Table of contents for April 2019 in Windows Help & Advice

There’s no need for recriminations – getting caught out by malicious software happens to the best of us. The question is, how do you deal with it? Let’s dive in and look at detecting and removing stubborn infections from malware to browser hijackers. First, open your security software, make sure it’s fully up to date and run a full (not quick) scan. If any security alerts pop up, review them carefully for false positives, but if you’re in any doubt, allow your anti-malware tool to zap the file into quarantine or attempt a full-blown removal. Reboot when done, then scan again to verify the infection is gone. Remove deep infections You may find some infections keep hanging around – give your antimalware tool two or three attempts to scrub the…

1 Choose your font There are fonts available freely on the web that are perfect for the neon glow effect. To install a font in Windows 10, unzip the downloaded file, right-click the font file and choose Install from the menu that appears. Next, open a new document in Elements’ Expert mode and use the Type tool to enter your text, choosing a colour using the swatches at the bottom of the toolbar. 2 Layer styles Each line of type you add becomes a new layer, represented by an entry in the Layers palette. Open Layer Styles from Layer > Layer Style > Style Settings and add an Outer Glow from the window that appears. Make the glow’s colour a lighter version of the one you’ve chosen for…

1 Mind Games Free Contains 29 games that test a broad range of cognitive tasks across memory, reaction time, verbal concepts, vocabulary and more in which memorising the answers won’t help. Click on a game, and you’ll be tested against the clock, sometimes expected to divide your attention, with a score awarded at the end. You can track your score over time, to see how you’ve improved. 2 Mind: Brain Training Presents you with five categories, all containing games to test your thinking power. There’s a greater degree of similarity between the games here, with repeating patterns of flashing squares, or counting how many squares are lit up. Picking out the seven lit squares in a grid of over 100 within a few seconds is a tricky task,…

1 Check that Bluetooth is active The first thing to do is to switch on Bluetooth on your PC. Go to the Action Centre by clicking on the icon on the far right-hand side of the Taskbar next to the clock. Then click the Bluetooth icon. If it’s already highlighted (as some of the other tiles are here) then it’s already on. On some PCs switching on Wi-Fi will also switch on Bluetooth, and it’s also often on by default. 2 Use Bluetooth’s settings You can enter the Bluetooth settings window in one of two ways – either via the Settings app or by right-clicking the Bluetooth button in the Action Centre. You can also search for Bluetooth Settings direct from the Taskbar, press [Win] and type Bluetooth.…

Although the world might like to argue – statistics show that Windows 10 has only just, in the last few months, beaten Windows 7 in worldwide usage rankings – Microsoft has made its decision. The hammer will come down on Windows 7 in early 2020, and unless you’re part of a business willing to pony up a whole load of cash, all support for it will be dropped. That means no updates, no security patches, nothing. It’ll be put out to pasture, to live out the rest of its days on a beautiful farm, increasingly infested by worms and open wounds. In truth, you might not be overly worried about this. No more Windows Updates sounds like bliss to some people. Indeed, Microsoft ceased all major updates for Windows 7…

Even the crustiest PC can be scraped back into shape with the right OS. You don’t need to stray far from the trusty Linux standards, either; Lubuntu is a lightweight flavour of Ubuntu that switches out its usual Gnome 3 window manager for the lightweight LXDE desktop, and drops some of the more system-intensive apps in favour of lighter alternatives. It might be dialled down, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dial it up again, as Lubuntu is compatible with standard Ubuntu software repositories. If there’s something there you want, you can get it – although if you’re running on the lowest possible specs (claimed to be just 512MB RAM), don’t expect absolutely everything to work. There are other minimal editions of Ubuntu (LXLE, in fact, is a respin of…

£490 | $649 www.lg.com The way we look at it, the best monitors are the ones that manage to strike a golden balance between price and performance. The 27-inch, Ultra HD (UHD) LG 27UD88 perfectly hits that goal – and flies past it. This is an incredibly colour-accurate monitor that will be a huge hit for anyone that has to do any creative or photo work on a budget. It lacks some modern amenities, like a high refresh rate and HDR, but what you get in return is a beautiful 4K Ultra HD monitor that anyone can afford. As time passes, the case to upgrade to a 4K (3,840x2,160) panel gets stronger and stronger. Not only do video providers, like Netflix and YouTube, offer a wealth of 4K content today,…

£1,399 | $1,299 www.canon.com Canon’s first attempt at a full-frame mirrorless camera, the EOS R, was met with mixed emotions, and the fact the company kicked things off with just one model gave dual-model debuts from Nikon and Panasonic more appeal. Now, with the EOS RP, Canon has matched its rivals with a more accessible way into its system. With an RRP of £1,399 ($1,299) for the body and an EF adapter, it’s undercut most of its competitors. Features Since the EOS RP uses the same lens mount as the EOS R, you can team it with the four RF lens that are available so far, plus the six new ones that are still in development. The EOS RP also comes with an adapter so you can use Canon’s range…

Spring is here and that means a lot of us are trying to get (back) into fitness, whether that’s to lose weight, feel healthier, or even just to prove that we really can do a half marathon if we want. If you’re going to get off your sofa and work towards a 5K run, you’ll need a little help to do things right. The fitness wearables here range from basic trackers that can tell you whether you’re walking a decent amount per day, right up to running watches with the capability of coaching you like a pro. The key thing is that they’re all great options if you are just starting out – though some offer more headroom for the future than others. Let’s see which one is ideal for…

1 Fotojet www.fotojet.com/ Fotojet looks very much like Fotor and Canva, but is more flexible and fun to use than either. To get started, click Collage and choose either a grid or an illustrated design. Those marked with a crown are available to premium account holders only, but you can resize the image frames in any grid. Click ‘Add photos’, then drag and drop them into the template. Once you’ve inserted an image you’ll be presented with a list of customisable filters, plus advanced options for tweaking exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, and hue. There’s a good selection of backgrounds to choose from, plus clip art and text. Once you’ve finished, you can save your creation as a JPG or a PNG. You can also share it via Facebook, Twitter,…

60,000 Number of Microsoft patents that have now been made open source, after it joined the Open Invention Network. The move is chiefly intended to protect open-source projects, including Linux, against Intellectual Property lawsuits. 3.2 GEN X The new name for the latest USB standard, originally known as USB 3.2. Confusingly, USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 are also being renamed USB 3.2 – USB 3.0 become USB 3.2 Gen 1; USB 3.1 becomes USB 3.2 Gen 2 and the standard originally known as USB 3.2 becomes USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. More confusingly, the USB Implementers’ Forum recommends that the three specs get called SuperSpeed USB, SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps and SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps in sales literature. We just thought you’d like to know. £2.95 BILLION Amount of money caught up in…

Problems connecting to the Internet – or even just your local network? Start by determining what the issue is: if other devices can connect without any issues, then focus your efforts on your PC. Here, you need to first check the network icon in your Taskbar’s notification area – if it’s displaying a yellow exclamation mark or red cross then click for further guidance. Wireless connections may also be greyed out with an asterisk indicating other connections are ‘available’ – click to see if your network is listed, then try reconnecting if it is. If you’re at the edge of your internal Wi-Fi network, you may find the signal’s being drowned out by interference from other networks – check the step-by-step guide on the page opposite to confirm this and…

Neither System Restore nor Rollback RX are a substitute for taking drive images using tools such as Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/ reflectfree.aspx) or Paragon Backup & Recovery (www.paragon-software. com/free/br-free). Both of these free tools enable you to take periodic fail-safe backups of your entire Windows setup – everything is included, and because your backup is stored on a separate physical drive, you’re also protected against drive failure. Set up a weekly differential (Macrium) or a daily incremental (Paragon) schedule to minimise disruption and data loss just in case you ever need to restore from either app.…

Ransomware is a nasty piece of malware where hackers encrypt all or part of your PC’s main drive and demand a ransom for the key required to unlock it. Hopefully you have a recent backup to fall back on if all else fails, but all may not be lost even if this isn’t the case. There are two types of ransomware: some simply target your data, while others lock you out of your PC. Dealing with the former type involves removing the underlying infection first using your anti-malware tool. Once done, visit www.nomoreransom.org/en/ decryption-tools.html for a comprehensive list of ransomware types and tools to deal with them. Here you’ll find links to tools from reputable companies such as AVG, Bitdefender or Kaspersky. If you find yourself locked out of your…

1 Turn off advertising ID and personalisation Many of the apps you install can display adverts, and information gathered about you and your PC usage can be used to tailor those ads so they’re more relevant to you. To stop this, and to see more generic ads, go to Settings > Privacy > General. Flick the first switch to the Off position to disable your ID, then switch off the other three to disable other personalised options. 2 Limit diagnostic data Windows 10 can collect data about problems you have with your PC to not only suggest solutions for you to try, but to gather information that can help others. To prevent this, go to Privacy > ‘Diagnostics & feedback’ and make sure the Basic option is selected.…

1 Hard drives You can use hard drives to preserve your data for a long time, but with the lifespan of an unused hard drive topping out at around 20 years, and with constantly used drives expected to fail after five, they’re a long way from preserving files forever. The benefit is that they transfer data relatively fast, and their USB connections are likely to remain usable for a long time. 2 USB flash drives Better suited to transporting data between computers than they are for long-term storage. They’re also small – although not as small as microSD cards, which once lost, stay lost – and slow, as well as being hard to label. A well-made drive, in which the connection between the USB plug and the PCB…

1 Download the app Set up Chromecast using the Google Home app on your iOS or Android device. Google produces plenty of apps, but the Home app is one of the key ones – it enables you to set up other Google devices as well, such as Google Home. Once you’ve installed it, tap ‘Add a device’ to set up your Chromecast. The app will guide you through the entire setup process in just a few minutes. 2 Set up Chromecast This is pretty simple and involves two main steps: plugging a Chromecast into an HDMI port on your TV; and then connecting it to your Wi-Fi network. Updates may be downloaded during this process. You can connect to Chromecast from any phone or PC on your Wi-Fi…

Psst, over here – we hear you’re looking for a sweet deal. Take a look inside the stained trench coat of a third-party key reseller, and you might be surprised; a Windows 10 key, generally overstock sold on from a wholesale bulk buy, or sometimes a key bought with a cheaper foreign currency and passed down the line, could cost you as little as £20. While we’re not trying to discourage you from heading to a site like www.kinguin.net, www.pcdestination. com, or even a big retailer like Amazon or Newegg in search of a cheap key, there are a few things that you need to beware of. This is risky. We’re not vouching for any of these sites because there’s a small chance the key you buy could be illegitimate…

We’ve all been there. You finish your PC build, it POSTs first time, you install Windows, then what? You use Microsoft Edge to download Google Chrome, install some drivers and RGB lighting apps, but you can’t do much without software, and apps can be expensive. There is free software, of course, and some of it is excellent, but there’s also a thriving ecosystem of budget apps that are supported on more than a whim, and can be relied on for updates, bug fixes, and extra features. Even the paid-for versions of free apps are worth checking out, as they often offer premium features. Being budget, they may not have all the bells, whistles, and advanced doodads of the big-name apps, but less expensive software has its advantages. First, you don’t…

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 72 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 70. Before you begin, make sure your PC is fully backed up by following the ‘Back up Windows 10’ tutorial on page 43 of issue 148. 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…

So far, we’ve covered both traditional reinstall techniques, but there are other reasons – and methods – for reinstalling Windows. First up is the recovery option. Most pre-built PCs come with a built-in manufacturer’s recovery partition that enables you to restore Windows to its factory shipped condition. The main advantage of this method – aside from being cheaper and easier for the manufacturer, of course – is that your PC is restored to a guaranteed working state, with all the drivers it needs to function. The downsides are that a lot of extra unwanted software is usually installed alongside Windows, you need to exercise extreme caution not to lose everything on the drive, and that if the recovery partition corrupts – typically due to hardware failure – you’re left with…

£279.99 | $299.99 www.netgear.com The Netgear Orbi Voice is either a brilliant idea, or a crazy one. Perhaps it’s both. It’s a satellite add-on to Netgear’s Orbi Wi-Fi mesh networking kit that not only helps extend your wireless but also has a Harman Kardondesigned speaker and Amazon Alexa support built in. It’s available as a single satellite add-on, for existing Orbi owners, or as a pack that includes the Orbi Voice satellite and an Orbi router. It’s also aimed at Orbi owners who are after a smart speaker with better sound than its Amazon Echo and Google Home rivals. Price and availability The Netgear Orbi Voice is an expensive bit of kit. The reasons for this are twofold: first, the Orbi Voice features the same networking hardware as the satellites…

MicrosoftKinect DK From $399 www.microsoft.com You remembered right. The original Kinect was a motion-sensing accessory for Xbox that made its debut in 2010, morphed onto the PC two years later and was killed off by Microsoft 2017. Only it wasn’t. Instead it found its way into Microsoft’s Azure programme, having proved popular with developers for reasons unimagined by its original creators. Now Microsoft is capitalising on that with the new Microsoft Azure Kinect DK – a $399 12MP HD camera that includes motion and depth sensors, and a 360-degree microphone array – all backed with AI know-how. The aim? To help with the creation of the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as advanced computer vision and speech. Already one Microsoft partner is putting the Kinect DK to good use…

If your computer isn’t the source of the problem, then there are two other avenues you can explore. Start with your router. Switch it off, wait 30 seconds for it to clear itself, then switch it back on. It’s amazing how often this resolves network-wide issues. If you’re struggling to connect anything wirelessly to the router, plug something into it using an Ethernet cable to check that still works; if it does, focus your troubleshooting on the router’s Wi-Fi settings. To log into your router through your browser you’ll need to know its IP address – go to Status under Settings > Network & Internet, then click ‘View your network properties’ – your router’s IP address is under ‘Default gateway’; or check your router’s manual for connection instructions. If all…

1 Create recovery media Download and install the free version of Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition from www.lazesoft.com on to a working PC. Once done, launch the program and choose ‘Burn CD/USB Disk’. Work through the wizard, choosing your afflicted PC’s version of Windows when prompted. 2 Boot from Lazesoft CD/USB drive Insert the USB flash drive or CD into your non-booting PC and power up. If the Windows Boot Manager screen appears, choose ‘Lazesoft Live CD’ to continue; if not, press the reset button and look for an option to access a boot menu – choose this and select your recovery media to boot from. 3 Scan for data files If your data files are on the same drive as your Windows installation, and they’ve not…

1 Initial setup Download Rollback Rx Home from https://bit.ly/ 2CejoDA – fill in the form to receive a link by email. Once downloaded, double-click the installer and follow the prompts. Once complete, reboot when prompted. You’ll see RollBack Rx set up its emergency tool, then Windows will reload. 2 Access configuration RollBack Rx will automatically start with Windows – look for its Taskbar Notification area icon. Roll your mouse over it and you’ll see it’s already taken its first snapshot. To review this, right-click the icon and choose ‘Open RollBack Rx Home’ to access the main summary screen. 3 Create snapshot on demand You can easily create new snapshots on demand – right-click the RollBack icon in the Taskbar and choose New Snapshot just before installing a…

You’ve removed all the infections from your PC, but they’ve left behind damage. Safe mode remains crippled, you’ve been locked out of folders due to permissions issues and you may find that your network and Internet connections are no longer working in the way they should. Thankfully, there are several tools that can help you repair some, if not all, of the damage. Start with the Windows Repair Tool (www.tweaking.com) – If you can, reboot into Safe mode and skip to the following paragraph; if not, switch to the ‘Repairs – Main’ tab, click Open Repairs and choose ‘I understand the risks’. Untick ‘All Repairs’, then tick ’23 – Repair Windows Safe Mode’ and click Start Repairs. After doing so, Safe mode should be enabled, allowing you to reboot into…

1 Use OneDrive Your OneDrive is a great option to use for sending big files whether you’re on the basic free plan or have the 1TB of space that comes with an Office 365 account. Sign in to OneDrive using the OneDrive app or via the web at https://onedrive.live.com/ and upload the file(s) you want to send. This can take a while if you’re on a slow connection such as a public Wi-Fi network. 2 Send your stuff Once the upload is complete, right-click and choose Share. You’ll see two main options: ‘Get a link’, which creates a download link but doesn’t actually send the whole file; or Email, which sends the file(s) by email. That latter option is best avoided as many email services won’t accept larger…

1 Enable Focus Assist To get started with Focus Assist, you’ll have to enable it before you can configure its various options. Click the Start button followed by Settings (the gear icon), then click the System icon. In the list of sections in the left-hand pane, you should see that the ‘Focus assist’ setting to the right is set to Off – you can then choose between ‘Priority only’ and ‘Alarms only’ modes. 2 Use ‘Alarm only’ mode ‘Alarm only’ mode is by far the simplest – to the point that there are no extra related options to configure. With ‘Alarm only’ selected, Windows 10 will not bother you with any notifications at all, leaving you free to focus on whatever task you want to get on with.…

1 Connect to your router Your router has an IP address like this: 192.168.0.1, or 192.168.1.254, and so on. To connect to your router, you enter that number in your web browser’s address bar. If it isn’t on a sticker on the router itself, it may be on a card or the manual that came with your router. Once connected, save it as a web browser bookmark so you don’t need to remember the address next time. 2 Enter your login details You’ll now need to enter your username and password to log in, and again these should be on a sticker, on a card or in the manual. If your router has default options such as ‘admin’ and ‘password’, it is a really good idea to change…

Windows 10 blends the best features of Windows 7 and 8.1, but there are still hurdles to overcome if you truly want to enjoy it. In this feature, we round up the most frustrating annoyances you’re likely to come across with your new operating system, and show you how to get the OS to work the way you want it to once again. You’ll discover how to restore features taken out of Windows 10, such as Windows Media Centre, make sure settings are correctly applied to protect your privacy and security, and resolve other issues with the minimum of fuss. Once you’ve worked your way through our list, you’ll have a Windows computer that’s working for you, and not the other way around. Without further ado, then, it’s time to…

It doesn’t matter how many times you do it, or just how reliable the process is, upgrading an existing install to a new operating system version is scary and a little risky. If it goes bad, you’re screwed – particularly if you’ve not taken the proper steps to keep your precious data safe. We could go on and on about the backup tips you’ve already heard – three copies in at least two places, one of which is off-site – but we’ll presume you’re doing that already. The critical backup here is a fail-safe – a cache of your files that’s ready to go on the off-chance that something goes wrong. It’s essential whether you’re upgrading, switching, or doggedly sticking to your now-vulnerable Windows 7. You could create a full…

Windows WINDOWS 10 WON’T UPDATE Q I recently noticed that my Windows 10 Home, 64-bit PC has stopped updating itself. When I examined the problem, I came across the following error code: 0x80070424. I’ve scoured the web and tried almost every remedy I can find related to this error, but no luck. Please assist! Zill Niazi ians’ solution We saw Zill was still running Windows 10 version 1803, which indicated that the October 2018 Update hadn’t been installed. We directed him to www.microsoft. com/en-gb/software-download/windows10 where he can try forcing the update using the Update Assistant – if this fails, download the Windows 10 Media Installation Tool and use it to try and upgrade by performing an update installation of Windows 10. Before doing so, take a full drive image of your…

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…

1 Partition hard drive You’ll need to partition your drive to free up space on which to store your copy of Windows. The best tool for the job is AOMEI Partition Assistant (www.aomeitech.com/ aomeipartition-assistant.html). Start by clicking Make Bootable Media under Wizards to create rescue media. 2 Shrink main partition Select your Windows drive (typically C:) and click Resize/ Move Partition under Partition Operations. Use the slider to free up at least 30GB space to the right of the Windows partition. If your drive is an SSD, click ‘Advanced>>’ and tick ‘Allow partition alignment…’ Click ‘OK’. 3 Add new Windows partition Now select the newly created Unallocated space to the right of drive C and click ‘Create Partition’ under Partition Operations. Verify NTFS is the file system…