Table of contents for 530 in Computeractive

Anything software can do, apps can do better. That’s certainly true of the exceptional apps Jane Hoskyn recommends in this issue’s Cover Feature. She’s chosen those that maximise the advantages phones and tablets have over computers – benefits like touchscreens and portability. She’s avoided the many gimmicky apps that seem like a good idea when you install them, but never actually get used. Our feature is a sign of how apps have matured into a proper category of their own. In the early days of phones and tablets, too many app developers tried to copy what PC software already did. But now, they stick to what works on a small screen, and don’t try to usurp PC programs. Both are essential to modern life. I’m typing this on the same…

The House of Lords has told the Government that 10Mbps is too slow to set as the minimum broadband speed the public should be legally entitled to. In a debate, peers said the current plan for a 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) was “unambitious”. Labour spokesman Lord Stevenson of Balmacara said Lords previously asked for a 30Mbps USO, the fastest of four proposals from telecoms regulator Ofcom, but progress was stalled by last year’s snap general election. He said 10Mbps would be too slow to support the Government’s “productivity plan, the industrial strategy and the national infrastructure plan”. Peers from other parties agreed, including Liberal Democrat Lord Foster of Bath, who said 10Mbps would see a continuation of the UK’s “digital divide”. He called the USO “a safety net and…

As someone who has worked with charities for survivors of child abuse, I was appalled to read Professor Ellis Cashmore’s opinion that stopping kids going online is a modern form of abuse (‘Question of the Fortnight’, Issue 529). He is guilty of downplaying the pain caused by real physical abuse. A child who is prevented from chatting online may be unhappy or angry with his parents, but he doesn’t suffer the same levels of pain as one who is beaten or starved. It was appropriate that you referred to the NSPCC website in your article. It mentions that a lack of love and attention can also be abuse. A child can be well fed and given all the toys they want, but if their emotional needs are ignored they are…

When your antivirus stops working the problem is often that it’s clashing with security software already installed on your computer. This might encourage you to seek a refund, but it’s sometimes better to contact the company to see if they can suggest a solution. That’s what reader John Oakley did (see Issue 526). He spoke to Symantec after its Norton software appeared to severely slow his PC. He thought he could reject the software under the Distance Selling Regulations, which give you 14 days to claim a refund for digital content even if there’s nothing wrong with it. However, this applies only if you haven’t downloaded it. Because John had downloaded the program, he wasn’t automatically entitled to a refund. He could have tried to claim the program was inherently…

www.snipca.com/27923 As warnings go, finding out your email password has been stolen 493 times is as unsettling as it gets (see screenshot). This was the bad (but not unexpected) news when we logged into an old Yahoo Mail account, after we had installed the new PassProtect extension for Chrome. Every time you sign into an online account, this tool checks whether the password has been stolen in a data breach. It does this by scouring the terrifyingly large database of “compromised accounts” (five billion and counting) compiled by the ‘Have I Been Pwned?’ online service (https://haveibeenpwned.com). It includes most of the big data thefts in recent years, including Adobe, Avast, Malwarebytes and, of course, Yahoo. It requires no work from you. Once installed, the extension will add its icon (a…

New products tested by our experts Once upon a time, all PCs were beige. No matter what brand you picked, your computer came wrapped in the same putty-coloured, grainy-textured plastic. Then laptops got small enough to be carried around like a briefcase, and somebody noticed briefcases were black, not beige. So portable PCs became black, and gradually – led by Dell – desktop PCs followed suit. When sleek aluminium laptops emerged, they looked cooler, but upsizing their rigid polished bodies was only viable for a few top-of-the-range all-in-one PCs, so desktop PCs were stuck with black boxes. And, give or take the odd ‘go-faster’ stripe or LED-illuminated fan, that’s the way it’s stayed. “Its eye-catching design conceals a fast, capable all-round PC” So there were a few puzzled glances when…

What does it do? The Pomera Digital Memo (pictured) has been available for 10 years in Japan, and at the time of writing a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign (www.snipca.com/27981) was under way to adapt it for the US market. Costing around £350 (excluding import taxes) it consists of an E Ink screen, similar to an ebook reader, attached by a hinge to a fold-out keyboard. Astrohaus’ Freewrite (www.snipca.com/27980) – also funded by Kickstarter – is another example of a mobile device aimed purely at text entry, and reminds us of the 1990s AlphaSmart (www.snipca.com/27983). Why would I want it? The idea is that when you need to do a lot of typing, a laptop is overkill and a touchscreen tablet doesn’t help. You want a proper keyboard and a screen that…

For a long time, Motorola’s Moto G was our favourite budget phone. Then the G5 (see our review, Issue 500) let us down, and despite attempts to revive the franchise by launching several alternative versions, including the somewhat more successful G5S (see Issue 517), it never quite recovered, ceding the £200-plus bracket to the likes of Huawei’s Honor 9 Lite (see Issue 524). “Feels a lot more expensive than it is, with impressive dual cameras and screen” But now it’s back. The Moto G6 isn’t just a decent phone for the money, but one that’s as distinctive as any Apple or Samsung device. From the front, it could be mistaken for earlier budget phones. The large 5.7in screen comes in the fashionable stretched 18:9 format, but doesn’t reach the sides…

Speech synthesis WHAT WAS IT? In the 1960s, computer researchers worked on generating speech, inspired by HAL, the rogue AI in 2001: A Space Odyssey. By the 1970s, portable systems could read text to blind users, and the technology reached consumers with Speak & Spell (pictured), an educational toy from Texas Instruments. Speech synthesis software was popular on home computers in the 1980s, but only became standard later. HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED? The synthesis used in the first systems needed a lot of preparatory work but not much processing power, and produced speech that, while robotic, could be understood. As computers became more powerful, samples of ‘diphones’ (voice sounds) were recorded from real speech to create more realistic voices, such as those of digital assistants Alexa, Cortana and Siri. The…

What you need: Windows 10 April 2018 Update Time required: 40 minutes While the Windows 10 April 2018 Update added many new features, it removed HomeGroup – a useful tool that let you share folders, files and printers to other PCs connected to your home Wi-Fi network. Microsoft now wants you to use its new built-in tools - Share, ‘Nearby sharing’ and ‘Printer sharing’. We’ll show you the PC settings you need to enable to use these features. STEP 1 You first need to ensure that all your PCs have been updated to the Windows 10 April 2018 Update. Open Settings, click ‘Update & Security’ 1, ‘Check for updates’, then follow the prompts to restart and update your PC. We’ll first show you how to create shared folders that you…

Camera+ 2 £2.99 iOS: www.snipca.com/28101 The impressive Camera+ 2 app features advanced tools that iOS’s default Camera app lacks. For example, you can capture and edit RAW images and change the shutter speed, white balance and ISO. You can then transfer any photos you take to your Gallery or Files app with a single tap. Google Lens Free Android: www.snipca.com/28100 In Issue 525 (page 38), we showed you how to use Google Lens to identify and copy text within photos. At the time, the feature was only available within Google Photos. It is now a standalone app bringing the same features to any Android device (version 6.0 onwards). Just a Line Free Android: www.snipca.com/28102 iOS: www.snipca.com/28103 This is Google’s first augmented-reality (AR) app that works on Android and iOS. It…

Windows lets you take screenshots, crop them, annotate/mark them (to highlight or explain something) and share. To take a screenshot, press the Windows key+ the Print Screen key (on some PC’s you’ll need to press Windows+ Function+Print Screen). You’ll know the screenshot has been saved when your screen flashes. Open This PC in Windows Explorer, Pictures, then Screenshots to see all your files. Double-click the one you want to edit (by default, it will open in the Photos app). Next, click the ‘Edit & Create’ dropdown menu. To crop your screenshot, click Crop in the dropdown menu, then ‘Crop and rotate’. Next, click and drag the image’s borders to crop it, click Done, then Save. To annotate/mark your screenshot, click the ‘Edit & Create’ dropdown menu again, then click Draw.…

Reveal your metadata Metadata is essentially data about data, providing valuable information about every file on your PC. You can usually view a file’s metadata within the program it was created, but it’s often quicker to right-click the file in File Explorer, select Properties, then click the Details tab. The metadata you see depends on the file type. Documents have information such as who created it (the ‘author’) and total editing time, while audio-file data includes the length of recording and artist. Photos contain a wealth of EXIF metadata. Depending on your camera, this can include whether the flash was used, the shutter speed, and the coordinates of where it was taken (if the camera has GPS). You can view this in each photo’s Details tab (as explained above). Alternatively,…

DOCUMENTS Polaris Viewer Android: www.snipca.com/27989 iOS: www.snipca.com/27990 Your PC remains the most obvious choice for opening documents, but do you really want to hang around waiting for Windows to start up just so you can print a PDF? No need – use Polaris Viewer instead. This free, new app from the maker of Polaris Office (www.polarisoffice.com) can handle numerous office file formats, from spreadsheets to ZIP files, more nimbly than your computer ever could. It automatically indexes any supported files it finds on your device, so all you have to do is launch the app, then tap an item to read it. You can then search the document’s text; zoom in and adjust brightness for easier reading; check its file location; and add it to Favourites. Within 30 seconds of…

Solid Explorer Android: www.snipca.com/28050 Price: £2.49 after 14-day trial One of very few apps to outclass your PC’s file-organising tools. The new version lets you encrypt files and lock your online-storage apps with a password or fingerprint. Air iOS: www.snipca.com/28051 Price: Free app; £4.49/month storage Shoot and store unlimited video from your iPad or iPhone. Infinitely easier than transferring/syncing/uploading via your PC. Manual Camera Pro Android: www.snipca.com/28055 Price: £2.59 (free version available) Add DSLR-style manual control to your mobile camera, with full freedom over ISO, white balance, shutter speed and more. Also lets you shoot 4K (ultra HD) video. Affinity Photo iOS: www.snipca.com/28052 Price: £19.99 Adobe’s Photoshop apps may be free (www.snipca.com/28053), but Affinity is more like Photoshop’s powerful PC version, which costs a whopping £10 a month. Now supports…

DRIVING Driving Detective Android: www.snipca.com/28073 The Do Not Disturb (DND) feature is far more than just a sanity-saving liberation from noisy phones. This Android setting can also save lives by silencing incoming calls and notifications when you’re driving. Driving Detective automatically switches on DND mode when it detects you’re on the road. You can set it to allow certain priority notifications, or block everything for maximum safety. NAVIGATION GPS Compass Explorer Android: www.snipca.com/28081 Avoid getting lost next time you’re rambling or exploring a new city. Use this free new app to save your exact position (‘way point’) before you set off, then let it navigate you back to square one (see screenshot below left). Sadly, it wouldn’t let us import GPX navigation files from other sources (such as the excellent…

There are some Pro tools you just can’t replicate in Windows Home for free. Here are three of them… WINDOWS UPDATE FOR BUSINESS: Probably the most useful Pro-only feature. It provides more control over Windows updates, including delaying all updates for 35 days (see screenshot) and Feature updates by up to a year. GROUP POLICY: This tool lets you apply settings across all users of your computer. You can restrict access to certain Windows tools, disable features such as forced restarts and much more. You’ll find various instructions online detailing ways to enable Group Policy in Home, but they involved downloading potentially dodgy software. MAXIMUM MEMORY: Windows 10 Home limits you to 128GB of RAM, whereas Pro can handle up to 2TB. There’s no way round this limit, but unless…

How does Angry IP Scanner work? Q I read Issue 527’s Secret Free Software Cover Feature, carefully following your instructions to install Angry IP Scanner. However, I have no idea what much of it does. What do the coloured dots that appear before the start of the IP address mean, for example? Nor do I know what ‘Hosts scanned’ and ‘Hosts alive’ means, and how do I actually know who is using my home Wi-Fi network? I have searched the Angry IP Scanner website, but I can’t seem to find information on how the software works. Mr Zubhar Ahmed A The program’s website does have an FAQ, at http://angryip.org/faq, but it’s true that these aren’t general instructions. However, perhaps you missed the Getting Started guide that should appear the first…

You’ll soon be able to have live video chats on your iPhone and iPad with up to 32 people at the same time, Apple has said. The Group FaceTime feature will arrive in the 12th version of its mobile operating system iOS, due for release in September. Currently you can chat with only one person. Apple said participants can be added to a chat at any time. In a video demonstration (www.snipca.com/28014, pictured) it showed how people’s faces appear in tiles on screen. These get bigger when someone speaks to “reflect their prominence in the conversation”, or you can select which face to enlarge. Other people taking part in the call appear in a ‘roster’ at the bottom. Group FaceTime will be built into the Messages app on the iPhone…

Bosses of companies that illegally pester people with nuisance calls could be fined up to £500,000 under government proposals to make them personally liable. The scale of the problem remains immense. Around 3.9 billion nuisance calls and texts were made last year. A company breaks the law if it calls someone who has subscribed to the Telephone Preference Service (www.tpsonline.org.uk), which lets you opt out of “unsolicited sales or marketing calls”. Currently, only the businesses themselves can be fined, but the new rule gives the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) the power to hold the boss directly responsible. Companies often avoid paying these fines by declaring bankruptcy, allowing the boss to set up the same business under a new name. This has meant the ICO has collected just 54 per cent…

Tell us what’s on your mind Email: letters@computeractive.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive Twitter: @ComputerActive www.twitter.com/computeractive Robots will leave elderly out on a limb In your story about robots looking after the elderly in care homes (News, Issue 529, page 9), you quote Dr Sanjeev Kanoria – whose company makes the robots – saying they won’t carry out essential tasks because they don’t have “working limbs”. It worries me that Dr Kanoria defines essential tasks as physical tasks, like going to the toilet. Yes, this kind of help is essential, but so is having someone polite and interesting to talk to. The elderly aren’t just blobs of flesh to be kept alive by feeding and cleaning. We also need mental stimulation and good company. A damned robot won’t provide that! Donald Lowe FastStone…

Contact us so we can investigate your case Email: consumeractive@computeractive.co.uk Please include both your phone number and address. Do I have to chase courier for non-delivery? Q I ordered a £149.99 Motorola Moto G5S phone (pictured) from John Lewis on 1 May. It was supposed to be delivered four days later by courier company Hermes, but it never arrived. Hermes first claimed no one was home, even though I was. It then said the phone had been lost. John Lewis first tried to make me contact Hermes myself to sort out the problem, but eventually promised a refund. Do I really have to chase Hermes? Jim Wilson A We’re glad John Lewis has promised Jim a refund because it was wrong to say he had to contact Hermes. As the…

Every few months I seem to read a report saying TalkTalk has the worst customer service, and every time I wonder whether they’re talking about the same company I’ve been dealing with for years – with no problems. Most recently I read in Issue 528 (News, page 7) that TalkTalk had received more complaints than any other ISP for the second year running. And yet just a week before I spoke to an extremely helpful customer assistant who explained how to fix a problem I was having with my broadband. I’ll admit that they’ve not always been so helpful, but over the past year or so I’ve detected a change in tone from them. It’s like they’re trying harder to offer a good service because they know their reputation has…

‘Upgrade Office’ scam A spam email sneaked through my filter claiming to be from ‘Microsoft Office 365 Inc’, from the email address ‘bassauto@comcast.net’. I am an Office 365 subscriber, so I opened the email (with subject line ‘IMPORTANT ALERT!’). I was told to click a link (‘Click here to upgrade and improve your account’) to restore my email access. Hovering my mouse over the link brought up the unlikely URL ‘https://ogaju2.000webhostapp.com’. Scammers seem to be getting better at grammar, but not this one: apparently the upgrade was free “off” charge. Frank Gerrard Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

www.snipca.com/27972 What you need: Windows 7, 8/8.1 or 10 Bootable USB sticks are a great alternative to the hassle of burning ISO files to DVD. There are plenty of tools to create them, but we haven’t found one as impressively simple as Rufus. With its redesigned interface, this latest version is incredibly easy to use. It offers some advanced tools, including the ability to set file system and cluster size, but you’re unlikely to need them. Simply choose the USB stick you want to use, select the ISO file, then click Start. It’s also fast. We created a full Windows 10 installation USB stick in just over 16 minutes, nine minutes faster than using Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool. There’s a portable version of Rufus that lets you run the program…

Most of the laptops we test come from international brands, and most of the desktop PCs are built in the UK. There’s a reason for that. To make them small and light, laptops have to be very carefully designed and are very fiddly to build. It helps if you’re a big company that can put a team of designers to work on this season’s model, order any special parts you need, set up your production line and churn out units until next season comes round. The catch is that when prices fluctuate and technology advances in the meantime, there’s not much you can do to take advantage. Desktop PCs, on the other hand, are quite straightforward to assemble from components available on the open market. As a smallish firm, you…

It’s fair to say VR isn’t a must-have for your everyday web browsing or online shopping, but there’s more to it than you might think. All the apps available for the Oculus-based Samsung Gear VR will work on the Go and plenty of developers are working on more. It’s simple to find and download apps, and you can delete and re-install them if you run out of space. Unfortunately, there’s no microSD slot to expand the basic 32GB. Besides lots of games and ‘experiences’, there are apps for news, virtual tourism (including to the International Space Station, pictured), art and education, while apps like Venues and MelodyVR let you watch sports events or concerts as if you were there. You can also watch ordinary videos, which appear as if on…

LAPTOP Asus ZenBook UX410UA £590 from www.snipca.com/26789 Tested: Issue 518 With a dual-core Intel i3 processor, 4GB of memory and 128GB SSD, this slim aluminium 14in has just enough power to make Windows 10 feel smooth – and unlike Asus’s cheaper models it has a very good Full HD screen. ALTERNATIVE: Dell XPS 13 This premium laptop starts at £1,149, but the best deal is with the brand new quad-core i7-8550 and QHD touchscreen. £1,200 from www.snipca.com/26796 DESKTOP PC Mesh Ryzen Gaming PC CS £600 from www.snipca.com/27705 Tested: Issue 528 With a six-core Ryzen 5 1600 processor and 4GB GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card, this is a brilliant all-round desktop PC for the money, completed by 8GB of memory, 120GB SSD and 1TB hard drive. ALTERNATIVE: Lenovo IdeaCentre 620s…

Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT ✓ Forward important Outlook emails automatically Your lead tip in Issue 529’s Make Office Better was about setting a particular notification sound in Outlook to identify emails from specific people (see page 47). While doing this, I found a useful way to automatically forward emails from specific people to another email account. I use this to auto-forward emails from my relatives to my wife, so she can be kept in the loop on family events. Open Outlook, click the Rules tab dropdown menu in the Move section of the Home tab, click ‘Manage Rules & Alerts’, then click the New Rule button. You now need to select specific values from the options that appear. First, select ‘Apply rule on messages I…

AGES 0-5 Rhino Hero Free www.snipca.com/28104 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/28105 (iOS) In this game, your child needs to direct a crane to arrange building blocks to build the highest tower possible. Certain blocks will help or impede their progress and they’ll face challenges that Rhino Hero will try to fend off. AGES 6-10 Tap Tap Dash* Free www.snipca.com/28106 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/28107 (iOS) Timing is everything in this Pac Man-style game. You need to tap the screen at precisely the right moment to jump obstacles or change direction. As you progress the game speeds up. You can unlock various characters to play with. AGES 11-16 Jurassic World Alive* Free www.snipca.com/28108 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/28109 (iOS) Similar to Pokemon Go, in this game you need to walk around with your phone to find and…

MICROSOFT WORD Save items to Word’s clipboard to use later Word has a useful tool that lets you save a list of items (text, shapes, charts and photos) to a hidden clipboard called Quick Parts Gallery. You can then add these saved items to your document at any time. It’s especially useful for text you type often like addresses, phone numbers, etc. Highlight any text or item, click the Insert tab, click the Quick Parts dropdown menu (in the Text section on the right), then click ‘Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery’ (see screenshot below left). Name the copied item (optional), then click OK. To add any of your saved items to your document, place your cursor where you want to add it, click the Quick Parts dropdown menu to…

What is it? A service from Google (www.google.com/sunroof), recently launched in the UK, to help homeowners cut their bills by switching to solar power. Using artificial intelligence, it analyses data from Google Earth and Maps to work out your home’s “solar potential”. What’s that then? It’s how much solar power your roof could generate, based on features like its surface area and angle, and weather data such as the hours of sunshine a location gets. Google claims its algorithms are clever enough to assess how a single tree overlooking a roof would reduce a home’s ability to produce solar power. So what’s my home’s ‘solar potential’? Find out at www.eon-solar.co.uk, a site created by energy supplier E.On, which has teamed up with Google to provide the service in parts of…

The world of apps never sleeps, with updates and new releases appearing all the time. Here are six that caught our eye, but aren’t available in the UK yet. • INTERNET (www.snipca.com/28018) Private mobile browser from Amazon, along the lines of the superb DuckDuckGo (www.snipca.com/28019) but about a quarter of the size – just 2.5MB. Currently in beta in India only. • EXPRESS WI-FI (www.snipca.com/28020) Facebook’s forthcoming app is effectively a gigantic Wi-Fi hotspot. Currently testing in Kenya and Indonesia. • LOOKOUT (www.snipca.com/28022) New Google app that offers audio cues to help blind people get around safely. Launching in the US initially - and only for Google’s Pixel phones. • YOUTUBE MUSIC (www.snipca.com/28025) Spotify-style streaming service previously codenamed YouTube Remix and set to replace Google Play Music. The app is…

MOBILE PAYMENTS Cards Android, iOS: https://cards.app Pay for your shopping without your card using the “the world’s most secure wallet”. Once you’ve added your payment card, you can then use the app to pay at the supermarket, collect loyalty points (see screenshot right) or check in at the swimming pool. The new version of Cards beefs up its NFC (‘near-field communication’, or contactless) technology and security measures, which now include double layers of encryption; fingerprint and retina locking; and remote lock and wipe in case your phone is stolen. Be aware that it also disables screenshots for security reasons. MONEY Connected Money iOS: www.snipca.com/28059 In an attempt to be your one-stop online banking service, HSBC lets you see all your accounts from up to 21 different UK banks on one…

Control another PC from afar Pro feature: Remote Desktop Free alternative: TeamViewer Being able to remotely control a computer (or allow yours to be controlled by someone else) can be incredibly useful. Trying to talk a non-technical friend through a complex series of steps in Windows? Access their computer remotely and things get a lot easier. Browsing the web for a joint birthday present? Share your PC’s desktop with your fellow contributors and they’ll see exactly what you see. Windows 10 Pro includes a handy tool called Remote Desktop that lets you do all this and more. Happily, Windows 10 Home users can use the excellent TeamViewer (www.snipca.com/26458) to access PCs remotely. Click the Windows tab at the top of the page, then the green Download button. To start a…

4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 32bit/64bit A measure of how much data a PC can process at once. Most older computers are 32bit, more modern ones are 64bit. Add-on A program that adds extra features to your browser. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. An alternative technology to LCD for creating flat-panel screens. App launcher An app that changes how the Android home screen looks and works. Audio beacon Device that sends ultrasonic signals which can be read by your phone. Augmented reality Lets you view the real world on a screen and add digital elements. Benchmarking Comparing products with an accepted standard. Beta A version of software that’s being tested. BIOS Basic Input-Output System. Software built into every PC that connects the vital components. CAD…

There are no plans to copy France by banning phones in schools, Digital Secretary Matt Hancock has said. He told The Guardian that legislation isn’t needed in this area. Instead, society has to “mature” to make the most of this “amazing and brilliant” technology. From September, French pupils will be forbidden from using phones anywhere on school premises. A law passed in 2010 previously banned them in the classroom only. However, Hancock repeated his plans to force social-media companies to take more responsibility over the content that appears on their sites. He said there should be “political accountability over an area of life where there is a huge amount of power in the hands of a small amount of people”. He added the Government also has a responsibility to make…

MORE OLDER PEOPLE USING THE WEB The proportion of over-75s using the internet has more than doubled this decade, from 20 per cent in 2011 to 44 per cent in 2018. The figures, from the Office of National Statistics’ latest ‘Internet users’ report (www.snipca.com/27988), also show a marked rise in 65 to 74-year-olds during the same period, from 52 to 80 per cent. Both age groups are dwarfed by the proportion of 16 to 34-year-olds using the web, which stands at 99 per cent. SUPERDRUG LAUNCHES PHONE SERVICE Superdrug has launched a pay-as-you-go SIM-only mobile service for £10 a month, giving you unlimited calls, texts and 4GB of data. Extra data costs £2 for 1GB, £3 for 2GB and £5 for 4GB. Any data left unused is rolled over to…

UK spies will use cutting-edge quantum computing to help catch terrorists, the Government has said. It will form part of a more technologically advanced approach to counter-terrorism that will also involve maximising the potential of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). A conventional computer can only process data in one of two states – a 1 or 0. But quantum computers take advantage of how subatomic particles exist in more than one state at any time, letting them process data in both states simultaneously. It makes them much faster and more energy-efficient. The new strategy was outlined in the Government’s CONTEST report (www.snipca.com/28090), whose aim is to “reduce the risk to the UK and its citizens and interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely…

I’m not a betting man. I know how easy it is to lose at the bookies. But 26-year-old hacker Grant West found a way to stack the odds in his favour by launching cyber-attacks on Ladbrokes and Coral – as well as Sainsbury’s, Asda, Argos and other high-street companies – and stealing millions of people’s personal information and credit-card details to sell on the dark web. From his caravan in Sheppey, enterprising Grant also masterminded an email scam, through which he extracted the credit and debit card details of 63,000 Just Eat customers in 2015. He made enough money to buy a £40,000 Audi A5 coupé. Nice work. But it looks like it was Mr West himself who ended up losing the biggest gamble of them all. Police raided his…

I sympathise with Catherine Clarkson’s experience of being insulted by an Amazon driver (Letters, Issue 529). It reminded me why I no longer get my Amazon purchases delivered. Instead, I get them sent to an Amazon locker (www.snipca.com/27964, pictured) in a local grocery store. Before doing that, I had a run of purchases ruined by bad luck and incompetence. In one instance, the driver left a parcel down the side of my house, as I requested. How was I to know that one of our neighbourhood foxes would use it as its toilet? The item inside wasn’t damaged, but it wasn’t pleasant trying to open the parcel. On more than one occasion the driver has been rude and impatient. I realise they have a tight schedule, and I’ve read they…

What’s the threat? There’s been a tenfold rise in scams targeting TSB customers, as fraudsters continue to exploit the bank’s recent technical problems that left thousands of users unable to access their accounts. Action Fraud, the police unit that investigates scams, said that since the start of May there have been 321 reports of TSB phishing, up from 30 in April. It has also received 51 incidents of customers losing money, more than double the previous month. Some scams are emails, but most are texts (such as the one pictured), which claims that your account has been locked. To regain access, you’re asked to submit your personal details by logging in via a ‘secure link’. Scammers will ring you back, ask for a code to enter your account, then steal…

www.snipca.com/27971 What you need: Windows 7, 8/8.1 or 10 If you’re suffering poor Wi-Fi speeds or just curious about network activity and potential problems in your neighbourhood, Wi-Fi Scanner tells you everything you need to know. Installation is simple and, thankfully, no unwanted junk will be foisted on you. Once up and running, Wi-Fi Scanner immediately starts capturing and logging data from all nearby networks. It takes a little while to get your head around the wealth of data provided, but the key information is all there. For each network you’ll see the network name, its signal strength, channel, maximum speed and more. This latest version has a raft of new features, including the ability to filter the view to show how many channels your neighbourhood networks are taking up…

What can I use to convert YouTube audio to MP3? Q I want to download the occasional audio clip from YouTube. Can you recommend suitable free software for converting the audio to MP3, please? I’m running Windows 10 on a desktop PC. Colin Rowlands A There are a few ways to capture just the audio from YouTube videos. One of the simplest programs is ‘4K YouTube to MP3’ (www.snipca.com/27970). It’s free, but if you want to download playlists of more than 25 tracks you’ll need the paid-for version (£9.54). Copy the URL of your chosen YouTube clip, then open the program. Click the green ‘Paste link’ button and the program will do the rest. You can’t get much easier than that! If you want the video as well, try 4K…

‘Mid-range’ may not sound exciting, but to us it’s the best bit of the tech industry, where you find products that have more than basic features at less than top-end prices. The Nokia 7 Plus is a perfect example. You’d better like your phones big, because the six-inch 18:9 screen has borders at the top and bottom. It’s still slim, though, and the design is an attractive sandwich of matt black aluminium and shiny copper-colour edges. We’d expect finishes like these to show some wear after a while, but Nokia insists the ‘ceramic feel’ paint job is durable, and the front is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The super-sharp IPS screen doesn’t disappoint and follows Apple in targeting the wider DCI P3 colour range, as used in film and TV,…

Is a laser printer better for occasional use? Q Our printer guzzles ink. I suspect it’s because the jets dry out between uses – we only print a few pages once every couple of weeks. I’ve heard laser printers don’t have this problem, and won’t waste toner. Might a laser printer be preferable for occasional use? Mike Brice A Yes, inside every inkjet printer is a place where it accumulates dried ink that’s flushed out of its nozzles. It’ll do this automatically, and when you spot problems like white banding in prints, and activate a full self-clean, it will flush out even more. What it uses for the flushing is more ink. Yes, that stuff you’ve paid for at a higher price per millilitre than Chanel No5 perfume. You could…

While Amazon Echo and Google Home compete to offer you ‘smart speakers’ that constantly listen for your voice commands, the services that they embody – Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant – are also becoming available through other makers’ hardware. We’ve seen a couple of non-Amazon speakers that support Alexa, as well as the Sonos One (£189 from Amazon www.snipca.com/27198, see our review, Issue 524), which works with Alexa and is also intended to support Google Assistant (though at the time of writing still doesn’t). The Link 20, from well-known audio brand JBL, is a Bluetooth speaker that provides almost exactly the same functionality as Google Home. “An impressive alternative to Google Home speaker – with added portability” You use the same Google Home app to set up the Link 20,…

We’re giving away one copy of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2018, the new version of the leading graphic-design software loved by millions of professionals, small business owners, and design enthusiasts worldwide. It’s packed with high-calibre tools for graphics, illustration, layout, tracing, photo editing, managing fonts and more. The suite contains the latest version of Corel’s leading design programs, including CorelDRAW, Corel PHOTO-PAINT, Corel Font Manager, Corel PowerTRACE, Corel CONNECT, Corel CAPTURE and Corel AfterShot. It provides access to: • 10,000 clipart and digital images • 2,000 high-resolution digital photos • Over 1,000 TrueType and/or OpenType fonts • 350 professionally designed templates • Over 500 interactive frames and photo frames To enter, email your address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk with ‘coreldraw’ in the subject line by midnight 3 July. You can buy CorelDRAW Graphics…

ANDROID & IOS Create a personalised news feed on your phone or tablet We’ll show you how to set up and use Google News, which we featured in Issue 529’s Best New Apps. Install and open the app (Android www.snipca.com/28093; iOS www.snipca.com/28094). It has four tabs at the bottom - For You, Headlines, Favourites and Newsstand. The For You tab contains five news stories Google thinks will interest you. Below this, you’ll see stories with sections at the bottom (see screenshot below left). Swipe through the sections to read how different news sources are covering it. Tapping ‘View full coverage’ at the bottom shows videos, timelines and Twitter feeds on that topic. The Headlines tab contains the main stories of the day and has nine sections at the top, including…

WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 Access This PC window more quickly and change how it works By default, Windows/File Explorer lists the folders you use frequently and any files you’ve recently added to your PC (called ‘Quick access’ view). There’s an easy way to redirect Windows/File Explorer to open on the This PC window if you frequently work across different drives, for example. To do this, open Windows/File Explorer, click the View tab, the Options dropdown menu at the top right, then click ‘Change folder and search options’. Next, click the ‘Open File Explorer to’ dropdown menu, then click This PC (see screenshot above). At the bottom, you’ll see options to open each File Explorer folder in a new window (it opens in the same window by default). You can also…

LibreOffice Writer has a useful feature that auto-corrects words you tend to misspell and changes abbreviations and acronyms to their full versions. Click the Tools tab, move your cursor to AutoCorrect, then click AutoCorrect Options. In the window that opens, ensure that the dropdown menu at the top right is set to ‘English (UK)’. Next, click the Replace tab. You’ll see two fields (Replace and With) with a list of words below each that you can scroll through. Below Replace you’ll see common misspellings, and below With their correct versions. To add a new entry to this list, type a word with the misspelling you tend to use in the Replace field, its correct spelling in the With field, then click the New button (see screenshot). To give abbreviations and…

What do you call a computer that can guide you around the world in your car, replace your contactless payment card, display augmented reality images of ancient buildings in your garden, recognise your voice and use your little finger as a key? A tablet. Show me a desktop PC that offers all the basic functions of an affordable tablet or phone, and I’ll show you a unicorn. Mobile devices have come a long way since they were just phones. In fact, calls are one of the things I hardly ever use my phone for - hooray for text messaging. The versatility and popularity of mobile devices has made them the go-to platform for today’s best developers, who are falling over each other to produce the shiniest, smartest new apps. Mobile…

PHOTO TRANSFER Photos Companion Android: www.snipca.com/28027 iOS: www.snipca.com/28028 Getting photos from your phone to your PC usually involves cables, online storage and headaches. This new Microsoft app (see screenshot above) aims to end all that by connecting your phone with your PC via Wi-Fi. It’s not perfect - it forces you to use the mediocre Windows 10 Photos app, and setup is a hassle – but once you’ve got it running it makes easy work of transferring pics. Alternatively, stick with the superb Google Photos (Android www.snipca.com/28038; iOS www.snipca.com/28039), which automatically backs up your mobile device’s photos and videos to the web. Its latest version adds more editing options and includes Google Lens (www.snipca.com/28041), so you can search the web using photos as well as words. PHOTOGRAPHY Fotor Photo Editor…

ANTIVIRUS Antivirus mobile apps are at best useless, at worst dangerous. Mobile malware is not the same as PC malware, and Android is not the same as Windows, but cautious users will install anything that promises to keep them safe. Unscrupulous developers take advantage by peddling junk-filled ‘security’ apps - often making a mint in the process. To stay safe, only install apps from trusted app stores, and never tap a link in a text message unless you’re absolutely sure what it is. SPREADSHEETS Polaris Viewer (see page 51) is one of the best apps in this feature, but the clue’s in the name - it’s a viewer not an editor. Creating and editing spreadsheets on tiny mobile screens is the kind of job you set yourself as a punishment.…

Microsoft has long since ended its ‘Get Windows 10’ tool that prompted you to upgrade for free. However, if you’ve got a Pro or Ultimate product key from an old version of Windows 7 or 8, you can upgrade Windows 10 Home to Pro without paying the £119.99 fee. This won’t work if the product key is from a version of Windows that came pre-installed on your computer. To upgrade, go to Settings, click ‘Update & Security’, then Activation. Click ‘Change product key’, enter your old key, click Next, then follow the prompts. We tried it with a Windows 7 Ultimate licence and the product key was accepted. Suspiciously cheap Windows 10 Pro product keys can be found online (on eBay, for example), but you shouldn’t be tempted. Some of…

By switching off automatic updates for your PC’s drivers and tablet/phone apps, you’ll be the one who decides whether or not an update is worthwhile. Windows system updates – which are usually security related – are best left set to automatically install. To control Windows driver updates, click Start, type device installation settings, then press Enter. In the window that opens, select No (see screenshot), then Save Changes. From now on, whenever you add new hardware to your computer, you’ll need to install any updates manually. To stop your tablet and phone apps automatically updating: on iOS devices, click Settings, ‘iTunes & App Store’, then disable Apps under Automatic Downloads; on Android devices, click the Play Store icon, click Settings in the menu, select ‘Auto-update apps’, then tap ‘Do not…

Have you partitioned your PC? Word on the street is it’s the first thing you do with a new PC. Unbox, plug in, partition, relax. The cool kids probably even give their partitions names to reflect their distinct personalities. There’s Ethelred the E drive, struggling to contain a collection of video downloads. And oh look! there’s Samantha with her massive backups. “One moment Windows declared I had 700GB of ‘available space’, the next it insisted there wasn’t room for even a single megabyte” Not sure if you can tell yet, but I’m not a partitioning expert. I can talk the talk about software and the internet until you weep for mercy, but ask me to fix (or indeed partition) your PC and I’ll run a mile. So our dear editor…