Computeractive 646

I prepared for reading this issue’s Cover Feature by turning off all my ad blockers for two days, and using Chrome rather than Brave to browse the web. I wanted to see how bad online tracking had become. And I wasn’t disappointed. Almost everything I searched for reappeared a few clicks later as a hideous advert, like overcooked brussels sprouts repeating on you. I suspect they’re going to get much worse in 2023 (online adverts, not brussels sprouts – they’re bad enough already). With a global recession looming, tech companies are responding in two ways: cutting thousands of jobs, and tracking you more aggressively. Thankfully, Robert Irvine knows exactly what they’ve got planned, and recommends ways to block their methods – which include such mysterious-sounding tricks as browser fingerprinting, spell-jacking and spy…

Openreach has said it will focus on finishing current full-fibre broadband projects before starting new work, in a bid to save money as inflation surges. As revealed in the Financial Times, Openreach wrote to its suppliers to say it would not commit to spending projects more than six months ahead. The company said this would mean that some work already agreed would have to be suspended or cancelled. It will now prioritise connecting six million homes in work that has already started rather than begin new projects. It comes a few weeks after Philip Jansen, head of Openreach’s parent company BT, announced plans to cut costs by £3bn by the end of 2025 because “inflation is pushing us hard”. BT’s energy bill alone increased by £200m this year. Openreach boss, Clive Selley, echoed this…

Police have texted 70,000 people to tell them they’ve been victims of a huge banking scam that stole millions of pounds from people. It followed the arrest of a man in east London accused of running the iSpoof website, which provided access to a server allowing scammers to make anonymous calls to victims’ phone numbers that appeared genuine. This meant scammers could pose as employees of banks including Barclays, HSBC and TSB. The site (pictured) was taken down following an international operation involving police from the UK, US and Netherlands. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the case was the biggest ever proactive counter-fraud investigation in the UK. He claimed the criminals were responsible for the “industrialisation of fraud”. Police obtained the phone numbers of victims, but not their names and addresses. The…

Amazon was continuing to sell what appeared to be fake SSDs for hours after being notified about them. The devices were first spotted by Desire Athow, managing editor at Computeractive sister site TechRadar Pro, who reported them to Amazon. Some of the devices are sold by Sajiulas (1 in our screenshot), a trademark of little-known company Shenzhen Daba Electronic Technology. One listing on Amazon’s US site (www.amazon.com) is for a ‘16TB portable SSD external hard drive’ at the implausibly low price of $109.99 (about £95). The only 16TB SSD we’ve seen is the Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q, priced $2,900 (£2,400). Amazon was even listing the Sajiulas SSD as its top new release in the External Solid State Drives category 2, making it appear legitimate to casual shoppers. Searching for ‘16TB SSD’ on Amazon UK produced many…

Microsoft has said that the Windows 10 22H2 Feature update is now ready for “broad deployment”, meaning it’s available for many more computers. The update was released in October, but until now had been restricted to computers that Microsoft thought were best placed to install it smoothly. It will now be made available to an “expanded set of eligible devices”, though you still won’t get it if Microsoft thinks your computer will struggle running it. To check if you can install it, press Windows key+I, then click ‘Update & Security’, followed by Windows Update on the left and ‘Check for updates’ in the middle (1 in our screenshot). If you see the update, click ‘Download and install’ 2. On its ‘Release health’ page (www.snipca.com/44210), Microsoft wrote that computers running Windows 10 20H2 or newer…

WATCH LOCAL BBC ONE SHOWS IN HD NEXT YEAR Viewers in England will be able to watch local BBC One shows in high-definition (HD) from April 2023. The change is coming to YouView, Freeview, Sky and Freesat, following the roll-out on internet devices such as Sky Glass, Virgin Media Stream and BT TV Boxes. Currently, you have to switch from HD to standard definition to watch regional shows. EE ADDS 150 MORE TOWNS TO 5G NETWORK EE has expanded its 5G network to 150 new locations in England, Scotland and Wales, including Carlisle, Cowdenbeath, Merthyr Tydfil and Scunthorpe. It’s also boosting 5G coverage in many Christmas markets during December, including those in Edinburgh, Belfast and Newcastle. Read more at www.snipca.com/44205. TOMORROW’S WORLD We know computers can thrash us at chess, but they’re now excelling at…