PC Pro July 2016

EACH MONTH, WE try to tie our readers’ poll (see p27) to one of the issue’s big subjects. So when our letters editor came up with the idea of “Is email dead?”, I jumped at it. I knew what my answer was without hesitation; email has been the bane of my working life, and I figured this would be true of PC Pro readers. Well, I sit here humbled, with only one person agreeing with me out of 122 (and counting). I tried to work out why, which meant going through the comments. “My business, IT support, just couldn’t operate without this simple yet brutally reliable tool,” wrote Terry Montague. He added that “it just works”, an argument that cropped up again and again. Email’s universal nature proved another key theme. “Email…

Charles Arthur What lurks on the dark web? We dispatched Charles, the Guardian’s former technology editor, to find out. The answer, on p46, may just surprise you Anthony Dowling Who better to advise on how to get rid of viruses and ransomware than a man who rescues infected PCs for a living? See his trade secrets on p116 Stuart Andrews There’s only one way to unearth the best NAS drives on the market, and that’s to put them to the test. Discover the results of Stuart’s efforts on p76 Professor Mark Beach The University of Bristol is leading research into 5G. We speak to the professor who has helped build and test a “Massive MIMO” antenna – see p128…

VICTIMS OF ONLINE abuse, threats, stalking and bullying continue to be let down by the police and tech companies, according to campaigners and victims. As the government ponders new laws that aim to make the prevention of online harassment more effective, police are regularly ignoring the defamation, race-hate threats and other abuses that are reported. “Police are overwhelmed – they’ll fob off victims,” said Jennifer Perry, CEO of Digital-Trust, which aims to support victims of online stalking and abuse. “In many cases, they’re not even taking criminal complaints, so there are no statistics and there’s no investigation to follow. When it’s stalking, they’ll say ’Don’t be daft’, or ‘They’ll get bored’ – the victim has nowhere to turn.” The Crown Prosecution Service could shed no definitive light on the scale of the problem, nor…

1 Microsoft joins privacy fight Microsoft has joined the battle-already begun by Apple and Google-for privacy against US authorities. It's taking legal action againstthe US Department of Justice over its use of court orders to make the company turn over customerfiles without notifying the end-user. Microsoft's chief legal officer,BradSmith(below),isarguing thaf'non-disclosure"orders-whichprohibitthefirmfrom telling customers when theirdata is being probed-violate itsconstitutional righttofree speech and customers' protection against unreasonable searches. 2 Google drops support for ageing operating systems Google hasdropped support for older Microsoft and Macoperatingsystemsin version 50 of itsChrome web browser, meaning userson older systems will need toupgrade or switch browser. Thecompanyannounced that PCs running Microsoftversionsolder than Windows 7 - primarily Vista and XP -would no longer be supported by Chrome, while Macs on versions of OS X earlier than 10.9 willalsodrop off thesupport programme. Firefox…

Web publishers are increasingly turning the screws on surfers that use ad-blocking technologies such as AdBlock Plus, effectively depriving content providers of essential income. Restricting access to content and asking for a subscription are two of the tactics being used to persuade visitors to disable the blockers. Yet consumers are reluctant to do so, often because they see browser performance suffer, and because ads are becoming ever more intrusive and audible. Not to mention the privacy fears of advertisers tracking you from one website to the next. The battle is only set to intensify, as smartphone users look to block content on their handsets. Even more worrying for publishers is the fact that younger people are the most likely to block adverts. Sources: PageFair and Adobe 2015 Adblocking report/PubNation/Global Web Trends/The YouGov Survey…

THE GOVERNMENT’S PLANS for a Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband – where all homes should expect a 10Mbits/sec connection – could lead to higher internet prices across the board. The government outlined plans last year for a USO, and both the telecoms regulator Ofcom and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport have opened consultations on how a framework could work. However, with no mention of funding for a broadband obligation in the latest budget, there are fears that consumers in urban areas could effectively end up funding rural broadband, as communications providers pass the burden of universal provision onto their customers. BT has estimated that rolling out a fibre service to the remaining homes could cost as much as £2bn, although using wireless technology would provide cheaper alternatives. In its consultation paper,…