Table of contents for Christmas 2018 in Windows Help & Advice

Does your PC get you down? Are you frustrated by what seems to be a slow and unresponsive computer, plagued by frequent freezes as it struggles to keep up with your demands? If so, then this feature has your back. We start by making absolutely sure you need a new PC. First, we’ll run you through some clean-up and optimisation techniques that can quickly bring an errant PC to heel if the problem is down to your Windows installation or rogue applications rather than your computer itself. Next, we’ll examine ways in which you can upgrade key parts of your PC to give it a significant burst of speed for significantly less cost than going out and buying a brand-new PC, off the shelf. And if you think your only…

When it comes to giving your laptop a new lease of life, you’re much more restricted. In the majority of cases you’ll have to make do with swapping out the slow internal hard drive for a faster – but almost certainly smaller – solid-state drive (SSD). Some laptops have two drive bays, but it’s more likely it only has one, in which case you’ll have to replace your drive with a smaller one – the sweet spot appears to be 500GB, which can be had for under £80; 1TB drives cost double. You may also be able to upgrade your laptop’s RAM, but it’s likely this will be a case of swapping out existing RAM for new memory, so you won’t be able to keep your old RAM. You could…

There’s no need to add a third-party graphics card to your new desktop PC unless you’re desperate to play the very latest games. Built-in graphics consume less power and heat than plug-in cards, but are clocked at lower speeds and also take away some of your PC’s RAM – this is typically at your discretion, capped by most motherboards to 2GB. Despite their limitations, today’s integrated graphics can easily handle 4K video and are more than capable of keeping up with mainstream games, even relatively new ones – see TechRadar’s glowing review of the AMD Ryzen 5 2400G (www.techradar.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-5-2400g), for example. If you’re thinking of keeping an existing graphics card that’s three years old or older, then check carefully – chances are your new CPU’s integrated graphics will be at…

1 Fetch the app Download CloneApp from www.mirinsoft.com, then right-click the downloaded ZIP file and choose Extract All to extract the portable application inside its own folder. Once that’s done, open the folder, right-click CloneApp.exe and then choose ‘Run as administrator’. 2 Select programs The main interface will appear, listing all of the available program settings that can be backed up. Start by clicking Select Installed to have CloneApp go through the installed programs on your PC – if it finds a match, it’ll automatically select the appropriate program plug-in. 3 Edit plug-ins Click ‘Preview’ to view a full list of files and Registry entries that get backed up. If you spot a missing file or Registry entry you can manually insert it into the plug-in: select the program in…

1 Install VLC Go to www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html and click Download, then Run to initiate. The Setup Wizard will walk you through installation. Choose your language and click OK. Click ‘Next’ on the license agreement. Next, confirm which components you wish to have installed, such as shortcuts for your desktop and Start menu. Confirm your program location. Click ‘Install’. 2 Set VLC as default media player Open the Start menu and type default into the search bar. Choose ‘Default app settings’. This will open a new window. Under ‘Music player’ click your audio player – for example, Groove Music. Under ‘Choose an application’, click ‘VLC media player’ to switch apps. Do the same for ‘Video player’. If the change is successful the VLC Media Player icon will appear beside video and audio…

1 Create a Plex account First, point your web browser to www.plex.tv and click the Sign Up button to the upper right of the page. You can use a Google account, your Facebook credentials or an email address to set up a new account. If you opt to use your email address, you’ll be prompted to create a password – else, you will just have to provide your Facebook or Google details. 2 Download Plex Media Server Next you’ll need to install Plex on the PC or device you intend to use as your media server. You should automatically be taken to a page linking to the Plex Media Server download, but if not, go to https://app.plex.tv/desktop. If you are installing the software on a network drive, click the ‘Download…

1 Get the app First make sure the Your Phone app has been installed on your PC. If you don’t have it already, type Windows Update in the search bar next to the Start button, and select ‘Search for Updates’. Once the Windows 10 October 2018 Update has been installed, the Your Phone app should be available. You can also download the app, for free, from the Microsoft Store. 2 Set up Your Phone on your PC With the app installed, you can now launch it from the Start menu. On opening the Your Phone app for the first time, you’ll be asked to set up the app. From the window that appears, click ‘Get started’. This will begin the process of linking your phone to your PC via the…

1 Use Windows 10’s built-in tool The easiest way to back up your PC is to use the tools in Windows 10 (or other versions of Windows). To access them, type Control Panel in the Start menu, then where it says ‘System and Security’, select ‘Backup and Restore (Windows 7)’. Ignore the fact it says ‘Windows 7’, since it can be used on later Windows versions. To start the step-by-step backup process, click ‘Set up back-up’. 2 Select where you want to save your backup A window will appear asking you to select where you want to save your backup. You’ll see a list of internal drives and any external hard drives that connected to your PC, along with the amount of free space that they have available. Choose a…

That’s a wrap. We’ve got our £400 budget build up and running. As mentioned, we installed Windows to make life easier when it comes to working out how well this machine runs compared to our zero-point. And for the sake of a reasonable comparison, we’ve changed our zero-point from the usual £1,050 machine to the £500 Intel Core i3-8100 rig we built just over half a year ago. With double the memory and a processor that costs twice as much, it should give us a far better grounding than the Ryzen 5 and GTX 1060 system we usually use. These builds are always easy to put together. There are five parts inside that chassis, with the only problems being the troublesome rear I/O shield, and deciding how to run the…

Like all forms of data encryption, VPN can’t promise to make you hackproof (see below). Neither can it make you invisible or anonymous online – if someone is monitoring your Internet connection, they can still see that is being received and transmitted, and they can probably guess that a VPN connection is being used. A VPN is just one element in a multi-layered approach to security and privacy Neither does a VPN mask your online activity: even though the packets are encrypted, the data itself isn’t, so your Internet behaviour can still be tracked using cookies and other existing technologies by websites and data providers. A VPN is just one element in a multi-layered approach to security and privacy. When it comes to web browsing, for example, use your browser’s…

So, you’re more savvy about VPNs now, and you’d like to set one up – either for use at home or while you’re on the road. If you plan to use a VPN on single devices – your laptop, say, and your smartphone – then setup can be as simple as downloading the appropriate app from the provider you go with. Sign into the app, choose your location and off you go. Make sure you take the time to explore the app’s settings – you’ll find options for auto-starting it with your PC (see below), plus there may be options such as kill switches. When this is switched on, it’ll suspend your Internet connection when you’re not connected to your VPN – VPN connections can drop, so it’s an extra…

Security NORTON DOWNLOADER KEEPS POPPING UP Q I security recently tool switched , and used to a the new Norton Remove and Reinstall Tool to remove Norton Security. Now Norton Downloader keeps popping up demanding I download a new copy of the app. It even greys out the close window dialog. How can I get rid of this annoying pop-up? Frank Wobley Nick P’s solution Norton’s tool is rather insidious. Start by right-clicking the Taskbar and choosing Task Manager, then scrolling through the list of processes to locate Norton Download Manager. Right-click this and choose End Task. Now browse to C:\Users\ Public\Downloads where you’ll see a Norton folder, which you need to delete. Next, visit C:\Program Files\ Common Files\AV\ and delete any Norton folder you find inside here. The final…

Start by stress-testing your desktop to verify that everything works as it should – sometimes the repair can introduce more problems than it solves, in which case if you’re running Windows 8.1 or 10 you can undo the changes. Go to Start > Settings > ‘Update & recovery’ > Recovery and look for an option to go back to your previous version – click ‘Get started’ and then follow the prompts. If the repair doesn’t appear to fix your underlying problem, Windows 8.1 and 10 users can take one more intermediate step – the reset or repair. It will see you waving goodbye to all those desktop programs you’ve installed (including MS Office and your third-party security software), but it will preserve your Microsoft Store apps, files and Windows settings.…

Once Windows is reinstalled, open Windows Update to bring Windows fully up to date – don’t be surprised if there are hundreds of updates still to apply in the case of Windows 7 and 8.1. Once it’s fully up to date, consider reinstalling Macrium Reflect Free and taking your first drive image – a vanilla backup you can restore in future instead of reinstalling Windows itself. Next, it’s a case of reinstalling your core apps. Once in place, open CloneApp from your data drive. If you click the Restore button, every single program setting you backed up will be restored – if there are any backup settings you don’t want to restore, select Options to locate the backup folder, then open it and move any program folders you want to…

9 MILLION  Number of users Twitter has ‘lost’, thanks to a crackdown on bots, spam and other dodgy accounts, cutting its total userbase from 335 million in the previous quarter to 326 million. The decline in numbers isn’t unexpected – Twitter’s been aggressively shutting down ‘bad’ accounts in recent months as it tries to clean up the social media platform. 1,000  The maximum number of photos and videos Flickr users will be able to store on its servers for free, after the photo-sharing service scrapped its previous 1TB limit. Users have until 8 January 2019 to download images above the 1K limit – or upgrade to a Pro account. After that date, anyone with over 1,000 files on the site won’t be able to upload any more content; and from…

Before deciding whether to upgrade or buy a new PC, make sure your current model isn’t simply suffering from a lack of TLC. Start by checking the hardware is working correctly following the advice in the boxout below, then make sure you perform a full malware scan with at least two tools, one of which we suggest is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (www.malwarebytes.com). If you’re in the market for new security software, then Bitdefender (www.bitdefender.co.uk) is currently topping the charts for malware detection while remaining light on system resources. Clean up your PC Next, open Settings and navigate to System > Storage to click ‘Free up space now’ to run Windows’ new disk clean-up tool. If you haven’t run this utility before you could easily free tens of gigabytes of drive space,…

There’s only so much fine-tuning you can do – and even if you do return your PC to factory-fresh levels, you may still find time has not been kind and it’s still running a little slow. But before consigning your current model to the dustbin (actually, check out the final page of the feature for a more responsible way to dispose of your PC), why not explore the possibility of a judicious upgrade or two? These can breathe significant new life into your PC without breaking the bank (or the environment). If you’re currently running Windows with less than 4GB RAM then upgrading your memory is a smart avenue to explore, particularly if you often run multiple applications at once. Note that if you’re currently running a 32-bit version of…

The time has come. After years of faithful service, your old PC is no longer up to the task. It’s time to upgrade to a new one. You might want to choose an off-the-shelf model for simplicity’s sake, but why not build your own? The self-build route not only saves you money – particularly if you’re able to scavenge components from your existing PC – but also enables you to craft the perfect PC for your needs. Start by working out what you can keep from your existing PC. Monitor, keyboard and mouse for starters, but also consider the case. If it’s a standard ATX case then you should be able to re-use that, too, although check the vents are clear and any case-mounted fans are in good working order.…

1 A new Home screen The Home screen is new for the 2019 version, and Adobe is so proud of it that not only does it stay open while you’re using one of the other Elements apps, but there’s also a button to return to it in the apps’ interface. The Home screen offers quick links to a lot of functions, including the new Auto Creations, which are powered by Adobe’s Sensei AI technology. 2 Guided Edits Photoshop and Premiere Elements’ Guided modes are home to their tutorials. Each release adds new Guided Edits, and they’ve built up into a library of over 50 in Photoshop Elements alone. Premiere Elements puts a box of instructions at the top left, and highlights the buttons it wants you to press, while Photoshop…

1 Find a video online If you have the copyright holder’s permission, or you uploaded it yourself, you can download a video from the web to turn into a GIF. Download and install 4K Video Downloader (www.4kdownload.com), then find the video you want online and copy its address from your web browser. Open 4K Video Downloader and click the green ‘Paste link’ button. 2 Save it to your PC You’ll now be prompted to choose a quality option. Part of the appeal of animated GIFs is their small size, so the ‘High quality 480p’ option is fine. Leave the format as MP4, choose a location for the saved file – we recommend either your desktop or your Videos directory – and click Download. You’ll see a green progress bar; once…

Whether you connect to a work-based VPN, or a VPN service, one way to make connecting simpler is to use Windows 10’s built-in VPN tool under Settings > Internet & Security > VPN. By using it you’ll be able to connect to your chosen VPN from the Action Centre, instead of having to open a separate app – or even do so automatically, as you would with any Internet connection. We’re using NordVPN here since it provides a list of recommended servers at https://bit.ly/2w0vtbn.Note: you’ll only be able to connect to one VPN server for each profile you create. However you can create multiple profiles and easily switch between them. 1 Add VPN connection In Settings > Internet & Security > VPN, click ‘Change virtual private networks (VPN)’, then click…

£900 | $1,199 www.microsoft.com Before Microsoft introduced the Surface Pro (2017) last year, the company explicitly said that there was no such thing as a ‘Surface Pro 5.’ Why? Essentially, a future Surface Pro would get a number again when it brought “an experiential change that makes a huge difference in product line.” Now, Microsoft has leapfrogged the ‘5’ moniker entirely in launching the Surface Pro 6. By that logic, you wouldn’t be out of line to expect a massive sea change – or at least one or two of the changes that have been requested for years. While the Surface Pro 6 is inarguably the most powerful and longest-lasting (when it comes to battery life) Surface tablet yet, we have a hard time accepting that it’s worthy of the…

£439 | $499 www.marshallheadphones.com/ For a few years now the Marshall brand has been branching out and away from its live amp gig gear and studio comfort zone, and into the home speaker space with its Acton, Stanmore and Woburn speakers, and its Marshall Major headphones. But it’s only now with the Marshall Woburn II that the company has really delivered on the ear-splitting promise of its hard-rocking heritage. Big, bold and ‘all-the-way-to-11’ loud, the Marshall Woburn II is a great-looking speaker that is well equipped for most musical styles, and ferocious when paired with your scuzzier tunes. Price and availability The Marshall Woburn II is priced at £439 ($499). That’s a significant chunk of change – especially in the UK where the Pound is particularly weak – and it’s…

Christmas is almost here, and with it the chance to spoil yourself with that brand new laptop you’ve been hankering after all year long. The question is: what to choose? Luckily, we’ve rounded up six of our favourites from the last 12 months, with each one guaranteed to bring you – and your family – pleasure for the Yuletide season and beyond. Our round-up starts with the brilliant and affordable Huawei MateBook X Pro and also includes the Microsoft Surface Laptop 2, a premium PC that promises a pure, powerful Windows 10 performance – and delivers. So, no matter what kind of laptop you’re looking for, our top six picks have your Christmas wishes covered. 1 Huawei MateBook X Pro £1,499 consumer.huawei.com/uk/ After years of this list being dominated by…

Samsung Galaxy Book 2 From $999 www.samsung.com Samsung’s answer to the Microsoft Surface Go, erm, surfaced in the US in October – and it’s a doozy. An update to the existing Galaxy Book, it’s powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 chip – the kind normally found in smartphones – and that means it has 4G LTE connectivity. Because it uses a power-sipping CPU, the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 delivers up to 20 hours of battery life, yet still manages to pack in a 12-inch AMOLED FHD+ (2,160x1,440 pixel) display, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, plus 5MP front and 8MP rear cameras and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. And it runs Windows 10 S, too. But the real kicker for anyone eyeing a Surface are the included accessories: the $999 asking…

Poor performance can also be attributed to hardware issues. Start by checking your PC’s fans aren’t overheating using Speccy Portable (www.ccleaner.com/speccy/builds) – your desktop should typically run at under 50-degrees Celsius except when performing demanding tasks, while laptops are around 10 degrees hotter. Power off to perform a visual inspection of your vents and fans, brushing away any dust, plus rearrange cables if possible to improve the air flow. Failing hard drives can be a problem, too: Speccy can provide you with basic info via its Storage tab or download and install HDD Scan (www.hddscan.com) to perform more extensive tests. Test your CPU for potential stability problems using Prime95 – download and unzip it from www.mersenne.org/download/, then launch the program and select Just Stress Testing, leaving the default options to…

You can easily clone your PC’s hard drive using Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx): launch the program after installing it, then select your Windows drive and click ‘Clone this disk…’ Make sure only those partitions you need are copied across: System Reserved, your actual Windows partition and any hidden partitions at the end of the drive. Untick any others, then click ‘Select a disk to clone to…’ Click your new solid-state drive (SSD) – it’ll be the one with no partitions assigned to it. Then simply drag each partition across in turn – Macrium will automatically shrink your C drive to fit. If necessary, click Cloned Partition Properties to verify alignment settings are Vista/7/SSD. Click ‘Finish’. Untick ‘Save backup and schedules as an XML Backup Definition File’ and then click OK…

Once your PC – or the components you’re not replacing – is ready for disposal, what then? Check eBay to see whether there’s a market for recouping some of your costs by selling either the whole PC or individual components such as RAM, motherboard and so on. If not, consider donating it to the likes of www.computeraid.org, which offers free collection if the PC is mostly working. If there’s nowhere for you to send your old PC on to, then you’ll need to dispose of it responsibly. Most local recycling centres will accept old PC equipment in both working and non-working condition – check with your local authority before visiting.…

Have you ever tried to watch a DVD or Blu-ray movie on your PC? Then you’ll know that Windows 10 no longer comes with a built-in optical disc player. Instead, you can play MP3 files via Windows’ own Groove Music app, but it doesn’t support podcasts or Internet radio. Likewise, the default Film & TV app can play some kinds of video files, but struggles with more exotic formats. Enter VLC Media Player. It’s a free and open source app, which can serve as a one-stop media centre. VLC not only supports DVD and Blu-ray playback but also a wealth of other codecs, meaning it can play virtually any media file. You can also use it to subscribe to podcasts and listen to Internet Radio. In this guide, you’ll discover…

1 Create an Outlook email account Fire up your web browser and go to www.outlook.com.Click the ‘Create free account’ link or button and enter the email address you would like to use – you can choose between an@outlook.com and an @hotmail.com address. Click ‘Next’ to check whether your preferred email address is available, then create a password to secure your account and finish the setup process. 2 Access Outlook settings To add other email accounts to Outlook, head to Settings. Click the gear icon to the upper right of the Outlook window and the ‘Quick settings’ pane will appear; scroll right down to the bottom and click the ‘View all Outlook settings’ link. In the dialog that appears, move to the Email section and then go to the ‘Sync email’…

The October 2018 Update for Windows 10 brought a lot of great new features to the operating system, but one of the most useful is a new app called Your Phone. This app enable you to read text messages you receive on your smartphone directly in Windows 10. You can then use Your Phone to reply and send texts from your PC as well – without having to take your smartphone out of your pocket! If you own an Android phone, the Your Phone app also enables you to to view, edit and copy photos from it using your Windows 10 PC. If you own an iOS device, such as an iPhone, your choices are limited to sending web links – although Microsoft is promising to work with Apple to…

One of the great things about VPNs is their versatility. They can be used for multiple purposes, all of which help boost your privacy and security online. The most obvious use for a VPN is to enable you to securely access the Internet through insecure connections, like Wi-Fi hotspots found in public places like cafés. Using a VPN can also increase your privacy, by scrambling your data so your ISP can’t track what you’re doing Even if the hotspot itself is encrypted, it’s still possible for others connected to it to intercept your communications. By using a VPN, you effectively block your Internet traffic from anyone snooping around. The VPN also protects your connection from certain vulnerabilities, such as KRACK. Note, however, other shared resources remain unprotected – so, for…

Not all VPN services are equal – each one should be rigorously checked so that it meets your needs before you part with any money. A VPN’s performance will depend on the protocols it uses, plus how many servers it employs worldwide (the more servers it uses, the less congested each one will be). And speaking of servers, check to see which countries it offers servers in – is your chosen one covered? Pricing is important, of course, but not all paid-for services are equal, as you’ll see opposite. What’s the VPN’s policy on logging? Where’s the VPN company physically based (this determines which jurisdiction it’s under – and affects its data-retention policies). Which services does the VPN support? For example, are torrenting and video streaming covered? How many devices…

1 Get started Open a web browser and head to www.ipvanish.com, then click the Start Now button. IPVanish isn’t free; a VPN is a relatively demanding service, and the company charges a monthly fee for use of its facilities with a seven-day money-back guarantee. There are free VPNs out there, but IPVanish is our top pick – and who knows what the free ones are doing with your information? 2 Sign up Select your payment option (note: anything other than the monthly payment is billed in one chunk) and create an account – in the spirit of anonymity, all you need to provide is an email address and a password. You can even pay anonymously, though this means owning Bitcoin. Here’s a secret tip: loiter on the site for a…

Not all reinstalls require a complete wipe of your hard drive. A repair or refresh installation leaves your programs, settings and files in place, and restricts itself to installing a fresh copy of your Windows files over the top of your existing copy. If your problem is linked to a corrupt file or Windows setting, the repair installation can usually fix it. All repair installs share one common characteristic: you must launch them from Windows itself. You can’t boot from your install media and repair Windows through that; you need to boot into Windows, then start the repair process from there. If you’re unable to boot into Windows, therefore, you’ll need to skip to page 74 and perform a full destructive recovery instead. Start the repair Starting a repair install…

Reinstalling Windows from scratch – namely, wiping your system drive to install a fresh version of Windows on to it – is the ultimate choice for anyone looking to revive a slow PC or resolve a major, non-hardware issue. Here we’ll step you through the entire process – if you’re simply looking to repair an existing Windows install, turn to our guide on page 72. Before you begin, make sure your PC is fully backed up by following the ‘Back up Windows 10’ tutorial on page 42 of this issue. A full reinstall really is destructive – nothing left on your C drive will exist once you’ve finished. If you’d like to transfer selected program settings from old installation to new, download the portable CloneApp tool (www.mirinsoft.com) to your backup…

£349.95 | $399 www.tp-link.com It wasn’t so long ago that we were treated to TP-Link’s second-gen Archer C5400 router, and that wowed us with its smart home features and its outrageous power. By adding an ‘X’ to the name, pasting on some red flashes, using far more aggressive moulding and boosting just about every single aspect of the hardware, TP-Link’s Archer C5400X is a gaming router aimed at the gaming market… For gamers. Either that or, judging by its looks, it’s a sacrificial plinth for cats who’ve been very naughty. But is it only for gamers? If you can cope with the styling – which is, it must be said, more divisive than the slightly subtler looks of the non-X variety – then the C5400X’s specs promise a super-powered, almost…