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History’s more famous Daniel Booths include an American drag queen called Sweetie and an 18th-century Governor of the Bank of England (shame those two never met). They help to push me off Google’s first page of search results. I’m there on page two though, linked to some interviews I’ve given as editor of this magazine. I’m happy with this level of fame. I’d hate to be plastered all over Google, any embarrassing exploits exposed for the world to see. There are ways to remove yourself, as Robert Irvine explains in our Cover Feature, but even if you do that you still have to erase your Facebook profile from search results, not to mention any photos and videos. Robert reveals how to do all this too. My relationship with Google is…

NOKIA’S £180 TABLET LASTS 15 HOURS Nokia has released a £180 Android tablet (www.snipca.com/39713, pictured below), which it claims lasts 15 hours when browsing the web, or 10 hours when watching films online. Called the T20, it has a 10.4in 2K screen, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, expandable up to 512GB with microSD card We’ll review it soon. SHELL TO RAISE PRICES WHEN CONTRACTS END Shell Energy has dropped its pledge to never increase broadband bills at the end of a contract, and will in future raise prices by the CPI rate of inflation plus three per cent. Previously, Shell said prices for new customers would go up every year by just the rate of inflation. Call charges have increased by three pence to 18p per minute, while…

Consumer campaigners have warned people that scammers can easily exploit the new 159 number you can phone to check whether a message from your bank is genuine. The service, set up by industry body Stop Scams UK and supported by the Financial Conduct Authority and Ofcom, puts you through to a representative that confirms whether an email or text you’ve received is authentic. When you phone 159, you can choose your bank by pressing numbers on your keypad. You’re then put through to someone at your bank’s customer-service department. Calls to 159 will cost the same as making a national-rate call. Most of the UK’s leading banks have signed up, including Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander (though not HSBC), and it works on all major mobile networks. However, MoneySavingExpert founder…

‘Jet2 booking’ text I fly with Jet2 from time to time so my eyes widened when I got a text to contact@jet2helps.com on Twitter to “discuss booking and queries”. I’ve never used Twitter, so I thought this was a bit odd. I phoned Jet2 (0333 300 0042), and they told me it was a scam, and to use only its official Twitter accounts. I don’t fancy getting bogged down by Twitter, but I did see this announcement (are they called ‘tweets’?) from Jet2: www.snipca.com/39629. It warns not to give personal information to the scammers. I shall heed that warning. Raj Singh Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

Currys has agreed to replace David Bulford’s faulty microwave (see Issue 614) even though it now costs £100 more than when he bought it in 2015. David renewed his extended warranty for the oven in December 2019, which is just as well because it stopped working a few months later, during the first Covid-19 lockdown. Currys told him the oven was beyond repair, so David looked for a replacement online – eventually finding one for £349.99. The key question was whether the warranty entitled David to a replacement that has the same specifications as the original. He argued that it does, which is why he refused Currys first offer of vouchers for £249.99, which was what he paid in 2015. He said he couldn’t now buy the same oven for…

I’m looking to upgrade Family Tree Maker 2006, but need a program that can display an entire tree. Any suggestions? Malcolm Ruscoe Most family history programs limit your working view to four-to-six generations at a time, but several can display a full tree. A good example is My Family Tree (www.chronoplexsoftware.com) with its Ancestor Chart view, while Family Historian (£59.95, www.family-historian.co.uk) lets you do so by clicking View, Charts, All Relatives. Have a genealogy question for Nick? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line. Next issue: Create a genogram chart (it’s this: www.snipca.com/39628)…

I have a lot of large drives in – and attached to – my main PC. My total storage space is around 20TB, although not all my drives are permanently connected. Years ago, I would never have managed to fill all that, but I now have sizeable collections of 4K videos, high-res photos and demanding games. I’m also awful at organising my data, so I have loads of folders with the same content sitting in different drives. Helping me out of this mess is the fantastic and free WizTree (https://diskanalyzer.com), which identifies my largest folders and files so I can easily delete anything bulky I don’t need. It’s brilliantly simple. Once you’ve opened it, just use the dropdown menu at the top left to choose a drive to search. If…

Cheating has come on a bit since I was at university, when Biro on sleeved arms was still considered cutting-edge. Masters student Hayder Aljayyash is now doing 20 months at Her Majesty’s Halls of Residence after he hacked into servers at the University of South Wales, downloaded exam papers and their answers, and then sold them to fellow students for a grand total of £20,000. The hack was rumbled when five students submitted the exact same answer to a question, including a typing error made by the lecturer who wrote the answer in the first place. The university was forced to spend £100,000 to beef up its IT security. Perhaps it should stretch to a further £25 to buy the lecturer a copy of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.…

TABLET | £799 from Samsung www.snipca.com/35749 Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 tablet fell awkwardly between the basic iPad and iPad Pro, but like the blue Angry Bird it’s continuing its attack in three forms. While the S6 Lite (£329 from Amazon www.snipca.com/34950, see our review, issue 582) takes on the 10.2in iPad, the S7 and S7+ tackle the 11in and 12.9in iPad Pros respectively. Here, we test the S7+, which is £170 cheaper than its Apple rival. If you’ll need to get online where there’s no Wi-Fi, Samsung offers 5G for £200, while 4G adds £230 to the iPad Pro – both require a network contract. “This is a fantastic tablet in its own right, but is limited when used as a laptop” Finished in black, bronze or silver, the design…

SMART PLUG | £13 from Amazon www.snipca.com/39623 Smart plugs are fantastic for making your existing devices smarter. Plug a standard floor or table lamp into one that’s plugged into a wall socket, and you can turn it on and off by shouting simple commands at it, without having to scramble around finding all the switches. This plug, available individually or in multipacks, connects to your home’s Wi-Fi network. You can then control the power to the socket using its app. Alternatively, link it to Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa or Apple’s Siri to control it with your voice. You can even schedule it to switch on and off at a particular time, or use the sunrise and sunset options, which adapts to the changing daylight hours through the year – handy…

LAPTOP PRICE DROP Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 (256GB) £599 from www.snipca.com/39635 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. It has an outstanding screen, 128GB storage and a 17-hour battery life, while its excellent dual mics…

You may think that 255 devices sounds like an arbitrary cap, but there’s a good reason (and a long history) behind it. If you were to break down a computer (of which a router is just a specialised example) to its fundamental components you’d see that it’s simply a collection of switches. Each can be on or off, and those states can be represented using the numbers one (for on) or zero (for off). These same digits are used in the binary counting system. But binary isn’t easy for humans to work with, in part because it quickly gets much longer than decimal equivalents. For example, 86 is 1010110 in binary. To make things less complicated, we break down these long strings of numbers into groups of eight, which we…

Eufy SoloCam E40 £120 from Amazon www.snipca.com/39381 I was delighted to read your five-star review of Eufy’s SoloCam in Issue 615 (page 28) because I can now stop boring my neighbours about it and show them your review instead. Your main point – that it has on-board storage and doesn’t charge to access recorded footage online – is the main reason I bought the device. I attached it to the outside wall of my conservatory, from where it has captured clear pictures both day and night. These are easy to access through my fairly basic Samsung phone. Our Wi-Fi isn’t the fastest, but I’ve not suffered any video stuttering. It’s a great choice for anyone who, like me, became disenchanted by Y-cam’s decision to end ‘lifetime’ free storage a few…

PetrolPrices Free Android www.snipca.com/39685 iOS www.snipca.com/39686 Although this app struggled to keep up at the start of the fuel crisis, it’s a great way to find cheap petrol and diesel nearby. You can read and write reviews of petrol stations, including details of facilities, and earn points for information you provide. PetrolPrices is free to use but some features require registration. Best For Filling up for less in the UK Shell Free Android www.snipca.com/39691 Shell’s mobile app shows the other petrolstation chains how it’s done, with its friendly design and customer rewards via its Shell Go+ loyalty scheme. You can only use it to find Shell garages, but at least the ‘Pay at pump’ option means you won’t need to queue after filling up. Best For Buying petrol from Shell…

TeamViewer (www.teamviewer.com) lets you take control of another person’s computer screen over the internet (with their permission, of course). Once connected you can show that person how to do something – like use a particular program - or help to fix a problem they might be having with their system. There’s also a whiteboard feature that lets you annotate and draw on the other person’s screen. Anyone can use it, but we think it’s particularly handy for clubs that involve one-to-one help sessions, or play move-based games like chess. Set up a remote session Launch the TeamViewer installer on your main club PC and you’ll see three options – these are a default installation; an installation that sets up unattended access to that device (so you can access it from…

Am I also being paranoid about my web connection? Q Like Mike Whitehead, in Issue 614’s Problems Solved (page 65), I have concerns that you may see as paranoia – meaning I connect my PC to the web via Ethernet only when I want to use it. In Windows 10 there’s a way to disconnect more easily. First, right-click the networking icon in the taskbar, choose ‘Open Network & Internet settings’, then click ‘Change adapter options’. Next, use a right-click to drag and drop the relevant Ethernet icon on to your Windows desktop, then choose ‘Create shortcut here’. To deactivate the Ethernet connection simply right-click the shortcut and choose Disable (see screenshot below). To reactivate, right-click the shortcut, then click ‘Open file location’. Next, right-click the Ethernet connection and choose…

Facebook, Twitter and other social-media firms will face action if they don’t do more to crack down on financial scams, the UK’s financial watchdog has warned. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said there was a surge in “dodgy financial promotions” advertised online during the pandemic lockdowns, as more people shopped online and experimented with online investment schemes. Its head of enforcement Mark Steward said it was putting sites “on notice that we expect them to be involved in this process of protecting the community”. Fraudsters stole nearly £570m in 12 months to April, a wave that trade body UK Finance calls a “national security threat”. There are signs that websites are beginning to take financial scams more seriously. Last month Google banned investment ads that aren’t authorised by the FCA,…

When will you start reviewing Windows 11 PCs? Windows 11 has come at just the right time for me. I’m still using a computer that originally had Windows 7. I skipped Windows 8, and installed Windows 10 in 2017, taking advantage of Microsoft’s generosity in making it free. This 10-year-old computer is now older than all three of my grandchildren combined. It’s almost as noisy too. I’m surprised it’s lasted this long, and I wouldn’t expect it to run Windows 11. Frankly, it’s time I bought a new computer – which is where you come in, Computeractive! How soon until you start reviewing them? Dennis Trollope CA SAYS Good question. Some of our favourite PC builders, including Chillblast, PC Specialist and Scan, are finalising their first Windows 11 machines, and…

In September, my eight-year-old grandson told me he had dropped the Amazon Fire 10 HD (2019) (pictured) I’d lent him over the summer and shattered the screen. He was apologetic and even offered to pay for a replacement from his savings. Needless to say I refused his offer and was touched by his honesty. Not sure what to do for the best, I contacted Amazon via web chat. I wasn’t expecting them to help, but they actually said they’d send a replacement if I returned my damaged tablet. They even provided a 48-hour returns label. I know Amazon gets a lot of stick for some things they do, but as far as I’m concerned this is excellent service. Also, the Amazon Fire 10 HD is an excellent tablet (£150 from…

SYSTEM TOOL O&O ShutUp10++ 1.9.1424 www.snipca.com/39704 What you need: Windows 10 or 11 O&O usually updates its free ‘antispy tool’ ShutUp10 when Microsoft releases a major update for Windows 10, so that users can regain control of all the settings that have been changed. The program has now been updated to fix privacy problems and other annoyances in Windows 11. It even has a new name, with a ‘++’ on the end, to denote that it works with both Windows 10 and 11. Thankfully, O&O has resisted the urge to give ShutUp10++ a fancy Windows 11-style makeover, and the program retains its simple interface. This consists of little more than a long list of Windows settings, each of which can be turned on or off with a single click. New…

SOFTWARE WARNING! PDF Extra’s ‘free’ editor Perhaps because Adobe requires you to take out a second mortgage for its official PDF editor – Acrobat DC – the market for ‘free’ PDF editors is packed. Packed with chancers, that is. My predecessor in this column wrote about so many iffy PDF editors that he’s had to go for an extended lie down. Now I’ve stumbled across another: PDF Extra (https://pdfextra.com). When I searched on Google for ‘free PDF editor Windows 10’ up popped an advert, with the headline ‘Free PDF Extra Editor – Edit any PDF file’. Couldn’t be clearer than that. So off to the website I clicked, where I was met with a front page promising ‘All your PDF tasks, sorted’ and a lovely blue ‘Free download for PC’…

What’s the best phone for the visually impaired? Q I’ve been searching for a mobile phone for a friend who is visually impaired. She wants basic functionality plus the ability to install WhatsApp. The budget is around £60. Emrys Davies A Your friend’s budget is relatively small for a mobile phone and excludes any chance of her getting a smartphone. However, if all she wants is a basic phone with the ability to send WhatsApp messages, a non-smart phone should suffice. Be aware that, without a proper onscreen QWERTY keyboard, she’ll be writing messages by selecting letters assigned to numbered buttons – this means pressing them repeatedly. We think a Doro phone would be the best option for her because they come with large text on reasonably sized screens. Phones…

MESH ROUTER | £280 from Amazon www.snipca.com/39660 TP-Link’s Deco Voice X20 is a mesh Wi-Fi system, which uses multiple Wi-Fi devices placed around your home to extend the reach and strength of your wireless network beyond that of a standalone router. However, it adds an extra dimension as each device is also a smart speaker that’s powered by Amazon Alexa. This means you can control it with your voice and use it to stream music, control smart home devices, and perform all kinds of other tricks. “Increases coverage but speeds are so-so for a Wi-Fi 6 device” It’s not a completely new idea: Google’s Nest Wi-Fi already does something similar with its Google Assistant, though this is Wi-Fi 5 and only the satellite units (not the router) have the smart-speaker…

Winner of a ‘Recommended’ Award in Issue 612 (page 22), Chillblast’s WAP 2500U mini PC is a superb space-saving computer that takes the performance of the incredibly popular ‘Work and Play’ range to the next level. Armed with the powerful AMD Ryzen 5 2500U processor, the WAP Ultimate boasts extremely rapid performance for everyday computing tasks. It uses modular components for storage and memory, so the capability of the unit can grow with your requirements. As standard, it has 16GB of DDR4 memory, a 500GB M.2 SSD and comes with Windows 10 Home 64bit. As well as the 2.5in drive mount, there’s an M.2 NVME 2280 SSD slot. Connectivity is great too, with three high-speed USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 slots and dual HDMI ports to support two screens…

BRAVE & FIREFOX Set Brave or Firefox as your default Windows 11 browser It’s not difficult to change your default browser in Windows 10 if you don’t want to use Edge. You can either go to Settings, choose Apps, click ‘Default apps’ and choose your preferred browser from the ‘Web browser’ list, or access that setting by clicking the ‘Make default browser’ button in the new browser. However, Edge will still open when you perform certain tasks, such as searching the web through the Windows search box or clicking links to Microsoft support pages. Windows 11 makes switching from Edge much trickier because it removes the ‘Web browser’ option from ‘Default apps’. Instead, you need to manually set your desired browser as the default for all the different file and…

ANDROID Discover what’s new in Android 12 Android 12 was released on 4 October, but don’t get too excited because it may take several months to ‘roll out’ to your phone and tablet. Even Google’s Pixel smartphones, which were expected to get Android 12 on the day of release, will have to wait a few weeks according to Google’s official blog post (www.snipca.com/39675). These will be followed by Samsung Galaxy, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Tecno, Vivo and Xiaomi devices “later this year”. The biggest change in Android 12 is the introduction of the new Material You design language, which enlarges onscreen buttons to make them easier to tap and adapts system colours to match your home and lock screen backgrounds (pictured below left). Notable new features include Privacy Dashboard, which alerts…

WINDOWS 10 List devices on a local network You can quickly use Command Prompt or PowerShell to see which devices are connected to your local network. Press Start, type cmd or powershell, then select ‘Run as administrator’ on the right. In the Command Prompt or PowerShell window, type arp -a 1 to see connected devices. The devices’ IP addresses will be listed in numerical order under the Internet Address heading 2. You’ll be able to identify some of those devices through their IP addresses. Type ping -a followed by the IP address (for example, ping -a 192.168.1.75), then press Enter. If available, the device name will be listed on the first line. Routers, computers and NAS drives should be shown, but some other devices won’t be. WINDOWS 11 Align text…

What is it? The science of estimating whether it’s going to rain soon. I can do that already – by looking out of the window Yes, but do you use anything as clever as artificial intelligence (AI) to make that assessment? Computer scientists at London AI firm DeepMind (owned by Google) have developed a method of analysing high-resolution radar data from the past 20 minutes to estimate whether it’s likely to rain in the next 90 minutes (see image below). Writing online (www.snipca.com/39671), DeepMind says it’s more accurate than any of the current ‘nowcasting’ systems, such as the ancient method of ‘through-aperture vertical observation’ – the scientific name for looking out of your window. How does it work? The radar repeatedly fires a laser into the lower atmosphere, where its…

Google Photos offers a feature called ‘Group similar faces’, which is intended to make it easier to find multiple pictures of the same person. However, by labelling yourself with your real name, you’ve told Google exactly what you look like. To disable the option and delete this information, tap your profile picture in the Google Photos app and choose ‘Photos settings’. Select ‘Group similar faces’ and switch off ‘Face grouping’. Google will also know what you look like if you’ve ever used Face Unlock to secure your Android phone. To stop this facial recognition, go to Settings, Security, Face Unlock and choose ‘Delete face data’ (see screenshot). Interestingly, Google has just introduced a feature called Google Illustrations, which lets users “protect their privacy” by choosing custom pictures instead of photos…

Biometric authentication lets you lock and unlock your accounts using your face or finger, and because those are unique to you it’s a lot more secure than code or password-based logins. You can protect your PC by setting up Windows Hello to recognise your face or fingerprint, though you’ll need an infrared camera or fingerprint scanner for this work. If you have one of these, open Settings in Windows 10 and click Accounts, then ‘Sign-in options’. Choose ‘Windows Hello Face’ or ‘Windows Hello Fingerprint’ and Windows will search for a compatible device. If you don’t have one, you can select ‘Windows Hello PIN’ instead and sign in using a four-digit PIN. Android phones and iPhones can also be secured using your face or finger, along with any apps that support…

Hackers backed by Turkish authorities are a growing threat, Microsoft has warned, though Russia is still by far the world’s most active attacker. In its Digital Defense Report 2021 (www.snipca.com/39726), Microsoft listed Turkey as a “new entrant” in its analysis, saying its Sea Turtle hacking group has attacked telecommunications companies in the Middle East and the Balkans. Microsoft also mentioned threats from China, Iran, North and South Korea and Vietnam. However, Russia remains by far the world’s biggest cyber-terrorist, responsible for 58 per cent of attacks in the past year. Its success rate has improved, jumping from 21 to 32 per cent. The UK was one of the top three countries targeted by Kremlin-backed hackers, behind the United States and Ukraine. Industrial espionage and intelligence gathering were the main reasons…

GIFFGAFF INCREASES ‘GOODYBAG’ DATA Giffgaff (www.giffgaff.com) has increased the amount of data you get in its pay-monthly ‘Goodybag’ deals. Proportionally the biggest increase is in its £6 plan, which doubles from 500MB to 1GB. The largest increase by volume is in its £12 plan, rising from 12GB to 20GB. Use Giffgaff’s online calculator to work out how much data you need: www.snipca.com/39648. All its plans come with unlimited UK calls and texts. TALKTALK GIVES JOB SEEKERS FREE INTERNET TalkTalk is now offering six months free 35Mbps broadband for job seekers, in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions. At the end of the six months customers can then choose to move on to a TalkTalk contract or cancel with no fees. The offer is available nationwide, after being trialled…

YOUTUBE BANS ALL ANTI-VACCINE VIDEOS YouTube will now remove videos that spread misinformation about all approved vaccines, expanding a Covid-19 ban already in place. In a blog post (www.snipca.com/39656) it gave as examples videos that claim vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility. It has already taken down 130,000 videos that made false claims about the Covid jabs. HTTPS EVERYWHERE WILL SOON BE NOWHERE The browser extension HTTPS Everywhere is likely to be removed within the next year after the privacy group that runs it said it’s no longer needed. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched the extension in 2010 to add HTTPS encryption to websites. It now says browsers have built-in HTTPS protection, rendering its extension “redundant”. Read more on EFF’s blog: www.snipca.com/39692. AMAZON LAUNCHES IMDB TV IN UK Amazon…

When you’re idle, it’s probably because you’re lying on the sofa with a mug of tea. When your device is idle, it remains switched on but hasn’t been used for a while. You might assume this was nobody’s business but your own, but Google thinks websites should know, and has added a Chrome setting that tells sites to detect whether your device is idle. Google says sites can use this information to tell other users that you’re not available to chat online, or turn off Kiosk mode. Critics, including Apple and Mozilla, say it could be abused by malicious websites to monitor what you do online, and even run expensive tasks on your computer while it’s inactive. We agree with Apple and Mozilla. Yes, it’s true that sites need to…

Is Sky responsible for fixing my TV? Q I have an ongoing problem with Sky Protect (www.skyprotect.com) insurance refusing to fix a problem with my TV even though I should be covered. Sky Protect’s customer service keeps saying it’s a problem with my Sky Q box, which Sky must fix. But I don’t think that’s true, so can you help? Brian Ford A We’ll do our best, because Brian is baffled by the number of companies involved in this case. Sky Protect, which costs from £9 a month, is carried out by Domestic and General (D&G), and is the only insurance service endorsed by Sky. In turn, D&G pays repair firm Equinox to fix broken devices. Untangling this web of companies leaves D&G as the firm responsible for dealing with…

Do you have ancestors who worked in medicine? Although there’s no database of NHS staff records to access online – most hospital staff records are housed in the local county record office and haven’t been digitised – there are still rich sources of information on ancestors with medical backgrounds, from doctors and nurses to midwives and dentists, stretching back centuries. To start, visit The National Archives’ research guide (TNA, www.snipca.com/39494). While its own records aren’t online, you can browse the index of record sets you may want to visit in person, such as the records from the General Nursing Council for England and Wales from around 1860 to 1984. If you find something of interest, click Details to find out how to request access to a physical copy at the…

How can I run Android apps in Windows 10? Q Can you recommend a free emulator program for Windows 10, so that I can download and use Android apps on my PC? Dave Sycamore A The best free Android emulator for Windows is BlueStacks, which you can download from www.bluestacks.com. Although it’s designed for playing mobile games on your PC, it also lets you install other Android apps, so you can use them on the large screen of your monitor rather than your phone or tablet’s smaller display. Once you’ve installed BlueStacks (this can take a while as it’s a hefty 400MB), you’ll see the Home screen, which includes links to the Game Center and ‘System apps’ (see 1 in our screenshot) such as Settings, Chrome and Camera (this uses…

WHAT THEY SAY Amanda Silver, Microsoft www.snipca.com/39621 “We aim to build a more inclusive future by fostering confidence, resilience and a sense of belonging across industries. Our approach outlines clear and simple skills to making belongingness, growth mindset and other core problem-solving and collaboration strategies top of mind and actionable.” WHAT THEY MEAN We believe in inclusive working, as long as you’re willing to swallow dollops of jargon like ‘belongingness’, ‘top of mind’ and ‘actionable’.…

PC | £950 from Argos www.snipca.com/39586 This is one of Lenovo’s mid-range desktop PCs and is available in a range of configurations. Fans of Microsoft Flight Simulator should take particular note of this £950 specification, because it’s clearly aimed at occasional gamers. The first thing to note is that Lenovo has definitely compromised on the processor, which is a 10th-generation Intel Core i5-10400. This has probably been done to leave room in the budget for a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super graphics card, which is capable of cranking up the detail settings on games at Full HD (1920x1080-pixel resolution) without dropping the frame rate. This is all bolstered by a meaty 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. “No slouch in Windows tasks, but gaming is limited” This is a…

What does it do? The very cheapest laptops sometimes come with eMMC storage (pictured) rather than the more typical SSD. eMMC stands for ‘embedded multimedia card’. This is like running your laptop from a flash storage memory card, albeit one that’s soldered to the motherboard and can’t be removed. One example is Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go (pictured right), which we reviewed in Issue 596. The cheapest model (£549) comes with 64GB of eMMC storage. How does it work? Memory cards and eMMC drives typically run on a single chip and otherwise contain very little hardware. This makes them small and cheap to produce. SSDs, on the other hand, use multiple memory chips and contain more hardware, which lets them perform complex tasks, such as saving a lot of data to…

What is it? Samsung now lets you use some of its phones to unlock your car, freeing you from carrying your car keys around with you. If you already use your phone as a digital wallet, this is the next logical step. What does it do? Compatible Samsung phones use UWB (Ultra-Wideband) technology, which is a bit like Bluetooth but faster and more secure. As you approach your car you can unlock it and start the engine (see screenshot). It will even adjust the seats to your preferences. What’s the catch? You need one of Samsung’s latest phones, it currently works with only one model of car (the Genesis GV60), and you have to live in South Korea, where Samsung is trialling the system. So can I do without it?…

What you need: Tri-band router Time required: One hour How many devices are connected to your home’s Wi-Fi network? It’s probably more than you think. With PCs, laptops, TV-streaming sticks, smartphones and tablets – not to mention games consoles, web-connected thermostats and video doorbells – the number can quickly grow. Most routers can theoretically host 255 connections, so you’re unlikely to run out of capacity at home (if you’re wondering why 255, read the box on page 37). However, as you connect more devices, your network becomes congested. Devices effectively queue to send or receive data and, inevitably, older devices will end up slowing down the network. The solution is to run several separate networks. There’s a good chance your existing router does this already, broadcasting an ‘older’ 2.4GHz signal…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Set expiry period for local account passwords Further to your tip on setting a minimum password length for local accounts in Windows 10 (Issue 616, page 46), you can also set how long to leave it before users of your PC have to come up with a new password. This is what I do in Windows 10 Home. It requires tweaking Command Prompt (as an administrator), but first you have to turn off a setting that prevents your password from expiring. Press Windows key+R then type netplwiz in the Run box then click OK. Click the Advanced tab at the top, then the Advanced button in the ‘Advanced user management’ section. Next, click Users on the left, then right-click your account in the central pane, followed…

Scannerate Free Android www.snipca.com/39681 Scannerate provides a fast, ad-free and private alternative to Google Lens when you want to scan text from images on your Android device. Simply tap the Create Scan button and select a picture to extract all the text from it. You can then edit the scan to remove any unwanted words and either print the result or save it as a PDF. Nudge: Daily Reminder Free iOS www.snipca.com/39677 Forgetful types will appreciate this app, which lets you set reminders for tasks that often slip your mind, from taking your medicine to walking the dog. Nudge uses custom alarms to spur you into action, which can be repeated for as many days as required and play sounds including car horn, jazz lick and harp. DriveScore Free Android…

LIBREOFFICE CALC & MICROSOFT EXCEL Hide errors in your spreadsheet Error messages can clutter up a spreadsheet, especially if you’re looking to print your data. You can hide or replace error messages in Excel and Calc using the IFERROR formula, which you can use with any spreadsheet functions. First, click a cell containing a function that’s showing an error message, or an otherwise empty cell, then type =IFERROR(function,"message") and press Enter. Replace ‘function’ here with the function creating the error. Alternatively, use the cell reference (for example, A2) containing the function. Replace “message” with the message you’d like to see instead of an error, or leave the quote marks empty ("") to show no message. In our example, the =A11/B11 function creates a ‘#DIV/0!’ error message (1 in our screenshot).…

Before you delete your Google account, you should download a copy of all your important data, both for reference and to import it into non-Google tools, where possible. Go to the Google Takeout page (https://takeout.google.com), click ‘Deselect all’ and choose which services you want to save content from – such as Chrome, Drive, Mail, Photos and Maps. Some entries let you specify which data to include – for example, only Chrome bookmarks or your Inbox and Sent folders from Gmail. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click the ‘Next step’ button. From here you can choose whether to receive your data via a download link sent by email or have it added to Dropbox, OneDrive, Box or Drive (prior to deleting your Google account). Also select an archive…

Only you can answer that question, but understanding how different kinds of keyboards work can help you choose the right one. Mechanical keyboards are often a more expensive option, but are extremely sturdy and built to last. Keys generally travel further vertically than other options, and make a clattering sound when they reach the keyboard base. This makes them very satisfying to type on, but may also irritate work colleagues or family members if you have a shared space. We’ve bought several Matias keyboards over the years, and its Quiet Pro devices (www.snipca.com/39618) are among the quietest mechanical keyboards you can buy. If you need something thinner, a scissor switch keyboard like the Kensington AdvanceFit Slim keyboard (£25 from www.snipca.com/39615) is a great choice. It has short keystrokes, a shallow…

1080p Screen quality of 1920x1080 pixels. 2K A screen with 2048x1080 pixels. 3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 720p/1080p/1440p Common types of high-definition video of 1280x720, 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 pixels respectively Administrator Someone who can make changes to a computer that will affect others who also use it. AI Artificial Intelligence. A computer program that mimics the behaviour of humans or animals. APK Android Package Kit. The file format Android uses to install apps. ATRAC Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding. A type of music file used by older Sony players. Bandwidth A measure of how much data can be transferred through a connection at one time. Benchmarking Comparing software and products with an accepted standard. Beta A version of software…