Table of contents for 542 in Computeractive

Hackers. Scammers. Spammers. Solar storms. We can give you advice on thwarting the first three, but the fourth is probably beyond us. They’re a serious threat to your computer, the Met Office recently said, warning that increased solar activity could wipe out the internet, plus much more besides. I read that as I edited this issue’s Cover Feature (page 50), and fleetingly wondered whether it was worth planning for 2019 if the Sun is plotting the biggest cyber-hack of all time. But why worry about something you can’t affect? Much better to focus on what you can improve on your computer, to guarantee it has a healthy 2019. Follow Will Stapley’s advice now to prevent a year of nasty surprises ahead. Talking of which, it would come as a particularly…

Age checks for internet porn have been delayed again to give websites more time to implement them, the Government has admitted. They were meant to be in place by April this year, but were knocked back to the end of 2018 as ministers and porn sites struggled to agree on how the system would work. Now Digital Minister Margot James has said the scheme should be running by Easter 2019, adding that it gives the porn industry enough time to get the age-verification technology right. Giving evidence to the Science and Technology Select Committee, James admitted that discussions on introducing age checks had taken longer than she wanted, partly because ministers had to agree details with the British Board for Film Classification (BBFC), which will enforce the system. The UK…

MPs have called for the Government to appoint a minister for cybersecurity, and slammed its attempts to prevent future cyber-attacks as “wholly inadequate”. In a report the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy criticised ministers for failing to act with “a meaningful sense of purpose or urgency” at a time when Russia posed a significant threat to the UK’s infrastructure. It said that while the Government had identified cyber-attacks as a “top-tier” national threat, its response hasn’t been strong enough. The committee added that a “controlling mind” in the form of a cybersecurity minister is needed to take charge of building a national defence. Fears of an attack on infrastructure such as energy, health services and transport have increased this year, with Russia seen as the main threat. In…

TV licence refund? Nope! On the basis that if something is too good to be true it’s probably a scam, I was sceptical about an email telling me I was due a refund on my TV licence. It appeared convincing, but then I thought about it. How could I be due a refund when I know I pay the correct amount every month? The TV Licensing website (www.snipca.com/29713) confirms that scammers use this ‘refund’ ploy in order to grab your personal details. Well, I may be heading towards my 73th birthday, but I’ve still all got my marbles. I knew it was a scam, and warned my friends and family about it. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

In 2013 I bought a Vostro 3560 laptop (4GB RAM) with Windows 7 Pro from Dell. To date, I have studiously updated Windows right up to the latest October Update (1809). Wishing to speed the laptop up, I installed a further 4GB of memory, taking it to the maximum. Once complete, I started to get pop-up requests to ‘validate’ my Windows software. In horror, I checked Windows settings to see that the current version required activation ‘due to a significant hardware change’. I went through several attempts to activate Windows 10 Pro, without success. In frustration, I spoke to a Microsoft technician who talked me through the same activation process. The conclusion is that I needed the original Windows 7 product key. Dell told me the original key would have…

First, thanks for introducing a genealogy page into Computeractive (Grow Your Family Tree, page 16). I love digging into my ancestors’ lives, so I’ve found it very useful. I mostly use Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk), and over the years they’ve helped me with a number of problems, such as resetting my password when I couldn’t follow the onscreen instructions. When one of my relatives had some problems with her free trial, they extended it for no extra cost. They were also helpful when answering some privacy questions I had about buying the AncestryDNA package (pictured), which uses your saliva to provide a detailed breakdown of your ethnicity (I’m 24 per cent Scandinavian - who knew?!). I’m sure they’d heard my questions dozens of times, but they were still patient and informative. Has…

NUU MOBILE HAS released three new phones aimed at anyone who wants performance and quality but doesn’t want to pay an extortionate price. Why buy Nuu Mobile? One, you can trust us to build high-quality phones that run all the latest apps. With stock Android and no bloatware, plus fast components, you can also expect great performance no matter which phone you buy. And finally support. We’re here to keep your investment safe, with a two-year warranty as standard, UK customer support team seven days a week, a UK freephone number for support, plus UK-based parts and servicing. So now you just need to decide which to buy. Here, we reveal each phone’s key features, but visit nuumobile.com/active to find out more and claim a 10% discount. Nuu Mobile M3…

When my laptop was stolen back in 2008, it dawned on me just how much personal information was stored on it: family photos, emails, financial documents and so much more. When a well-meaning friend cited my Windows password as a reason not to fret, it didn’t help (resetting Windows passwords is often painfully simple – as revealed in Issue 533, p60). I had everything backed up, of course, but it was the thought of some tea leaf merrily browsing my files that concerned me more than the cost of the replacement laptop. I vowed that if someone stole my computer in future, they at least wouldn’t be able to access my personal files. After considering various options, I settled on a free, open-source encryption tool called TrueCrypt. I used it…

What does it do? Takes pictures. All right, clever-clogs. Why five? Well, if the LG V40 ThinQ were available in the UK (which it isn’t yet) it would cost around £900. You need some eye-catching features to compete at that level, so it comes with three cameras on the back and two on the front (pictured), going one better than the similarly priced Huawei Mate 20. Why would I want it? To take pictures. This is going to be a long day. Phone cameras are always fighting the laws of physics. Components that fit in a phone just can’t bend light the way a full-size camera can. To improve the results, phone cameras process the image using maths and, increasingly, machine learning. This is known as computational photography. Capturing light…

Q I need a new inkjet printer, but I don’t want something that’ll cost a fortune to run – it’s just for occasional use. Any tips? Sajida Begum A Occasional use is a problem for all inkjets, because they waste ink re-priming their nozzles after sitting idle. But if you only print a few pages, the costs won’t rise too quickly. Aim to buy ‘high-yield’ or ‘XL’ cartridges, and do shop around. Consider HP’s Instant Ink (www.snipca.com/26736), which sends you replacement cartridges for a fixed fee. It’s free for 15 pages per month, £1 for an extra 10, or £1.99 a month for 50. But without Instant Ink, HP’s budget DeskJet printers are more expensive than average to run. Also consider cartridges from other companies. These often bring the biggest savings with…

What was it? The Nexus Q (pictured) was an audio and video streaming box designed to connect to the user’s HDTV. Unveiled at Google’s I/O developer conference in June 2012, and based on the Android operating system, it was envisaged as an always-on web-connected home hub. However, while rivals such as Roku’s streaming boxes offered content from multiple sources, the Nexus Q only played media from the Google Play Store. Yet at $300 (then around £192), it was among the priciest options. Why did it die? Google gave away the first batch at its conference, then decided a month later to give the device free to people who’d pre-ordered one – a questionable business model. Finally, after rethinking what people actually wanted from their home-entertainment tech, the company launched Chromecast,…

CHILLBLAST FUSION BLIZZARD GAMING PC chillblast.com/blizzard £1499.99 incl. VAT and delivery This award-winning PC is Chillblast’s recommend computer at this price point. With a powerful Intel Core i5-8600k hex core CPU and GeForce 1070 Ti GPU, it has the power needed to blast through Fortnite, PUBG and all of 2019’s AAA PC games. D-LINK MYDLINK™ PRO WIRE-FREE CAMERA KIT (DCS-2802KT-EU) Amazon £459.99 inc VAT The mydlink Pro Wire Free cameras are discreet, weatherproof, and completely wire free, so you can place them indoors or outdoors. Built-in night vision allows you to see up to 7.5 metres, and the hub’s built-in 100+ decibel alarm is a great deterrent. iiyama G-MASTER BLACK HAWK 75HZ GB2730HSU-B1 Amazon £169.99 Inc Vat The iiyama Black Hawk 27” Gamer Display features a full HD 1ms LCD…

The closer you get to filling Scanbot’s window, the higher the resolution of your scan, because you’ll be maximising the number of pixels on the camera sensor. If you’re using an iPhone 8 or Google Pixel 2, which have 12-megapixel sensors, you’ll capture close to 4000 pixels on one axis and 3000 on the other. If you were to print the result at 150dpi, it would be 66x50cm (26x20in), which is why the sky-high resolutions of desktop scanners and MFPs are largely irrelevant.…

Over the years, I’ve tried using many finance-management programs, but nothing comes close to Microsoft Money 2005 in terms of features and flexibility. It still baffles me why Microsoft doesn’t decide to resurrect the program considering how useful its tools are even today. In Issue 537 (see page 57), you wrote about taking four attempts to get the program to run, saying you were unsure what the problem was. My best guess is that Money expects to find Internet Explorer 6 (IE6)on your PC because it doesn’t work very well with Internet Explorer 11 (IE11). This is probably because the program was originally set up to extract information and share prices in IE6, while IE11 doesn’t have this functionality. You now have to download the OFX or QIF file data…

ANDROID Automatically accept cookie pop-up messages You may have noticed pop-up notifications whenever you visit a website for the first time asking for your ‘cookie consent’ before browsing. By law, all websites must display this. Even though you simply have to select Yes or Accept to continue browsing, it’s frustrating to see these pop-ups time and again. The latest version of Opera Browser (www.snipca.com/29770) automatically accepts these cookies, so you’ll never see the message on any website. Tap the red O Opera icon at the bottom right, Settings, then tap the ‘Ad blocking’ option. Here, tick the slider to enable ‘Ad blocking’. Next, tick the new ‘Block cookie dialogs’ slider, then tick ‘Automatically accept cookie dialogs’ (see screenshot below left). If you want to set Opera as your default browser…

WINDOWS 10 Add 3D objects to your photos Windows 10’s Photos app now lets you add 3D objects to your pictures. On your PC, right-click your photo, move your cursor to ‘Open with’, then click Photos. Next, click the ‘Edit & Create’ dropdown menu at the top right, click ‘Add 3D effects’, then click the ‘3D library’ tab at the top right. You’ll see a selection of 3D models in several categories (Animals, Vehicles, Buildings, etc). Select a relevant category, then double-click the 3D model you want to add to your photo. Now click and drag the white dots to resize your photo and the white circles to move it in three dimensions (see screenshot below). When you’re happy with it, click ‘Save a copy’ at the bottom right. WINDOWS…

Ordinarily, if you want to round up decimal numbers in Excel, you need to apply a formula. However, there is a simpler way to do this. First, you need to download the free add-in ASAP Utilities, which adds extra functionality to Excel’s core tools. One of its features lets you instantly reduce and round up longer decimal numbers (for example, 10.23345 to 10.24) simply by selecting that option in a dropdown menu and choosing how many values you want to include after the decimal point. To install the extension, ensure Excel is closed, then go to www.snipca.com/29685, select ‘Home and Student edition’, then click the ‘Download Home and student’ button. Open and run the downloaded setup file. When you see the ‘How will ASAP Utilities be used?’ message, select ‘Home…

Email us your problem and we’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT Can I search for text inside files? Q Is there a way of searching folders or drives to find particular text references inside of documents? Say, to find all documents with the word 'Manchester' in them, or potentially to carry out more complex searches of several words. Whilst I'm keen to have this facility, I would not like to compromise the security of my documents. I've seen reference to the indexing of documents and wondered if this had any security implications? Martyn Denton A You didn’t say which version of Windows you’re using but an indexing facility has been available from Windows XP onwards. From Windows 7 on, the search aspect of this – simply called…

iSTORAGE DATASHUR PRO istorage-uk.com £49-£129 An easy to use, encrypted USB 3.0 flash drive. With no software required, it can be used with any operating system. Certified to FIPS 140-2 Level 3, NLNCSA DEP-V & NATO Restricted government accreditations. Capacities from 4GB-64GB, RRP £49-£129. For 15% off, enter ISDP15 at istorage-uk.com *T&Cs apply. Ends 31/12/18. iiyama RED EAGLE 144HZ GB2560HSU-B1 Amazon £220.78 Inc Vat Join the pro-squad with the Red Eagle GB2560HSU-B1, a 24.5” Full HD gaming monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time and AMD’s FreeSync technology. This monitor is made for pro gamers. KINGSTON CANVAS REACT MICROSD 128GB Ebuyer.com £35.49 Kingston’s Canvas React is designed to be as fast as you are, when you’re capturing 4K video or taking stunning burst-mode photos, when the action never…

EE NAMES 16 CITIES GETTING 5G EE has revealed which six cities will first receive its 5G service next year: London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, Manchester and Birmingham. Ten more cities will follow, including Bristol, Hull, Leicester and Glasgow. However, coverage will be limited to certain areas in each city, such as London’s Hyde Park, the Manchester Arena and Belfast City Airport. Visit EE’s site for details: www.snipca.com/29727. RENEW PASSPORT AT POST OFFICE ONLINE You can now renew your passport online at one of 725 Post Office branches, but it costs £15.40 more than doing it yourself using the Government’s service (www.snipca.com/29720). The new £90.90 service includes the Post Office’s Check & Send feature, which makes sure there are no mistakes with your application. Find your nearest branch at www.snipca.com/29719. AMAZON…

Facebook is appealing against the £500,000 fine imposed on it by the UK’s data watchdog for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, insisting there’s no evidence the privacy breach influenced the Brexit referendum. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined the company after concluding that UK users were put at risk by political consultants Cambridge Analytica using the data of Facebook members to target people with political adverts. When the scandal erupted in March, it was suggested that pro-Brexit groups might have used the data to show online adverts to wavering voters during the 2016 referendum campaign. However, the firm said it targeted only US voters, not those in the UK. The ICO said it didn’t have enough information “to determine whether this assertion is correct”. The watchdog added that even if this…

Skype NHS appointments: let consultants decide Regarding the News story in Issue 541 (page 6) about using Skype for outpatients appointments in hospitals, surely the solution is for the consultant to decide whether or not a face-to-face appointment is required. If it isn’t, then they should offer the patient the option of a Skype call, a phone call or a face-to-face appointment. This could be particularly useful for follow-up appointments. I am a wheelchair user and mostly housebound (a hospital visit is exhausting for me), and there must be many other people with similar or different conditions (agoraphobia, severely compromised immune systems and so on) for whom hospital visits are very difficult if not dangerous. Kate Phimister Use microSD card as portable storage Like Dave Clarkson (Readers’ Tips, Issue 541),…

LEAD CASE Who’s responsible for faulty headsets? Q I bought a pair of Sony MDR-1000X headphones from Currys PC World in July 2017 for £269. Because the plastic sounded like it was cracking, Currys PC World replaced the headphones, but now the replacement has also developed cracks. The retailer now says it won’t help me because the headphones are no longer within warranty. Sony said I should take them to its nearest repair shop. What should I do? Alan Stevens A Alan should take the headphones to Sony’s local repair shop as advised because to get a refund he’ll need to prove the fault is inherent, and wasn’t caused by accidental damage or wear and tear. We normally suggest taking faulty items to any repair shop, not necessarily one run by the…

Repair photos of your ancestors One of the most valuable resources you have are your family photos, though the thrill of discovering old pictures can be marred by their poor condition. Here, we’ll show you how to use free software like Paint.NET (www.getpaint.net) to restore your ancestral snaps to something approaching their original state. Before you start, make sure you save a copy of your image, allowing you to begin again from scratch if you need to. It’s also worth experimenting with the magnification levels so you can see clearly the effects of your repairs without zooming in too close. Restore faded and blurred photos The most common problem you’ll encounter are photos that are faded, or are over- or under-exposed. Ignore the basic brightness and contrast controls in photo-editing…

VIDEO EDITING Shotcut 18.11 www.shotcut.org What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 The excellent DaVinci Resolve 15 (Best Free Software, Issue 538 – www.snipca.com/29669) offers professional-level video editing for free, but getting to grips with its complex features can take time. Open-source alternative Shotcut is easier to use, and although it can’t match Resolve’s advanced editing tools, it still packs a punch. When you first load Shotcut, the New Project window (new in version 18.11) prompts you to name your project, choose a location for its associated files (such as video and audio clips) and select a video mode. If you leave video mode set to Automatic, Shotcut chooses the most appropriate option for you based on the resolution and frame rate of the first video you import. To…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: Notepad2.com I’m always telling people to download software from the developer’s official website, wherever possible – mainly because I hate the deliberately misleading adverts on third-party download sites that look like download buttons. But what if someone else has set up a fake website that looks official in order to trick you into downloading a version of the program that’s stuffed with adware? Well, that’s exactly what seems to have happened with Notepad2. I hope it’s not the start of a worrying trend. Notepad2 is a very useful free text editor that’s similar to the Notepad tool that comes built into Windows, but with some handy extras, including syntax highlighting for many programming languages, making it ideal for coding. You could be forgiven for thinking…

TABLET & SMART SPEAKER|£250 from Currys www.snipca.com/29677 “Impressively slim with useful smart-speaker add-on” Eight years into the iPad age, there still aren’t many Android tablets that compete directly with it. If you’re looking for a top-end device with lots of processing power and options for a pressure-sensitive stylus and keyboard, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S4 (£599 from John Lewis www.snipca.com/29417, see our review, Issue 540) undercuts the new 11in iPad Pro (£769 from Apple www.snipca.com/29678), but is nowhere near as exciting. And even the basic 9.7in iPad (£319 from www.snipca.com/29679) now also has lots of processing power and pressure-sensitive stylus support, albeit no keyboard, making it hard to beat. Lenovo’s Tab 4 10 Plus has no stylus option and less than half the performance, but you can currently get it for…

TABLET|£969 from Apple www.snipca.com/29726 “The 2018 iPad Pro is undeniably a gorgeous thing – vivid screen, great performance” Some Apple devotees are talking about the redesigned iPad Pro as if it’s a new class of computer that renders PCs obsolete. Nah. It’s still an iPad, running iOS rather than a desktop operating system like Windows, which most people still need to cover all their work tasks. Windows tablets like Microsoft’s just-released Surface Pro 6 do more, even if they’re a little thicker, heavier and have noisy fans (unlike the iPad). With that caveat, the 2018 iPad Pro is undeniably a gorgeous thing to own and use. For the first time, it has narrow borders on all sides, just enough to hold it by and for the front camera to fit…

SMART PLUG|£25 from Amazon www.snipca.com/29690 “Lets you tell your appliances to switch themselves on or off, but it’s pricier than others” A smart plug is a mains adapter that turns the power on or off in response to commands from a digital system. One of the most popular systems is Amazon’s Alexa, so it makes sense that Amazon has launched a smart plug. What makes slightly less sense is that it costs £25, while much cheaper smart plugs are already available from… well, Amazon. As far as it goes, it works. Open the Alexa app on your phone or tablet, tell it to add a new device, scan the QR code on the plug, enter the name and password for your home Wi-Fi network, give the Smart Plug a name,…

LAPTOP HP Envy 13 £849 from www.snipca.com/29555 Tested Issue 539 The combination of an eighth-generation quad-core i5 chip and MX 150 graphics makes this an excellent all-round laptop, let down only by the poor colour reproduction of its Full HD touchscreen. Seven-hour battery life is adequate, and it’s nicely made. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 This premium laptop starts at £1,200, but the best deal is with the brand new quad-core i7-8550 and QHD touchscreen. £1,449 from www.snipca.com/26796 DESKTOP PC Mesh Ryzen Gaming PC CS £650 from www.snipca.com/27705 Tested Issue 528 With a six-core Ryzen 5 1600 processor and 4GB GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card, this is a brilliant all-round desktop PC for the money, completed by 8GB of memory, 120GB SSD and 1TB hard drive. ALTERNATIVE Lenovo IdeaCentre 620s…

What you need: a smartphone, scanner or slide scanner Time required: from an hour to a day, a week or longer The new year will soon be upon us. If you’re anything like me, that means you’re already thinking about the odds and ends that need squaring. I like to start each year anew, with everything sorted and clutter packed away. This year, that clutter includes 400 slides and an IKEA bag filled with old family photos. I’ve been slowly working my way through them since May, scanning each one and uploading them to Google Photos to share with relatives near and far. What started out as a chore has proven to be quite enjoyable now that I’ve found a way to work through them more quickly. It gives me…

1 Visit www.photoshop.com/tools and click ‘Start the editor’ to launch Photoshop Express. This requires Flash, so you’ll be prompted to install it if you don’t already have it. If you prefer not to install Flash but have the Chrome browser installed, switch to this to use its built-in Flash player. Click Upload Photo, then select one of your scans. 2 When your scan opens in the browser-based editor, use the tools in the sidebar to perform your edits. Start by clicking Auto Correct and selecting one of the presets, then work your way through the Exposure and Saturation controls to tweak lighting and colour. 3 Click Touchup to work on scratches and hairs. Click one of the faults, then use the slider to enlarge the green circle until it covers…

Dropbox ✓ Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) was one of the first reliable cloud-storage services. Though the free plan initially only gave me 2GB of free storage space, I built this up to 6GB by referring other friends to the service. I’ve been a user since 2012 so I have tons of photos and videos on it. Unfortunately, I’m nearing my storage-limit allowance so Dropbox now expects me to upgrade my account. Sadly, the cheapest plan starts at £6.58 a month for 1TB. Now that’s a lot of money for, in my opinion, way too much storage space! And what I use instead… While I’ve retained some files in Dropbox, I now use Google Drive (www.google.com/drive) for everything else. It gives you a generous 15GB of storage space and its web interface and…

Microsoft Launcher Free Android: www.snipca.com/29776 The latest version of our favourite launcher is packed with useful new tools. The best is Timeline Integration. This lets you access web pages and Office files you’ve visited from your phone or tablet on your PC. You can now use Cortana to send emails by dictating them. 1.1.1.1 Free Android: www.snipca.com/29774 iOS: www.snipca.com/29775 In Issue 527 (page 38) we showed you how to change your PC’s DNS for faster, more private browsing using CloudFlare’s 1.1.1.1 service. The company has now released an app that brings the same features to phones and tablets. Adobe Premiere Rush* Free iOS: www.snipca.com/29777 Adobe’s new video-editing app makes it quick and easy to edit videos and download them to your device. It has a multi-track timeline that lets you…

Windows lets you hide folders using a setting within File Explorer, but you don’t need a password to reveal them. A safer way to hide them is to lock them behind a password that you create. This process involves creating a batch file. First, open the folder/location on your PC where you want to create your hidden folder. Next, right-click inside this folder/location, move your cursor to New, click Text Document, then press Enter. Now double-click this document and choose Notepad as the program to open it with. Next, open your PC browser, go to our pastebin account at www.snipca.com/29689, copy the entire text and paste it into your Notepad document. Now look for the ‘if NOT %pass%==your_password goto FAIL’ line in the middle of your document. Here, replace ‘your_password’…

There are various ways to find out what members think of your club and what they’re interested in. You could hold a discussion during a club meeting or post a question on your Facebook group, for example. However, public forums don’t always elicit the most honest responses. Perhaps certain members tend to voice their opinions strongly, so others don’t get the chance to speak or feel inhibited. Some may worry about appearing impolite even. A much better way to get everyone’s opinion while keeping their answers private is to conduct a survey. Ditch the photocopier Not long ago, creating a survey meant typing questions into a Word document, printing it, then photocopying it and asking members to fill it in. While you could still resort to this old-fashioned method, there…

Q What’s the difference between the administrator and standard Command Prompts? They both look the same to me. Is administrator more like PowerShell? Micah Hartman A It’s true that the two modes look identical, aside from the word ‘Administrator’ appearing in the Command Prompt’s title bar. However, the key difference is in administrator (admin) mode you have the freedom to execute many more powerful instructions. In turn, these potentially have more serious consequences – so the admin mode must be used with caution. For readers unsure of how to access the different modes, standard Command Prompt is launched by clicking Start, typing cmd and then clicking Command Prompt. For administrator mode, instead right-click Command Prompt and then choose ‘Run as administrator’. Launching an admin Command Prompt requires being logged in…

1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 1920x1080 pixels. 480p Resolution used for many early plasma TVs. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. Add-in Microsoft’s name for tools that can be added to Office software. Batch file A list of commands to be performed by a PC. Botnet A group of infected computers connected via the internet, and used to infect other PCs, send junk email and perform other criminal tasks. Brute-force attack A method of breaking encryption by simply guessing all possible passwords until the right one is found. Cmdlet A command in PowerShell that performs a single function. Core Units on a processor that carry out program instructions. DCI-P3 A colour space that has a wider spectrum than…

Google has teamed up with a UK company to show shoppers what’s available in nearby stores, raising hopes it may help slow the decline of the high street. It’s working with the firm NearSt (https://near.st), which tracks in real time the items a shop is selling, and the price. This information will be updated live, so an item that’s on sale will be shown in your search results – such as the book Sapiens at the Brick Lane Bookshop (see screenshot) – along with directions to the store. Google said this would make it “as easy to shop locally as it is online”. NearSt was formed in 2015 by digital marketing experts Nick Brackenbury and Max Kreijn. Mr Kreijn had the idea when a lightbulb in his flat blew, and…

Website hacks are now a part of everyday life, as depressingly inevitable as train delays and nuisance phone calls. You’re powerless to stop them, but by using Firefox Monitor you will at least be warned when you land on a site that’s been attacked recently. Firefox Monitor launched in September as a way for you to check whether your email password has been stolen (it analyses the same databases as Have I Been Pwned?, https://haveibeenpwned.com). The new website warnings will tell you if the site you’re visiting has been breached in the past 12 months. If so, click Check Firefox Monitor (see screenshot) then enter your email address to see if you’ve been a victim. These warnings will be shown only once, so you won’t see them repeatedly. Read Mozilla’s…

Why does Brian Kennedy think it’s so difficult to contact companies (Letters, Issue 540)? Has he not heard of ceoemail.com (www.ceoemail.com), which contains contact details for company CEOs? I use it for every complaint, but it should also be used to praise a company. All you have to do is remember to not go looking up every CEO you can think of because they will block you if you do. I do my fair share of complaining and over the years have complained about companies such as furniture stores and food suppliers, and even the Department for Work and Pensions. The website can be slow to update a company’s CEO, so it’s worth checking online to see if there’s someone new in the role. In many cases it is just…

Few things annoy us more than companies passing the buck, so we were determined to help David Ford (Issue 536) who was told by Ebuyer to contact the police about a stolen delivery. Ebuyer claimed the Chillblast Micro System computer it was returning to David using Parcelforce had been collected and signed for. And indeed it had - but not by David. Instead, it was taken by a stranger posing as David in the block of flats where he lives. By getting someone to sign for the package, Ebuyer presumably thought it had completed its part of the deal. But retailers must make sure items reach the correct person, not just anyone. It therefore still had a legal responsibility to help David, and should not have fobbed him off by…

I would like to find out more about my father’s family in Poland. He came to this country before World War 2 and I believe served in the RAF. The family lived in Lublin in east Poland and seemed quite prosperous. RAF service records post 1939 are only available to service personnel or their next of kin. Visit the Gov.uk website for information on requesting access to them (www.snipca.com/29661). Regarding your Polish ancestors, once again we recommend FamilySearch as your starting point. Visit www.snipca.com/29662 for its section on Lublin. Most sites it links to are in Polish, but the web browser Chrome will offer to translate them for you. Have a genealogy question for Nick? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

What software can I use for Self Assessment tax? Q The deadline to submit a Self Assessment tax return is nearing (31 January), but third-party software is required. Can you suggest a free program? Chris Colley A The majority of self-employed people don’t actually need additional software to submit their Self Assessment tax return. Instead, you can use HMRC’s free Self Assessment tool, available at www.snipca.com/29796 (you’ll need to have previously registered as self-employed to use it). Although not particularly pretty, the tool is relatively straightforward as long as you have details such as your income and expenditure to hand. You only need additional software in certain circumstances, such as if you’re submitting a Self Assessment return for a partnership or for a trust and estate (see HMRC’s full guidance…

When I take my car for a service, I expect that someone will try to sell me something I don’t need, or find a problem that costs a lot to fix. What I don’t expect is for them to steal my personal data and sell it to phone scammers – but that’s what Mr Kasim did when he was working for the Nationwide Accident Repairs Service. Using a colleague’s login, he accessed the firm’s repair estimation system, Audatex, and stole records of customer names, contact details and accident information. The good news is that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) prosecuted Mr Kasim under the Computer Misuse Act, which carries a potential prison sentence, rather than under the Data Protection Act, which has a maximum penalty of a £500,000 fine. The…

PC|£799 from Apple www.snipca.com/29794 “The cheapest Mac is neat and powerful, but it’s no bargain” For more than a decade, the Mac mini has been the cheapest Mac. That’s still true, but now it costs eight hundred quid, which really sums up Apple’s direction of travel. Back in the day, the shiny plastic iMac was more fun than a mid-range PC at a similar price, and its innovative USB sockets opened up a world of plug-and-play accessories. Today, the Space Grey Mac mini is about as much fun as a filing cabinet, and its USB Type-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports are for high-end extras you can’t afford. This mini isn’t aimed at cash-strapped consumers. It’s for affluent Apple fans and IT managers who are spending someone else’s money. For the latter, ultra-fast…

STREAMING|£30 from Google www.snipca.com/29805 “It gives you access to most TV, video and music services” Chromecast is Google’s streaming technology, and three devices are named after it: Chromecast, Chromecast Ultra and Chromecast Audio. It’s the plain Chromecast that’s been updated, with a cleaner design in black or white, although you won’t care when it’s dangling behind your HDTV. As before, it’s a palm-sized plastic disc attached to a short HDMI cable, powered by a separate micro USB adapter. (It’s a shame they couldn’t use a single cable, but the inventors of HDMI didn’t think of that.) Chromecast Audio, incidentally, costs the same but has a quarter-inch jack, instead of HDMI, to connect to a powered speaker or hi-fi. Chromecast makes your TV screen accessible to any hardware or software that…

The KitSound Slam 2 is small but powerful, with 20 Watts of stereo sound and impressive bass – thanks to the enhanced passive bass radiator. It also has an IPX4 waterproof rating, making it resistant to splashes from, say, a swimming pool or spilt cocktail. You can pair it with multiple Bluetooth devices, or connect via the included 3.5mm ‘aux-in’ cable. If the 10-hour battery life isn’t enough for you, simply plug in the Slam 2 to recharge and keep the music playing. You can also use it to charge your phone (pictured left). To enter, email your address cacomp@dennis.co.uk with ‘slam’ in the subject line by midnight 18 December. You can buy the KitSound Slam 2 for £59.99 from www.kitsound.co.uk. Visit the website also for more KitSound products, including…

If you look at the specifications of the scanner and the MFP we recommend above, you’ll notice the former has a higher resolution - 2400x4800 pixels per inch (ppi), compared to 4800x600 pixels per inch. Don’t let this put you off the MFP. If you used either of these at their maximum resolution, you’ll end up with enormous, space-wasting files that you’d need to shrink to print or view on the web. A printed resolution of 150 dots per inch is fine when viewed at arm’s length, so there’s rarely any need to scan at higher resolutions than this.…

If you’re wondering what the difference is between pixels per inch (ppi) and dots per inch (dpi), they are similar metrics that explain the different ends of the reproduction process. A pixel – picture (pix) element (el) – is the smallest part of an image that a sensor can capture. You can visualise each pixel as the cell in a grid overlaying the picture you’re scanning. The higher the pixel count, the finer the grid, as it needs to squeeze the larger number of pixels into the same overall space. Dots per inch relates only to the number of spots on which a printer deposits ink or toner within a given area. So, in an image with a printed resolution of 300dpi, each square inch would accommodate 300 columns and…

CHROME Disable pop-up notification alerts in Chrome ✓ I don’t remember what options I may have selected, but whenever I boot my laptop, I see different pop-up notifications within Google Chrome. Sometimes these even appear while I’m browsing. These are mostly notifications from news channels informing me about ‘breaking news’ events. I may have accidentally turned on this irritating feature. Thankfully, turning it off is easy, though you need to dig deep into Chrome’s settings. Open Chrome, click the three dots at the top right, Settings, scroll to the bottom, then click the Advanced dropdown menu. Scroll to the ‘Privacy and security’ section, click Content Settings, then click Notifications. You’ll now see a list of all the websites that you’ve given permission to send you notifications. You can either disable…

Mesh Ryzen Gaming PC CS £650 onwards from www.snipca.com/27705 ✓ As a photographer who works with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop on a daily basis, I was looking for a new PC to replace my old and trusty Dell Inspiron 580. I was beginning to lose the will to live as this machine creaked through the demands I set it, crashing at regular intervals beneath the strain. Following your excellent review, in Issue 528, of the Mesh Ryzen Gaming PC, which still features as your ‘Buy It’ choice (see page 30, pictured), I enquired about customising this model to my requirements. The team at Mesh were extremely helpful and I ordered this model with an upgrade to 16GB memory, a 250GB SSD and 2TB of storage. ‘Wow’, is all that I…

Flightradar24 Flight Tracker* Free Android: www.snipca.com/29778 iOS: www.snipca.com/29779 This app displays all the flights over your location as icons on a map. Tap any icon to see flight details, including departure and arrival time, the type of aircraft, its altitude and speed. You can also see live arrival and departure times from any airport in the world. Best For: Seeing flights above you in real time Flio – The Global Airport App* Free Android: www.snipca.com/29780 iOS: www.snipca.com/29781 Use your location to display the nearest airport, where you’ll see live departure and arrival times. You can also type your own flight details to get notifications about your gate number, delays or cancellations, and even see a detailed airport map. Best For: Tracking gate numbers and flight updates FlightStats* Free Android: www.snipca.com/29782…

WORD Add watermarks to your documents You may have seen documents with watermarks across them, marking them as confidential or protected by copyright. These can be handy if your documents contain sensitive information or to deter people making copies. To apply watermarks in Word, click the Design tab, then the Watermark dropdown menu in the Page Background section, where you’ll see several options. Next, click Custom Watermark at the bottom. In the window that opens, you’ll see the option to upload an image and use it as a picture watermark. To use only text, select ‘Text watermark’, type the text you want in the field, choose a font style, size and colour, then tick ‘semitransparent’ if you prefer to see through your watermark (see screenshot below). Finally, choose whether it…

What are they? Machines that mimic how the human brain works, aiming to recreate three vital characteristics: low power usage; continuing to work if one part fails; and no need to be programmed. Conceived in the 1980s by US computer scientist Carver Mead, the concept is that many millions of electronic circuits imitate the speed and power of neurons. How does that work? In the brain, neurons communicate through ‘spikes’ of electrochemical energy. When hundreds of millions of spikes occur simultaneously, it helps the brain perform complicated tasks, such as reading this article. Neuromorphic computers replicate this by sending billions of amounts of data at the same time, making them much more powerful than traditional computers, which process information one bit at a time. It’s like the difference between Morse…

How do I download converted images? Q I thought that the tip from fellow reader John Davis, on page 42 of Issue 539, would solve a problem I have. He recommended the Cloud Convert service at www.cloudconvert.com as a way to convert different document formats. I need to turn PDFs into JPEGs. I believe I converted one to JPEG but I couldn’t work out how to download the result. The guidelines on the site are a bit too techie for me. Could you pen me an idiots’ guide? Christopher Benfield A We’re not sure what the problem is here. We’ve tested this service on several PCs and with several different web browsers and never once had a problem downloading. A few moments after the Start Conversion button is clicked a…

Imagine my excitement when I heard you can build an air raid shelter out of old USB sticks. Now imagine my disappointment when I realised a RAID is effectively an amalgamation of separate hard drives and won’t actually do much to protect you come the apocalypse. So why bother? A RAID (‘Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks’) is meant to be more than the sum of its parts. It means combining lots of little drives into one big one, delivering a speed boost as well as pooling all that storage. Single USB sticks are hideously slow for transferring files, but working together they’re like tiny little superheroes, touching swords to unleash their powers. I got off to a flying start after finding a RAID-making tool in Windows 10, which ditches the…