Table of contents for August 2019 in Windows Help & Advice

One of the biggest issues with Windows these days tends to be problems with Windows Update, particularly given the fact we’re currently subjected two major ‘feature’ updates every six months or so. Microsoft is learning fast, so if you’ve not yet seen the 1903 update offered, it’s because potential issues with your setup have been spotted – if you’re lucky, you’ll be told this when you attempt to install the update. The problem may be that the explanation is vague: ‘Your PC has hardware that isn’t ready for this version of Windows’ means an incompatible driver has been spotted, but if it’s not listed then it’s likely to be the fact you have a SD card or USB thumb drive plugged in. Removing this should resolve the issue. We recommend…

Windows isn’t the only source of problems, of course. Many programs can run into problems too – hence the endless release of new updates containing a multitude of bug fixes. Over time, unsupported programs can also be left by the wayside, as new versions of Windows render them incompatible. Don’t worry though, there are ways and means of keeping old favourites running well past their sell-by dates. First, let’s see what can be done when programs suddenly stop responding. Program freezes It’s common for programs to freeze – you’re clicking or typing away when suddenly things seem to grind to a halt, the screen loses focus and suddenly the dreaded ‘not responding’ message appears. Step one is to be patient: if you’ve loads of programs running, then Windows can get…

The art to troubleshooting problems is not about knowing that problem A is fixed by solution B, but rather understanding the tools and techniques you need to find solution B. You’ll not only acquire the knowledge required to understand which Windows tools will be of most use to any specific issue, but you’ll also learn how to harness the power of the web to track down step-by-step solutions and remedies you can apply – or adapt – to your own circumstances. Gather information Step one involves diagnosing and describing the problem in such a way that you gain the information you need to go hunting for a solution if one doesn’t present itself. The best problems to troubleshoot are those that can be linked to a specific program, have an…

Packed with informative tutorials Every issue, we guarantee to pack the magazine with great tutorials teaching you all the best things you can do with your PC. Each article features step-by-step instructions to make learning new skills fast and enjoyable. Customise Windows to work your way We all know how to do the basics but getting the most from Windows isn’t always easy. Our dedication to the operating system means you get the very best tips and tricks for all versions of Windows. Get more from your favourite websites We all have our list of favourite sites but often we miss out on great features because they’re difficult to use or hidden from sight. We’ll show you how to do more online, for a more satisfying web life. Discover new…

1 Limit the number of files The easiest way to ensure your emails don’t bounce back is to ensure that you don’t attach too many photos at a time. The number you can attach will depend on the email provider you are using, but the fewer files you attach to an email, the greater the chance there is of it being successfully delivered. If necessary, split your photos over two or more emails. 2 Reduce photo size An easy way to reduce the file size of photographs is to reduce their physical dimensions. Modern digital cameras and smartphones take images at super-high resolution, resulting in very large files. In Windows 8 and 10, you can open images in the built-in image viewer and resize from the Options menu,…

1 Auto format settings In order to take control of automatic formatting, you need to find the settings relating to it. Click File in the Office ribbon, and then Options at the bottom of the menu that appears. In the Word Options window, click the Proofing link to the left-hand side, and then click the AutoCorrect Options button to the right. A dialog box will pop into view. 2 Access AutoFormat options If you find that you are on the AutoCorrect tab, move to the AutoFormat As You Type tab instead. There are numerous setting here which can be controlled by tick and unticking check boxes, starting with the ‘Replace as your type section’ where there are six options you can customise whether or not Word changes what…

This is a complete Google Assistant device in a teeny, tiny package – it’s the Google equivalent to the Echo Dot, put simply, so it’s microphones and speakers all in one box, and it’s easy to tuck away in a corner. It comes in funkier colours than the Dot, and has a nice dome shape with a fabric finish Google Assistant has lots of smart home control capabilities built-in, and is unbeatably good if you want to ask knowledge questions – not just about facts, but also to translate something into another language, or to get personalised news and other information useful for your day, such as weather, traffic and finance. There are built in games that families can play, too. It supports lots of music services, though again its…

Made to be a multi-camera security system that covers your whole house, these units are totally wireless, meaning no cable for their video footage, and no power cords. They have rechargeable batteries built in that last three or four weeks, and a magnetic mounting makes them easy to pop on and off when you need to charge. You can buy as many as you need to cover all your house’s danger spots (inside and out, thanks to weatherproofing), and view them all from a single app, which will notify you when it spots something you need to know. They have heat and motion sensing built in, as well as night vision. They stream footage to the cloud over Wi-Fi, but you can also add a microSD card to each unit,…

Smart thermostats are one of the best buys you can make, because they’re convenient, they save you money, and they help you go greener. The ability to control your heating schedule more finely saves you money on its own, but the added smarts of the Auto-Adapt feature mean it comes on earlier on really cold days, so you reach the temperature you want at the right time. Equally, it takes your insulation into account so the house doesn’t overheat. It works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit, so you can tell any major assistant what you want the heating to do, or you can use the app. It’s a looker, designed by Philippe Starck, and you can expand its clever control by adding smart radiator valves. You can find…

For the price of a pretty normal dishwasher, you can get a pretty clever one. Like other products here, it’s centred around app and Alexa connectivity. You can use the Alexa skill to either start a wash cycle, or to ask how long is left in the current one – useful for making plans. It’s a similar story with the app – you can use it to begin a cycle remotely if you forget to turn it on before you leave, or to schedule one. Smartest of all is the AutoDose tech, though: instead of adding a cleaning tablet each time, the dishwasher has a detergent reserve, and it will work out how much to add to a load based on how dirty it detects that your dishes are. When…

Windows WINDOWS BLOCKS SPRING UPDATE Q For attempt reasons to install I’m not the sure 1903 , any update results in a “This PC can’t be upgraded to Windows 10” error. Alan Hart Cat’s solution This rather unhelpful error suggests your PC is permanently incapable of running the Spring Update, but in actual fact it’s down to the fact Windows has detected there’s a USB drive or SD card plugged in. Long story short, the 1903 Update has been known to reassign drive letters after the update has been installed, which might cause problems elsewhere. As a result, Microsoft has put a so-called block on the update. The solution is simple: unplug all your external drives, then attempt to install the update using https:// support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/3159635/ windows-10-updateassistant. Once it’s successfully installed…

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…

£80 | $80 www.lenovo.com Voice powered smart speakers are now ten-a-penny, and it seems that smart displays, whether powered by the Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa, are set to follow suit. The Lenovo Smart Clock is the latest to join the fray.. However, whether through the added expense of the display, or the busier nature of a device that juggles both touch and voice controls, smart-screen devices haven’t had quite the impact their speaker counterparts have had. With many also housing a camera (ostensibly for video chat purposes, but also fuelling conspiracy theories surrounding privacy), there’s been some reticence to bring them into the bedroom, which would otherwise seem a natural home for them. The Lenovo Smart Clock wants to smarten up your traditional alarm clock, but really, it’s more…

CD-R discs were once a very popular way to make a safe copy of files. They’re cheap, they’re easy to label, and they’re easy to store – why not put all your old photos on a CD-R, tuck it away, and then look back on it in 20 years? It’s certainly a lot smaller than a photo album. Well, there’s a very good reason not to do that: CD-Rs (and, by association, all manner of recordable discs) are extremely vulnerable. Many, including our own art department here at Windows Help & Advice, have found that older discs can suffer what’s commonly referred to as ‘rot’. It’s not the same process as, say, rotting wood, but the term is apt. On a CD-R, your files are stored on a very thin…

22ND The world ranking of Nvidia’s new supercomputer, the DGX SuperPod, which is training AI to drive cars. 3.6GB/S The top data transmission speed recorded by Ericsson during a 5G mobile phone test. Even better is that the data was received in a car travelling at up to 170Kph. 56.8% of the world population is now using the internet, according to figures from Internet World Stats. Half of those people are in Asia. 45 MILES The range of Lightyear One, a prototype electric vehicle covered in solar panels that will top this up at a rate of 7.5 miles per hour. 4 times more powerful than the current Xbox One X is the claim for Microsoft’s Project Scarlett, its next-gen Xbox console. 60+ seconds is the shutdown time for some…

Hardware problems come in all shapes and sizes, but many common issues are annoying rather than critical. This step-by-step guide reveals how to quickly resolve glitches ranging from dead screens to sound problems. We’re also going to examine two common areas of concern caused by hardware – read on to discover how to resolve glitchy Wi-Fi performance and various issues with your hard drive, from a lack of storage to predicting (and avoiding) potential drive failure and data loss. Resolve Wi-Fi problems Struggling to get a decent signal on your home Wi-Fi network? Start by eliminating possible causes of interference: ensure the router isn’t near other wireless devices like microwaves, cordless phones or even some wireless mice. Next, use a tool like WiFi Analyzer from the App Store to check…

Most problems occur when you’ve recently tried to install something – a new application or piece of hardware perhaps, or the most recent set of Windows updates. The quickest solution is to roll things back and start again, using Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/ reflectfree.aspx). After installation, launch the tool, create rescue media, and click ‘Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows’. Start by selecting where to save your backup – a separate physical drive, preferably a network or USB drive, is best. Click Next. Click Add Schedule and choose Full. Leave the backup set to monthly and choose a start time and date. Click OK, then click Add Schedule again, but this time choose Differential. By default, this is a weekly backup – tweak as…

Think you’ve been infected by a virus? Start by opening your anti-virus program and attempting to update it, then run a full scan. If it finds and fixes the problem, reboot and run a second scan to verify the infection is gone. If it’s still there, run a scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware instead. If this isn’t working, reboot into Safe mode with networking following the step-by-step guide below, then launch your security program and try a fresh scan. Still no luck? While in Safe mode, download and run the Emsisoft Emergency Kit (www.emsisoft.com/en/ software/eek/), which uses multiple anti-virus engines and should hopefully detect threats missed by your primary tool. And if you can’t get into Safe mode at all, get hold of a clean PC and download one or more…

1 First steps Download and install the Windows Repair tool from www.tweaking.com – launch the program when prompted after installation. After the program has performed its start-up check, click ‘I Agree’ to go to the main screen. Click ‘Go to Step 1’ to start the process of performing a healthcheck. 2 Perform initial checks Click Help to learn about the power reset function – if you think it’ll help, follow the instructions to perform one. Return to this screen after restarting. Click -> to continue, then click ‘Open Pre-Scan’ to run checks on your Windows package files, system reparse points and environment variables. 3 Scan and repair Scan are performed. At the end, you’ll be told if any problems have been found. Reparse points are usually safe to ignore, so…

1 Sign up for an account Pay a visit to the Google Drive website at https://drive. google.com and click the Go to Google Drive button. If you already have a Google account, you can sign into it and start using Google Drive, but if not you can click the ‘Create account’ link to get started. You’ll be guided through the process of choosing a Gmail email address and securing it with a password. 2 Download Backup and Sync When you are signed into Google Drive, look to the lower left of the page and click the button labelled Get Backup and Sync for Windows. You will be taken to the download page, and you need to click the Download button in the Personal section. Save the file, and…

1 Install the update The new light and dark theme controls are only available in the May update, build number 1903: if your version of Windows 10 is older than that (which you can check by searching for About This PC) you’ll need to run Windows Update to get the latest updates. The next time you run Windows, you’ll see a screen with useful information about the key new features in this version. 2 Get personal The new Windows Light mode is described as a theme, but it doesn’t live in the themes bit of Settings because it applies to more of your system and apps than a normal theme. It has its own special bit inside the Personalise menu. You can find Personalise from inside Control Panel,…

No home today is complete without a smattering of technology. Where once that might have meant a record player you weren’t allowed to touch because the stylus was delicate, or a television built into a cabinet that took a team of horses to transport, these days home tech is small, convenient, and connected. It’s the connectivity that makes modern home gadgets stand out. Now that we fill our houses with Wi-Fi, anything can connect from anywhere without having to install cabling, which means devices such as the Amazon Echo can talk to Philips Hue lightbulbs, turning them on and off at a command. Your doorbell can get in on the act too, plugging into your network to provide HD video of whoever’s outside, and functioning as a motion detector too,…

This is probably the smart home bargain of the century. It’s a functional, useful, high-quality Wi-Fi-connected camera that costs less than a quarter of what similar models do. It has a Full HD camera, night vision, motion detection, noise detection, and the ability to speak through it via the app. It can store videos on microSD cards and/or in the cloud (so footage is always safe) and includes 14 days of free cloud storage, plus auto-arming and disarming using your phone’s GPS. Given that most smart cameras start around the £100 mark, we can forgive this one for cutting a few corners – it’s a relatively narrow field of vision, and doesn’t come with ways to specify that you only want to detect motion in certain zones, or to recognise…

Smart plugs are maybe the perfect place to start building a smart home, since they can turn anything into a connected gadget. Make your lamp activate on a timer without a smart bulb; turn your fan heater on remotely to warm up a room before you go in; activate your slow cooker at a set time… if it plugs in, you can control it. It’s easy to set up all that in this plug using its app – you can trigger things on and off at will, set schedules, or use geolocation to make things happen automatically when you’re away from the house, such as turning switches off to save power. There’s also voice control via Google Assistant and Alexa, so you can just ask for things to come on…

A quick Google search for “failed game streaming services” rather damningly places OnLive at the top of the results list. It wasn’t the only one to fall in the face of traditional downloads and physical copies, though. Gaikai’s tech might have gone on to form a powerful baseline for PlayStation Now, but its original service failed to gain much momentum. Elsewhere, Square Enix’s ill-fated effort Shinra lasted less than two years before it admitted defeat and shut it down, resulting in a loss of more than $16 million. Others simply vanished into the ether. If you’ve heard of InstantAction or GameFly, congratulations – you’ve been paying more attention than most. GeForce Now, Nvidia’s attempt at a cloud gaming platform, has been in an open beta state for months now. It…

If you’re having problems with your PC, many of them can be solved by performing a repair  or reinstall of the operating system – whether you’re running Windows 7, 8.1 or 10. On page 70 we’ll show you how to set about repairing your existing Windows installation – it will leave your existing apps, files and settings in place, but can work wonders if Windows has got its knickers in a twist. Our guide to a full, destructive reinstall on page 72 is more drastic, but can sometimes be the best way to fix your PC. And on page 74 we’ll reveal some other reinstallation options for you to try.…

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…

From £929 | $675 www.lenovo.com The Yoga C630 is the new laptop from Lenovo that uses Qualcomm’s latest mobile processor – the Snapdragon 850 – rather than traditional AMD or Intel hardware. While previous Windows on Snapdragon laptops have promised to bring the best of PC and mobile technology together, they’ve been hampered by poor performance and high price tags. With the C630, Lenovo is promising up to a 30% increase in performance, an improved battery life of up to 25 hours, and faster 4G speeds. Can it avoid the disappointments of its predecessors and provide us with a Snapdragon-powered laptop that’s worth buying? Let’s find out. What’s inside Within the casing you get an eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon SDM850 processor, 13.3-inch 1080p display, 8GB of RAM and a minimum of…

Microsoft had a big presence at this year’s E3 conference: it announced that a new Xbox was in the works, it convinced Keanu Reeves to take to the stage. But (at least for us) the most exciting announcement was the return of Microsoft Flight Simulator after a lengthy absence. Set for box Xbox and PC, the new version – which goes by the irritatingly broad name of ‘Microsoft Flight Simulator’ – is likely to be released at some point in 2020. See next issue for more from E3.…

Raspberry Pi 4 From $35/£34 www.raspberrypi.org Rumoured to be with us some time in 2020, The Pi Foundation shocked the world – or at least the part of it that cares about tiny computers – by announcing and releasing the Raspberry Pi 4 on the same day… in 2019. The new CPU is a 1.5GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 (64-bit) which is three times as fast as its predecessor, the foundation promises, and it’s capable of driving a pair of 4K monitors through a brace of micro-HDMI ports. You also get a duo of USB 3.0 ports, alongside two USB 2.0 connectors, a Gigabit Ethernet port and, on the wireless front, 802.11ac dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. You can configure up to 4GB of RAM. The selling points are a much…

1 Can’t hear any sound Once you ve verified your speakers are working and the sound isn’t muted, right-click the speaker icon in the Taskbar notification area (click ^ if it isn’t visible) and choose ‘Open sound settings’. Verify the correct output device has been selected – click Troubleshoot for more options if needed. 2 Fix laptop screen problems Laptop screen blank? Look for a key combination on your laptop keyboard (such as Fn + F3) and keep pressing it to cycle through display options. If the screen doesn’t come back, connect to your desktop monitor and go to Settings > System > Display to tweak the Multiple displays setting. 3 Improve battery life Go > > Power battery settings and turn on Battery Saver. Also switch your browser to…

1 Receive code Both parties need to open Quick Assist on their respective PCs. The expert should click ‘Assist another person’, sign into their Microsoft Account and communicate the six-digit code to you separately (via phone or using a secure chat medium). 3 Make a connection Enter the six-digit code into the ‘Get assistance’ box and click ‘Share screen’. After a short pause, the expert will see a connecting notification followed by a choice between taking full control and simply viewing the screen. Wait for them to make their choice and click Continue. 4 Grant access You’ll be prompted to give permission to allow the expert to control your computer. Click Allow and your screen will appear in a window for them to browse and control. Hit the pause button…

1 Quick and easy Press R, type msconfig hit OK. Switch to the Boot tab, tick ‘Safe boot’ and select ‘Network’ to allow access to the network. Click OK. Windows will now always boot into Safe mode with networking support until you reverse your settings. 2 One-off reboot A one-time trip to Safe mode can be instigated via a long-winded route: first open ‘Settings > Update & Security > Recovery’ and click ‘Restart now’ under Advanced start-up. Your PC will now reboot to the ‘Choose an option’ screen – click the Troubleshoot option. 3 Complete trip Next, select ‘Advanced options’ followed by ‘Start-up Settings’ and Restart. Your PC will reboot a second time, this time presenting the Startup Settings screen with a list of options – press 5 to load…

1 Duplicate layer When your image is open, duplicate the Background layer by right-clicking on it and choosing Duplicate Layer. Hide the original Background layer using the eye icon to its right in the Layers palette, and work on the new copy. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, draw a rectangle the full height of the image and use Layer > New > Layer Via Cut to move it to a new layer. 2 Keep going Hide your new layer so you can see where you’ve been, then reselect the Background copy layer and repeat the previous step until you have cut up the entire image, or at least the part with a face in it. When you’re left with nothing, create a Solid Color Fill Layer from the…

1 Log in and get started Open your browser and head to docs.google.com, signing in with your Google Account if necessary. Click Blank under the Template gallery to create a blank document, from where you’ll define your Styles. These will be limited to that document, but you can select ‘Format > Paragraph Styles > Options > Save as my default styles’ to use them across all future documents. 2 Set text styles Styles work by reformatting selected text to a specified font (including attributes such as bold or italic, colour and size), alignment (left, centre, right, justified) and line spacing. Google Docs offers nine text styles: normal (or body) text, title and subtitle, plus six header styles. It’s important to set up your normal text style first, as…

Ikea’s smart lights are almost comedically cheap, but really useful in their flexibility. You’ll need the gateway, which connects to your router and controls the bulbs, but that’s just £25. Then you can choose whatever bulbs you need, starting from £7 – there are options for small and larger fittings, as well as spotlights (though, this being Ikea, there are no bayonet-ended bulbs). Even cooler, there are larger light panels available, so you can turn your wardrobe door into a big smart light if you feel like it. When you’ve got the bulbs and gateway, you can set the brightness of the lights, play with their colour tone, choose their schedule, use voice controls to activate them, and group them so it’s easy to set a mood or turn everything…

Available for around £216 online, this robot vacuum cleaner is one of the cheapest connected models around, but packs in plenty of smarts and strong cleaning capability. The built-in Wi-Fi connection means that it works with both an app and Alexa voice control. The app enables you to take manual control of cleaning, or to set schedules for it to run automatically, and it will send you notifications when you need to know something. It also comes with a physical remote, in case you need one. The unit itself uses infrared technology to avoid collisions, and has drop sensors to avoid tumbles down the stairs. Maybe the most useful part is the BoostIQ tech, which increases suction on surfaces that require it, such as carpets. With roughly a 100-minute runtime…

Console gaming numbers have always fluctuated up and down, but home consoles do seem to be steadily trending downward as the costs associated with them increase. The peak of console gaming occurred around the turn of the millennium, with Sony’s PlayStation 2 smashing every record to sell a whopping 150 million units. By comparison, the PlayStation 4 has only sold around 95 million units in the five-plus years since its release, while the Xbox One barely managed a measly 39 million. Nintendo dominated the handheld console market, with the Nintendo DS managing to match PS2-tier sales figures, and the Game Boy and Game Boy Color before it both topping 100 million units sold. The rise of gaming-ready smartphones has hammered the handheld console market, though. The strange homehandheld hybrid Nintendo…

Much like PlayStation’s Remote Play, there are other ways to stream games yourself, without the aid of a hulking data center. Kids hogging the TV? Xbox One enables you to stream games to any Window 10 PC connected on the same network, using the computer’s monitor as a second screen, and connecting a standard Xbox controller. Because the game is effectively played in situ on the console, players can return directly to the big screen once the living room has been vacated. Steam users have this option, too, albeit in reverse; in November 2015, Valve launched Steam Link, which enabled anyone to stream their Steam library from their gaming PC to their smart TV or mobile device, over a local connection. Initially, Valve sold a piece of hardware that supported…

If your PC is feeling sluggish, especially just after you log in, then it’s possible you’ve got so many programs running in the background, all jockeying for CPU time, that they’re having an effect on things like opening windows and even the movement of your mouse pointer. You can put a stop to this by disabling them in Task Manager and rebooting – just be careful not to switch off anything you actually need to use.…

1 Windows 10 Head to www.microsoft.com/ software-download/windows10 and click ‘Download tool now’. Once downloaded, open MediaCreationTool. exe. When prompted, select ‘Create installation media’ and follow the prompts to create either a USB flash drive or an ISO file (for burning to DVD). 2 Windows 8.1 Download the Media Creation Tool from www.microsoft.com/ software-download/windows8 – input your language, edition of Windows 8.1 and PC architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) and then click Next. Choose to create either a USB flash drive or an ISO file and then follow the prompts to the end. 3 Windows 7 Go to www.microsoft.com/ software-download/windows7 and enter your product key – choose a 32-bit or 64-bit version as required. Once downloaded, double-click the file to burn to DVD, or use the Windows USB Download…

1 Reboot for media If you’re running Windows 7, or have Fast Boot disabled, insert your boot media and start your PC. Look for a ‘Press any key to boot from CD or DVD’ option (even if you’ve booted from a USB flash drive) – press the key and you should find the Windows install process starts. 2 Tweak boot options If you boot back into Windows, restart your PC again, but this time press a key, such as [F11], when prompted to open a boot menu. Do so, select your boot media (choose UEFI if the option appears) to boot; otherwise, enter Setup to change the boot device order. 3 Windows 8.1/10 If Fast Boot is enabled, open Settings in Windows and navigate to ‘Update &…

£2,100 | $2,000 www.nikon.com Towards the end of last year, there was a bit of a flurry in camera announcements. Not surprising, considering Photokina took place in Cologne in September. What was perhaps a little bit more of a shock was Nikon’s entry into the full-frame mirrorless market after what felt like years of rumours and speculation. Not content with introducing one camera, the heritage company produced two models. The Z 7 is the flagship, but pitching itself at a more consumer-friendly audience, the Z 6 is perhaps the more interesting of the two. Being as it needs to appeal to that consumer audience, it comes in a lot cheaper than its sibling. It’s still not pocket change, but at around £2,000 it’s a reasonable price point for full-frame mirrorless,…

£1,100 | $1,300 www.hauwei.com/uk Last year, the P20 Pro was the phone that demanded everyone sit up and take notice of Huawei. The company instantly went from being a budget upstart to a serious Samsung and Apple competitor. It’s a hard task for that phone’s successor to live up to, but the P30 Pro zooms its way straight to the top of the pack. Not only is the device loaded with the lightning-fast Kirin 980 chipset that debuted in the Mate 20 Pro late last year, but the P30 Pro also comes with buckets of memory and storage, a smaller notch, a significantly bigger battery, and a new camera system that’s genuinely revolutionary. It’s that camera that really helps the P30 Pro stand out. The impressive 3x optical zoom of…