Table of contents for 615 in Computeractive

Here’s my dilemma: can I write about advances in TV technology without sounding like a cliched middle-aged bloke reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ when there were only three (and then four) channels to watch? My kids have heard it all before. When they moan about Netflix stuttering, I bore them with tales of waiting hours on a drizzly Sunday just for Bullseye to start. ‘Hacking’ your TV back then meant hitting the top or twisting the aerial. Now it’s entering Developer Mode and ‘sideloading’ apps. We explain how to do this (sideloading, not twisting aerials) in our Cover Feature, as well as mirroring your phone’s screen, streaming files from your PC, listening via wireless headphones, and more. It’s all a long way from gazing glumly at Ceefax pages between…

You’ll soon be able to listen to lossless audio through wireless headphones, after semiconductor company Qualcomm announced it was making the technology available for Bluetooth. Lossless audio files are compressed (made smaller) without affecting the sound. This contrasts with ‘lossy’ audio, which discards information during the compression process, reducing sound quality. Bluetooth exacerbates this by applying its own lossy compression. That’s why you typically need wired speakers or headphones to listen to lossless audio. Qualcomm said that until now Bluetooth has unavoidably degraded the audio signal. However, Qualcomm’s aptX Lossless technology, which is part of its Snapdragon Sound program, can transmit “mathematically bit-for-bit exact” audio at CD quality. Lossless audio’s appeal is growing, aided by leading audio-streaming services that have started offering it. It’s now available through Deezer, Tidal, Amazon…

The UK’s privacy watchdog has called on the world’s leading tech countries to push for a solution that stops users being bombarded by cookie pop-ups online. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham (pictured above right) told her G7 counterparts that “no single country can tackle this issue alone”. She added: “Together we can engage with technology firms and standards organisations to develop a co-ordinated approach to this challenge”. Many internet users dislike having to accept cookie pop-ups every time they visit a site. Denham said this was leading to “cookie fatigue”, and that people instinctively click the boxes to accept cookies without reading the details, leading to them giving away “more personal data than they would like”. She urged the G7 to pressure browser developers and device manufacturers to introduce settings that…

What’s the threat? Scammers are trying to trick you into paying £4.99 for a ‘Covid Pass’ that shows your Covid-19 status. They’re sending text messages that contain links to what appears to be an NHS website. The URL begins with HTTPS, suggesting it’s secure, but tapping it takes you to a scam site where you’re prompted to “enter the exact name you used when you registered with your GP surgery”. On following pages you’re asked for your date of birth, postcode, and an email address where they can deliver “your Covid pass credentials to be registered on our NHS app”. Once you’ve done that, you arrive on a page that asks you for “a payment of £4.99 to process your Covid Pass application”. Below that request there are boxes for…

Can I get refund for extended Dell warranty? LEAD CASE Q In May I bought a refurbished Inspiron 5406 laptop (pictured) for £610 from the Dell Outlet (www.snipca.com/39328), along with an extended warranty to cover it. It had to be repaired just over a month later, and I’ve now found another fault with the audio recording function. Dell says it’s a software problem and therefore not covered by the warranty. I know I can get a full refund under the Consumer Rights Act (CRA), but would rather Dell offered me a more powerful laptop. If that’s not an option, can I get my money back for the extended warranty I bought? Frank Davidson A Frank’s been seriously inconvenienced by these problems, but he’s not entitled to a more powerful laptop…

Before computers, the most efficient way to archive old documents and newspapers was on microfilm. Many of these records have since been digitised, and they’re full of references to ancestors and other useful background information. Some have been made free to download, as we explain here. Search the National Archives and FamilySearch There are two main sources of free microfilm online: the National Archives and FamilySearch. We advise trying the former first because its microfilm records are all on one page, while FamilySearch requires more effort. However, most of the records are related to the military, so they may be too narrow for your needs. Each record set has a link beside it that takes you to a separate page, where it’s divided into sections called ‘subseries’. Click ‘Details’ to…

How can I rename loads of photos in one go? Q I recently downloaded hundreds of photos from Google Photos because I was worried about Google deleting them. The trouble is that they all have names like ‘IMG_170618277.jpg’. Can you recommend an easy way to rename my image files without going through them one by one? Alan Goodwin A You can rename multiple files in one go using File Explorer in Windows 10. Open the folder containing your photos, click the View tab and choose Details or List. Press Ctrl+A to select all the files, then right-click the first image in the list and choose Rename. Type your chosen name, and keep pressing Enter to apply it to every file. This will be followed by sequential numbers in brackets –…

WHAT THEY SAY Reed Rayman, Apollo (Yahoo’s new owners) www.snipca.com/39377 “We look forward to… position the new Yahoo for long-term success as a standalone consumer internet and digital media leader. We couldn’t be more excited about this next chapter for Yahoo as we look to invest in growth across the business, including accelerating its customer-first offerings and commerce capabilities, expanding its reach and enhancing the daily user experience.” WHAT THEY MEAN We’ve just spent $5bn on Yahoo, but can’t explain why.…

ALL-IN-ONE PC | £999 from www.snipca.com/39322 Keeps it together If space is scarce and you just don’t have room for a huge desktop PC, an all-in-one could fit the bill. These devices squeeze an entire PC into the casing of a monitor. MSI’s AM241 is a good example. It comes in two versions: an Intel Core i7-based PC with 16GB of RAM at £999, and a Core i5 model with 8GB of RAM at a lower £799. We tested the i7-equipped version, which is differentiated by a ‘P’ at the end of its model name. “A tidy all-in-one PC with good performance and a great screen” The PC looks like a 24in monitor, with narrow 6mm top and side bezels, and a reasonably slender 23mm space below the screen. There’s…

SMARTPHONE | £1,600 from Amazon www.snipca.com/39334 Welcome to the fold Samsung has been pushing the foldable Android smartphone concept for a few models now, and the latest is the Z Fold 3 5G. It’s eye-wateringly expensive – one of the priciest phones you can currently buy – so is it worth it? Unlike Samsung’s previous foldables, this one is waterproof (but not dustproof), with an IPX8 rating. Despite the fold, it feels solid enough to survive even the clumsiest user. With its double-sized screen it’s bigger than most phones, and weighs a fairly hefty 271g. It’s 6.4mm thick when unfolded, but this increases to 16mm when closed up. It offers a 6.2in 2268x832-pixel screen when closed. However, open it up and this expands to 7.6in with a resolution of 2208x1768…

What does it do? Monitor-syncing technology enables better communication between your graphics card and monitor. When playing games on a PC, the frames per second (fps) produced by the graphics card fluctuates depending on what’s happening on screen. Say you’re flying over a densely built-up urban area with lots of detail in Microsoft Flight Simulator, the number of frames your card can produce may drop, because it takes it longer to solve all the calculations that are being done behind the scenes. How does it work? With monitor syncing, the graphics card and the monitor are constantly aware of the other’s limitations, so if the card’s frame rate drops below the refresh rate of the monitor, the monitor won’t try to fill in the missing frames. This avoids visible “tearing”,…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2020 Back Issue CD: £15 from www.snipca.com/38164 LAPTOP PRICE DROP Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 (256GB) £629 from www.snipca.com/38429 Tested Issue 601 Weighing just 1.16kg, this is an excellent lightweight laptop with a great screen and an AMD processor faster than many Intel rivals. It has two USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports and a microSD card reader. Battery lasts nearly 16 hours. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 New Intel CPUs and a taller screen make this a more powerful, all-round slim laptop. Prices start at £1,399 from www.snipca.com/36642 ANDROID TABLET Lenovo Tab P11 Pro £600 from www.snipca.com/38585 Tested Issue 609 A fast tablet that comes with a magnetic stand and keyboard that means you can also use it as a laptop.…

ANDROID Pin notes to self on your notification bar Setting a reminder or alarm is a good way to jog your memory. But if you’ve ever dismissed the alert or notification, only to instantly forget the important thing you were supposed to do, then you’ll know these methods aren’t infallible. A free app called Notepin (www.snipca.com/39355? provides a solution. It lets you pin notes (reminders, to-do tasks and more) to your Android device’s notification bar. The big difference is that you can’t just swipe these away as with other notifications. They’ll remain there, constantly reminding you of what it is you need to remember until you manually delete them. To pin a note to yourself, open Notepin then tap the ‘+’ button. Type a title for your note – ‘Get…

WINDOWS 10 Resume apps after a PC restart By default, when you restart your PC, Windows shuts down any apps you were using, so you have to relaunch them manually. But a useful Windows feature automatically launches built-in apps such as Photos and Mail (and any you install from the Microsoft Store) that were open before you restarted. For example, Mail will launch and open the same folder you were using. Press Windows+I to open Settings, then click Accounts and choose ‘Sign-in options’ from the sidebar. In the pane on the right, scroll down to the ‘Restart apps’ section. Here, turn on the slider next to ‘Automatically save my restartable apps when I sign out and restart them after I sign in’ (see screenshot below). Windows 10 will now remember…

What is it? “What is it, please?” we think you mean. It can be tricky to gauge a person’s tone from their written words, which is what Microsoft’s new tone detector aims to help with. It’s a feature that’s been added to the web-based version of Outlook (outlook.live.com), which will “offer writing refinements and suggest conversation tone” when you’re writing emails. Does Microsoft think I can’t write proper? Not necessarily, but the tone detector will (theoretically) ensure that your message is properly understood by the recipient. Microsoft says it will allow you to “communicate more clearly and in a desired tone to deter misinterpretation”. It works by using AI to analyse a “combination of signals” in the email you’re writing, and suggesting how you can improve your phrasing to sound…

If you’ve never downloaded anything from www.apkmirror.com, here are five apps to get you started. Just make sure you ignore the misleading download adverts and click either the ‘See Available Downloads’ or ‘Download APK’ button (pictured above). ExpressVPN www.snipca.com/39402 One of the more popular VPNs, offering access to over 3,000 servers across 160 locations in 94 countries. There’s a seven-day free trial after which it costs £9.63 a month, or £74.30 a year. For instructions on setting it up follow the guide at www.snipca.com/39416. RetroArch www.snipca.com/39403 As well as media players, RetroArch contains excellent emulators (called ROMs) for recreating old gaming systems like Atari, NES and Nintendo 64. Find out more at www.retroarch.com. TuneIn Radio www.snipca.com/39404 This app lets you listen to live news, sports, music, podcasts and radio from…

If your TV lets you install apps, you should be able to run Plex on it directly – just search for plex in your TV’s app store (on Android TVs you can run the same Plex app from the Google Play Store as used on Android phones and tablets). Once installed, run the app and sign into your Plex account to access your media library. You can see a full list of Plex-supported TVs at www.snipca.com/36049. Don’t worry if your TV isn’t listed or is no longer supported – there are other ways to use Plex with it. Our favourite is via a Chromecast (which you can also use with VLC – see Workshop above). With your Chromecast device set up and plugged into your TV, open the Plex app…

Was your USB capacity advice wrong? Q I was interested to read your advice to Murray Sinclair about why he was unable to copy a small file to his USB stick (Problems Solved, Issue 612). In fact, I think the error-message screenshot reveals a different solution. It says: “There is not enough space on USB2. You need an additional 63.9MB to copy these files”. The files Murray is trying to copy are 63.9MB bigger in total than the available 3.06GB of free space. I think he inadvertently misled you by stating that he was trying to copy a 63.9MB file. What do you think? Paul Hickman A We think you spotted a tiny detail that we missed! And yes, this happened precisely because we focused on what Murray said in…

ADD BRITBOX TO ROKU STREAMING DEVICES You can now add the BritBox TV-streaming service to Roku players and TVs. Launched in the UK in 2019, BritBox offers classic shows from the BBC and ITV archives, plus new programmes including the new series of Spitting Image. Read the Roku blog for instructions on how to add the service: www.snipca.com/39320. SAMSUNG TO AXE CLOUD BACKUP SERVICE Samsung is reminding users that its online Cloud backup service will soon stop storing photos and videos. Users in ‘Group 1’ have until 30 September to download their content; Group 2 has until 30 November. Samsung will delete any remaining photos and videos on those dates, though they will remain on your phone if you have stored them there. The service will continue to back up…

KINGSTON RELEASES 1Gbps USB STICK Kingston has released a USB stick with “record-breaking speeds” of 1Gbps (1,000Mbps) reading files, and 900Mbps writing. The DataTraveler Max (pictured) is a USB 3.2 Gen 2 stick, with a USB-C connector and capacities of 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. However, Amazon doesn’t appear to be stocking it yet (check www.snipca.com/39375), and prices are unconfirmed. OPEN WORD & EXCEL IN GOOGLE DRIVE OFFLINE You can now save any file format in Google Drive to open offline, including Microsoft Word and Excel, and PDFs. Google first added this option to business users in 2019, but is now making it available for everyone. You just need to mark the file as ‘Available offline’. Read Google’s blog for more instructions: www.snipca.com/39373. TOP UP EVERY MONTH TO USE 1PMOBILE Customers…

SwiftKey Beta www.snipca.com/39344 If boots were made for walking, then fingers were made for swiping. Gliding them across a phone’s keyboard when sending a message is much easier than jabbing individual letters. It’s why we love Microsoft’s SwiftKey app, which replaces your default keyboard and adds swiping, autocorrect and other advanced tools. The beta version for Android was recently updated to show password options at the top of the keyboard (the screenshot shows Bitwarden, but it works with other password managers too, including LastPass). These appear as you type, so you don’t need to wait. Like all betas, the app may contain the odd flaw, but it’s a great way to get an early look at features heading towards the main version (available for Android and iOS at www.snipca.com/39346). Password…

With Windows 11 looming, can you remind me when you listed all the computers that can run it? Harry Colne CA SAYS Yes, in Issue 611, page 6. We’ll have more up-to-date information on Windows 11 in our next issue. I’ve switched from Chrome to Brave as you recommend, and love it. But I can’t work out how to wipe my history. Didn’t you explain this recently? Paul Sexton CA SAYS We did, in Issue 612, page 63. We’ll start covering Brave much more soon. Before his recent departure, didn’t Will Stapley write a piece explaining how he used a tool to manage his Kindle clippings, bypassing Amazon’s restrictions in the process? I remember thinking I’d like to do that soon. But now I can’t find the article! Brain Casey…

Occasionally we have to reopen a case when a promised refund fails to appear. Once a retailer agrees to a refund, it has 14 days to send it. But Pierre Reynaud, whose case we covered in Issue 608, ended up waiting two months for Furniture@Work (www.furniture-work.co.uk) to return the money he spent on a desk that arrived damaged. This was on top of the two months he had already wasted waiting for the retailer to sort things out. We’re surprised Pierre had to wait so long because when we contacted the company, we spoke to a helpful member of staff who said they would get the refund processed. We chased again when Pierre told us the refund hadn’t arrived, but the retailer refused to speak to us. We then advised…

Is there an Australian archive for old newspapers that’s similar to the British Newspaper Archive (BNA, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)? Hywel Llewelyn Yes, and it’s completely free. Head to Trove (www.snipca.com/39299), where you can browse a rich archive from a wide range of local and national titles stretching back to 1803. The search tool is as good as the BNA’s. Refine your basic keyword search by date, place, title or category. Have a genealogy question for Nick? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

Windows 10’s Personalisation settings let you replace your wallpaper, choose between light and dark mode, turn transparency effects on or off, and select a new colour scheme. That’s not a bad range of options, but it isn’t enough for me. Remember the desktop widgets in Windows 7? I loved those, and I miss them in Windows 10. But I’ve found a way to recreate them using the excellent Rainmeter (www.rainmeter.net), which brings a modern version of widgets (which it calls ‘skins’) to my desktop. When you first run the program, it displays a simple set of skins called ‘illustro’ that includes a ‘getting started’ widget. This contains a clock, a calendar and system and hard-drive information. To customise this skin, right-click any widget, then click ‘illustro’ and you can turn…

Abdisalaam Dahir’s scamming reads like a greatest hits of recent frauds. During the past two years he sent texts about fake Royal Mail deliveries, HMRC Covid-19 grants that didn’t exist, and frozen bank accounts that were perfectly fine. It’s likely you’ve received at least one of these. In August, Inner London Crown Court heard how the 20-year-old computer-science student from Enfield conned victims out of £185,000. Dahir was arrested following an investigation by the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), and was sentenced to 22 months behind bars after pleading guilty to committing fraud by false representation. Ofcom advises that you should forward suspicious texts to your mobile network by sending them to 7726. Doing so will help the authorities track down all the other Abdisalaam Dahirs still out…

TV STREAMER | £22 from www.snipca.com/39326 Won’t get your fingers burnt The Fire TV Stick Lite is the cheapest product in Amazon’s range, with its full price of £30 a tenner cheaper than the standard stick (though at time of press Amazon was offering the Lite for £21.99). It comes with the same 1080p Full HD video at 60fps, but has a more basic remote control that removes the standard Fire TV Stick’s ability to switch your TV on and off, and adjust the volume. However, it still has a voice search button that activates Amazon’s Alexa smart assistant, so you can control the Fire TV Stick Lite with voice commands. “Same as the standard stick except the remote doesn’t turn TV on and off” Like all Amazon’s Fire TV…

SMARTPHONE | £399 from Amazon www.snipca.com/39335 That’s tall, folks! The most unusual thing about the Sony Xperia 10 III is its shape. It has a 21:9 aspect ratio screen, which is something of a rarity with phones. Sony claims this is perfect for streaming films on the move, because 21:9 is the ratio Netflix uses to produce its content. However, you’ll find it requires thicker-than-average black bars on the edges to show regular 16:9 content. As a result, the design is narrower and taller than most phones. The 6in 2520x1080 pixel OLED panel is impressive, covering 97.9 per cent of sRGB colours with perfect contrast. It’s not particularly bright, though, only reaching 329cd/m² in our tests. It uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 processor, which is disappointingly underpowered for a phone…

PICTURE FRAME/SPEAKER | £179 from Ikea www.snipca.com/39368 Wall of sound This picture-frame speaker is the third collaboration between Ikea and speaker manufacturer Sonos, and follows on from the bookshelf speaker (£89 from www.snipca.com/39369) and the table-lamp speaker (£150 from www.snipca.com/39370). It’s aimed at anyone that wants decent-quality music in their home, but doesn’t want to spoil the look of their home decor with an ugly speaker. “A smart speaker that’s disguised as a work of art” The picture frame measures 570x410x60mm (HxWxD) and looks smart, but might not be quite what you expect. To us, a picture frame is a blank space into which you insert the photo or art print of your choice. This isn’t the case with the Symfonisk, which comes with geometric art (pictured above right) that…

Pinnacle Studio 25 Ultimate combines a full suite of powerful video-editing tools and a robust selection of creative effects to help you achieve stunning results. With a wealth of new tools, it will help you exceed even your highest movie-making expectations. The latest updates include new Blend Modes that bring artistic flair to your videos by creating superimposed effects, blending masked areas and creating light bleeds, as well as other colour and exposure effects. Also new is Smart Object Tracking (pictured), which uses shape-aware motion tracking to follow any object in your video. In addition, the new Advanced Audio Editing features ensure your audio sounds crisp and clear. You can even identify and remove unwanted sounds with Noise Reduction to ensure your voiceover or musical track sounds perfect. To enter…

Soosee Free* Android www.snipca.com/39358 iOS www.snipca.com/39359 The ingredients on food packaging are often hard to read. But Soosee lets you quickly identify anything you might need to be aware of – handy for those with food allergies and intolerances, for example. Select the food types you want – such as gluten or shellfish – then point your device’s camera at the text. Auto-Key Free iOS www.snipca.com/39357 Ever heard a piece of music and wondered what key it’s in? Now there’s a quick and easy way to find out. This app works a bit like Shazam – tap the big Auto-Key button and let it listen to the tune that’s playing. After a moment’s analysis, it will display the relevant key. Fowsi Free* Android www.snipca.com/39356 Why drug companies like to give…

LIBREOFFICE CALC & MICROSOFT EXCEL Count the empty cells in your spreadsheet There may be times when you need to count the number of empty cells in a spreadsheet. You can do this in LibreOffice Calc and Microsoft Excel using the ‘COUNTBLANK(range)’ function. First, click the cell in which you want the answer to appear (we’ve chosen E5), then type COUNTBLANK(range) into it and press Enter. Replace ‘range’ with the range of cells you want to include in your calculation. To count all blank cells from row A1 to A13, for example, use the function =COUNTBLANK(A1:A13). This function will appear in Excel’s formula bar (1 in our screenshot). The answer ‘4’ is revealed in cell E5 2. LIBREOFFICE WRITER Create a picture watermark If you want to create a watermark…

Mirror your phone or tablet screen Whether you want to browse the web, view photos and videos, or read emails and documents, duplicating the content of your phone or tablet on your smart TV’s much larger screen can help you see things much more clearly. You shouldn’t even need a cable or extra hardware to mirror your device’s screen, because phones and tablets now offer this as a built-in feature. Provided your phone or tablet is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your TV, you should be able to mirror its screen with a couple of taps. On an Android device, swipe down from the top of the screen and look for an option called Cast, ‘Screen cast’ (see screenshot right), ‘Screen mirroring’ or similar (the name varies between…

When is a password not a password? When it’s a passphrase. These are combinations of words that, if chosen correctly, are a much smarter way of staying safe than using passwords. At least, that’s the advice from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). It recently recommended using three-word phrases because they’re easier to remember than a random string of numbers, letters and characters. The NCSC also said that complicating your password with symbols is flawed because hackers use algorithms to spot them. So while ‘P@$$w0rd’ is more secure than ‘Password’, it’s still easy to crack. But that doesn’t mean you should pick any three-word phrase. Using ‘I love you’ is about as safe as posting a set of your home keys to every known burglar in the country. On…

New rules to protect TV-streaming viewers from misleading health advice and “pseudoscience documentaries on climate change” could be introduced by the Government. Currently, traditional broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV and Sky have to follow Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code, which sets out standards for content in areas including offensive material, accuracy, fairness and privacy. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden wants similar rules to apply to the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ to ensure a “level playing field between traditional broadcasters and online streaming services”. He wrote on GOV.UK: “Right now, viewers in the UK know that if they switch on their TV, there will be a high standard of rules in place to protect audiences, including the 9pm watershed and certain content standards. The same is not currently true of…

VIRGIN’S BROADBAND HITS 10M HOMES Virgin Media O2 has extended its hyper-fast broadband network to a further 1.7 million premises, bringing the total to 10 million. It claims to deliver an average download speed of 1,130Mbps, and 52Mbps uploading. New areas include Blackpool, Cambridge, Leicester, Nottingham, Oxford and Swindon (for details visit www.snipca.com/39411). FREE WEB INSTALLS FOR PEOPLE ON BENEFITS Openreach will now install broadband for free to households on universal credit that have no other earnings. The company would normally charge providers such as Sky or TalkTalk for connecting households, who then pass the fee on to the customer. Openreach estimates about one million people could save up to £92, assuming providers pass on the saving. Read more at www.snipca.com/39409. THE WORLD’S GONE MAD! Staring at smartphones for hours…

Kremlin-backed gangs have been leaving comments on Western news websites to promote views favourable to Russia, researchers have claimed. Analysis by Cardiff University Crime and Security Research Institute found hackers targeted 32 popular sites across 16 countries, including Mail Online, the Express and the Times in the UK. Researchers identified 242 stories where “provocative pro-Russian or anti-Western statements” were posted. Russian news websites reported on the comments as the basis for their own stories. The “sophisticated and co-ordinated” attacks were spotted earlier this year, but researchers believe they’ve been going since 2018. They saw a sharp increase in the number of pro-Russian comments amid the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Director of the Crime and Security Research Institute Professor Martin Innes said: “By hijacking the comments sections of Western media…

Don’t fall for £100 ‘Asda gift card’ scam I don’t normally shop at Asda, but was briefly tempted by an email that promised to give me a £100 gift card just for taking a “marketing survey”. That initial moment of excitement was quickly replaced by the realisation that it must be a scam. I searched for confirmation and found that Action Fraud had warned about it (www.snipca.com/39317). The email looked reasonably professional, with no horrendous spelling errors, though it used some capital letters where it shouldn’t have (‘Your Opinion is important’). In my experience, there’s always something that gives it away. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

It looks like Computeractive may have jumped the gun. In Issue 614, page 6, you say you’ve already put 20 October in your diary as the release date of Windows 11. Presumably you went to press before Microsoft announced the actual date as 5 October? What interested me was you saying you had a “hunch” that Windows 11’s full availability as a free upgrade would be delayed beyond next spring as Microsoft coped with fixing problems identified by early users. I had the same hunch, and it’s become stronger since Microsoft announced 5 October. Surely this is too early for an operating system that was announced as recently as June? I’ve tried a few versions of the preview so far, and while it looks nice I can’t see any outstanding…

I’ve had one of Ring Automotive’s Smart Battery Chargers/Analysers (model RSC612, pictured) for four years, and it’s been extremely useful. I recently tried to recharge the leisure batteries on my campervan, but it didn’t work. I contacted Ring Automotive and explained how long I’d had the unit, and that I couldn’t find a receipt proving purchase from Maplin (before my local store closed). The company asked me if I could find a bank statement showing the purchase. Apparently, registered models have a five-year warranty. I found it, and sent a screenshot plus a photo of the faulty unit. I hadn’t registered the unit correctly, but they still sent me a new one a few days later. I can’t thank them enough for being so pleasant and helpful. I’ll gladly buy…

VIDEO EDITOR OpenShot Video Editor 2.6.1 www.openshot.org What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 Many free video-editing programs are either too basic or too complex, but OpenShot strikes the perfect balance between advanced features and ease of use, and this new version is its best yet. The open-source software has added lots of useful new tools while keeping its interface simple. The most exciting change in version 2.6.0 (which is the latest major release – the ‘2.6.1’ in the heading above relates to a minor update that fixed some bugs) is the introduction of ‘computer-vision’ AI effects for enhancing your videos. The best of these is Stabilizer, which offers an easy way to detect camera shake, and eliminate it with a single click, making the clips you capture look…

Junk offender: Free Snipping Tool Chips or wedges? Cake or ice cream? Bordeaux or Côtes du Rhône? These are just a few examples of impossible decisions I can think of (you can probably tell it’s nearly dinner time as I write this). Free Snipping Tool (https://freesnippingtool.com), on the other hand, presents you with an altogether less appetising choice. It’s a screen-capture program and, yes, it’s free – at least in the sense that there’s no financial transaction involved. As with a lot of my Junk Offenders, however, there’s a hidden cost. The difference is you get to choose how to pay. Run the installer and you’ll soon reach a screen that says you can remove adverts from the program if you agree to let it “pass traffic through your device”.…

LAPTOP | £649 from HP www.snipca.com/39305 Windows of opportunity Affordable laptops rarely surprise us. The best you can usually expect is a serviceable computer that makes a few compromises. True to form, this 14in laptop from HP isn’t bad for the price, and you’ll probably be happy to live with the corners it cuts. “Runs Windows tasks well and has all the ports you need” Our review laptop was equipped with an Intel Core i5 1135G7 processor, but cheaper i3 and pricier i7 models are also available. This was accompanied by 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. It performed reasonably well in our Windows benchmark tests compared with laptops at a similar price with the same processor. It even kept up with slightly pricier models, but couldn’t match the…

Q Around 2009 I bought a 22in LG Flatron TV/monitor as recommended in your magazine. It proved to be a really useful purchase, but now it has failed. It’s great to have a standalone Freeview TV built into the monitor, because it can operate without a computer. A bit of computer-free BBC News is ideal while you’re waiting for a major update to complete. I’d like to replace it with another TV/monitor that has the same features. I think a 22in screen would be the minimum size. Chris Colley A LG still makes TV and monitor combinations, and since you were happy with the previous model (until it gave up after a reasonable 12 years of service) it seems unnecessary to seek out a different manufacturer. The current smallest LG…

What is it? Samsung has invented a 200-megapixel camera sensor (pictured) to enhance cameras in smartphones. However, there’s currently no indication of when we’ll see a phone that uses one. What does it do? Although you’ll be able to use the sensor to take incredibly detailed 200-megapixel photos, Samsung’s also designed it to use a process called pixel-binning to create the best possible image at a smaller scale. This can, for example, enable each pixel in a 12-megapixel photo use up to 16 sensor pixels to inform what colour it should be. This will help the camera take more accurate photos, particularly in low light. What’s the catch? The number of pixels represents a huge leap forward, so expect it to be reserved for Samsung’s most expensive devices, when it…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Add web-page apps as toolbar links In Issue 612’s informative How To on recovering icons (page 35), Nik Rawlinson explained how to add Quick Launch to your toolbar. I can see why this is useful, but I prefer the Links option, which gives me easy access to web pages I’ve turned into apps. To turn a page into an app, click the top-right menu icon in Chrome (or another browser), followed by More Tools, then ‘Create shortcut’. Give your app a name, then click Create. This adds it to your Start menu. Next, right-click on a blank area of your toolbar, then click Toolbars, Links. You will see the Links option appear on your toolbar. I simply drag the apps I use most frequently into this.…

Pedometer++ Free* iOS www.snipca.com/39360 If you’re fed up with health apps having too much clutter, this iOS-only app could be the answer. It focuses on just one thing – counting your steps – and presents your achievements in easy-to-understand charts. Everything is straightforward, from customising your daily step goal to switching between kilometres and miles. Best For Simple step-counting Pacer Free* Android www.snipca.com/39361 iOS www.snipca.com/39362 Those looking for something with more features should check out Pacer. Most notably, the app’s GPS support lets you track your exercise on maps, along with suggested local routes. The premium version (£4.99 per month) adds extra video workouts, support for third-party fitness-tracking devices and more. Best For Monitoring walking routes Runtastic Free* Android www.snipca.com/39363 iOS www.snipca.com/39364 This fitness app from Adidas is designed to…

Sending regular newsletters is a great way to keep members informed about what’s happening in your club. You could send this as a simple email, but if you want more professional-looking results, try a newsletter service. Here, we’ll explain how to use EmailOctopus (https://emailoctopus.com), which has plenty of templates you can customise, and also lets you create your own. Create a list of subscribers First, we should point out that the free version of EmailOctopus has a few limitations. You can only send emails to a maximum of 2,500 subscribers, and no more than 10,000 emails per month in total - so, for example, if you have 2,500 members, you’ll be able to send four newsletters a month. If you have more than 2,500 subscribers, switch to Pro, which costs…

There are two ways to get VLC on your TV. On an Android TV, you can install it from the Google Play Store: simply search for it by typing VLC on your remote control. But if you have a lot of videos to watch on your PC, or your smart TV runs a non-Android operating system, you can stream them to your smart TV using VLC (www.videolan.org) and Google Chromecast, which plugs into a spare HDMI socket on your TV. There are more expensive models of the Chromecast, with Google TV and Netflix included, but you can buy the cheapest £30 model from www.snipca.com/39422. 1 If you haven’t yet set up your Chromecast, go to www.snipca.com/39423 on your computer. Click the blue Start button, then Next. Plug your Chromecast into…

Subscribe to Compute ractive today and save on the single issue price. Each issue of Computeractive will be delivered directly to your device each fortnight. SEE NEXT PAGE FOR SET-UP INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO SUBSCRIBE… … on an iPad or iPhone STEP 1 Return to the Computeractive library STEP 2 Choose your subscription term and tap twice on the 'price' box STEP 3 Choose whether to create an optional PixelMags account STEP 4 Enter your Apple ID password to confirm … on a Kindle Fire Kindle Fire subscriptions corne with a FREE one month trial. STEP 1 Tap 'Free Trial Subscription' in the Computeractive library STEP 2 Chose your subscription term from the drop down menu on the popup that appears STEP 3 Tap 'Subscribe' … on an Android device STEP…

One of my favourite geeky web resources is Google Books Ngram Viewer (www.snipca.com/39331), which helps you pinpoint when a specific word, name or phrase first appeared in print, and track its prevalence over time. The word “codswallop”, for example, traces back to the 1870s and crops up frequently in reports of parliamentary debates. “Command Chains gives you more time to stare out the window, eating crisps” I thought of Ngram – and codswallop, incidentally – while waiting to be inducted into my new job. While I’m delighted to have joined Computeractive, and rejoined its parent company, I’d forgotten that starting employment invariably involves sitting through a tedious introductory presentation, full of corporate jargon about “synergy”, being “results driven” and “optimising workflow”. When did the word “workflow” become common parlance, I…