Computeractive -julkaisun 562 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

When Walkmans hit the shops in the early 1980s, much fuss was made about how they could fit snugly into your pocket. Maybe my teenage pockets were unusually small, but it would’ve been easier to squeeze a pregnant hippo into a phone box (there were still plenty of those back then). I had to wait another 20 years for devices dinky enough to fill my pockets. When USB sticks arrived, many people used them just for transferring files (I know I did). Over time specialist software was built to take advantage of their portability. In this issue’s Cover Feature, Nik Rawlinson reveals the best free tools. I’ve seen these sticks called many things: flash drives, thumb drives, jump drives, pen drives, memory units and data sticks. I’ve always preferred USB…

More scammers are impersonating Microsoft in attempts to steal money from the public and companies, latest figures show. Researchers at security firm Vade Secure found 20,217 fake Microsoft websites between April and June, a rise of 16 per cent on the previous year. Microsoft has been the most mimicked company in all five quarters since Vade Secure first published its Phishers’ Favorites report last year. The high number of people using Microsoft’s software makes it a potentially lucrative target for scammers. As well as hundreds of millions of Windows users, 180 million people in businesses use Office 365. This gives hackers an entry point into a company’s essential services, such as email and document sharing, and employees’ contact lists. Despite Microsoft’s spot at the top, scams impersonating Amazon and Facebook…

Windows 7 is ‘prehistoric’ next to Windows 10 When are people like John Hale (Letters, Issue 561) going to stop banging on about how wonderful Windows 7 is and accept it is now dead in the water and yesterday’s operating system (OS)? Yes, it was fine a few years ago, but compared to Windows 10 it’s positively prehistoric. He mentions ‘buggy’ Windows 10, but I have used it ever since upgrading from 8.1 and it has always worked seamlessly, and I have never suffered so much as one BSOD. It is a superb OS, light years ahead of Windows 7 in all respects. I have never had any upgrade issues and although I do acknowledge there have been one or two mishaps due to the bi-annual feature updates, they haven’t…

This update involves philosophy as much as legal expertise. The dilemma is whether complaining about two faults at the same time counts as one overall fault or two. It’s important because the answer determines what a retailer is allowed to repair before having to issue a refund. The conundrum arose in Carl Bassett’s case against Dell (see Issue 560). He sent back his XPS 15 laptop because both the audio board and the battery were broken. Dell has now fixed the audio board, but wouldn’t be allowed to fix the battery if the two problems were considered separate. This is because under the Consumer Rights Act retailers are allowed just one repair before giving a refund or replacement. But because Carl reported the problems at the same time, Dell might…

MEDIA STREAMER Plex 1.1 www.snipca.com/32610 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 Most of us have hundreds, if not thousands of photos, music and videos stored on our computer. Plex is a free program that bundles them all up and lets you stream them to a variety of devices, including other PCs, tablets, phones and televisions. You first need to install the Plex Media Server on the computer that has all your content (it scans your computer for media when you install it), then install the Plex player on the devices on which you want to stream the media. There are Plex players for Android (www.snipca.com/32618) and iOS (www.snipca.com/32619), as well as a web-based version (www.snipca.com/32620), but the one we’re looking at here is the Windows player. It differs…

PC £1,199 from PC Specialist www.snipca.com/32630 It’s always exciting to read about the biggest or best or fastest new thing. Well, exciting at first. Then, as you plough through the details of the advanced technology packed into this groundbreaking gizmo, a sense of déjà vu takes over. Because no matter what amazing features are listed, or how sleek and shiny the hardware looks, the end of the story is always the same: a price tag twice your budget. An excellent PC offering pace, power and versatility at a reasonable price That’s why we’re more impressed, here at Computeractive, when manufacturers put their efforts into offering something special for the price of average. And this desktop PC tower contains two new components that take average to new heights. AMD’s Ryzen 5…

PHONE £105 from Vodafone www.snipca.com/32544 Crafted by Berlin design studio nr21, this new phone looks prettier than any budget plastic smartphone has a right to. The frame is pleasantly rounded and the vertical dual camera bar on the back is neatly arranged. On the front, form has arguably won over function: the half-round camera notch in the top of the screen would make perfect sense if there wasn’t also a noticeable empty border at the bottom. They could have put the border at the top, stuck the camera in it and avoided the notch. But it’s taller than widescreen, so there’s plenty of room to play videos unimpeded. The twin cameras enable blurredbackground portrait mode, and photo quality all round was much better than we expected, with well-judged colour and…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2018 Back Issue CD: £15 from www.snipca.com/30307 LAPTOP HP Envy 13 £789 from www.snipca.com/29555 Tested Issue 539 The combination of an eighthgeneration quad-core i5 chip and MX 150 graphics makes this an excellent all-round laptop, let down only by the poor colour reproduction of its Full HD touchscreen. Seven-hour battery life is adequate, and it’s nicely made. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 This premium laptop starts at £1,200, but the best deal is with the brand new quad-core i7-8550 and QHD touchscreen. £1,280 from www.snipca.com/26796 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 9.7 £350 from www.snipca.com/30707 Tested Issue 501 Now discounted and with a stylus included, this full-size HDR tablet is a better deal than the new Tab S4 (see Issue 540).…

Email letters@computeractive.co.uk SOFTWARE Use DropIt to save photos by size ✓ Thanks for your Workshop in Issue 560 (page 40) on using DropIt (www.dropitproject.com) to set up filters for moving files to specific folders. As someone who likes spending time customising programs, I was interested to learn more about the keywords (which DropIt calls ‘abbreviations’) that help sort your files into the correct folders. I browsed the DropIt website and found this page, which all photographers will find useful: www.snipca.com/32539. It explains different commands (or ‘abbreviations’) you can use, such as the one you included in your Workshop to filter photos by year and date taken. I’ve set up another command to sort my photos by size (it’s example 6 on the web page). To do this, right-click the DropIt…

Epson Expression Home XP-452 £54.99 from www.snipca.com/32023 I’m in the slightly annoying position of needing to print a few items every week, but that’s all. I don’t need to print loads of documents every day, so I’ve always favoured cheap (but expensive to run) printers over the expensive (but cheap to run) alternatives. So my eyes lit up when I saw Epson’s XP-452 receive four stars in Computeractive (Issue 558, page 25). For £50, it seemed like a total bargain. I ordered it the very same day, and it’s been a joy to use. It has what I call ‘proper buttons’, rather than one of those modern touchscreens that I’ve never got the hang of. As you correctly state, it’s not fast. But I don’t need speed. I just want…

Keepsafe Browser Free* Android, iOS www.getkeepsafe.com Lock the browser with a PIN code, fingerprint or facial recognition to keep your history and past searches private, then switch on (optionally) blocks for ads, analytics and social networks so they can’t track or profile you. You can see what it’s blocked and, if you like, activate Keepsafe VPN (£8.99 a month/£89.99 a year). Best For: Browsing in private Opera Touch Free Android, iOS www.snipca.com/32572 Phone screens are getting so big it can be difficult to reach your browser’s controls. So, Opera Touch has moved them to make it easier. Swipe the edges of the screen to navigate your history and long-press the purple blob to bring up app shortcuts and tabs. It’s quick, and easy to master. Best For: One-handed browsing Cake…

LIBREOFFICE CALC Copy filtered cells Calc makes it easy to filter to a selection of cells, allowing you to quickly view rows matching specific criteria and hide those that don’t. If you then want to edit the filtered rows without affecting the originals, Calc can paste a copy of them elsewhere for you to work on. To do this, first highlight the cells you want to filter. Next, open the Data menu, select More Filters, then choose Standard Filter. In the Standard Filter box that appears you can specify how you want to filter the cells. In our example, we want to see only rows that have a County value of West Sussex, so we set the filter to show all cells where column C contains ‘West Sussex’. Next, click…

What is it? The world’s largest PC processor, and the first to contain over a trillion transistors. That’s a lot, isn’t it? Yes, an awful lot - 1.2 trillion to be precise. Intel’s first 4004 processor (pictured below), released in 1971, had just 2,300 transistors. By 2002, its Itanium chips were considered insanely powerful with 221 million transistors. Seventeen years on, and the Wafer-Scale Engine has over 5,000 times this number. As you’d expect, this means it has to be much bigger than the average processor, which you can easily hold between your finger and thumb. So how big is it? Slightly bigger than a standard iPad, at 21.5cms squared (3.3in squared). The company that made it, Cerebras, is American, so has represented the processor’s size by photographing it next…

Can I use LibraryThing on a PC? Q I’ve been reading Computeractive for a number of years now. I have a fairly large collection of CDs and DVDs that require some sort of cataloguing to help me find them, so I was interested in the How To article about LibraryThing in Issue 560 (page 35). However, before I start on what will be a big project I need to know if LibraryThing will work on a PC? Will any camera do, or do I need something special? Also, when scanning a CD or DVD will it show track listings? Peter Lankester A Yes, LibraryThing works on a PC. In fact, it’ll work on any device with a web browser – but it’s far quicker and easier to do the cataloguing…

Microsoft is changing how Windows 10 works when you use it on a touchscreen computer, letting you choose an option that looks and feels more like the traditional Windows desktop. Currently, the only option in Windows 10 is a Tablet mode that shows a full-screen Start menu packed with tiles, designed to make it easier to open programs, tools and files by tapping with your finger rather than clicking with your mouse (see ‘Current’ screenshot above). The taskbar disappears to accommodate this larger menu. To turn it on, click Action Center at the bottom right of your taskbar (a speech-bubble icon), then click ‘Tablet mode’. This mode was designed to be used on ‘2-in-1’ convertible laptops with a hinged screen that can be removed or flipped back, effectively turning the…

Bigger and taller phone masts could be built after the Government said it plans to scrap planning restrictions in a bid to boost signals in rural areas, and make 5G more widely available. Currently, masts on public land must be no taller than 25 metres (82 feet) high, but Digital Secretary Nicky Morgan said she wants to relax these rules. She also said masts could be built over 20 metres (65 feet) on land “protected” for environmental, historical or cultural value. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, she said that allowing taller and wider masts that can handle more signalling equipment should mean there’s no need to blanket the countryside with thousands of new ones. She acknowledged that the masts could be deemed “eyesores” in beauty spots, but argued that this…

You can now download the first beta version of Microsoft’s revamped Edge browser, letting you try new tools such as choosing what you see when you open a new tab. Microsoft has spent all year rebuilding Edge using Chromium, which is the source code behind Google’s Chrome. It hopes this will boost the browser’s popularity, which has a market share of just two per cent, dwarfed by Chrome’s 61 per cent. People have been reluctant to switch to Edge because it lacks many popular extensions, and doesn’t work on the new versions of some websites. Writing on the Microsoft blog (www.snipca.com/32564), Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President of Windows, described the beta version as “ready for everyday use”, though it’s likely to still have some glitches. It also lacks many tools…

I rarely write to magazines, but felt I must respond to Jamie Smith’s pompous letter in Issue 560 (‘CDs should be consigned to the dustbin of history’). That CDs are a 40-year-old technology is no reason for them to be sent “to the dustbin of history”. I’m sure any historian worth his or her salt would be offended by that epithet. The wheel is still popular after 3,000 years. Fortunately, there is no law banning us from using older technology. I still wear shirts with buttons. Every week I burn CDs for folk in our church who are unable to attend. Some of them are of a generation who do not and never will use a computer. It’s not compulsory, you know. Others use a laptop for little more than…

I bought a set of Howlers stereo Bluetooth speakers (pictured) while on a Jet2 flight. They’re made by Edinburghbased company WisePrimate, who also make earbuds and chargers. I had great difficulty getting the speakers to pair – only one speaker would work via my phone. So I emailed the firm (shug@wiseprimate.com) and got instant help. However, despite all my efforts and their assistance (from Shug), they identified a fault in one speaker. They’ve since told me that a new set is being posted to me as I type this. Full marks for the friendly, rapid response from this firm, although I’m not sure that people from south of the border would understand that my contact’s name ‘Shug’ is the Scottish vernacular for ‘Hugh’! John R Mclean Has a company impressed…

Call me sceptical, but when something is marketed as ‘smart’, it makes me think the opposite. Take GE’s smart light bulbs. They are so smart that resetting them demands a switch-on, switch-off routine that’s enough to send anyone loopy (watch the entire, jaw-dropping process at www.snipca.com/32629). And don’t even get me started on smart watches that need charging every few days. But when it comes to the smart channel feature on routers, I usually advise friends and family to leave it switched on. This feature shifts your network to a different wireless channel if a nearby network is causing interference. Most routers have it, and it’s usually switched on by default. However, as I recently discovered, it’s not quite as smart as I first thought. I use an old laptop…

MINI PC £539 from Dell www.snipca.com/32540 Dell practically invented the business of making PCs and selling them directly to customers, and it’s still a company that puts as much ingenuity and innovation into its marketing as its hardware. In practical terms, that means its prices are competitive but confusing. The OptiPlex 7060 Micro is categorised as a business system, so it’s listed without VAT, but you’ll be charged an extra 20 per cent on your way through the checkout. At the time of writing, the blurb on Dell’s website says it starts at £599, which would come to £719 including the tax, but in fact the cheapest option has been reduced to £449, which even with VAT is only £539. And this isn’t a bargain-basement setup: it comes with an…

I often record my screen to remind myself of how to perform tasks, so thanks for the Workshop in Issue 560 (page 38) on using Windows 10’s Game Bar to do the job. I may use it, but I’m not convinced it’s easier than using VLC’s method. If you haven’t downloaded VLC, do so now from www.videolan.org (it’s free). Open the program, then click the Media heading at the top, followed by Open Capture Device. The next screen is a little confusing. In the ‘Capture mode’ dropdown menu select Desktop, then choose your frame rate in the ‘Desired frame rate’ menu - I always choose 20 frames per second (fps). Next, click the Play dropdown menu and click Stream (see screenshot). Click Next in the Stream Output box that opens,…

ANDROID & iOS Stream YouTube from your phone to Fire TV Amazon and Google are direct competitors in music, films, TV streaming, online storage services and voice assistants, so it’s no great surprise that for a long time they did their best to ignore each other. Amazon didn’t sell Chromecast or Google Home hardware, and Google withheld the official YouTube app from Kindle Fire, video-enabled Echo devices and Amazon Fire TV. The only losers in this spat were us, the users. Recently, they’ve shaken hands and made up, and Fire TV can now use Chromecast technology to stream YouTube from both Android and iOS. This phone-to-TV feature was Chromecast’s biggest appeal, so the fact that Amazon’s TV dongle can now do the same saves you investing in both – and…

WINDOWS 10 Find out which programs are draining your battery Want to know which programs are placing the biggest strain on your laptop’s battery? Click the Start button, select Settings (cog icon), then choose System and select Battery from the list on the left. Next, click the ‘See which apps are affecting your battery life’ link located just under the battery level at the top. You’ll now see a list of all programs and their battery usage over the past 24 hours (to change the timescale, click the Time period box at the top). You can click any program to reveal how much battery power it’s used in the background. Some programs continue to place a drain on your battery even when you’re not actively using them, such as to…

The latest release of LibreOffice (version 6.3 – see Issue 561, page 18) introduced a new redaction feature that lets you hide sensitive information in documents. This is particularly useful if you need to provide a PDF bank statement as proof of address, for example, but don’t want the recipient to see your transactions or other personal details. Open LibreOffice Draw and click File, then Open, then locate the PDF you want to redact. Open the View menu at the top, select Toolbars then Redaction. The Redaction toolbar will now appear in the middle of your Draw window. Click the first button (a white rectangle), then click and drag over the areas of the document you want to redact. As you do this, a shaded area will appear, showing what…

USB sticks have a lot in common with traditional hard drives: they’re compact, cheap and capacious. But while they’re great for moving files, they really come into their own when you use them to run portable programs – software that doesn’t need to be installed on your PC. Simply plug in the stick and launch the program. And when you’ve finished, simply unplug it. But why use portable programs instead of their installable counterparts? Well, you’ll save precious space on your PC’s hard drive and be able to take your favourite software wherever you go. What’s more, portable software doesn’t leave a trail of associated program files across your hard drive or change your Windows settings without your knowledge. They let you carry your passwords around with you just like…

Quick and easy It’s not particularly secure, but renaming a file is a quick way of hiding it. You can do this by highlighting the file, rightclicking and selecting Rename (or use the F2 keyboard shortcut), then giving your file a new name. Change the file extension too (for example, renaming finances.doc to photos.zip), and its icon will also change, further cloaking the file’s identify. Do this on more than one file and you’ll soon forget what’s what, but it’s a good way to hide a single file from someone else who uses your PC. SECURITY RATING Hide your folders Windows hides lots of files from you (such as system files that would prevent Windows from running if deleted). You can use this approach to hide your own files. Right-click…

3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 32bit/64bit A measure of how much data a PC can process at once. Most older computers are 32bit, more modern ones are 64bit. 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. 802.11ac A standard for wireless networks that allows for much higher transfer speeds than 802.11n. Adware Unwanted adverts that come with software. 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 components. Browser hijacker Program that changes your default browser, its homepage and search engine when you install them.…

You’ll soon be able to reset your computer by downloading the latest version of Windows from the internet. This means you don’t need to have it saved locally on your hard drive, or on a USB stick. Microsoft said this ‘Cloud Download’ option will be added to the ‘Reset this PC’ tool in the Feature Update next Spring. It’s responding to feedback from users who want to use their “high-speed internet connection to speed up this process by just downloading Windows”. It added that downloading Windows will remove programs you’ve installed, while selecting the ‘Remove everything’ option will wipe all user data.…

STOP TARGETED ADVERTS ON FACEBOOK Facebook users will soon be able to block adverts from websites they’ve visited. At the moment, if you visit a holiday website, for example, Facebook can show you targeted adverts from that site. You’ll be able to disable these using the new Off-Facebook Activity tool. It’s launching in Ireland, South Korea and Spain first, before being made available worldwide. Facebook explains more at www.snipca.com/32632. TRY NIRSOFT’S UPCOMING SOFTWARE Independent software maker and Computeractive favourite NirSoft has celebrated its 15th birthday by adding a new section to its site showing programs that are still “in development”. You can download them from www.nirsoft.net/alpha, unzipping them with the password SoftNirPre987@. They include WinDefThreatsView, which lists threats detected by Windows Defender. TOMORROW’S WORLD This is London in 2069, as…

US antivirus company McAfee is suing retailer Dixons Carphone for allegedly breaking an agreement to promote its software exclusively. Reports say Dixons Carphone, which owns Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse stores, signed a four-year deal with McAfee in 2017 to promote its software across the UK. But McAfee said it will lose £30m in sales as a result of Dixons also promoting Symantec’s Norton antivirus, as well as selling it as an extra for people buying computers. Dixons hit back by saying it offered Norton as an antivirus for Windows 10 S laptops because McAfee can’t run on those models. Windows 10 S is a limited version of the operating system built for low-powered laptops, typically used by school pupils. It can only run apps bought from the Microsoft…

LEAD CASE What restrictions are there on flying drones? Q I want to buy a drone for my son so he can fly it and take photos of the beautiful area we live in. But since the news about drones causing problems flying near airports as well as various privacy concerns, I’m worried about falling foul of the law. What are the restrictions? Sean Bodemeid A That’s a timely question because new laws were put in place last year, with further amendments coming into force on 30 November. Until last year, drone owners only had to abide by the UK Drone code (https://dronesafe. uk/drone-code), which included keeping the aircraft within your sight. You also had to avoid airfields and built-up areas. However, in July 2018, after an increasing number of…

Restart your research in a new program This issue’s column is inspired by reader Sarah Webster, who recently picked up the thread of researching her family tree after more than 10 years. However, compatibility problems meant she was unable to install Family Tree Maker (FTM) 2005. She asked us how to transfer her old files to a newer version of FTM. Sarah’s files were in the .FTW file format (FTM’s default before the 2007 version), which can only be opened in a handful of programs, including the latest version of FTM and RootsMagic. We directed Sarah initially towards the free cut-down version – RootsMagic Essentials – which you can download and install from www.rootsmagic.com/Try/RootsMagic (choose the free Essentials version when prompted during installation). Open FTM 2005 files in RootsMagic It’s…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: Fake ‘download’ buttons You’ll often find me using this column to expose programs that silently fill your hard drive with junk during installation. But there’s another way sneaky software makers litter our computers – by tricking us into downloading the wrong software in the first place. This underhand practice was recently highlighted by reader John Torrance, who wrote to us about Paint.net, which we recently recommended in Best Free Software (Issue 560, page 18). When John tried to download it, he found that all he got were “diversions to a whole string of PUPs”. It should be said that Paint.net itself is a fantastic program and its installer is entirely clean of PUPs. But its download page (www.getpaint.net/download.html) is confusingly presented. There are two different…

With this issue, TheGenealogist website is offering Computeractive readers a free three-month Gold subscription to TheGenealogist, worth £24.95, where millions of birth, marriage and death records from England, Wales and overseas are accessible, as well as census returns, parish registers, wills, military records, landowner returns, an image archive and many other valuable resources. The website has everything you need to start building your family tree from scratch, and for seasoned researchers TheGenealogist’s unique tools help to bust those brick walls, using the Master Search and SmartSearch to home in on elusive forebears. First Steps With the General Register Office indexes to births, marriages and deaths available on TheGenealogist from 1837–2005, you can build your family tree working back through time. The certificates need to be ordered from GRO.gov.uk, and give…

D-Link’s Pro Wire Free kit has got everything you need to protect and monitor your home. Comprising two wire-free cameras and a hub, it gives you great quality Full HD 1080p video, night vision, and rechargeable batteries with an extended life. Better still, you can store videos online for free for the first year, As soon as it detects motion it sends you an alert to your phone. It’s compatible with mydlink smart home devices, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT. It has no wires, so you can position it anywhere, indoors or outdoors. Installation takes just two minutes (all the brackets are included), and you can add up to four more cameras. You can set up each one with its own ‘activity area’. To enter this competition, email your…

Adobe Photoshop ✓ In Issue 561’s News section (page 8) you mentioned how Microsoft wants people to commit to annual subscriptions for its software. Adobe is just as bad. Photoshop is an excellent program, but I stopped subscribing because I didn’t use it often enough to justify a tenner a month. And what I use instead… I never took GIMP (www.gimp.org, see screenshot) seriously because of the name. But eventually I decided to download it, and within hours realised it would be good enough to replace Photoshop long term. It has the same tools as Photoshop – for layers, adjusting colours, tweaking brushes and straightening photos so they’re vertical or horizontal. Photoshop definitely feels slicker. All the money it makes from subscribers must go into the design of the software.…

Go Jauntly Free* Android, iOS www.gojauntly.com Get out more by discovering over 900 new walks near your location. You shouldn’t get lost with plenty of maps, directions and photos included, plus details of nearby toilets and refreshment stops. Access to the community walks is free, and you can supplement them with curated walks and tours for £1.99 per month or £20 per year. Ruff Free* Android www.snipca.com/32573 When you need to make a quick note, Ruff’s ready and waiting. Open it, tap your reminder, and swipe to the side to save. It’s quick, fuss-free, and has a refreshingly simple interface (with a choice of light and dark themes). However, to store more than one note at any one time you’ll need to buy the premium version for £3.99. Google Go…

When you make a voice or video call on your computer using programs such as Skype, your Windows audio (notification sounds, as well as those from other programs running in the background) will be reduced by 80 per cent. Sometimes, however, you’ll want the person you’re calling to hear the audio on your computer, for example if you want to play them an audio clip. To change the Windows volume level during calls, go to Control Panel (click Start, then search for control panel). Next, open the ‘Hardware and Sound’ category, then click ‘Manage audio devices’ in the Sound section. Select the Communications tab (far right) and you’ll see four options. If you want Windows audio to continue playing as normal when making calls, select ‘Do nothing’, but bear in…

Set up a projector for club meetings Choose your connection type If your club’s projector is producing a fuzzy, substandard image, make sure you’re not using an old analogue cable (such as composite, S-Video or VGA) to connect it to your video source. You’ll get much sharper images using a digital connection, such as HDMI. If you have a 4K projector, be sure to use an HDMI cable marked ‘High Speed’, otherwise 4K video is likely to stutter or simply not play at all. There’s no need to buy anything expensive – the Amazon Basics High-Speed cable (£4 from www.snipca.com/32589) will work just fine. Stream wirelessly Another option is to stream content, such as a presentation, to your projector wirelessly. Some projectors have wireless technology built in; if not, you…

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

Being of a lazy disposition, I’ve long been fascinated by OCR. ‘Optical character recognition’, as you’re probably aware, is the technology that converts a scanned page of writing – typed, printed or even hand-scrawled – into digital text. No more typing up your notes, just OCR them into Word with the click of a finger. Alchemy for the Microsoft era. But I could never find a paper document I wanted to digitally reanimate. You hear about people OCR-scanning their old diaries into ebooks, but I’d find it less mortifying to crowd-surf naked down Platform 5 at King’s Cross in rush hour than digitise my diaries. Then there are the hilarious OCR howlers that turn centuries-old scanned book pages into unintentionally filthy digi-prose. My editors won’t let me repeat the exact…