Table of contents for 535 in Computeractive

Revamping a magazine is always a risky business. You don’t want to change too much of what readers love, but nor can you let the magazine grow stale - particularly in the fast-moving world of computing. What’s relevant today may be obsolete tomorrow. The key to success is delivering on two fronts: giving readers more of what they enjoy, but also introducing new content they didn’t realise they wanted. That’s the balance I hope we’ve got right. When we last asked what you’d like to see more of in Computeractive, you said more practical advice, more readers’ tips, and more help using software. As a result, we’ve doubled the Readers’ Tips section (see page 42); added the ‘How To…’ section to give instructions on performing a specific technical task (page…

Microsoft has released a ‘dark theme’ for File Explorer that’s expected to appear in the next major update to Windows 10, due this autumn. It shows the tool in black (see screenshot), an option many users now prefer in software because they say it’s easier on the eye. On its blog (www.snipca.com/28835) the company said a dark theme is one of the most requested items in Windows 10. Microsoft added a dark theme for the operating system (OS) in 2016’s Anniversary Update, but building one specifically for File Explorer required a lot more work. The theme is available to users on the Windows 10 Insider Programme (https://insider.windows.com/en-gb). To activate it in File Explorer and the rest of the OS, open the Settings app, click Personalization, Colors, then select the ‘Dark’…

Microsoft has reversed its decision to close the ‘Classic’ version of Skype, pleasing users who didn’t want to switch to the new update (version 8). It means you can continue to use the older Skype even after the new version launches in September. While the new version adds some useful features, such as the ability to drag and drop files up to 300MB into chats (see Workshop, Issue 534, page 35), it removes other popular tools, including opening chats in separate windows - known as the ‘split window’ view (see screenshot). Many users also dislike its design, complaining that it looks like an enlarged phone app, rather than a program purpose-built for a computer’s desktop. In a post on the Skype forums (www.snipca.com/28741) Microsoft said: “Based on customer feedback, we…

Have a look at this screenshot of Argos’s home page (www.argos.co.uk). At the top left is Chrome’s new ‘Not secure’ warning for sites that are still using the old, unencrypted HTTP protocol for handling your personal data. In its blog (www.snipca.com/28745), Google calls this warning – which has been added to Chrome 68 – “a milestone”. It’s part of Google’s efforts to encourage all sites to switch to HTTPS, which encrypts all data. The same warning appears on the home page of many other retail sites, including www.virginmedia.com, www.next.co.uk and www.topshop.com. But that doesn’t make them unsafe. Their checkout pages, where you enter your payment details, do use HTTPS, as confirmed by Chrome’s green ‘Secure’ message. Avoid any payment page that doesn’t get this thumbs up. Just over 23 per…

I was pleased to see in Issue 533 (page 18) the free program Classic Start is to return to the XP Start menu. I went to www.snipca.com/28522 as instructed, but it was a dead end. I must have read it wrong. Three times I tried and three times it took me to a dead end. I tried putting Classic Start 4.4 into Google and it came up with lots of places. Which are safe, which are not? I’m not going to experiment. But it made me wonder what the real address might have been. Hugh Rogers CA SAYS It’s a great program Hugh, so we don’t blame you for being frustrated. Annoyingly, shortly after we went to press, the program changed its name to Open Shell, and moved its download…

If there’s one number that customer service teams should print large and stick on their desks, it’s ‘14’. A theme of this issue’s Consumeractive, the number refers to how long customers have if they want to reject unwanted items bought online or over the phone. The items don’t have to be faulty – something a customer assistant should learn on day one of the job. One company that urgently needs reminding is Virgin Media, which told reader Andy Pearce he couldn’t get a refund for his Nokia 3 phone because more than 14 days had passed since purchase (see Issue 533). It offered a repair only, dismissing Andy’s request for a refund. But Andy’s phone was faulty, which meant he could choose a refund or replacement within 30 days -…

OFFICE SUITE LibreOffice 6.1 www.libreoffice.org/download What you need: Windows 7, 8/8.1 or 10 Given the choice of free office suites, it’s a wonder Microsoft still makes money from Office. LibreOffice, an open-source suite from The Document Foundation, comprises everything from a word processor to spreadsheet, database and presentation tools. LibreOffice veterans will notice the subtle new Calibri font styling, which brings the toolbars in line with Microsoft’s design. We prefer the other new theme, Karasa Jaga, which gives it a fresher look. Another nice touch is the ability to quickly add text to the bewildering array of toolbar buttons - useful for newcomers. Writer, the suite’s word processor, has often been criticised for being slow when viewing documents loaded with images, so it’s good to see the developers have addressed…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: liteCam I want the tools I install to make my life easier, not more complicated. Shame about liteCam HD (www.litecam.net), then, which I thought might be a useful tool for recording my screen, but instead turned out to be a complete pain in the posterior. The free program has one of the most absurdly convoluted installation procedures I’ve endured in a long time. For a start, you’re obliged to enter your email address (see screenshot), virtually guaranteeing yourself a flood of future spam. Then, after wading through a few more screens, you need to request a verification code (sent to the email address you entered), then type this into the program. I can understand why this might be necessary if you’re installing a paid-for program,…

TABLET | £448 from Amazon www.snipca.com/28787 Samsung describes this new tablet as ‘business-rugged’, which conjures up some exciting images of what business must be like in South Korea. They’re not thinking about the office, of course, but jobs like driving a delivery van, inspecting industrial equipment or recording crime scenes. Let’s be honest, what they’re really thinking about is organisations that might buy 500 tablets off them. Which is fair enough. But we quite like the idea of a rugged tablet just for knocking around the house, and if you only need one, the asking price looks quite reasonable. “Robust with a long battery life and SIM option, but its basic screen underwhelms” The Tab Active 2 has a chunky textured plastic case with reinforced back and corners, rated IP68…

Q I am looking for a printer that I’d use infrequently, and only for black text. Two cheap inkjets have shown a similar fault – missing lines – which I understand may result from blocked ink nozzles. I hear the nozzles of HP and Canon printers are inside their ink cartridges, so any blockage can only be rectified by changing the refill. What would you recommend? RA Harris A Yes, some printers have a permanent print head, while others have disposable heads in each cartridge. Canon has mainly shifted to permanent heads, while HP mostly includes the head with the cartridge (‘integrated print head’, or IPH) but also makes ‘individual ink cartridge’ (IIC) printers with permanent heads. A 2015 study of HP printers found that after 180 days idle, using…

RS-232 What was it? Recommended Standard 232, introduced in 1960, defined a pinout and electrical signals for serial communication between electronic equipment. When IBM created its Personal Computer platform in the early 1980s, RS-232 was in wide use, and it was adopted as the usual method of connecting many kinds of peripherals. How have things changed? Although the nature of serial communication is that bits of data are sent one after the other over a single data line, the RS-232 DB-25 port (pictured above) had 25 pins, allowing for multiple control circuits to manage the connection. These were implemented in different ways by manufacturers, many of them outside the standard, and compatibility problems became notorious. In 1998 the iMac became the first mainstream personal computer to use only USB ports,…

I read Rob Tripp’s letter (Issue 532, page 13) with interest because I too have a number of M4A files that I need to convert to MP3. However, I found Audacity’s conversion process somewhat cumbersome. VLC media player can be used to convert audio files by clicking Media, then Convert/Save. But it can only deal with one file at a time, and the software sometimes gets confused if you move processed files without closing the program - for example, if you’ve finished with one batch of files and intend to convert some more. Then I found Pazera Free Audio Extractor (www.snipca.com/28834), which does an excellent job of converting audio files. You can add multiple files by dragging and dropping them into the program or by selecting ‘Add files’, then selecting…

ANDROID & iOS Measure distances on a map The latest version of Google Earth (Android www.snipca.com/28856; iOS www.snipca.com/28857) lets you measure the distance between any two locations and the perimeter of an area. To measure the distance between two points, tap the search bar at the top, type the name of your first location, then zoom into the map. Next, tap the three dots at the top right, then tap the Measure option. You’ll now see a dot on the map. Move this to select your location, then tap ‘Add point’ at the bottom right. You’ll now see a white line. Move the line to the second location on the map, then tap ‘Add point’. You’ll now see the distance between both points in metres or kms at the bottom.…

WINDOWS 10 Remotely install Windows 10 apps on other PCs Installing apps from the Microsoft Store on your PC is fairly straightforward. But now you can simultaneously install these apps on other PCs that use the same Microsoft account. However, you can only do this by accessing the Store via Microsoft’s Edge browser. Open Edge, type get, then the name of the app, followed by microsoft store in the URL bar. For example, type get save to pocket microsoft store, press Enter, then click the relevant website link. The app’s page in the Store will open in a new window with the option to install. Click the three dots to the right of the Install button to see a new ‘Install on my devices’ option (see screenshot below). Click this…

If you’re working on a long Word document that others will read, linking passages of copy to other related sections can be a great way to help them navigate it. To do this, you use a similar process to linking text to websites. First, select the text you want to link to elsewhere in your document, then press Ctrl+K (the hyperlink keyboard shortcut). By default, it’s set to link to the internet, so click the Document tab on the left. You’ll now see your selected text in the Text field at the bottom. Next, click the circular button beside the Target field (see screenshot). In the ‘Target in Document’ pop-up window on the right, you’ll see several options (Tables, Images, Sections, Headings, Bookmarks, and more). Select the relevant dropdown menu,…

What is it? It’s Microsoft’s new method to let you test software without it harming your computer. It does this by creating a protected area where programs can run isolated from the rest of Windows. In Microsoft’s words, it is a “throwaway sandbox for secure, one-time execution of untrusted software”. Why is it called a ‘sandbox’? That’s the term software developers use to describe an environment in which users can analyse a program without it affecting anything else on their computer - just like a sandbox (or sandpit) is a safe place for children to play, notwithstanding toddlers throwing spades at each other. It’s especially useful for trying programs (such as beta versions) that may contain bugs. Sounds useful. Can I use it? No. At least, not yet. And when…

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT Is Word 2003 still safe to use? Q I was working in Microsoft Office Word 2003 recently and not connected to the internet. Suddenly, a warning came up purporting to be from Microsoft, saying that a file had become infected with a virus. This warning also had the Kaspersky logo at the top. On reflection, I realise it was probably a phony alert. However, without really thinking, I clicked the OK button, as it said it would disinfect my PC. It was at this point that I lost control of my PC, with Windows 7 shutting down. I suppose the real Kaspersky took over and fortunately on restarting everything went back to normal. What I would like to know is what happened here, and how dangerous…

1080p High-definition video of 1920x1080 pixels. 32bit/64bit A measure of how much information a computer can process at once. Most older computers are 32bit, more modern ones are 64bit. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 802.11ac A standard for wireless networks that allows for much higher transfer speeds than 802.11n. Add-on See extension. Augmented reality Lets you view the real world on a screen and add elements from the digital world. Beta A version of software that’s being tested. BIOS Basic Input-Output System. Software built into every PC that connects the vital components. Blue light Light given off by PC and phone screens that can disrupt sleep patterns. Cache A temporary space for storing information. Client A computer program used to access and manage emails. Cookie…

BT Openreach has cut back plans to upgrade 10 million copper broadband lines using G.fast technology, which delivers speeds up to 330Mbps. Instead, more full-fibre lines will be installed. These can hit speeds of 1Gbps. Around 5.7m copper lines will now be upgraded to G.fast over the next two years. This decrease will be offset by an extra 3m full-fibre connections, 1m more than initially planned. Currently 1.1m premises have G.fast, while 631,000 receive full-fibre. The change in strategy has come after the Government abandoned its view that improving speeds in the UK should be achieved by upgrading the existing copper network. In July, it pledged to deliver full-fibre to 15 million premises by 2025, followed by the rest of the country over the next eight years. BT has come…

Google has added support for Windows 10 notifications in the new version of its Chrome browser (68), letting you see messages from it in the Action Centre on your PC’s desktop. It was confirmed on Twitter by Chrome engineer Peter Beverloo (www.snipca.com/28770), who used the example of Google Calendar reminding you to “start packing for the trip tomorrow” (see screenshot). Chrome’s alerts will adhere to the notification settings you’ve applied in Windows 10, so you shouldn’t need to tweak them for the browser. These include any you’ve tweaked in Windows 10’s Focus Assist feature (previously called Quiet Hours), which lets you turn off notifications for a set period. To access these settings go to Settings, Display, then select Focus Assist. You can choose to run it during specific times of…

Santander ‘missing 9’ phone scam Santander customers should be careful when phoning the company’s helpline. The correct number is 0800 9 123 123, but I recently dialled the number without the ‘9’, which took me to an automated message provided by the Golden Number Company. It said the number didn’t connect to Santander and told me to ring 0900 123 123 123. I did this, and was told the call would cost 65p a minute! Being kept on hold would’ve cost me a small fortune. It turns out others have come across this scam: www.snipca.com/28744. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

I was interested in Issue 534’s ‘Question of the Fortnight’ (‘Could fake news kill democracy in the UK?) because I question the MPs’ motives in worrying about the so-called threat of fake news and online campaigning. Principally, I’d like to ask those MPs in the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee how they think they got elected at the elections in 2010, 2015 and 2017? At all three they would have benefitted from adverts online that targeted groups of people. These ‘viral’ ads are much more effective campaigning tools than the old-fashioned hustings - though I accept the latter are valuable because they give the public the opportunity to meet their local candidates. I’d also like to ask them which “messages of hate” they want to see banned? Presumably it…

Recently, I selected ‘close down’ on my Palicomp PC. Before this was completed, we had a short power cut. Next time I started up the computer I was unable to boot beyond part of the BIOS. Nothing I could set on the remaining BIOS had any effect. I used my iPad to email my problem to Pailicomp, telling them of the symptoms. They replied within a couple of hours, diagnosing a corruption or fault in the SSD. They asked me to return the SSD and gave me excellent instructions on how to locate and remove it, then arrange delivery to their Support Team. Three days later I received a replacement SSD by courier and everything booted up first time. The support team then offered further advice when needed. I could…

How can I enlarge my photos? Q I often want to enlarge my photos. Can you suggest a free and easy program to help me do this? David Phillip A To increase the size of an image, extra pixels need to be added - a process known as ‘interpolation’. The colour, brightness and other attributes of the new pixels will be determined by the surrounding pixels, but you’ll always see a drop in quality. Microsoft Paint lets you resize images - click Resize, then tell it how big you want the image. However, you’ll get better results using GIMP (www.gimp.org). Load your image into GIMP, select Image, then Scale Image. In the Image Size section, change the default ‘px’ (pixels) to ‘percent’, then type the scaling percentage you want. In…

Naughty Nationwide. The building society is planning to scale back its phone banking service, meaning customers will no longer be able to pay bills or make money transfers to other accounts over the phone from 8 October. Those hit hardest will be customers who aren’t able to visit a branch (only 700 left) or use internet banking because of poor mobile or broadband connections. When internet banking works, it’s wonderfully fast and convenient. But even people who are confident using online banking feel reassured that they can make transactions over the phone if needed. Phones don’t crash, after all. Nationwide, whose chief executive Joe Garner earns £2.3 million in pay and bonuses, says fewer than 2,000 people a year use telephone banking to make payments. Fine. Tell that to the…

PHONE | £150 from Argos www.snipca.com/28666 You’ll recall that the £220 Moto G6 (see Issue 530, page 25) revived our faith in Motorola’s budget G family. If you want to pay even less, the G6 Play is a similar size and shape but with a slower processor, plastic back, single rear camera and lower-resolution screen. It also lacks the G6’s water-repellent coating, but if you drop it in a pond you’ve lost 70 quid less, so it’s swings and roundabouts really. Our G6 Play came in an upmarket dark, glossy finish called Deep Indigo; it’s also available in gold (www.snipca.com/28665). It’s not the slimmest phone, and has a bit of a camera bump on top of that, with the fingerprint reader below it on this model. But we like the…

What does it do? You’re not the first to ask. Founded in 2010, Magic Leap provoked intense speculation. The basic idea was augmented reality: users could wave around devices to interact with 3D-rendered objects in the real world. By 2014, the company had raised more than half a billion dollars and, reassuringly, hired a science-fiction writer as its Chief Futurist. The sense of mystery was tarnished by comparisons to Google Glass, which already existed and was getting a bit boring. Demo videos appeared in 2015, but a year later, when Microsoft’s HoloLens AR headset debuted, there was still no sign of Magic Leap’s. Now, Magic Leap One, a headset with a handheld control unit and dedicated computer, is finally going on sale, in the US only, for $2,295 (around £2,145,…

PC | £1,368 from Scan www.snipca.com/28657 According to Wikipedia, Zotac’s name comes from the combination of ‘zone’ and ‘tact’. Hmm, OK. Maybe that makes more sense when you consider it’s based in Macau, on the Pearl River Delta (Zhusanjiao). This area, which also includes Hong Kong, is the most densely populated in the world, and a region of the People’s Republic of China that’s very successfuly engaged in global capitalism. A zone of tact indeed. “Its superb graphics will impress gamers, but for this price it lacks raw power” The company specialises in compact PCs, and although the MEK 1 is nowhere near as tiny as the barebones Magnus (see our review, Issue 521), it’s a lot smaller than the average desktop PC. Narrower than the diameter of a CD,…

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. £1,400 from www.snipca.com/26796 DESKTOP PC Mesh Ryzen Gaming PC CS £650 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…

Being self-employed gives me the freedom to work anywhere. When I’m at home, I split my time between a desktop PC in my office and a laptop in the lounge, and use my WD NAS drive as a hub for all my active documents. Always having the most recent version of my written work to hand means I never need copy it from one device to another, and there’s no danger I’ll find myself working on outdated versions. If I decamp to a coffee shop or a client’s office, My Cloud’s web interface means I can even download my own content remotely. It’s like having a 4TB Dropbox account for my own personal use. Nik Rawlinson How do you use your NAS drive? Please let us know: letters@computeractive.co.uk…

✔ I use a Windows PC, a Samsung Galaxy Android phone and an iPad. Unfortunately, that means I need iTunes because without it even the most basic syncing tasks with an iPad are a chore if you’re not tied into Apple’s ecosystem (No, Apple, I won’t sell my kidney to buy a Mac!). If you’ve ever used iTunes, you’ll know that it can slow your entire PC to a crawl and weigh it down with other cumbersome files (Bonjour, Apple Software Update, etc) that are required for it to work. And what I use instead… When I heard about MusicBee (www.getmusicbee.com) and the fact that it lets you sync your music library with your Android and iOS device, I couldn’t be happier. In terms of appearance and functionality, it’s similar…

Google Contacts Free Android: www.snipca.com/28869 The latest version of the Contacts app comes with a new interface that’s consistent with the flatter Material Design theme that other Google apps have recently adopted. You can now group contacts into categories, merge duplicates and import contacts from Gmail and old devices. Khan Academy Kids Free Android: www.snipca.com/28870 iOS: www.snipca.com/28871 Khan Academy is a non-profit organisation that runs educational online learning tools. This is its first app for toddlers and aims to develop their reading, writing, language and problem-solving skills. You can monitor their progress from the Parent Section. Magnifier 4 Reader Pro £2.39 Android: www.snipca.com/28872 This app is great for enlarging small print or difficult-to-read text. You can either pinch out with your fingers to zoom into text or use the slider…

There are times when certain programs just refuse to close. We’ll show you three ways to force-close these stubborn programs. To do this using keyboard shortcuts hold down the Alt key, then keep pressing Tab until you select the program you want to close. Next, press Alt+F4, wait until the program closes, then release the keys. The second method involves opening Task Manager (right-click your taskbar, then select Task Manager). Here, right-click the program that refuses to close, then click ‘End task’. The third way involves using the Command Prompt. Search for and open it, type tasklist, then press Enter. You’ll see a list of all the programs running on your PC. To force-close a program on this list (for example, Chrome), type taskkill /IM chrome.exe /F (see screenshot), then…

Create a mailing list In the age of WhatsApp and Snapchat, emails might be seen as a ponderous form of correspondence, but it comes into its own if you’re running a club or society. While social media and group text-messaging are widely used by many clubs, there’s a danger that these communal posts and texts will go unnoticed. Meanwhile, unread emails sit in our inbox – all bolded up – demanding to be read. But what's the easiest way to send one single email to multiple club or society members in one go? Then send another email to the very same people a week or so later? You create a mailing list. All email services (programs and websites) offer this ability, though the process will differ. But why use a…

You can now automatically back up files saved on your computer to OneDrive - Microsoft’s online-storage service - after the company made its ‘Folder Protection’ tool available for Home users of Windows 7, 8.1 and 10. Until recently, only Business users could access it. Once activated, it syncs files in your Desktop, Pictures and Documents folders. You can then access them from anywhere by signing into your OneDrive account. To turn it on, open the OneDrive settings, then click the ‘Auto Save’ tab. Next, click the ‘Update folders’ button (see screenshot) and choose the folders you want to sync. Finally, click ‘Start protection’. To see your files sync, click ‘View upload progress’. If you don’t see the ‘Update folders’ option, it’s probably because the tool hasn’t been added to your…

BUTLINS SAYS 34,000 CUSTOMERS HACKED Butlins has apologised for a data breach in which the details of up to 34,000 customers may have been stolen. Information taken included home addresses and holiday arrival dates, which criminals could use to work out when a family is not at home. No payment data was stolen, Butlins said. It planned to contact everyone affected by 13 August. For more details visit www.butlins.com/data.aspx. GOOGLE CHROMEBOOKS ‘TO RUN WINDOWS 10’ Google is reportedly working on a secret project called ‘Campfire’ to make it easier to dual-boot Windows 10 with Chrome OS in Chromebooks. Currently, you can do this only by putting Chrome OS into ‘developer mode’, which turns off vital security tools. Rumours say it would appear first on Google’s own Pixelbook (pictured), which costs…

Google says its new version of Android uses artificial intelligence (AI) to learn which apps you use most, then direct battery power to them. The feature, called Adaptive Battery (pictured), is one of the most useful tools in Android 9.0, also known as Android Pie (the alphabetical successor to Android Oreo). People testing an early version said it increased battery life by about 20 per cent. It’s part of a revamp, centred on AI, that Google hopes will make “your phone smarter, simpler and more tailored to you”. AI also powers the new App Actions tool, which tries to predict what you’re likely to do next on your phone, and shows that action on screen. In its blog (www.snipca.com/28759), Google gives the eπxample of a commuter waking and seeing options…

WATCH OUT FOR… Fake PayPal emails with Word document What’s the threat? Scammers have launched a new email campaign urging PayPal users to confirm their account details in order to prevent fraud. You’re told to download and fill in a “Data Verification Form” on a Word document. Doing so will install malware on your computer (it affects Windows only, not iOS or Android). At first glance the email seems genuine because it appears to come from ‘service@paypal.com’ and has the subject line ‘PayPal account warning’ (or something similar, see screenshot). But the message itself is written in the kind of garbled English that thankfully makes scams easy to spot – at least if you know what to look for. It begins “Greetings, dear Client!”, then continues “We noticed a lot…

Pay for Windows 7 support? Don’t give Microsoft ideas! In Issue 534, John Wyles asks how many users would be happy to pay Microsoft for offering extended Windows 7 support. Please, John, don’t give Microsoft ideas! Why should anyone have to cough up extra for the privilege of continuing to use an operating system they’ve already paid for? I don’t have a problem with Microsoft not adding more features to Windows 7. That’s fine. I like it the way it is anyway. Like all businesses Microsoft has to limit what its current product can do in order to make new products more attractive. Anyone who doesn’t understand that doesn’t understand capitalism. But I think it’s immoral to cease security updates for it, knowing full well this decision makes users -…

LEAD CASE How can I get back my PayPal money for missing goods? Q I’m having trouble filing a dispute with PayPal over air coolers I ordered in June from a company called DealBoom (http://dealboom.net). I’ve been charged for two although I only ordered one, and neither has turned up. The company doesn’t respond to emails and when I try to raise a dispute with PayPal I can’t complete the form. Do I have any other rights? Alan Edge A Alan’s covered by both PayPal’s Buyer Protection Scheme (www.snipca.com/28736) and the Consumer Contract Regulations (CCRs), which let customers cancel a purchase bought online for 14 days for any reason (not just because the item is faulty). But because DealBoom is based in Estonia, it won’t be easy for Alan to…

Search Google for your ancestors Many people start researching their family history by typing names into Google. This might work if your great-great-uncle was Charlie Chaplin (sadly, mine wasn’t), but most names are far too common to produce anything other than thousands of irrelevant results. How, then, can you use Google to find out more about your ancestors? The trick is knowing at least one bit of extra information about the person you’re looking for. For example, where were they born? Start at the local level – typing something like “Daniel Hirons” Byfield – and if that’s too precise (Byfield is a small village in Northamptonshire) expand outwards. Typing “Daniel Hirons” Northants OR Northamptonshire produces additional results (see screenshot below left), including a blog post I wrote many moons ago…

If advanced computer skills had been an event at my school sports day, I’d have been a shoo-in for a place on the podium. But it wasn’t, and I never came close to collecting a medal in anything else. So when I recorded a video of my eldest son’s gold-medal performance in his school’s long jump, I instantly wanted to share it. The iPhone that captured his heroics delivers astounding video quality, but also astoundingly large file sizes. This relatively short clip (several minutes) clocked in at an eye-watering 260MB, which was far too big to send to friends and family who refuse to use anything other than email. What did I do? I headed for VLC - one of those free gifts that just keeps on giving (download it…

PC | £804 from Ballicom www.snipca.com/28879 Medion Erazer P66019 A good all-rounder The last couple of desktop tower PCs we’ve seen from Medion have featured older Intel processors, leaving room in its budget for high-end Nvidia GeForce graphics cards. That’s fine if your priority is to play the latest games or use ambitious photo- and video-editing programs, but for all-round performance it makes more sense to start with a nice new eighth-generation processor. The six-core i5-8400 inside the Erazer P66019 is one such example. This sits alongside a low-midrange but still very capable 3GB GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, a 1TB hard drive and a 128GB SSD for Windows 10, all for a reasonable £804. So has Medion fielded a true all-rounder? “Has a decent processor and graphics card that…

PHONE | £370 from Amazon www.snipca.com/28669 Available in shimmering blue, iridescent green or pearly grey, the Honor 10 is very much what you’d expect from Huawei’s sub-brand, which specialises in bling. £400 is affordable for a high-end phone by today’s standards, and nobody would call the Honor 10 basic. On paper, it’s reminiscent of last year’s excellent (and more expensive) View 10, with the same very fast Kirin 970 processor, but slimmer, lighter and with an even taller screen. A couple of specs have drifted backwards: you still get a ridiculously generous 128GB of storage, but this time there’s no microSD slot to expand it. In addition, the fingerprint reader on the front now sits flush with the glass, but didn’t work as fast for us as the View 10’s.…

PHONE | £579 from Amazon www.snipca.com/28838 A year ago, BlackBerry announced the KEYone, an Android smartphone with a button keyboard, and everyone said, ‘Wow! BlackBerry still exists?’ In fact, the phone was made by a company called TCL, which had bought the rights to the name after the once-giant Canadian firm announced it was giving up hardware to focus on software and services. It did contribute the KEYone’s tweaked version of Android, incorporating features like BlackBerry Hub, which handles texts and social-media messages in one place. “If you like pressing buttons, it’s fine. But there are better phones for less money” Surprisingly, just enough people bought a KEYone to make the whole exercise not entirely futile, so here, in the inevitable cycle of consumer technology, is the differently spelled Key2.…

Winner of our dashcam Group Test in Issue 533, the Nextbase 412GW records Quad HD 1440p footage, delivering stunning image quality at 30 frames per second. Its six-element sharp lenses are made up of six layers of glass, providing the ultimate in picture clarity, with a 140-degree viewing angle able to capture the entire road ahead. With the Click & Go Powered Magnetic Mount, it’s easy to install and use. You can play back footage on the three-inch touchscreen, or connect it to a TV’s HDMI port to watch it on a bigger screen. To enter, email your address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk with ‘nextbase’ in the subject line by midnight 11 September. The Nextbase 412GW is available for £103 from Amazon (www.snipca.com/28447). Also available is the Nextbase 512GW, which won a…

1 Create and share media folders We’ll show you how to set up and share folders for photos and music. First, double-click the NAS to open its web interface, then click Share on the toolbar, followed by the add folder button. Next, click the switch to enable Media Serving 1 which gives access to anyone on the local network. 2 Upload your content Next, switch from the web view to Windows Explorer, then right-click the NAS drive and select Open. Enter your username and password to see the folders on the drive 1. At this point, copy the files you want to stream to the relevant folders. 3 Stream your photos and music Because you copied your files on to the NAS drive complete with the folders that contained them,…

Google Photos Free Android: www.snipca.com/28873 iOS: www.snipca.com/28874 Google Photos is great for its brilliant automatic backup, sharing, search and artificial-intelligence tools, but its editing tools are also superb. Our favourite is the one-tap Auto button that fixes basic defects, such as oversaturation and too much exposure. Best for Instant fixes Snapseed Free Android: www.snipca.com/28875 iOS: www.snipca.com/28876 This app offers 25 tools that can transform your photo. Among its editing options are filters, frames and lens-blur effects. Not all the tools are easy to use, but we love the fact that none of them are hidden behind sneaky paywalls. Best for Filters and effects Adobe Photoshop Express Free Android: www.snipca.com/28877 iOS: www.snipca.com/28878 Adobe hasn’t been able to fully translate its PC photo-editing prowess to phone and tablet apps, but this is…

LIBREOFFICE CALC Keep column headers visible at all times If your spreadsheet data runs to a lot of rows or columns, it can make things easier to keep the first row or column header visible, even when you scroll down, or to the left or right. To do this, click the View tab, move your cursor to the Freeze Cells option, then choose one of the three options - ‘Freeze Rows and Columns’ (keeps the row and column of any selected cell visible), Freeze First Row or Freeze First Column (see screenshot below). By default, Calc doesn’t let you type numbers starting with ‘0’. So, for example, you may want to type 0045, but Calc will change this to 45. If you do need to prefix a number with 0,…

Some add-ons seem to promise so much, it’s easy to be tempted into downloading and installing them before you have done a little research. While in most cases you’ll be quite safe, some add-ons smuggle malware on to your PC (such as Megalo for Paint.net - see www.snipca.com/28827). The best way to avoid any nasty surprises is to download extensions from the website of the host program’s developer (Microsoft or Google, for example), not the website of the add-on. If the software’s homepage doesn’t contain an add-ons section, search online for information in forum discussions. Dangerous add-ons are usually exposed pretty quickly. It’s also a good idea to run any download through VirusTotal (www.virustotal.com), which checks files against the databases of more than 60 antivirus scanners. Also be aware that…

Should I go to Moto? Q In Issue 532’s Buy It section, on page 30, you recommended the Motorola Moto G6. I was happy with this recommendation and about to buy the phone. However, in the very same issue Jane Hoskyn stated there was an inherent problem in all Moto phones (page 74). This has made me put my purchase on hold. Could you explain, please? W Underwood A Jane can certainly be forthright at times, but she didn’t declare that there was a problem with all Moto phones. Rather, she bemoaned the restart-loop problem affecting her G4. Forums run by Lenovo (which owns Moto) suggest it’s a quirk that’s suffered by many other users of the G4, and perhaps other Moto phones – but to reiterate, not all. Obviously,…

Photos are meant to be seen in print. When you leaf through a pile of prints you don’t need any file names, folders or metadata to tell you what they are. They bring back memories and trigger emotions. A box of prints is a box of treasure. “To squeeze a decent print from a photo you have to fix its resolution, so it doesn’t look like pixelated porridge” I’m not anti-digital photography. It lets you play with settings in real time and shoot thousands of photos without having to fork out for film, so you’ve got a better chance of bagging the shot. Trouble is, the shot then vanishes in that thumbnail quagmire on your PC (see image above). So I’ve decided to round up my best digital photos and…