Table of contents for 466 in Computeractive

I’d like to propose a new truism: Hell hath no fury like a Windows 10 user whose settings have been changed by Microsoft. Snappy, don’t you think? I speak from experience, because I was indeed furious when the first big Windows 10 update, which arrived in November, reverted many of my settings to Microsoft’s default. I wasn’t alone. So many of you emailed me to complain that at times it felt like I was working for Microsoft’s customer support. Not that I minded, of course. We are here to help, and if we don’t, who will (certainly not GuruAid – see page 60)? As I changed my settings back, I realised that Computeractive hadn’t explained them in as much depth as we should have. We rectify that in our Cover…

Tell us what’s on your mind Email: letters@computeractive.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive Twitter: @ComputerActive www.twitter.com/computeractive XP users aren’t dinosaurs, but they should upgrade If Windows XP does “everything” that Tom Tottis needs (Letters, Issue 465), then he can’t be doing much with his PC. He says there are “good reasons” for staying with XP, but fails to name a single one. That system was already ancient by 2009, when Windows 7 came out. It now feels positively prehistoric! If unearthing old operating systems was like archaeology, you’d need the world’s best carbon-dating technology to locate remnants of XP. OK, I exaggerate to make my point. But terrifyingly, loads of people still use XP. In fact, even more terrifyingly, loads of companies and councils still use XP. But come on - it launched…

Scams and threats to avoid, plus new security tools What happened? Email scammers have started to exploit the refugee crisis by sending pleas for help that appear to come from Syrians affected by the civil war in their country. In a blog post exposing the scam (www.snipca.com/19048), Kaspersky says that the fraudsters hope to take advantage of “the kindness of strangers” by sending emails that tell harrowing personal stories about the devastation in Syria. Many of the emails purport to come from widows who have huge sums of money to invest following the deaths of their husbands. In one such email the alleged sender, Mrs Haydar, says she needs help to transfer $45.2m. She also wants to leave “this war country Syria” immediately (read all the emails on Kaspersky’s blog…

The latest Asus Chromebook ticks all the boxes: it looks like a proper laptop, but weighs less, costs less and the battery lasts longer. The 11.6in screen is just big enough to be practical, and uses old LCD technology that means colours are dull and everything goes weird if you look at it from the wrong angle. So this isn’t the best machine for editing photos or watching films. But then that’s not the point of it. For typing and surfing the web, via the Chrome OS (Google’s lightweight equivalent of Windows), it’s fine. The keys feel a bit squishy, and the compact layout means there’s no room for luxuries like a separate Delete key (to erase forwards, as opposed to Backspace). But it’s still a proper keyboard, and the…

The North Face Denali Etip Gloves £30 from www.snipca.com/18957 Touchscreen gloves mimic your skin’s conductivity to work like fingers. The Denali have very responsive tips on all four fingers and the thumb. Being thick gloves, they’re a bit too clumsy for typing, but you’ll stay warm. Mujjo Touchscreen Gloves £24 from www.snipca.com/18952 These thin woollen unisex gloves come in a choice of colours and are woven through with conductive threads, so you can use any part of any finger. An alternative design (about £27 from www.snipca.com/18953), in black only, adds a cuff for a smarter look and silicon dots to help grip your phone. Mujjo Leather Touchscreen Gloves £100 from www.snipca.com/18956 For the ultimate in quality, Mujjo’s waterproofed lambskin glove, lined with cashmere, is ‘infused with nanotechnology’, which we think…

The Apple Watch (from £299) is the best smartwatch overall, and the best choice if you already use Apple devices (keep in mind that almost all smartwatches must be paired with a mobile phone). Most other smartwatches are based on Google’s Android Wear software, and work well with Android phones. Although Android Wear on the latest watches can now pair with iPhones, Apple doesn’t let them work with many features. This second version of Motorola’s Moto 360 watch exemplifies a trend for traditionally styled round-faced watches using Android Wear. It works smoothly, and the battery lasts a full day with the screen set to stay on all the time (the Apple Watch only comes on when you look at it). There’s a heart-rate monitor but no GPS, except in the…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our 2014 Back Issue CD (now only £12.58*): www.snipca.com/14981 *At time of press LAPTOP Asus X555LA-XX290H £320 from www.snipca.com/18151 Tested: Issue 446 Asus has made all the right choices with this budget Windows 8.1 laptop. Its comfortable keyboard, fast performance, respectably lengthy battery life and bright screen are all the more impressive given its low price. ALTERNATIVE Asus Chromebook C200 A cheap Chrome OS ultra-portable laptop with a bright screen, lengthy battery life and a great keyboard. £210 from www.snipca.com/17296 DESKTOP PC Palicomp AMD Shockwave £500 from www.snipca.com/18748 Tested: Issue 464 Proving that you don’t need an Intel processor, Palicomp has built an excellent PC around AMD’s Athlon X4 860K and Radeon R7 370 graphics card, narrowly beating Chillblast’s Fusion Drone. ALTERNATIVE:…

Handy hints and tips from your fellow readers Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHTT ✓Create keyboard shortcuts for phrases you type often Every time my mum remotely logs into her work account, she needs to enter all her personal details - name, address, mobile number and some security answers. I wondered if there was a way to simplify this process for her, and stumbled across a brilliant free portable tool called QuickTextPaste. It basically lets you create your own keyboard shortcuts for any phrases (or long words) you commonly type. To download it, go to www.snipca.com/19157 and click the QuickTextPaste. zip link at the top of the page. Open the downloaded zip file, click the setup file within to launch the tool, then click Run. You’ll see…

AGES 0-5 The StoryToys Jigsaw Puzzle Collection Free www.snipca.com/19136 (iOS) This app contains 320 puzzles depicting popular children’s classics, including The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast and Puss in Boots. Your child will win a trophy for each puzzle they complete and each level of difficulty they master (four in total). AGES 6-10 ZType* Free www.snipca.com/19137 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/19138 (iOS) ZType is an addictive, Space Invadersstyle game that will teach your child to type. You need to save your spaceship from destruction by correctly typing (and thereby blasting) words as they fall from the sky. One spelling mistake and you’re doomed. AGES 11-16 Monument Valley* £2.99 www.snipca.com/19139 (Android) £2.99 www.snipca.com/19140 (iOS) This is a visually stunning puzzle that’s easy to play, but difficult to master. You need to help…

NEW! THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO ANDROID If you use an Android tablet or phone, our new book will tell you how to get the most out of your device. It explains everything you need to know about the latest versions of Android (Lollipop and Marshmallow), so you’ll feel confident you won’t get left behind. We’ll also reveal the best apps for everything you’ll ever want to do, and expose the dodgy apps that slow your device. And as hackers increasingly switch their sights from PCs to phones and tablets, we’ll show you how to stay safe. BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON at www.snipca.com/18829 THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO WINDOWS 10 This 148-page book is the only guide you need on Microsoft’s fantastic new operating system. You’ll learn how to master all…

Marshmallow upgrade unavailable Have you forced a manual check for updates? Launch Settings, tap ‘About phone’ (or ‘About’), followed by ‘System updates’, then ‘CHECK FOR UPDATE’ (or similar). If an update to Android 6.0 isn’t offered, then in most cases you’ll just have to wait – and possibly for a long time. Unfortunately, some Android manufacturers take weeks or months to issue the latest updates, if at all. If you’re tired of waiting it may be possible to download the Marshmallow system image and manually upgrade. It’s quite complicated and the method can vary a lot between devices, so you’ll need to search on Google for the latest instructions for your device. Upgrade failed or phone unusable How you recover from a failed upgrade depends on what went wrong. If…

1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 1920x1080 pixels. 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-in Microsoft’s name for tools that can be added to Office software. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. An alternative technology to LCD for creating flat-panel displays. Most commonly used in smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. Android Wear A version of Google’s Android operating system designed for smartwatches and other wearables Bandwidth A measure of how much information can be transferred through a connection at one time. Beta A version of software that’s being tested. Beta versions are often released so problems can be ironed out. Browser hijackers Programs that change your…

IMAGE-EDITING PROGRAM Paint.net 4.0.6 www.snipca.com/19045 What you need: Windows 7, 8/8.1 or 10 Paint, Microsoft’s built-in image-editing program, has always been a bit limited. Windows 10 retains Paint and adds a new Photos app. If we’re being honest, neither offer much more than basic levels of control over your images. At the other end of the scale, a professional-grade image-editing program, such as Photoshop CC (with its minimum subscription cost of £9 per month), is almost certainly overkill for most users. Nestled snugly between these extremes is Paint.net – a capable image editor that goes way beyond what’s offered by Windows, but isn’t bloated with unnecessary features that just bamboozle users. It also happens to be free with absolutely no strings attached. We’ve sung Paint.net’s praises in the past, and…

There’s not much to choose between this and the Moto 360 2 (see below), but Huawei, a big Chinese company that won’t be familiar to many UK buyers, has taken a little more care with a few features to make its Android Wear watch stand out. Both charge wirelessly, but the Huawei Watch lasted us longer, nearly managing two days with the display constantly on. It has a barometer, so fitness apps know when you’re climbing stairs, but there’s no GPS. The AMOLED screen is sharper and more colourful than Motorola’s, with a strong sapphire glass. You can choose from several watch-face designs, all of them very classy. Huawei’s minimalist case design is stylish, as well as comfortable to wear. But the luxury look is reflected in the price. VERDICT:…

Winner of a Great Pick award in Issue 464, the Veho Muvi K2NPNG action camera gives you a comprehensive outdoor-shooting kit at great value. It shoots Full HD video and 16-megapixel photos, and can be controlled from your iOS or Android device. In our tests the results were very impressive, undoubtedly good enough for semiprofessional use, as well as casual filming. To enter, email your address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk with ‘veho’ in the subject line by midnight 19 January. The Veho Muvi K2NPNG action camera is available to buy now from Amazon priced £239 (www.snipca.com/18796). For more information visit www.vehoworld.com and follow @Veho on Twitter.…

ANDROID & iOS Create an album that anyone can add photos to Google recently added a new feature called Shared Albums to its popular Photos app. This lets you create an album, then share it with other users, who can then add their own photos and videos to it. To create a shared album, open Google Photos (Android www.snipca.com/19127; iOS www.snipca.com/19128), tap the ‘+’ symbol at the top right, then tap ‘Shared album’. Now tap to select all the photos and videos you want to add to it, then tap Create at the top right. Name your album, then tap Share at the top right. Next, tap the ‘Let others add their photos’ slider to turn it on (see screenshot below left), then select which app you want to use…

WINDOWS VISTA, 7, 8, 10 Hide folders by disguising them to look like something else In past issues we’ve showed you how to hide your folders so no one can find them. However, this won’t prevent someone who knows how to reveal hidden folders from accessing them. Alternatively, you can hide your folders (but keep them in plain sight) by disguising them to look like something else – a system file, for example. To do this, right-click the folder you want to disguise, click Properties, the Customize tab, then the Change Icon button at the bottom. Now select another icon (see screenshot below), click OK, Apply, then OK again. WINDOWS VISTA, 7, 8, 10 Charge your phone even when your laptop lid is closed If you need to quickly charge…

NUMBER 1 One of the things we dislike most about the internet is typing long URLs into our browser bar. We know you’re not keen on it, either. That’s why in every issue we use our Snipca URL-shortening to shrink web addresses, turning unwieldy beasts like the link for Microsoft’s Windows 10 forum (http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10?tab=Threads) into manageable snippets: www.snipca.com/19031. Because it’s our very own service, we can monitor how often each Snipca is clicked. That gives us an accurate indication of which programs, websites and online tools you’re most interested in – so we can give you more of the same. Here’s our top 10 of your most clicked software in 2015, with last year’s top program continuing to lead the pack. For the purposes of this list, we’re not counting…

STUART ANDREWS is Computeractive’s Mr Angry Ionce thought that phone and tablet apps were just amazing. There we were in a new era of lightweight, mobile computing, throwing off the shackles of those big, bloated computers with their complex features that nobody used. Apps were compact, streamlined, smart and – best of all – cheap. They did the jobs you wanted doing faster, and handled tasks you never thought a computer could. “Too many apps simply run down your battery and throw up pointless notifications on an hourly basis” I remember it well: the giddy rush of getting my first proper smartphone or tablet, then installing a flurry of apps that would make my device worthwhile. I read the hyperbole in app reviews that everyone devoured at the time, then…

Can I get a refund for a digital version of a magazine? Q I wanted a print issue of the magazine Simply Cards & Papercraft, and so went online to Pocketmags (www.snipca.com/18985) to buy it. But I mistakenly ordered the digital version. I’ve not downloaded it, but Pocketmags won’t give me a refund; only offering me a download of a different magazine if I want it. Can it do this? Alice Morland A It can, but only because Alice didn’t contact the company within the 14-day cooling-off period allowed by the Consumer Contract Regulations (CCRs). This law, which replaced the Distance Selling Regulations in 2014, has updated your rights relating to digital content – now treating it the same as physical items bought online. If you want to reject digital…

How can I make my own greetings cards? Q I have been using Corel Print House to design and print my own greetings cards for some time. Last year, however, I encountered compatibility problems when I tried to run the program in Windows 8.1, and I realise that the situation is unlikely to improve when I eventually move to Windows 10. Can you please suggest an inexpensive (or free!) and uncomplicated alternative for this task that will work in Windows 8.1 and 10? Colin Hague A You could try HP’s free program Photo Creations (www.snipca.com/19060). The program lets you design all manner of printable items, including invitations, calendars and greetings cards for all occasions. It’s easy to use, lets you either print yourself or order prints from HP, and works…

Samsung was the first big company to launch a modern smartwatch, and used its own software, Tizen, which worked with Samsung phones only. The new Gear S2 still uses Tizen rather than Android Wear, but does work with other phones that have Android 4.4 or later. The Gear S2 is extremely well made, although from a distance the Standard model, with its rubber strap, could be mistaken for a basic sports watch. Close up, it feels like a luxury product and the screen looks great. While the Apple Watch has a knob, the Gear S2’s bezel turns to operate some functions, such as scrolling through messages. Unfortunately, too many aspects of the software are confusing, voice recognition is unreliable, and the apps aren’t as good as Android Wear’s. VERDICT: Tizen…

What’s the best portable hard drive for photos? Q I’m a keen photographer and for many years have used a portable hard drive with a built-in screen to back up and view my photos. My 74.5GB Vosonic reads SD cards and is adequate for a fortnight’s trip. But what could replace it? My ideal budget would be £100-£200. Len Morris A Multimedia drives like this have become less common. The most popular equivalents now, such as the Atomos Ninja range, are aimed at videographers and quite expensive. It might help to think laterally. A second SD card is a more portable backup medium than a hard drive. Any Android tablet that supports USB OTG (‘on the go’) should connect to your camera’s USB cable with an OTG adapter (around £10).…

What you need: TeamViewer; Any version of Windows (XP to 10); Android or iOS Time required: 45 minutes The latest version of TeamViewer, our favourite free program for remotely accessing your PC, has loads of new features. It lets you access your remote PC quicker than ever and speeds up the transfer of files. Best of all, it lets you request help from anyone who also has TeamViewer installed on their PC by simply clicking a button. This is a godsend for those who regularly rely on family or friends for help. Likewise, the updated TeamViewer mobile app makes it easier to remotely access your PC from any phone or tablet. STEP 1 To install TeamViewer on your PC, go to www.snipca.com/19051 and click the Download button below the All-In-One…

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Free Android: www.snipca.com/19131 iOS: www.snipca.com/19132 Adobe’s video-editing app Premiere Clip recently became available for free (see page 38) and its Photoshop Lightroom has now followed suit. The photo-editing app lets you make simple edits (crop, rotate, add filters) and more complex ones (modify colour, tone and white balance). ShareTheMeal Free Android: www.snipca.com/19133 iOS: www.snipca.com/19134 This charity-based app developed by the United Nations can literally help you to save someone’s life. It lets you donate a certain amount (min 35p) either on a one-off or recurring basis. This then is put toward feeding the 20,000 starving Syrian children living in the massive Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Focus by Firefox Free iOS: www.snipca.com/19135 If you browse the web using Safari, and you’re worried about organisations keeping track of…

POWERPOINT Preview your presentation and rearrange your slides faster While playing your slideshow from the beginning is the best way to present it, it’s not necessarily the best way to check your presentation because you can’t rearrange slides if you feel that you need to. A better alternative is to use PowerPoint’s Reading View option to preview and check your presentation. To do that, click the Reading View icon at the bottom right of PowerPoint. Your presentation will start playing in full screen and you can use the left and right arrow keys to navigate between slides (just as if you were playing your slideshow). Even better, you can rearrange slides quickly in this mode. To do that, click the icon with four small squares (to the left of the…

How do I stop adverts in Skype? Q My computer uses Windows 7 Professional, with the Firefox browser and Google as my home page. Following a recent internet purchase, my Skype homepage now shows adverts related to the vendor’s site, which I do not want. Why does this happen, and how can I get rid of this annoyance? Arnie Williams A This happens because – like so many other companies – Microsoft (which owns Skype) likes to track users’ online activities and then target them with adverts at every turn. The best solution would be for Microsoft to stop foisting these unwanted, targeted ads at Skype users – but that’s not going to happen any time soon. So, you’ll need to take action. First, launch the Internet Properties box by…