to the same section In previous issues, we’ve explained how to add various elements (photos, videos, charts and maps) to your presentations. Until now, you could add only one element per section or slide. However, Microsoft’s online presentation tool has a new feature that lets you add all these elements to the same section. It then automatically generates a layout, which you can customise. Go to www.sway.com, click ‘Sign in’ at the top right, and log in using your Microsoft account. We’ll show you how to add multiple elements to a new presentation. Click Create New on Sway’s main page, give your presentation a title, press Enter to add a new section, then type whatever you want into its text field at the top. Next,…

Imagine spending hundreds of your hard-earned pounds on something that did nothing more than spew out endless amounts of hot air. No, I’m not talking about your taxes being hijacked to service politicians’ expenses, but the recently announced Dyson Supersonic, also known as the world’s most hilariously overpriced hairdryer. “Apple has done a great job convincing punters to pay much more than they would for equivalent products” Seriously, is anyone going to spend £299 for a gadget that costs a tenner from Argos? Okay, it might be unfair to compare a premium product with a bargainbasement brand, but you can buy decent hairdryers for just £40. Why pay £260 extra for a fancy brand name? Surely no one would fall for that old trick! Oh, hello Apple customers – I…