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I’m writing this in the second week of lockdown, not knowing when it will end. Perhaps by the time you read this life will be stumbling back to normality, but I fear social restrictions may have to last longer than originally hoped, possibly until June. The uncertainty is strange and unnerving. One of the consolations of the past few weeks is how websites and tech companies have sought to make our lives easier. They’ve lifted data caps, made paid-for tools free to use, and released free TV, games and books. We’ve gathered the best offers in our Cover Feature. I hope they help to keep you entertained during this difficult time. I’m not naive. Some of these responses have been cynical marketing opportunities. But generally companies have done the right…

Ofcom has said broadband providers won’t have to pay automatic compensation to customers for delayed repairs for as long as the Coronavirus lockdown lasts. The regulator introduced automatic compensation in April 2019, forcing companies to refund you £8 for each day that a broken service remains unfixed. But in early April it said that the lockdown is placing unprecedented strain on companies, particularly with many engineers unavailable to work due to illness or self-isolation, and therefore it’s “legitimate” for companies to not pay compensation. It added that some providers are helping with the national response to the pandemic. Engineers from Openreach, for example, are building infrastructure at the Nightingale Hospitals being set up across the UK. Ofcom added that it didn’t take the decision lightly, and says it will take…

You can turn your old photos into works of art using a new feature in Google’s Arts & Culture app. Many apps already do this, but most simply place an overlay on your photo, or blend it with an image of a painting. Google says its new tool is better because it creates “a unique algorithmic recreation of your photo inspired by the specific art style you have chosen”. It transforms the photo directly on your device, rather than uploading it online. Open the app on your phone, then tap the camera button in the middle at the bottom followed by Art Transfer. You can now take a photo (normal or selfie), or tap the bottom-right icon and choose a photo stored on your device. Once you’ve chosen your photo,…

The BBC has said the TV licence fee could be replaced by a charge added to monthly broadband bills, as it hit back against the Government’s proposal to decriminalise non-payment of the fee. In its response to the Government’s consultation, the BBC said it strongly supported keeping the existing policy of fining people who didn’t pay the fee. But it added that it’s willing to consider following other European countries such as Italy and France by implementing a funding model “linked directly to an existing common household bill”, such as the internet connection, electricity supply or even council tax. “This would be a significant change for the UK and we are not, at this stage, advocating it,” the corporation said. “It does however raise an interesting question as to whether…

Does the Coronavirus lockdown affect my rights? LEAD CASE Q I bought a laptop from PC World three weeks ago, but it’s not working properly. However, because the stores are shut during the Coronavirus lockdown, I can’t return it as faulty within 30 days. Will I be left with a broken laptop after the lockdown is lifted? What are my rights in this unique situation? Mark Trelawney A That’s an interesting question, and one that must be concerning many people during this difficult time. The Consumer Rights Act (CRA) gives you 30 days to return faulty goods for a full refund, but there’s no provision for extending this deadline during a national emergency. After 30 days, customers must put up with a repair, which Mark understandably doesn’t want to do.…

Write a family-history memoir Reader Richard Wills emailed us with an interesting query. Having built his family tree with photos and notes, he wants to turn his research into a printed book. He’s looking for software recommendations for his MacBook to help him bring this project to fruition. Our main recommendation is to choose a program that’s designed to help budding authors organise their research, plan a structure and bring it all together in a single document. You have a choice of two programs, both of which work on Macs and Windows PCs: yWriter (www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html), which is free, while Scrivener (www.literatureandlatte.com) costs £47, but you can use it for free for 30 non-consecutive days (so if you used it two days a week, for example, the trial would last 15…

What can I use in place of the YouView app? Q I’ve always found the TV guide on my BT YouView box slow and awkward to use. Following your recommendation (see Issue 572, page 19), I installed the YouView app and was delighted with how much easier it is to browse listings. But to my dismay, I’ve recently discovered this app no longer works. Can you recommend an alternative? Kevin Stamp A We were as disappointed as you to discover YouView has discontinued its app. There is, however, some good news. You say you have a BT YouView box, so presumably you’re also a BT Broadband customer. If so, you can switch to the BT TV app, which is very similar in design to the now-defunct YouView app, letting you…

LAPTOP ❘ £2,299 from Acer www.snipca.com/34409 This 15in model is Acer’s latest attempt to squeeze a desktop PC equivalent into a laptop. At 2.1kg (4½lb), it’s twice the weight of the lightest laptops, but less of a beast than many gaming systems. And although the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU will happily run all your 3D games, this machine is really aimed at creative work. “This striking laptop offers accurate colours and lightning performance” Some laptops for graphics users, including Apple’s MacBook Pro, support the video industry’s DCI-P3 colour space. Acer has instead chosen Adobe RGB, favoured by graphic designers for its coverage of CMYK printable colours. Our tests confirmed the extremely sharp 4K screen covered the whole of Adobe RGB with-near-perfect accuracy, and we were also impressed with the…

What is it? So far, nothing. But Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg predicted in January that “breakthrough augmented reality glasses” would be the next big thing, and in March the company announced it was buying Plessey, a British electronics firm that specialises in power-efficient microLED screens for augmented reality (AR) headsets. Facebook confirmed it was looking at a “glasses form factor”. What do they do? AR glasses would superimpose computer graphics on the wearer’s view, making many of the things you do with your smartphone more immediate and immersive. Wherever you look, it could identify what you’re seeing and offer relevant assistance. What’s the catch? This is Facebook we’re talking about. The same Facebook that makes billions from your personal data. It’s pretty obvious why they’d be interested in an always-on…

HEADPHONES ❘ £160 from Amazon www.snipca.com/34558 You can’t deny that the design of these over-ear active noise-cancelling (ANC) wireless headphones is functional. The lightweight but comfortable memory foam cups and easily adjustable padded headband fold up two ways, suiting either the supplied case or stowing in a bag or coat pocket. On the other hand, they also look ‘functional’. By which we mean not pretty. That might explain why they’re not more widely stocked, but it turns out they sound better than they look. For about £100 less than the standard-setting Bose QuietComfort 35 II (£250 from Amazon www.snipca.com/34545), you don’t quite get the same silencing of nearly all incoming frequencies, but we found music and voice content sounded crisp and detailed, with rich bass, over much-reduced background noise. The…

ANDROID Disable lock screen at home Locking your screen when out and about is sensible, because it stops anyone walking off with your phone and using it. That’s less of a risk at home, though, so Android lets you set your home as a trusted place and, when it recognises that you’re there courtesy of its location features, it doesn’t invoke the lock screen until you next leave. Whenever you pick it up in the interim, it’ll be ready to use. Open Android’s Settings app and tap ‘Security & location’, followed by Smart Lock. Android briefly explains what the feature does. When you’ve read it, tap Understood. There are four options: to keep it unlocked when it’s on you, when you’re at a trusted location, close to a trusted device,…

WINDOWS 7, 8.1 & 10 Make Task Manager data easier to interpret When your computer suddenly slows down, it’s usually because a specific program is hogging your system’s resources (Chrome is one of the usual suspects). Task Manager (press Ctrl+Shift+Escape) displays all programs that are currently running and is a good first port of call to check which program is causing the problem. However, being a tool that runs in real time, it is constantly updating, meaning items jump up and down its list, making it hard to interpret the data. To slow things down, click the View menu, followed by ‘Update speed’. You’ll now see four options that let you control how frequently Task Manager updates (see screenshot below) –High updates every 0.5 seconds, Normal (the default) every one…

Is that how you stand when you’re holding a tablet? It could be – back straight, shoulders back, arms in front. But it’s also Microsoft’s new term for describing the form a laptop-tablet takes when it’s being the latter. And what form is that? When the tablet is detached from the keyboard and held in front of you, or folded back and placed on a table in a tent shape. For some years, Microsoft has been trying to build a version of Windows that’s as easy to use with your fingers on touchscreen tablets as it is with a keyboard and mouse on desktop PCs. After several false starts, it may be returning to the idea. Doesn’t Windows have a tablet mode already? Yes, first appearing in 2015 with the…

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT Can I move my diary to a new iPhone? Q I have had an old iPhone 3GS for years. One app that I use every day is called iDiary. I cannot remember if this app came with the phone, or whether I had downloaded it from the App Store. Regardless, I’ve got diary entries going back years and I’m wondering if it’s possible to transfer this app (and its entries) to a new iPhone? I’ve been told this can be done, but considering the iPhone 3GS is so old, I have my doubts about this being possible. Any advice you can give me would be much appreciated. Pearl Raikes A Usually, this is not only just possible, but easy. The fundamental requirement is to ensure that…

There are so many hoaxes and scams about Coronavirus online that it can be difficult to find genuine information. Here’s an essential list of legitimate sites whose advice you can trust. • Asthma UK Advice from the charity about how to manage your asthma: www.snipca.com/34551 • BBC postcode map Check the number of cases in your area: www.snipca.com/34553 • Carers UK Details about how to stay safe if you’re caring for someone: www.snipca.com/34552 • Google’s official Coronavirus page Contains links to useful videos and commonly asked questions: www.google.com/covid19 • Johns Hopkins global map Track the number of cases, deaths and recoveries worldwide (pictured): www.snipca.com/34550 • NHS Expert medical advice, including symptoms to look out for and how to protect your mental wellbeing: www.snipca.com/34548 • UK Government Check for the latest…

Drug-dealing gangs are targeting vulnerable children who hang around in locations that provide free Wi-Fi. Teenagers keen to stay online often congregate in such areas when they’ve used up the credit on their pay-as-you-go phones. A report by the Howard League for Penal Reform warns that criminals will approach children wherever they hang out, which includes Wi-Fi hotspots as well as at more traditional gathering locations such as parks and bus stops. The charity claimed that children were being “criminally exploited and abused” because of failures in local and central government. There are over two million free Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK according to Wiman (www.wiman.me), an app that shows where they are located. It says there are just over two million hotspots across the country. More than 700,000 of…

For some years I have supported a local charity in Eastbourne called Computers for Charities, which formed 25 years ago when it was realised that many computers could be refurbished instead of going into landfill sites. Since then it has gone from strength to strength. The machines that are donated to the charity are aiding charities and organisations across the UK, and indeed globally in conjunction with the Microsoft Refurbisher programme (www.msregrefurb.com). However, as a charity we rely totally upon donations and presently we are desperate for laptops, particularly at this critical time when so many people have to work from home. Currently, we are inundated with requests for support nationwide, and we therefore ask if your readers can help us with laptop donations to enable our voluntary sector to…

When reader Len Winstanley paid £34.99 for a watch that turned out to be faulty, he thought getting a refund would be straightforward. But as we reported in Issue 575, the website he bought from, www.all4onedirect.com, wasn’t replying to his emails, and its phone number was dead. We had no luck contacting it either. We investigated the website and didn’t like what we found. It’s using a PO box as an address, which is illegal. Under the E Commerce Regulations, a full geographic address must be given on a website. Plus, the website’s registered to someone in Toronto, Canada, so we’re not even sure whether the seller is based in the UK. Len was clearly not going to get a refund from the website, so he was thankful he had…

I read with interest your tip in Issue 565 on using Family Tree Analyzer to track down missing census records. Manually checking each person against different census records is a bit time-consuming. Is there a quicker alternative? Diana Stewart If you switch to Family Tree Analyzer’s ‘Research Suggestions’ tab, you’ll see a ‘View UK Colour Census Report’. Click this for a complete list of the people in your tree with a handy table-like view of each census. Missing records are coloured red. You can double-click the red box to search for the record online using one of five genealogical search engines. Have a genealogy question for Nick? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

There’s never a good time to have a pandemic, but I’m grateful that we’ve got so much technology at our fingertips to help look out for each other and beat the lockdown blues. From group video calls to relatives (see our feature on Zoom, page 60) to keeping up to date with the latest developments and losing myself in an ebook, I’d be lost without my PC. So when I got an SOS call from a self-isolating friend who was having trouble with his PC, I was more than happy to help. I fired up Chrome Remote Desktop (my favourite remote access tool) so I could find out what the problem was and hopefully fix it. At least that was the plan. I managed to talk my friend through the…

PC ❘ £600 from AlphaBetaPC www.snipca.com/34422 When building budget PCs, manufacturers have to make sure that every penny counts. Recently, UK firms Palicomp (see our review, Issue 576, page 22) and Wired2Fire (Issue 577, page 22) came up with their own takes on a £600 system using completely different combinations of components. Now here’s AlphaBetaPC’s. And it’s a bit odd. “A striking design can’t hide some odd component choices and so-so performance” First impressions would have been even more surprising had we not already seen the company’s unique cuboid glass case (see Issue 571, page 22), which is a lot of fun and surprisingly practical. Again, LED-lit fans – more impressive in the evenings than in our studio-based picture above – give it a science-fiction glow. This time, though, despite…

Can I set up a home office for less than £700? Q Like millions of others, I’m working from home during the Coronavirus lockdown. That means I need to sort out a home office sharpish. I have a laptop that I normally use when not at work, but it’s not all that comfortable to work on full-time. I should probably add a monitor, and I hate using the touchpad – what’s the best mouse I can attach to it? I’ll need a printer that can do both A3 and A4, and some way of extending my Wi-Fi into my loft, where I can work relatively undisturbed. I may be able to claim some of it back on expenses, but any chance I could keep the total cost below £700? Simon…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2019 Back Issue CD: £15 from www.snipca.com/33711 LAPTOP HP £880 from www.snipca.com/33308 Tested Issue 568 Thanks to eighth-gen Intel processors and dedicated Nvidia MX250 graphics, this sleek aluminium laptop offers a practical combination of all-round processing power and portability, topped off by 8 hours 30 minutes battery life – and the touchscreen is now excellent too. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 Gets the most out of Intel CPUs, now tenth-gen, but there’s no GPU option and the cheapest sensible configuration is £1,049 from www.snipca.com/33309 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 9.7 £374 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). Apple’s…

I don’t have an aerial, cable or satellite dish. Having moved into a newly built home eight years ago, with fairly decent broadband, I decided to shift my viewing online, and haven’t missed out at all. Initially I streamed using an old computer plugged into the back of my TV, but I now use both a Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV to add smart features to my ‘dumb’ TV. For a total outlay of less than £300 (£200 for the HD TV set and around £90 for the dongles) I’ve got the widest range of entertainment possible, and the freedom to switch between services at will. What are your experiences of streaming TV around your home? Please let us know: letters@computeractive.co.uk…

Google Podcasts Free iOS www.snipca.com/34475 Android www.snipca.com/34476 Google Podcasts has finally come to iOS, at the same time as getting a fresh new look on Android. You can subscribe to your favourite streams, download them for offline playback, and sync subscriptions across multiple devices, through the browser and to Google smart speakers. We like the manual speed controls to speed up wordy productions or slow down foreign language. Redshift Sky Pro £6.99 iOS www.snipca.com/34477 Android www.snipca.com/34478 Redshift has long been a highly regarded astronomy app for PCs, and with Redshift Sky it’s gone mobile. The app uses location services to work out your position, and renders the night sky exactly as you’d see it if you looked up, making it easy to identify the stars within sight. Also, take a…

LIBREOFFICE WRITER Redact specific words from documents LibreOffice has a useful tool that lets you redact sections from a document, then export the redacted version as a PDF. We’ve previously explained how to hide sections by drawing redaction boxes over them yourself (see Issue 562, page 47), but you can also make redactions of specific words – useful if you want to remove all mentions of a person’s name from a document, for example. Open your document in LibreOffice Writer, then go to the Tools menu at the top and select Auto-Redact. In the window that appears, click Add Target. Give the target a name (or just leave it as the default ‘Target 1’), leave the Type set to Text, then enter the word you want to redact in the…

Skype, FaceTime and WhatsApp are all popular options for video calls. However, while fine for quick one-to-one catch-ups, they’re not so good for group calls. Not only do they lack the features to manage your calls better, but they also often suffer from low-quality video and frequent drop-outs. Launched in 2011 and based in California, Zoom is different. Instead of calling people directly, you invite them to join calls in the form of online meetings. And with the free version allowing up to 100 people to join the same call, it’s perfect for family catch-ups, birthday celebrations or even large-scale neighbourhood meetings. Don’t be put off by Zoom’s primary focus being business exchanges. You’re unlikely to need all of its collaboration tools (such as virtual whiteboards), but as we’ll explain…

Why can’t I make calls with Microsoft’s Your Phone? Q I tried to set up Microsoft Your Phone, as per the Workshop published in Issue 574. Your article said that the app would enable making calls “directly from your PC”. I imagined that it would then connect via Wi-Fi. However, I cannot get the app to work. Could this be because I don’t get a mobile phone signal where I live in Kent? The odd thing is that when using WhatsApp I can make calls on my mobile via my Wi-Fi connection. It works well and is free for calls anywhere in the world. Would you kindly confirm whether this app should work in my situation? Lawrence Moss A You didn’t tell us whether you’re getting an error message, but…

The Government has ordered social-media sites to crack down on “crackpot” conspiracy theories that link 5G to the Coronavirus pandemic. Videos posted online falsely claim that 5G weakens the body’s immune system, making it more susceptible to the virus, and that masts can spread the disease. Scientists have dismissed such claims as “complete rubbish” and biologically impossible. This misinformation appears to have provoked several arson attacks on phone masts. Videos claiming to show masts on fire in Birmingham, Liverpool and Melling in Merseyside have been uploaded to the web (pictured), but it’s not known whether they’re genuine, or whether the masts contained 5G technology. Networks have said other sites had been attacked, but didn’t reveal the locations. A spokeswoman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: “We have…

BUY AMAZON PRIME SHOWS THROUGH IPAD Amazon now lets iPad and iPhone users rent films and TV shows directly through its Prime Video app. Previously, Amazon forced you to leave the app and visit the Prime site in a browser. It did this in order to avoid having to give Apple a portion of the fee paid by customers. But the two companies have now agreed a system that allows direct payment via the app. SHARE FROM FILE EXPLORER TO SKYPE You’ll soon be able to share files directly from File Explorer to Skype by right clicking. The option is currently being tested in the Skype Insider Preview, and should appear in the full version soon. Visit Microsoft’s site to see what else is new in Skype: www.snipca.com/34453. THE WORLD’S…

WATCH OUT FOR… Fake update pages for Google Chrome What’s the threat? Scammers are redirecting users from websites to fake updates for the Chrome browser. They’re infecting certain sites built using WordPress with malicious JavaScript code that sends you from your intended site to the fake update page. These bogus updates install TeamViewer, a legitimate program for remotely accessing someone else’s computer from your own (see how you’re meant to use it on page 20). Using this tool, they disable Windows Defender and then perform malicious tasks on your PC. How can you stay safe? The most important thing to remember is that Google will never ask you to update Chrome via a website. Instead, it updates automatically whenever you restart your PC or Chrome itself. You can always check…

Two articles in Issue 577 illustrated the broadband chasm that divides the UK. In ‘Question of the Fortnight’ (page 10, pictured), you explain how people can legally request 10Mbps using the Universal Service Obligation (USO). That’s all well and good, but on page9 you mention plans to make sure all newly built homes can get 1Gbps broadband. What a shocking difference! On one hand, people stuck on pathetic single-digit Mbp snow have the luxury of demanding 10Mbps, while on the other hand, people moving into new homes can join the broadband aristocracy to bathe in the splendour of Gigabit speeds. When there’s such a disparity between available speeds, it’s scandalous that the USO is set as low as 10Mbps. The crucial factor is that around three million homes can now…

I purchased a laptop from Ebuyer (www.ebuyer.com) and within five months the battery just wouldn’t charge. I contacted Ebuyer about this problem, and the company promptly appointed a Customer Care Operative to my case. He emailed and telephoned me, and I returned the laptop and charger to them free of charge. Within 48 hours of receiving the faulty laptop they offered me a refund, which I accepted. Having searched the internet for alternatives, I went back to Ebuyer to buy a replacement, though I chose another make of PC, needless to say! I’ve worked in a job that requires dealing with the public, so I really appreciated their attitude and efficiency. Has a company impressed you with its customer service? Please let us know: editor@computeractive.co.uk Contact Ebuyer…

SYSTEM TOOL PowerToys 0.16 www.snipca.com/34560 What you need: Windows 10 After being made open source by Microsoft last year, PowerToys has steadily grown in size, with this version adding two useful tools. The first, Image Resizer, lets you quickly adjust the size of photos and other images using a range of preset values. You can access it by right-clicking an image in File Explorer (see 1 below). A window will appear, giving you a range of sizes to choose from (or you can set your own size). By default, images are saved as JPEGs, but you can choose a different format in the settings. We found it worked extremely well, resizing 57 photos in just a couple of seconds, and it’s perfect if you want to quickly shrink a selection…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: DriverDownloader Recently I found myself writing about how to take control of your PC’s updates (see Cover Feature, Issue 577), which led me to reinvestigate tools that claim to help you manage driver updates for hardware. I quickly came to the conclusion that these are mostly a waste of time. Windows 10 downloads some (but not all) driver updates automatically. Your best bet for the rest is to run a manual check every so often to see if there are updates available from the manufacturer. Most driver-updater tools are next to useless – and some are clearly just designed to load junk on your PC. Among the worst is DriverDownloader from a company called Drivers.com (www.drivers.com). A link to the site comes pretty high in…

External SSDs work as soon as you plug them into your PC, don’t need a separate power cable and aren’t easily damaged. Capacities vary from 128GB to 4TB, and speeds from around 500 megabytes per second (MB/s, about four times faster than a hard drive) to 3,000. Exactly how fast data moves depends on what kind of files you’re reading or writing. Speed may also be limited by the connection used. The drive’s socket will be either USB Mini-B or the newer USB-C. Whether it’s described as USB 3.0, 3.1 or 3.2 doesn’t matter, but you need to distinguish between Gen1, Gen2 and Thunderbolt 3. The Mini-B interface could be either Gen1, supporting up to 5Gbps speeds (a similar limit to the internal SATA III connection) or Gen2 (up to…

PHONE ❘ £499 from Amazon www.snipca.com/34533 If you like Samsung phones but can’t afford the new Galaxy S20 (which starts at £799 and rises to £1,399 for the flagship model S20 Ultra), the S10 Lite is a cheaper alternative. It’s quite different from last year’s S10, but recognisably an up-to-date Galaxy device, even if the rear panel – available in blue, black or white – is plastic rather than glass. There’s a pinhole selfie notch in the huge full-width Super AMOLED screen, which incorporates the fingerprint reader, and on the back a big fat rectangular camera bulge. This has room for six components, but only four are fitted. Besides the LED flash, there’s a 48-megapixel main sensor plus 12-megapixel ultra-wide and 5-megapixel macro lenses. Although we miss the S10’s telephoto…

Synology’s DS218j NAS two-bay drive uses Cloud Station to back up your files incrementally in real time. This means it backs up only files that have been changed, and divides them into even smaller parts, demanding significantly less system resources than traditional backup methods. The drive uses Synology’s ‘Intelliversioning’ technology to sync files and keep only the most important versions to better utilise storage space. It’s easy to access files over the internet without the hassle of setting up port-forwarding rules, DDNS, or other complicated network settings. The Quick Connect tool lets you connect via a secure, customisable address, so that you can instantly access media and work files on any internet-connected device with no additional charge. It can read files at over 113 MB/s, and write them at 112…

By and large, big numbers are better where quality is concerned. A 1080 resolution video will comprise 1080 horizontal rows of pixels, a 720 resolution video will be 720, and so on. The number of columns is calculated with reference to the aspect ratio of the picture, such as 16:10, 4:3 and so on, to keep everything in proportion. The ‘i’ and ‘p’ that follow the number of rows describes the order in which the horizontal rows are drawn on screen, with ‘i’ standing for interlaced, and ‘p’ for progressive. If the picture is 1080i, then the odd rows of data (lines one, three, five and so on, all the way down to row 1079) will be drawn first, then left on screen as the video player loops back and…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Buy refurbished Dell PCs then upgrade to Windows 10 I’ve been reading Computeractive for many years and always enjoy all the features, particularly because it’s written in plain English. In Issue 574 (page 26), Ray Bingham asks if it’s possible to upgrade his PC for less than £350. My wife and Irun a small business and needed to upgrade our Windows 7 PCs – they were used as everyday office workhorses. We purchased some computers from Dell Refurbished (www.dellrefurbished.co.uk, pictured). This has a wide selection of PCs that are recent models and start for around £199 or less. They have a basic warranty and you have a choice of grade A or B computers (grade As look like new – you wouldn’t know they had been…

Houzz Free iOS www.snipca.com/34481 Android www.snipca.com/34482 Houzz is packed with inspirational home-improvement photos and advice. Filter by room or style to isolate the part of your home you’re about to start work on, and you can tap your way through some of the world’s most beautiful accommodation. In many cases, furniture and decor are matched to a tag; tap this for a closer look. Best For Home-improvement inspiration DIY Project Ideas Free Android www.snipca.com/34480 Scroll through the pictures of DIY and craft ideas until something catches your eye, then tap ‘How to…’ for instructions. Even if you don’t follow them step by step, there’s a wide variety of ideas – from using coloured tape to line your shelves to making a side table using an offcut of wood. Best For…

Create a Slack account for your club The lockdown might be preventing your club’s members from meeting in person, but there are plenty of other ways to keep in touch. WhatsApp is a popular choice, but it can soon become chaotic if everyone starts posting messages in the same group and important announcements can get overlooked. Slack is a far more powerful alternative. It lets you set up different message groups (or ‘channels’, as Slack calls them), send private messages to specific members and much more. Create your Slack account To get started, go to www.snipca.com/34457 and select the free package. Enter the email address you want to register the account with. A code will be sent to this address, which you’ll then need to enter on the Slack website…

What is a long-press? Much like right-clicking on your PC, long-pressing (holding your finger on your phone or tablet screen for a couple of seconds as opposed to tapping quickly) lets you perform extra actions. These actions depend on the button or icon you’re long-pressing, as we’ll explain. Quickly connect to networks and devices You can quickly turn functions like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on and off from your device’s home screen by swiping down from the top of the screen (on Android) or up from the bottom (on iOS to access the Control Centre, from the right on newer models), then tapping the relevant icons. But by long-pressing these icons, you can access even more controls. On iOS devices, long-press the block of four wireless controls (airplane mode, 3G/4G, Bluetooth…

1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 1920x1080 pixels. 256-bit encryption Military-grade level of encryption. 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. 5G The next (fifth) generation of mobile networks, to eventually supersede 4G. 802.11ac A standard for wireless networks that allows for much higher transfer speeds than 802.11n. 802.11ax Wi-Fi standard with speeds up to 10 times faster than 802.11ac. Also called Wi-Fi 6. Active noise cancelling Method for reducing unwanted sound by adding a second sound specifically designed to cancel the first. Add-in Microsoft’s name for tools that can be added to Office software. Adobe RGB…

There are lots of things to be thankful for at the moment: the tireless dedication of NHS workers, a renewed sense of neighbourly support, the resigned good humour of the British public. But if I’m allowed to be selfish for a moment, boy am I thankful that we had a loft conversion four years ago. I’ve spent the past few weeks cocooned up here, having Zoom meetings with members of Computeractive staff, who have also been exiled to forgotten corners of their homes. I could work downstairs in the kitchen or on the lounge sofa, but only if I also wanted to referee Lego fights between two young kids desperate to run outside and explore the world. Before deciding to set up camp in the loft, I had to check…