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When I was 10 years old I had one ambition in life: to memorise every capital city in the world. Hours were spent staring at the Times World Atlas, repeating the words ‘Belmopan, Belize’. Only when the BBC started broadcasting Pointless did my capital-city crunching become useful. Thirty years on, and I’m almost as hooked on remembering keyboard shortcuts. It’s much harder, of course. Shift+F7 isn’t as memorable as Bujumbura (Burundi), but I’ve used it enough to know that it runs a thesaurus check in Microsoft Word. Our Cover Feature includes many of these, but it also goes much deeper to recommend time-saving tricks that perform more complex tasks. Some may take more effort than a keyboard click, but they save more than a few seconds. Please let me know…

Scammers who try to trick people with fake offers of technical support are using a new tactic – sending phishing emails. The warning comes from Microsoft, whose spam filters in Office 365 and Outlook.com detected the emails. These new scams share the characteristics of traditional phishing emails, but instead of stealing personal information or installing malware, they contain links to websites that try to scare you by claiming there are problems with your computer – often that it’s infected with a virus. The sites claim the only way to fix these problems is by phoning expensive ‘support helplines’ and paying an ‘expert’ for help. This is a new strategy from tech-support scammers, who mostly use cold-calling and adverts containing malware (‘malvertising’). Microsoft said that this latest method shows that fraudsters…

RANSOMWARE ATTACKS ON THE RISE Global ransomware attacks have almost doubled in the first half of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016, rising from 26 per cent of recorded cyber-attacks to 48 per cent. This is according to a report by software security firm Check Point (www.checkpoint.com). The report notes that new attack methods – such as the WannaCry ransomware – are behind the shift, allowing even ‘unskilled’ hackers to inflict damage. VIRGIN BROADBAND PRICES RISE £48 Virgin customers will be hit by another price rise in November, with monthly bills going up between £1.99 and £3.99, a maximum of £48 a year. The company said the increase will affect the majority of its five million customers. Customers with a ‘bundled’ package of broadband, phone and TV will…

A new website reveals whether your password has been stolen by hackers. The ‘Have I Been Pwned – Passwords’ site (https:// haveibeen pwned.com/ Passwords) contains 320 million passwords gathered from dozens of the world’s biggest data breaches. It was set up by Australian security expert Troy Hunt, who also runs a similar site showing you whether your email address has been stolen in a hack. The word ‘pwned’ is internet slang for ‘owned’, which means to take advantage of someone. A hacker who has ‘pwned’ you has stolen your personal data. The site is easy to use. Simply type an old password – never one you currently use – then press Enter. If it’s bad news, you’ll be urged to change the password “immediately!” (see screenshot above). If your password…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: K-Lite Codec Pack MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, DVD… I could fill this whole page by listing video formats, and your Windows 10 PC will happily play them all. But to play them on an older computer, you’re going to need some codecs – tiny media plug-ins also known as encoders. Codecs are themselves quite safe, but installing them can be a junk-strewn assault course. My interest in codecs was sparked by the release of FastStone Image Viewer 6.3, which adds a video player to its superb range of features (see Best Free Software, page 19). You can keep FastStone’s portable version on a USB stick and run it on any old laptop. However, your old PC may not play video without codecs, and you’ll need…

Tell us what’s on your mind Email: letters@computeractive.co.uk facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive Twitter: @ComputerActive www.twitter.com/computeractive Wi-Fi in A&E? Needless luxury Having had the misfortune of spending several evenings in Accident & Emergency recently, I’m not keen on the idea of introducing Wi-Fi access (News, Issue 508, page 8). What does the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (who recommended the plan) think people will use it for? Nothing worthwhile, that’s for sure. Within hours of it being made available, people will be uploading photos of other patients to Facebook – causing colossal privacy problems, and possibly even fights. “Are you taking a photo of me?” is the modern equivalent of “Did you spill my pint?”. Also, patients will start moaning about waiting times on Twitter, using less-than-polite language. Every penny that could be…

Q I bought a CAT S30 phone from Argos in mid-February, but in April it started freezing. However, when I took it back to Argos the phone worked fine. Argos tested it, found no fault, so refused me a refund. Can it do this? Steve Hills A We understand Steve’s frustration, though to pursue a refund he’ll have to get the phone tested himself. So far Argos has kept to the letter of the law by testing it without charging Steve. However, Steve can demand from Argos proof of which tests it carried out, and the results. He can then check their validity by showing them to an independent repair company. He can pay this company to test the phone, and is entitled to get this money back from Argos…

Q I bought a 12-volt ride-on toy jeep from AllKindaThings (www.allkindathings.co.uk) via Amazon Marketplace in November 2016. It worked fine until July this year. I want to return it, but the retailer says I have to pay to do so, despite its 12-month warranty. Is this legal? Brian Robinson A If the warranty says that customers must pay any return costs, then yes, it’s legal. However, the Consumer Rights Act (CRA) also applies. This overrides a warranty by stating that if an item is found to be faulty, then the retailer must reimburse return costs. However, it also states that once six months have passed since purchase, the onus is on the customer to prove the fault is inherent. Brian should first contact AllKindaThings to say he’s invoking his rights…

WATCH OUT FOR… ‘Binary options’ trading scams What’s the threat? Scam websites and apps that offer ‘binary options’ trading, letting you bet on whether share prices and currencies will rise or fall. Thousands of pensioners have been tricked into investing their life savings into the rapidly growing schemes, which have been described as the biggest online scam you’ve never heard about. Many investors have said they’ve been unable to withdraw their money. The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) said it received 305 reports of such scams in the 12 months to May 2016, the most recent period for which figures are available. Some victims have lost a small fortune. Elizabeth Ablett, 70, from Derbyshire told The Independent the £40,000 she invested in Binary has vanished. Nobody at the company would…

What should I use instead of Windows Live Mail? Q My email program is Windows Live Mail (WLM), and I understand I need to change it for security reasons. I’m looking for a replacement that lets me keep my current email address, add a few other addresses, lets me view them all in one window - and is free. Am I asking the impossible? Roger French A Your best bet is to switch to Thunderbird, the free open-source email program from Mozilla, creator of Firefox. But first let’s run through Microsoft’s own options. Microsoft wants you to switch to its Mail app, which is built into Windows 10. It’s free, so you’ve got nothing to lose by giving it a try. It does support multiple email accounts, but its sorting…

HOME SERVER £432 from Misco www.snipca.com/25267 At work, it’s common to access files from a central server. At home, we’re more likely to keep everything on one PC, and either log in over the network if we need to get at something from another computer, or just transfer files via a USB stick, which is usually simpler than remembering how to make one Windows system talk to another. But for any household with more than one computer, a central repository for shared data can be very useful – hence the popularity of network-attached storage (NAS) boxes. These range from the likes of Synology’s DS216+ II (£299 from Ballicom www.snipca.com/25269), which is highly versatile but also daunting if you haven’t set up anything like it before, to WD’s My Cloud Mirror…

How do I get more volume from earphones? Q I bought a Moto G4 and love it, but at full volume the sound from my earphones isn’t as loud as I’d like. I’ve got three pairs of in-ear phones but they all go to about the same level. Are there small amplifiers which would boost the volume, or more efficient headphones? Allan Postgate A Heaphones’ volumes vary according to their ‘impedance’, or electrical resistance. Low impedance produces high volume from a low input level, but risks damage if used with a powerful amplifier. High impedance (over 250 ohms) is associated with professional equipment. Most earphones have low impedance – but for example Rock Jaw’s Alfa Genus V2 (£40 from Amazon www.snipca.com/25283, pictured), at 16 ohms, are louder than Sennheiser’s similarly…

Windows 1.0 WHAT WAS IT? Released in November 1985, Windows was Microsoft’s first operating system with a graphical user interface (GUI – pictured). It wasn’t the first GUI: Apple’s Macintosh was already on sale, and Digital Research’s (DR) Gem Desktop was available for IBM PCs. But IBM chose Microsoft over DR as its operatingsystem supplier and Windows caught on. HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED? Most PCs sold up to 1985 had CGA graphics (a resolution of 320x200 pixels – less than a thirtieth of a modern Full HD screen) in just four colours. This increased to 640x350 in 16 colours in the EGA standard, but many users preferred monochrome. Memory was a maximum of 640K – 13,000 times less than 8GB. Windows 1.0 was not seen as slow and buggy, and…

What you need: Android (phone or tablet); iPhone or iPad Time required: 15 minutes We’ve tested several apps that claim to delete duplicate photos on our phone and tablet, only to find they don’t live up to that promise. Free app Remo Duplicate Photos Remover, on the other hand, not only found all duplicate photos on our device, it also identified photos that looked similar. You can then sort these photos by date or size. The app tells you how much space you can recover by deleting them, and gives you the option to delete all duplicates in one go. STEP 1 Install the Remo Duplicate Photos Remover app on your Android (www.snipca.com/25251) or iOS (www.snipca.com/25252) phone or tablet, then open it. Tap OK to let it access your device’s…

Email Free Android: www.snipca.com/25221 iOS: www.snipca.com/25222 EasilyDo’s popular email app Email has added two useful new features. The first gives you smart reply suggestions based on the content of your email, so you can reply with just one tap. The second feature notifies you if any of your linked email accounts have been compromised in a data breach. Google Earth Free Android: www.snipca.com/25217 iOS: www.snipca.com/25218 Earlier this year, Google updated the Google Earth Android app with lots of new features, which are now available on iOS. The best new feature is Voyager - which lets you watch videos, view locations in 3D and read interesting info about places, including the Beatles’ story in Liverpool and a tour of Peru’s Machu Picchu citadel. Zipcar UK Free Android: www.snipca.com/25223 iOS: www.snipca.com/25224 Ideal…

WORD Find and replace formatted text in one go The best way to change specific words or phrases in documents is to use the ‘Find and Replace’ tool. However, you can also use this to find and replace text formatted in a particular way (for example, highlighted text or heading text). To do this, first press Ctrl+H to open the ‘Find and Replace’ box. Here, click the More button at the bottom left, click the Format dropdown menu at the bottom left, then select the type of text you want to find. In our example, we’ll show you how to find all highlighted text in your Word document and convert it to heading text. Select Highlight in the Format dropdown menu. Next, click inside the ‘Replace with’ field at the…

WINDOWS SHORTCUTS 1 Create a customised Start menu folder of shortcuts What’s handier than a desktop shortcut? A shortcut to all your favourite shortcuts, that’s what – especially if they’re all available direct from your Start menu. To do this, create a folder in C:\Users\ username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\ Windows\Start Menu\Programs and call it ‘My Shortcuts’ or something similar. Then drag and drop shortcuts to your favourite tools and files into the folder. The folder will now appear in the left-hand programs section of the Start menu – click it to reveal all your custom shortcuts. If your AppData folder is hidden, open File Explorer, click View, Options, then click the View tab and select the ‘Show hidden files, folders and drives’ option, then click OK. WHAT YOU CAN DO Perform faster and more…

Q I’m not very wealthy so I get by with an old iPhone 4. It still works but recently I’ve noticed that the clock is now always five minutes slow when I hit the Home button. I know that desktop PCs have a backup battery for the clock, so I wonder if that might be the problem here? Or perhaps it needs winding up! Aidan Ingram A There’s no backup battery in an iPhone. Instead, it’s likely that you’ve inadvertently disabled the option that makes your iPhone sync the time automatically via the internet. From the home screen tap Settings followed by General, and then ‘Date & Time’. Now slide Set Automatically from Off to On (see screenshot below left). If this switch is already On then slide it to…

Bust more jargon in our A-Z book: www.snipca.com/21616 1080p Common type of highdefinition video: 1920x1080 pixels. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 64bit A technology that processes information in larger chunks. Most modern computers are 64bit. 720p A common resolution of high-definition video: 1280x720 pixels. 802.11ac A standard for wireless networks that allows for higher transfer speeds than 802.11n. Add-in Microsoft’s name for added tools to Office software. Add-on A program that adds extra features to your browser. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. A technology for creating flat-panel displays. Bandwidth A measure of how much data can be transferred through a connection at one time. Beta A version of software that’s being tested. BIOS Basic Input-Output System. Software built into every PC that connects the vital…

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has launched a new phone app to protect users from unwanted nuisance calls and scams. TPS Protect ( www.tpsprotect.org.uk) has been developed by the creators of the Telephone Preference Service, which lets users opt out of cold-calling databases. The app – available on Android and iOS – makes it easy to identify incoming calls from scammers, marketers and charity fundraisers. Incoming calls are given a ‘trust score’ – a number from one to five indicating how trustworthy the caller is. This score is based on TPS’ database of known fraudsters and nuisance callers, as reported by users. John Mitchison, Head of Preference Services at the DMA, says: “Each rating helps callers decide how trusted an unfamiliar call could be, from scammers with criminal intentions to…

The number of UK households using the internet has hit 90 per cent for the first time, though the increase from 2016 is only one per cent. This rises to 94 per cent for households in London and the south east. The main reason (64 per cent) respondents gave for not having web access was thinking it wasn’t “useful or interesting”. Around one-fifth said they lacked the necessary skills. The figures, from the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) annual ‘Internet access – households and individuals’ survey, also show that 73 per cent of adults now access the web on a phone or tablet. Email remains the most popular web activity, used by 82 per cent of adults. Second is finding information on goods and services (71 per cent), followed by…

Apple A smartphone is great when you’re lost or in dire straits. New tech known as Advanced Mobile Location (AML) makes phones even more useful by helping emergency services locate people – and it’s saving lives (www.snipca.com/25306). But more than a year after Google built AML into Android, Apple is still ignoring it. The European Emergency Number Association (EENA), the organisation implementing AML, has now resorted to pleading with Apple in a public statement (www.snipca.com/ 25304, see screenshot): “EENA calls on Apple to integrate Advanced Mobile Location in their smartphones for the safety of their customers.” This should not be a problem for Apple. “Deploying AML is not an overly complicated task for an operating-system provider,” EENA Executive Director Gary Machado said. Could it be that Apple doesn’t want third-party…

I can think of several UK cities that would benefit from a scheme to fine jaywalkers staring at their phone, similar to Honolulu’s (News, Issue 508, page 8). A couple of years back, when we lived in Leeds, I had to swerve violently to avoid someone crossing the road while staring blankly at their phone. Then last year in Bournemouth (where we now live), I had to brake suddenly to stop hitting a young woman who was not just staring at her phone, but wearing headphones too! I was expecting an apology, but instead she gave me an earful about almost “killing her” (I won’t include the disgusting expletives she used). I had forgotten that smartphone zombies assume they are always in the right. I think officials from Leeds and…

Q I use Ramsdens Travel Card (www.ramsdensforcash.co. uk/travelcard) to pay in euros while abroad and recently received an email from the company advising me of a data breach on my account. Ramsdens confirmed the email was genuine and advised me to contact ID-protection company CyberScout, which said I should register with Cifas for ongoing ID protection (www.cifas. org.uk). This would cost me £20 every two years. Shouldn’t Ramsdens reimburse me this payment? Carrie Murray A We think Carrie’s got a case, but if Ramsdens doesn’t agree she would have to take it to the small claims court. Carrie is right to be worried because while no bank details were stolen, hackers could have accessed her name, address, email, Ramsdens password and her date of birth. According to Action Fraud, scammers…

Vodafone gives reader money it said it couldn’t find Some of the cases we deal with don’t involve a fortune, but for our readers – and for Computeractive – it’s the principle that matters. After all, if you let companies get away with pennies, they’ll do likewise with pounds. So we’re happy to close Geoffrey Squires’ case (see Issue 507), who has now received a cheque from Vodafone for the £8.60 that was left on his Talkmobile pay-as-you-go (PAYG) account. This money disappeared from his account when Vodafone took it over, after buying Talkmobile in 2015. The company has also belatedly given him the £10 credit it promised if he switched, boosting Geoffrey’s account by £18.60 in total. We’re pleased with the outcome, but disappointed that Vodafone initially dismissed his…

Firefox Send https://send.firefox.com If the 1960s spy show Mission: Impossible was remade for the internet age, it could change the end of its famous opening message to “this download will self-destruct in five seconds”. Several online services now let you send files that the recipient can access for a limited time only, before they vanish forever. Firefox Send is the latest. It’s easy to use and very secure – at no point can Firefox see what’s in your file. Visit the site above, click the blue button at the bottom (see screenshot), then select the file you want to send (or drag and drop it into the box). Next, click the ‘Copy to clipboard’ button to copy a link to the file, then paste it in an email (or messaging…

PC | £953 from Overclockers UK www.snipca.com/25244 Overclockers UK Titan Merlin A lot of PC in a small box AMD’s new Ryzen processor family (see box on page 24 of Issue 502) made a splash earlier this year when the eight-core Ryzen 7 series arrived, offering higher performance than Intel’s fastest current i7 processors. The benefits it brings are now becoming available for less money with the Ryzen 3 and 5 series. This PC is based on the cheapest of the 5 series – the 1400. It’s paired with AMD’s Radeon RX 570 graphics card, which has 4GB of its own memory. The default configuration has a standard RX 570, but the model we tested had an overclocked ROG Strix card (a £110 optional extra). This and the Seagate FireCuda…

What does it do? Mesh networking uses multiple boxes, instead of a single central router, to distribute radio signals more evenly around your home, avoiding those dead spots where Wi-Fi can’t reach. BT’s Whole Home Wi-Fi (pictured) was the first system widely available at an affordable price in the UK, and it already has half a dozen competitors. Why would I want it? If you have broadband, you’ll already have a Wi-Fi router, the box with aerials on it that sits near your telephone socket or fibre connection point, and lets PCs, phones and tablets connect wirelessly to the internet. Most of the routers that are supplied as standard today, such as BT’s Smart Hub, are pretty good at covering a whole house, but you may still lose reception at…

LAPTOP | TABLET £799 from AO www.snipca.com/25272 Lenovo’s Miix 510 is a very competitively priced rival to Microsoft’s Surface Pro, with a similar 12.2in format. The model we tested, with an Intel i5 processor and 256GB SSD, can be found for around £800. The nearest Surface Pro configuration costs £1,249, and unlike Lenovo, Microsoft doesn’t include a keyboard – that’s an extra £125. If you’d rather spend even less, the lowest Miix model, with an i3, 4GB of memory and 128GB of storage, costs as little as £599 (see www.snipca.com/25271). The Miix 510 feels very classy for a mid-priced Windows 10 tablet. Its aluminium unibody design is similar to Microsoft’s, but Lenovo adds its own ‘watchband’ hinge to the kickstand, an intricate piece of engineering that lets you prop the…

SECURITY CAMERA | £299 from Amazon www.snipca.com/25276 Home-security video cameras have been around for decades, but the modern digital version is a lot easier to set up and use. This is the cleverest one yet and it’s designed as a pleasant-looking home accessory that shouldn’t be hidden away. A pair of infra-red LEDs help it see in the dark, while three microphones pick up sound and a speaker lets you yell at burglars (or next door’s cat). It’s all powered via USB Type-C from a supplied mains adapter. The Nest Cam IQ shoots very sharp 1080p video, which is even better than the original Nest Cam in good light, and about on a par in the dark. Its 130-degree field of view should mean you can place it to cover…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2016 Back Issue CD: £15 fromwww.snipca.com/23209 LAPTOP Dell Inspiron 15 5000 £749 from www.snipca.com/24851 Tested: Issue 459 Now featuring Intel’s seventh-generation Kaby Lake processors, the Inspiron 15 is great value for a full-size laptop with i7 CPU, anti-glare Full HD screen, 4GB AMD R7 graphics and a 1TB hard drive. More basic models start at £429. ALTERNATIVE: Asus ZenBook UX310UA This sleek (if slightly plasticky) 13in adds a super-sharp 3200x1800-pixel screen to i5 performance with a 256GB SSD. £700 from www.snipca.com/24852 DESKTOP PC Palicompi5Titanium £500 from www.snipca.com/24543 Tested: Issue 504 Not many frills, but this Intel Kaby Lake i5-7400 quad-core PC delivers more raw performance than we’d expect at this price, helped by a 250GB SSD alongside the 1TB hard…

What you need: Macrium Reflect Free; Windows 7, 8.1, 10 Time required: 30 mins 1 ns Macrium Reflect Free is a free tool that lets you make a system image of your hard drive, which backs up your operating system, programs, documents, music files and photos. You can also use it if you want to move your copy of Windows from a traditional hard drive to an SSD, as recommended in Issue 508’s Cover Feature ‘Make Your PC Future-Proof’. We’ll take you through both processes. If you just want to upgrade to an SSD, skip to step 7. STEP 1 Go to www.macrium.com/reflectfree and click the Home Use button, then save the setup file to your PC. Once it has downloaded, run the file to launch the Macrium Reflect Download…

Handy hints and tips from your fellow readers Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk ✓ Check a website’s security certificate Ever since I was scammed a few years back, losing hundreds of pounds, I’ve never taken anything for granted online. My big fear is stumbling upon sites that steal your bank-account details, so I always triple-check that a site is secure and uses encryption. The makers of Chrome must share my concern. In the latest version (60) they’ve made it easier for you to check the security certificate of a website. These are issued by various companies and organisations to confirm that a site is safe. But it’s still an ‘experimental’ feature in Chrome, so you need to turn it on manually. Type chrome://flags/#show- cert-link into Chrome’s address bar, then click…

AGES 0-5 123 Numbers - Count and Tracing Free www.snipca.com/25225 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/25226 (iOS) This game contains simple activities that will help your child learn to recognise, write and count numbers from 1 to 10. They can trace the outlines of numbers, fill in the missing number in a sequence, and identify matching numbers. AGES 6-10 Domino Drop £1.99 iOS: www.snipca.com/25227 Domino Drop is a puzzle game that uses domino blocks but works like Tetris. As a domino falls from the top of the screen, you move it to the left or right, with the aim of matching its colour with one of the dominoes at the bottom. AGES 11-16 Sector 33 Free www.snipca.com/25228 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/25229 (iOS) Developed by Nasa, this app tests your problem-solving skills. You play as…

Add the ‘This PC’ icon to your desktop The traditional My Computer icon has been marginalised in Windows 10 – first it was removed from the desktop and then given a new name (This PC) – but you can restore both its name and desktop position. Click Start, Settings, Personalize, Themes, then ‘Desktop icon settings’ at the top right (you may have to maximise the window to see this option). When the Desktop Icon Settings box opens, tick the Computer box in the Desktop icons section (see screenshot right), then click Apply. You can also add icons for your files (User’s Files), network options and the Control Panel by clicking the relevant boxes. You can restore My Computer’s name by right-clicking the This PC icon, then clicking Rename. Change desktop…

On 10 October, Office 2007 will reach the end of its ‘extended’ support period, meaning it will join other dearly departed Microsoft products – such as Windows XP, Vista and Office 2003 – in the great software store in the sky. At the end of a support period Microsoft stops releasing security fixes for any newly discovered vulnerabilities in that product. While the risks of using unsupported Office software aren’t as severe as using an unsupported operating system – such as XP or Vista – it’s still not recommended. In December 2016, for example, a critical flaw was discovered (www.snipca.com/25196) that allowed hackers to run malware on any PC if the user opened a specially created Office document, effectively handing them the keys to your PC, passwords and files. At…

Q On your advice I installed LibreOffice, mainly for Writer. I clicked the Insert Table button on the toolbar to add a table with four columns. I used the mouse to resize the left-most column by dragging and dropping, but this resulted in the next column along being too wide. So, I then resized that, but then I had the same problem with the third column and then the fourth. After a lot of fiddly work with the mouse I managed to get them all just about evenly sized, but it strikes me as a very inefficient way to work. I assume there must be a way to specify the column widths, or at least make them all even, but I can’t find it. Clicking the More Options button (that…

Q In your answer to Bill Wright’s query about whether his security regime was sufficient (Problems Solved, Issue 506), you quite rightly say that for maximum protection even the computer not connected to the internet should also have antivirus software installed. I’ve run a similar setup for years, but don’t have antivirus software installed on the non-connected PC. I use Norton Antivirus on my main PC, which is online, but I do not see how this would work on the offline PC. How would the software be updated so that it’s able to deal with the latest threats? Keith Jones A It’s a good question and the answer is that it’s usually possible to download and apply updates manually. So, you would need to use an internetconnected computer to download…

Q As an Office 365 subscriber, I have 1TB of OneDrive space. I thought it’d be a good idea to use this as a backup for my files, in addition to the external hard drive I use. However, having moved about 0.5TB to my OneDrive folder (a process that took several days!), I now realise that the prime purpose of OneDrive is to allow remote access by ‘syncing’ to several devices. This means any mistake is immediately replicated to the cloud – not a good idea for a backup! Is there any way I can prevent OneDrive automatically synchronising and instead manually sync, say once a week, when I’m sure all my files are OK? Barrie Hart A You’re right that OneDrive is intended as a synchronisation tool. As such…

Q I want to sort my messy collection of digital movies and music. I’ve gathered files from all over the place and I’ve never given them names. Windows Media Player seems to play them all. However, using Windows Explorer to tidy things up, I noticed that some of my audio files have an a .m4a extension while others are .mp3. Oddly, some of my audio files have a .mp4 extension, which I thought was for video. What’s the difference between all these file types? Charlie Bolton A We’ll start with MP4. MP is short for MPEG, which in turn is short for Moving Picture Experts Group — the name of the industry consortium that introduced the technology in 2001. MPEG-4 is its full name, and it’s just one of many…

Forced logins It’s morning. My bedside alarm clock triggers its built-in radio, which is tuned to Radio 4’s Today programme because I can’t deal with music first thing. Soon, I head to the bathroom. We have a waterproof radio in the shower cubicle, so on that goes. It’s tuned to Radio 3, liked by Mrs Rigsby; but a swift button press and I’m back to Today. Then, breakfast. On goes the kitchen radio, permanently tuned to Classic FM because that’s our compromise for joint listening. So far, so mundane. But then I repair to my office, fire up the PC, click my BBC iPlayer Radio shortcut to tune into Radio 2, all ready for a bit of Ken Bruce and… nothing. What? This always just works! It’s worked perfectly for…

Microsoft’s brand new, redesigned desktop PC version of Skype has officially been revealed, drawing criticism for the radical departure from the app’s previous interface. The updated app places a stronger emphasis on media sharing, emojis and group chats, and has a much more youthful feel than previous versions. When the update arrived on phones and tablets earlier this year, many reviews criticised its new look. Messages in group chats are now colour-coded in pastel shades; users can react with emojis in video calls and chats; and unread messages are cordoned off in conversations by a blue line. There are some redeeming features, however. Real-time screen-sharing has been added to group calling and gallery view has been added to group chats, letting you easily locate share documents. The new Skype app…

TALKTALK FINED FOR SCAM ABUSE TalkTalk has been fined £100,000 for failing to protect customers’ private data from scammers. An investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office found that “rogue” employees from Indian IT firm Wipro, which ran TalkTalk’s customer service, accessed the names, addresses and phone numbers of 21,000 customers. This led to TalkTalk customers receiving phone calls from fraudsters. UK STUDENT WINS OFFICE CHAMPIONSHIP A British student has won second prize in the Excel 2013 category of the 2017 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (http:// moschampionship.com), which tests skills creating spreadsheets, documents and presentations. Sam Millar, a 22-year-old student at University of St Andrews, scooped $3,500 (about £2,700). Around 560,000 people entered what is the only Office competition endorsed by Microsoft.…

Marcus Hutchins, the cybersecurity researcher who was dubbed a hero after stopping the WannaCry ransomware outbreak in May, has pleaded not guilty to hacking charges after being arrested by the FBI. The 23-year-old security researcher from Devon was arrested in Las Vegas after attending the Defcon security convention. He is charged with six offences relating to the creation and distribution of the Kronos banking Trojan, which steals people’s financial details. At the time of writing, a second, unnamed person had also been charged, but remains at large. Hutchins, whose online pseudonym is MalwareTech, was catapulted to global fame after discovering a way to halt the spread of the WannaCry ransomware, which hit major organisations worldwide, including the NHS (see out Cover Feature, Issue 503). Hutchins’ arrest prompted shock among the…

SEND PAYPAL MONEY VIA SKYPE You can now send money to a PayPal account while you’re in a Skype conversation on your phone or tablet, giving you a fast and safe way to transfer cash to friends and family. The first time you use it you’ll be asked to link your PayPal account to your Skype profile. You’ll need to be using the latest version of the Skype app (www.skype.com/new), but your recipient doesn’t. Read more about the Send Money feature at: www.snipca.com/25245 UK BROADBAND SPEED 31st FASTEST The UK has the 31st fastest broadband speeds in the world, slower than Thailand, Bulgaria and Hungary, according to new research. Data from more than 63 million internet speed tests compiled by broadbandcomparison site Cable.co.uk places Singapore top, with an average speed…

I’m one of the countryside dwellers who would stand to benefit from faster rural broadband, so was very interested in Issue 508’s ‘Question of the Fortnight’ (‘Will your bills rise to fund rural broadband?’). My current speed is a pitiful 3Mbps. I avoid doing many things online that my friends in cities take for granted. They ask me whether I’ve downloaded a TV programme, and I just laugh. So, you would perhaps expect me to kick up a fuss and say that, yes, everybody should chip in to fund faster broadband in the sticks. If City Mouse’s bill rises a bit, then so be it. But I don’t think like that. I moved from the bustle of the city to the peace of the countryside with my eyes wide open.…

Q I’ve been with BT for a number of years and about three years ago I upgraded my service. However, I’ve had nothing but problems with BT’s set-top TV box, which has been replaced twice since July 2016. Can I cancel my contract as this is an inherent fault? David Harrison A David should be able to cancel because the Consumer Rights Act covers all goods and services provided by an internet service provider. That means they must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, delivered as described, and provided to a proper standard of workmanship. However, if David cancels his contract he will find himself pursued by BT for termination fees. To avoid this, David should first escalate his complaint by using BT’s official procedure to say he wants…

YOU TELL US WHEN COMPANIES GET IT RIGHT I know that Virgin Media gets a lot of stick in Computeractive. I’ve read cases in Consumeractive about it, and reports in Named & Shamed about it leaving streets in a mess after installing broadband cables. But I’ve been a customer with them for five years, and have always found their customersupport team very helpful. They’re particularly good at speaking like human beings. They must have been well trained in how to talk normally. Other companies sound like they are reading from a script. CONTACT VIRGIN MEDIA Tel: 0345 454 1111 General information: www.virginmedia.com/contact-us.html No broadband service is perfect, and I’ve had some problems. But they’ve always been dealt with quickly. Also, Virgin have been very reasonable when I’ve haggled for a…

SYSTEM TOOL Windows Repair 4.0 www.snipca.com/25237 What you need: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1 or 10 If your PC has been hit by a malware infection, over-zealous registry cleaning or any other damaging event, this powerful tool aims to get it working as normal again. Version 4.0 (4.0.1 at the time of writing) is the first major update in more than a year. The program window has been redesigned, but still looks like something you used to run on Windows XP (and that’s not a criticism), while the automatic repair processes now run much faster than before. There are dozens of these processes, ranging from fixing file associations to resetting your Windows Update settings. They are sorted into ‘presets’ so you can run a whole set of related repairs at…

TABLET £109 from Asda www.snipca.com/25264 We previously tested RCA’s 7in Mercury tablet (see our review, Issue 506), which didn’t impress us with its build quality or performance, but certainly made an impression with its £50 price tag. If anything, this model is even more ambitious. It’s a full-size 10.1in tablet, complete with a magnetically attached keyboard, for £110. That’s less than Apple or Samsung will charge you just for a keyboard, before you spend several hundred quid on their tablet. And while the 7in Mercury has a meagre 8GB of storage, the Saturn comes with 32GB – the same as those big-brand rivals. And there’s more. This tablet doesn’t compete directly with Microsoft’s Surface Pro – because the Surface Pro runs Windows 10, while the Saturn runs Android. But its…

ROUTER £200 from Maplin www.snipca.com/25290 You could get a wireless router for half the price of the WRT3200ACM, but this is an industrial-strength unit that promises substantially faster performance. It uses the latest 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi technology, including 3x3 MU-MIMO (multi-user multi-input multi-output), to enable speeds of up to 2.6 gigabits per second on the 5GHz band. Even older or cheaper devices limited to 2.4GHz can reach speeds up to 600Mbit/s. Bearing in mind the fastest fibre-broadband connections available at the moment top out at 300Mbit/s, the signs are good that this could be a router that will boost your connection speed. In theory, one of the fastest routers around; in practice it’s slow off the mark Real life isn’t quite so simple, though. Like us, you probably won’t…

Win 1 of 2 Creative iRoar Go Bluetooth speakers Creative’s iRoar Go Bluetooth speakers have five powerful speaker drivers that include a built-in subwoofer for audio that fills every inch of the room. It also has two amplifiers for balanced audio delivery, and multi-tasks as a built-in MP3/FLAC player, voice recorder, Bluetooth speakerphone, external USB Sound Blaster sound card and a battery bank. It’s waterproof too, so no splashes will spoil your fun. To enter, email your address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk with ‘iroar’ in the subject line by midnight 12 September. Creative’s iRoar Go costs £159.99 from https://uk. creative.com. For more information on Creative’s products follow @creativelabs on Twitter, and ‘like’ its Facebook page: www.facebook.com/CreativeLabs.…

ANDROID & iOS Find what you need in your local shopping centre Google Maps (default on Android; iOS www.snipca.com/25214) has a useful indoor maps feature. This is especially handy when you’re in a multi-storey shopping centre because it tells you which outlets are on each floor. There are two ways to use it. If your phone’s location feature is switched on, you’ll see an option to use indoor maps whenever you’re in a shopping centre. Tap this. If you don’t see this option, you can activate the feature manually. Open Google Maps when you’re in the shopping centre, then tap the circular icon at the bottom right to zoom into your current location. You’ll be prompted to turn on your phone’s location services if it’s off. Tap this to go…

WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 Open taskbar items using a keyboard shortcut It’s a good idea to pin programs or apps you use often to your taskbar. Once you’ve done that, you can easily cycle between these taskbar items, then open the one you want to use with a simple keyboard shortcut. To pin a program or app to your taskbar, first open it. Next, right-click its taskbar icon, then click ‘Pin to taskbar’. Click and drag taskbar items to the left or right to position them as you like. Now press the Windows key, then press T. You’ll now see the first taskbar item highlighted. Keep pressing T to cycle through your taskbar icons, then press Enter to open the highlighted item. WINDOWS 10 Download maps to use offline In…

Our experts solve all your tech problems Email us your problem and we’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk Q I was intrigued to read about the difference between a DOC file and a DOCX file in Issue 505’s Problems Solved pages. It prompted me to run a little experiment where I used the ‘Save as’ options to resave one of my existing Word documents with a .doc file extension to one with a .docx file extension. The original DOC version of the document was 387KB, but saving it as a DOCX more than halved that — to just 181KB! So, I now have a question. Is it possible to convert all my Word documents from DOC to DOCX in one fell swoop? Simon Turner A Word does not have a built-in…

Why does no one ever explain how to unzip ZIP files? QYou explained how to play the old versions of Solitaire and Minesweeper (see Issue 507, page 59). I have got as far as clicking the ‘Download Windows 7 games for Windows 10’ link, but then it all goes belly-up. Your Jargon Buster explains what a ZIP file is, but I do not know how to extract it. I have Windows 10 if that helps? David Wiltshire AWindows 10 can actually extract files from a ZIP folder without having to install any other program, but we generally suggest readers install and use PeaZip because it can deal with other common types of compressed files that Windows’s file-compressing tool can’t, including RAR and 7z. To get it, go to www.peazip.org, then…