Table of contents for October 2022 in Tech Advisor

If you bought a high-end PC motherboard from Asus last year, you should probably check out this safety alert. The manufacturer is recalling approximately 10,000 motherboards in the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero line, after discovering that a manufacturing defect can cause it to overheat and potentially catch fire. So far, ten reports of overheating have been processed by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, thankfully without any injuries. What exactly is the problem? According to Asus, a single capacitor on the board was installed backwards in some models, specifically those with the serial numbers starting with MA, MB and MC, manufactured last year. This apparently doesn’t cause the motherboard to malfunction right away, but with extended use it can result in error codes, a failure to post, or (at least…

DuckDuckGo has made a name for itself protecting users from being tracked and preserving their anonymity, which is why people were understandably upset when they discovered that the browser maker had given the green light to being tracked by Microsoft. Last month, the search engine remedied that. DuckDuckGo chief executive Gabriel Weinberg said that it will expand the scripts that “we block from loading on websites to include scripts from Microsoft in our browsing apps (iOS and Android) and our browser extensions (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge and Opera), with beta apps to follow in the coming month”. DuckDuckGo tries to block tracking scripts from search engines and websites like Facebook, but also from more fundamental architects of scripts and tracking software. This browser uses what it calls ‘3rd-Party Tracking Loading…

Samsung has forged a path for itself as makers of some of the most capable and desirable smartwatches on the market, and that trend is set to continue with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro. While the Galaxy Watch 5 is similar to its predecessor, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro introduces an entirely new design that ditches the fan-favourite rotating bezel. A controversial choice? Maybe. Here’s all there is to know. AVAILABILITY Both watches are on sale now. PRICE The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 comes in at a slightly higher price than its predecessor, with a £20 to £40 increase (depending on the model you opt for) in the UK. As with previous iterations, the exact price will depend on multiple factors including case sizing, connectivity and…

Microsoft’s Windows 11 22H2 feature update is barrelling down the final stretch to being released next month or in early October, with a host of new features. My favourite (and, I expect, yours) will be a new twist on a proven feature, one that’s central to Windows 10 and Windows 11. Yes, I’m talking about Snap. No, not Windows Snap, or even the version of Snap that was built into Windows 11. No, I’m talking about Snap Bar, and the related Snap Groups that accompany it. Snap Bar simply takes Windows 11’s existing Snap feature and elevates it, making it less of a pixel hunt and much more of an integral part of Windows. If you click the ‘maximize window’ icon in the upper right-hand corner of the window, Windows…

Price: £1,249 from fave.co/3R0jsus Since Samsung’s return to the laptop business in 2020, it’s turned out some seriously impressive machines at a variety of price points. The Galaxy Book2 Pro is the new flagship, and it could very well be its best yet. Launched alongside the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 2-in–1, this is a premium laptop with a slim and lightweight body, 12th-gen Intel power, and a vibrant 15.6in AMOLED display. My review unit is the 15in 5G model, but there are also non–5G variants in both 13- and 15in sizes, though I’m focussing on the larger option here. This 5G model limits you to an Intel Core i5–1240P CPU, a 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM. Going Wi-Fi only opens up the possibility of a higher specification, which…

Price: £699 from fave.co/3zPj2jw Small phones don’t sell. Or so goes the accepted wisdom, especially in a year when it looks likely that Apple will drop the Mini from the iPhone 14 series, and Sony killed off its diminutive Xperia 5 line. No-one told Asus that though, so it’s bringing back its compact Zenfone flagship – and in fact the Zenfone 9 is even smaller and shorter than last year’s Zenfone 8. To be fair, the company’s not alone. While Apple and Sony may be moving away from one-handed handsets, Asus itself points out that it’s facing renewed competition from the Samsung Galaxy S22 and Xiaomi 12, both of which are smaller than their predecessors. The Zenfone 9 is smaller than either though, and thanks to Asus’s efforts to still…

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but our favourite virtual helper is losing some of its location-sensing smarts. For reasons unknown, Google is in the midst of quietly pulling back Assistant’s ability to handle reminders based on your physical location – the ‘remind me to do something when I get to this place’ sorts of commands that have long been possible on Android. It’s part of a broader confusion campaign realignment of Google features that seems to be placing more emphasis on the company’s Tasks service and its integration with other Google apps. Today, I want to turn our focus to some little-known location features Assistant still has in its grasp. 1. THE SELF-LOCATION SPELL We’ll start with the simplest command of the bunch but one that can be surprisingly…

We love us some PowerToys here at Tech Advisor, and it seems the semi-official add-on for Windows power users is only getting better. A recent update to the GitHub project for PowerToys indicates that ‘PowerOCR’ is in the latter stages of approval and should land in the official app before too long. The tool will add in an easy way for Windows users to activate Optical Character Recognition (OCR) via a quick screenshot interface. NeoWin spotted the changes to the PowerToys Github (fave.co/3Klvxs8), with extensive documentation of the new PowerOCR tool and an apparent approval nod from a Microsoft manager. The tool is mostly the work of independent developer Joseph Finney, contributing code that works similarly to his paid Text Grab app. He posted a handy GIF showing how quickly…

Foldable smartphones have come on leaps and bounds in the past couple of years, and its arguably Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip line leading the way. Last year’s Z Flip 3 sold millions of units worldwide, and while it was the best foldable around at the time, it still has some pretty undeniable flaws. That’s all changed with the Flip 4. While this is for the most part an iterative upgrade, it’s one that’s focussed on improving the battery life and camera performance that held last year’s phone back, along with myriad smaller quality-of-life tweaks. Here’s everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4. AVAILABILITY The phone is on sale now. PRICE 128GB: £999 256GB: £1,059 256GB Bespoke Edition: £1,099 512GB: £1,199 Samsung is also offering Bespoke…

Today’s tech headlines may be grabbed by Samsung’s updates to its foldable phones and smartwatches, but the company has also launched its latest pair of AirPods Pro rivals: the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. As the name suggests, these are an upgraded version of last year’s Galaxy Buds 2 just as much as they are a follow-up to the original Galaxy Buds Pro. The design takes mostly after the Buds 2, with a simple rounded body, more streamlined than the previous Pros. Samsung says they’re 15 percent smaller than those headphones, and after checking them out in person I was most impressed with how compact and lightweight they feel. They’re available white, black, and purple to complement the colour range of the new Z Flip 4, and like that phone they’ve…

Life is better in 2022 for gamers on macOS and even Linux, but Windows remains the best PC operating system for games. Microsoft is aware of this advantage, and as a result, it has bundled plenty of gaming features into Windows over the years – on Windows 11, there are even more. Here are the Windows 11 features that will make your next session even better. 1. GAME BAR Windows 11 ships with the Game Bar preloaded, giving you quick access to some useful tools with a simple keystroke. You can open the Game Bar at any time (even if you’re not playing a game) by pressing Win + G. If you have an Xbox controller paired with your PC, tapping the Xbox button will do the same. The Game…

Price: £699 from fave.co/3QYYADM The MSI GF63 Thin 11UC is one of the cheapest gaming laptops around, with a price of just £699. Those numbers will make anyone take notice, but low prices sometimes mean plenty of design and component compromises. And while it’s true that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics core is modest, it’s still capable of handling 1080p gameplay – and, similarly, the Core i5-11400H processor remains a solid choice. There’s no shortage of competitors if you’re after a cheap gaming laptop, though, so it’s time to go hands-on to see if the MSI GF63 Thin 11UC is a great bargain or destined for the bargain bin. FEATURES MSI’s rig looks better than its price suggests: the brushed metal casing looks smart, and the red keyboard edging…

Is your PC’s CPU too hot? If it starts spontaneously shutting down, locking up or acting sluggish during intense tasks, overheating could be the issue, especially when the intense summer heat is scorching. Keeping tabs on your CPU temperatures is crucial when you’re overclocking your PC’s processor, too – you don’t want to accidentally push the performance pedal too far to the metal when you’re supercharging your pricey Intel Core i9-12900KS or AMD Ryzen 5800X3D, after all. Melting one of the best CPUs around is never good. Bizarrely, Windows doesn’t offer any way to check your computer’s CPU temperature. You could dive into your system’s BIOS to find the information, but that’s a lot of hassle to find a simple sensor reading. Fortunately, several free programs exist that make it…

Participants in the MP3 revolution will remember Winamp fondly. The independent media player and library, initially released in the late 1990s, was the go-to choice for anyone who didn’t care for more marketed options like iTunes or Windows Media Player. The license to Winamp was passed around a bit before landing at its current owner. The last stable release was way back in 2013, but the new Winamp 5.999 is now available as a release candidate after four years of new development. Download and install the new version from the official Winamp forum (fave.co/3cc8xir), and you might just feel yourself transported back in time to 2001. The player still feels like an old-fashioned media library manager, and yes, still launches with a shock jock-style declaration of ‘it really whips the…

Samsung has been one of the leading lights in the arrival of smartphones with foldable displays, and that’s set to continue with the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Samsung’s big-screen foldable is back with a host of improvements that not only make it more durable, but more in-line with standard 2022 flagships. Has Samsung finally cracked the foldable code? Here’s everything there is to know. AVAILABILITY The phone is on sale now. PRICE 256GB: £1,649 512GB: £1,769 1TB: £2,019 FEATURES Design The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is 3.1mm shorter and 3mm wider, and while that doesn’t sound like much, the phone feels nicer in the hand and less boxy than the Z Fold 3 – both in its folded and unfolded configurations. In fact, Samsung claims this should help minimise black…

Price: Available from fave.co/3AcKkkd Rating Windows 11’s latest feature update, dubbed ‘Windows 11 22H2’, means acknowledging that many of its most useful features are hidden, and require some effort to unearth. Dig in and you’ll be rewarded, but most of 22H2’s more obvious new features won’t blow you away when the update starts rolling out worldwide sometime in the coming months. Windows 11 22H2 is not a return to the glory days of Windows 10. Then, splashy product launches heralded new, important additions to the OS, like Disney teasing new Marvel characters into its cinematic universe. Windows 11 22H2 takes a subtler approach, updating the File Explorer, and adding a new Snap Layouts bar, Start menu folders, Live Captions, Voice Access, and more. Part of this has to do with…

For a while, it looked like Microsoft might never move past Windows 10, but then it dropped Windows 11 in late 2021. Even with a longer gap between new versions, it was impossible for Microsoft to make everyone happy. Despite some notable improvements in Windows 11, there are still some nagging issues. Thankfully, a lot of them are fixable with varying degrees of legwork – here’s how you can patch the biggest annoyances in Windows 11. 1. BYPASS THE TPM 2.0 CHECK The first big Windows 11 headache starts before you even install it. Microsoft requires a TPM 2.0 module (among other hardware features), and not all machines have one of those. If your computer is otherwise capable of running Win11, you can safely bypass this check. The quickest way…

Price: £399 from fave.co/3AbEz7z Phones aren’t as small as they used to be but the Google Pixel 6a is about as compact an Android phone as you can get these days. This is one of the best things about it, along with its excellent performance, camera, and its affordable price. The Pixel 6a is Google’s cheaper version of its Pixel 6 and 6 Pro phones. The 6a keeps some of those devices’ more expensive features, but ditches others to drive the price right down to a very palatable £399. A few corners have been cut and there are other mid-range phones out there that offer higher specs, but having used the Pixel 6a daily as my main phone, I think it’s one of the best phones you can buy for…

Part of the Pixel’s primary appeal is the phone’s phenomenal software. All Android experiences are not created equal, as anyone who’s spent seven seconds with an out-of-the-box Samsung set-up can tell you, and Google’s clean and simple approach to Android is a huge piece of what makes a Pixel so pleasant to use. Still, while a Pixel may be perfectly peachy from the moment you power it on, Google’s smartphone software is full of hidden features and advanced options that can make your experience even more exceptional. And whether you’re setting up a shiny new Pixel 6a right now or cradling an older Pixel mode, taking the time to think through some of your phone’s most easily overlooked settings can take your Pixel adventure to a whole new level. 1.…