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There are lots of things I love about Windows, but I wouldn’t trust it to keep my PC safe. For that I turn to paid-for antivirus software, (currently Kaspersky, but in the past I’ve used Norton, McAfee and Trend Micro). It’s a wise choice, judging by Windows Defender’s dire performance in our latest security test (page 50). Even when it does block malware, it slows your PC while doing so. If you are using it as your main antivirus, I would strongly advise ditching it for one of our top three programs. I would also like to introduce a new section called Reader Support (see page 70). Every fortnight we’ll try to answer questions you have in relation to advice we’ve given in previous issues, such as running a program…

A man from Worthing has just been jailed for five years for using malware and stolen passwords to snatch $1 million (£840,000) from online bank accounts www.snipca.com/22976). Polish national Tomasz Skowron, 29 (pictured), is far from the only cyber-criminal doing this, but he is one of the more hapless ones. He did all his cash-siphoning using his home IP address and personal bank account, which were traceable. He also filled his phone with texts about where to stash the money. He led police to a much wider network of tech bank robbers. Further good news – for you and me anyway – is that Skowron’s victims were construction companies in Australia in 2014 (if you’re a construction company in Australia, sorry for your loss). He was caught before he could…

Q Last July, I bought a Motorola Moto G4 with a contract for 300 call minutes, 5000 texts and 1GB data for £15.50 per month. But Carphone Warehouse took £90.50 via my first direct debit. I was told this was correct because I’d been browsing the internet. Why didn’t they warn me I was going over my limit? Can you help me? William Hickmott A It’s always difficult knowing how to advise readers in these cases because it’s so easy to rack up huge data bills without realising it. Not all mobile providers warn you if you’re about to exceed your limit, although Carphone Warehouse told us that William should have received a message, and most phones also let you set warnings. Phone companies can sometimes overcharge customers, but Carphone…

We tell you what software to use What’s the best alternative to WD’s backup software? Q I’ve just bought a WD (Western Digital) My Cloud external hard drive, as I want to keep my PC and two laptops backed up using my home Wi-Fi. The drive is great, but it came with WD’s tedious SmartWare software. Is there something better I can use for free? Mike Kennedy A WD’s range of hard drives and NAS (networkattached storage) devices often get great reviews. Their bundled SmartWare software is, to put it mildly, less well received. SmartWare even seems to behave like a PUP, with some users struggling to remove it from their PCs (www.snipca.com/22884). Good alternatives cost money, unfortunately. Your best bet is Acronis True Image (www.snipca.com/22883), whose new 2017 version…

PRINTER ❘ £189 from Printerbase www.snipca.com/22945 What would the world be without colour? Boring, that’s what. That’s why printer adverts are full of splotches and splashes and rainbows. It’s a brilliant selling point. And we do mean selling. If printer makers had a pound for every single one of the 16.7 million colours they can reproduce… oh, wait – they do. There’s another way to look at this. What would your favourite novel be without colour? Exactly the same. There’s nothing wrong with black text on a white page, and that’s what many people require to print. Choose a black-and-white laser printer, and you’ll get faster, crisper output with lower running costs – important when you see the frankly terrifying prices of colour laser toner cartridges. “It prints quickly and…

We liked last year’s HTC 10 (see our review, Issue 477), and here’s the latest version of it, which is £110 cheaper. But we knew something was wrong as soon as we picked it up. While the 5.2in HTC 10 felt solid and comfortable to hold, the 5.5in Evo is awkwardly angular and bulky. And yet, seemingly there wasn’t room for a headphone port. Fortunately, a very good set of earbuds is supplied with a USB Type-C plug, but you still can’t listen while charging, which is just annoying. The screen may be bigger, and protected by Gorilla Glass 5, but it has much poorer contrast and colour accuracy, making it one of the worst we’ve seen recently. Behind it is a Snapdragon 810 processor that just isn’t good enough…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2015 Back Issue CD: LAPTOP Asus ZenBook UX305CA £650 from www.snipca.com/22321 Tested: Issue 475 This metal-cased ‘ultrabook’ looks much more expensive than it is. There’s no touchscreen or 36-degree hinge, just great quality all round and an ultra-sharp display. The M3 processor is adequate for most tasks, though not gaming. ALTERNATIVE Dell Inspiron 15 5000 If you need a full-size Windows 10 laptop with a DVD drive and a desktop PC-level i5 processor, this is a solid choice. £550 from www.snipca.com/21650 DESKTOP PC Palicomp AMD Avenger £500 from www.snipca.com/20927 Tested: Issue 479 AMD’s Athlon X4 880K processor gives this PC solid performance with money left for GTX 960 graphics and a very fast 128GB SSD as well as a 1TB hard drive.…

Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Migrate from Flickr to Google Photos I’ve been using Yahoo for a decade or so, but the recent hacks they’ve suffered have made me dubious of the service. I successfully followed your feature on moving from Yahoo Mail to Gmail (see Issue 488, page 58), but I was more reluctant to migrate my photos from Flickr (which is owned by Yahoo) to Google Photos. Thankfully, the process was easier than I expected. First, go to www.flickr.com and log into your account. Now, move your cursor to You at the top left, then click Camera Roll to see all your photos as thumbnails. To quickly move all photos in your account, choose your first photo, press Shift, then select your last photo.…

OUTLOOK.COM Attach your Facebook photos to emails One of Outlook.com’s handy new features is an easy way to attach photos from your Facebook account to an email. You need to set it up and give Outlook permission to access your Facebook account. Once that’s done you can easily attach any Facebook photos you’re tagged in or you’ve uploaded. To set it up, go to www.outlook.com and log in using your Microsoft account. Next, click the New icon at the top left to start writing your email, then click Attach at the top when you’ve finished. You’ll see options to connect various accounts to Outlook (including Dropbox, Google Drive and Facebook). Click Add Facebook, then click the blue Continue button. Now enter your login details and grant the necessary permissions. You’ll…

There was a time when your antivirus (AV) simply had to keep your PC free of threats lurking on the internet to keep you happy. These days you have greater expectations of your AV. We receive as many letters from readers complaining that their AV is slowing their PC, as we do about how well (or otherwise) the software is protecting their computer. We considered all these concerns when we planned our current AV test. The level of protection provided by each product is of course the main criterion, but we wanted to make sure the software runs smoothly, and that any extras – system cleaners, firewalls, etc – don’t have a negative impact on Windows and other programs. This is reflected in the ‘system-impact’ scores you’ll see throughout the…

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT Why is it so difficult to free up space in my iPad’s storage? Q I have a 16GB iPad 3 that recently had all but run out of space. After some agonising about what to delete I removed one very big game app that I no longer play much. According to the Usage page in Settings, this game occupied 1.1GB of my storage but, having deleted it, the free space went up by only 100MB! I tried restarting my tablet but it was the same. So, I then removed a second, smaller app, which was supposedly taking up 350MB, but again my free storage didn’t increase by the same amount — about 50MB this time. I gave up and had a cup of tea and when…

32bit A measure of how much information a computer can process at once. Most older PCs are 32bit. 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. 802.11n A standard for wireless networks that allows for high transfer speeds. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. An alternative technology to LCD for creating flat-panel displays. Anti-aliasing A graphical technique used to smooth jagged edges of 3D objects in PC software and video games. Augmented reality Lets you view the real world on a digital display and add elements from the digital world. Bandwidth A measure of how much data can be transferred through a connection at one time. Benchmarking Comparing software and products with an accepted…

In the olden days – about, ooh, five years ago – you’d buy and install Office and that was that. The software was yours to keep, forever – or at least until Microsoft changed Windows enough to ensure that using your old version of Office was a pain in the asterisk key. But that would still mean many years of happy use, with the reassurance of regular updates and security fixes. Heck, even Office 2003 was officially supported until 2014! You could have bought Office 2003 in, er, 2003 and enjoyed using it safely for well over a decade. And that’s not all. Just because Microsoft stopped supporting Office 2003 three years ago doesn’t mean that it suddenly stopped working. If you have Office 2003 installed on your PC –…

Microsoft is planning to let people postpone Windows 10 Home updates, delighting users who regularly have problems with them. A leaked preview version of the Windows 10 Creators Update, which is expected to arrive in April, lets users ‘pause’ updates for up to 35 days. This means you can prevent automatic updates from installing at inconvenient times, such as while you’re using Skype or editing a video. The option applies only to updates that add new tools and replace old drivers, not those that fix security flaws. To reach the option in the leaked version, users need to click Settings, ‘Update & Security’, then select ‘Windows Update’, ‘Advanced Options’. A ‘Pause Updates’ slider can be found at the bottom of the page that appears (see screenshot). It’s not clear what…

WATCH OUT FOR… Excel files that steal your money What’s the threat? Hackers are attacking WhatsApp users with malicious Excel files that can steal your bank details, and therefore money from your account. The files (disguised as official-looking government documents) have so far been sent to people in India only, but there is potential for it to spread to other countries, including the UK. It appears that people working for the Indian police and army are being specifically targeted. The malicious files claim to come from the Indian National Defence Academy and the National Investigation Agency in the hope of convincing recipients that they are important documents that need to be read straight away. Security officials say the files may also arrive as a Word document or a PDF. What…

New products tested by our experts Kaby Lake may sound like a new out-of-town shopping mall somewhere in the Midlands, but actually it’s Intel’s latest range of processors. On the face of it, a new out-of-town shopping mall in the Midlands would be more exciting: these chips aren’t a huge step forward from the Skylake series that’s been worming its way into PCs for the past year or so. In fact, they’re a bit of a stop-gap while Intel gets its real next generation of chip manufacturing sorted out. Still, they’re designed to be more energyefficient, which in turn means they can run slightly faster. The first Kaby Lake desktop PC to arrive in our testing lab is this mid-range i5 system. The i5-7400 is the successor to the popular…

“Its ideal dimensions let you multitask, play games, burn discs and keep well connected” How big should a PC be? A full-size desktop PC has lots of space for adding components later, and also makes it easy to ensure good airflow inside. A micro format like Intel’s NUC (see our review, Issue 484), on the other hand, crams the same basic features into a glorified cigar box, and still lets you swap parts. But if you want to install a graphics card or Blu-ray DVD drive, the compact dimensions will work against you. You can now even get PCs the size of a highlighter pen that just plug into your TV (see our Intel Compute Stick review, Issue 456), but that’s getting silly. No, the ideal choice for many homes…

Here’s what some of your fellow Computeractive readers have said: This exceeded my expectations. You tend to forget the amount of information there is in each issue. Simply wonderful. KeithHollobone Have been using these for some years. Great space-savers as well as a convenient method of storage and accessing data. Maureen Jenne Excellent product. I have purchased all of the 2015 printed editions. I can now use the disc as a reference source, in a compact, easily retrieved form. Wouldn’t be without it. DavidNelson Invaluable space saver. I have every issue of this CD back to Computeractive’s first appearance 18 years ago and many Windows systems back, and they all still produce the information asked for. Margaret Little An absolute bargain at the price. These 26 issues contain a wealth…

What you need: Lomsel Shutdown; Any Windows version (XP to 10) Time required: 25 minutes It’s a good idea to shut down your PC when you’re not using it, but there may be processes or programs on your PC that prevent this from happening – virus scans, optimisation tools and file-syncing programs, for example. Lomsel Shutdown is a new free program that lets you set specific criteria for running PC tasks when it’s most convenient, including logging off, restarting and shutting down. You can also use it to automatically launch any program whenever you want. STEP 1 To install the program, go to www.snipca.com/22941, scroll down and click the Download button 1 . Open the downloaded setup file 2 , click Run, select ‘I accept the agreement’, then keep clicking…

ANDROID Give your phone’s home screen a makeover Android phones have a category of apps called ‘launchers’. These let you customise your home screen and app drawer (the screen that displays all the apps on your device). One of the best free launcher apps is Nova Launcher (www.snipca.com/23001), which comes with lots of customisation options. When you first open the app, you need to choose a theme (light or dark), how you want your app drawer to look and whether you want to use a button-press or swipe to launch your app drawer. Next, tap Nova Launcher in your list of apps and you’ll see a new home screen without any icons. To add these, tap the circular icon with six dots or swipe up your screen to access your…

Cast the Chrome browser’s contents to a TV It’s not immediately obvious, but your Chromecast can mirror the contents of your PC’s Chrome browser on your TV, including video from sites such as YouTube. Open Chrome on your PC and download and install the Google Cast extension (www.snipca.com/22991). To cast Chrome from the PC to your TV, click the Google Cast extension button in the top-right of the Chrome window (see screenshot below) and select your Chromecast. Once it has started casting, you can switch away from the tab in your browser and your TV will still display the original tab. To cast from a different tab, click the Google Cast button in Chrome followed by Cast. To stop a tab casting, click the Google Cast button, then Stop. Cast…

Welcome to our new section In our ongoing efforts to make our content more relevant to you, we’ve decided to replace our Fast Fixes section with this Reader Support page – dedicated to solving problems you may have experienced relating to any tips, tools and programs we’ve covered in recent issues. If you need help with anything from the last few issues simply email editor@computeractive.co.uk and provide as much information as you can regarding your problem, and we’ll try to include it here. Why does Gaia Sky crash? QI rather took a fancy to the Gaia Sky astronomy program (Issue 490, page 35, www.snipca.com/22410). All went well until I got to opening it to confirm my default settings – then nothing happened. I have subsequently uninstalled it, but I would…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: Comodo Firewall You don’t need a third-party firewall program. Windows Firewall is an efficient companion for your antivirus (AV), and it’s already on your PC. But many people don’t know that – and Comodo www.comodo.com) is here to exploit them. The new version (10) of Comodo Free Firewall doesn’t travel light. This 110MB program comes with at least 150MB of unwanted extras. You can decline some during setup, but most install forcibly and by stealth – there’s even a PUP in Comodo’s uninstaller. Oh no, Comodo The installer overrode Windows User Account Control, which I’d set to display a Yes/No box before running any portable program or installer. Pop-ups appeared for a fraction of a second then disappeared. The setup wizard offered an array of…

Tell us what’s on your mind Email: letters@computeractive.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive Twitter: @ComputerActive www.twitter.com/computeractive Disabling phones while driving is ‘over the top’ I accept that many drivers intend to use phones when in charge of their vehicle, but I have to disagree with the idea that mobile phones should be disabled while in a car. This appears to be an over-the-top measure that will punish all the responsible people who use their phones quite lawfully with hands-free equipment. These devices have become part of our daily lives and many of us still wonder how we got by without them. The real way to solve this is the way we approached drink-driving: education and enforcement. We didn’t ban alcohol sales to avoid drink driving. Instead, we convinced people it wasn’t a good…

UNINSTALLER BCUninstaller 3.5 www.snipca.com/22939 What you need: Windows 7, 8/8.1 or 10 Completely remove unwanted programs, Windows features, Windows 10 apps, adware and leftover files using this small (10MB), fast and extremely thorough open-source tool. BCUninstaller launched 18 months ago and has become one of the two program uninstallers I keep on my PC. I keep IObit Uninstaller out of habit, but I keep BCUninstaller because it’s the most powerful uninstaller I’ve ever used. Version 3.5 integrates with your PC’s System Restore tools, so you can quickly save and retrieve system backups while removing Windows features. You can create ‘Filter lists’ of items on your PC, then click to automatically remove them all in one go. It can also now find and remove leftover LNK (‘.lnk’) files – Windows desktop…

What you need: Synei System Utilities; Any Windows version (XP to 10) Time required: 30 minutes In Issue 489, we reviewed the latest version of Synei System Utilities (see page 18). This PCmaintenance program is incredibly comprehensive and includes many tools that we simply didn’t have room to cover. Here, we’ll show you how to use its most useful feature, which lets you schedule automatic fixes and cleaning tasks, so that your machine is always in optimal condition. We’ll first show you how to tweak both these tasks’ default settings for the best results. STEP 1 To install the program, go to www.snipca.com/22217, scroll down, then click the Download button at the foot of the System Utilities Free column. Run the downloaded setup file to launch the program. You’ll see…

WINDOWS 10 Shut down your PC more easily Shutting down your PC can be a little long-winded. You need to open the Start menu, click the power button, then click ‘Shut down’. You can speed up this process by creating a desktop shortcut that when clicked lets you swipe down your screen with your finger (if you have a touchscreen) or click and drag downwards on your screen using your mouse. To create this shortcut, right-click any blank area on your desktop, move your cursor to New, then click Shortcut. In the screen that opens, type %windir%\ System32\SlideToShutDown.exe (see screenshot above), click Next, rename your shortcut (optional), then click Finish. Now whenever you want to shut down your PC, click (or tap) this shortcut to see a panel with a…

What is it? A new colour for the infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSoD), technically called a ‘Stop error’, which appears on your computer when Windows crashes. It was first spotted by a Windows user, named Chris123NT on Twitter, who took a photo of it, then posted it on the socialmedia site (www.snipca.com/22983). Why the change? We’re not sure, but it’s likely to be for a more significant reason than Microsoft merely thinking green is ‘in’ for 2017. A clue came from the company’s program manager Matthijs Hoekstra who confirmed on Twitter that the Green Screen of Death (GSoD) will be seen only by people running the Insider Preview versions of Windows 10. So perhaps Microsoft wants to make it easier for users and its own support team to distinguish…

Android users recently woke up to find a brand new default keyboard on their phones and tablets. Though the thought of Google tinkering with your phone when you’re not looking is perturbing, we think Gboard is one new feature that’s well worth taking the time to get used to. And here we’ll show you how to get the very most from it. Gboard is far from the end of the mobile-typing story though, because there are plenty of new tools that make typing on a tiny screen a pleasure (yes, really). Here we reveal the best of the bunch. Get instant web links while you text Finding a web link to include in a text message (or note, tweet or anything else you type using your mobile keyboard) used to…