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Spam seemed to get a lot worse in 2021. I reckon I spent 20 minutes every day dealing with nuisance calls, scam texts and dodgy emails. That was 121 hours wasted when I could’ve been doing something more productive, like attempting to cancel the direct debit to my defunct energy company (10 emails, 14 phone calls and counting). My New Year’s resolution, therefore, is to change my name to Engelbert Flimflam, move to 67 Collywobble Crescent, and ask the web to give me a new face. We explain how to do all three plus much more in our Cover Feature, which is a lot less daunting – and sinister – than it sounds. Faking your identity is not pretending to be someone else. It’s pretending to be someone who doesn’t…

Microsoft has now ended support for the May 2020 Feature Update for Windows 10 (version 2004), and is encouraging anyone running it to update their system to a more recent edition. To see if you have an update pending, open Settings (Windows key+I), click ‘Update & Security’, then Windows Update on the left. Now click the ‘Check for updates’ button. The company supports Feature updates for 18 months after release, as confirmed on its Lifecycle page: www.snipca.com/40508. The November 2020 Update (20H2) will be the next version to lose support, on 10 May.…

GOOGLE CLOSES TOOLBAR AFTER 21 YEARS Google has closed its internet toolbar, which was one of its oldest surviving tools. It launched in 2000 for Internet Explorer as a way to search the web without having to open Google’s home page, but became obsolete when browsers began to let you search by typing in the URL address bar. Google confirmed its closure at www.snipca.com/40457. AUSSIE WINS EXCEL WORLD CUP 2021 Australian Andrew Ngai has been crowned the world’s top Excel expert after winning the 2021 Financial Modeling World Cup. He won $10,000 (about £7,500) after beating seven other finalists who had to solve increasingly complicated problems using spreadsheets. All the spreadsheet calculations were recorded online, and are available to watch on YouTube: www.snipca.com/40459.…

Virgin Media O2 says it has finished upgrading its entire network of 15.5 million homes to gigabit speeds. It becomes the first major provider to have completed a full gigabit upgrade, offering speeds that now average 1,130Mbps (1.13Gbps) – more than 22 times faster than the national average of 50.4Mbps. Properties in Exeter, Luton, Rochdale and parts of Surrey were among the final 1.1 million to be connected. The company boasted that it has “single-handedly” hit its target in just two years, adding that this represents two-thirds of the Government’s ambition to connect 85 per cent of the UK by 2025. Openreach, Virgin Media O2’s biggest rival, has so far connected six million premises to gigabit speeds, and aims to reach 25 million by December 2026. Lutz Schüler, Chief Executive…

AMAZON SELLS COVID TEST KITS FOR £35 Amazon has started selling its own PCR test (pictured) for Covid-19, which it has been using for months on its staff. Once you send back the kit, Amazon will process it at its laboratory and let you view the result online. The tests are approved by the Government, and are valid for travel abroad. Prices start at £34.99 – see www.snipca.com/40463. DISCOVERY+ NOW ON ROKU DEVICES Streaming service Discovery+ (www.discoveryplus.com) is now available on Roku TV devices in the UK, providing documentaries, true-crime shows and sport – including the 2022 Winter Olympics next month. It costs £4.99 a month for the entertainment package, or £6.99 for entertainment and sport. You can subscribe directly through the Roku channel. The cheapest Roku is the Express,…

‘Bounce tracking’ sounds rather fun, like a game of chase you might play on Space Hoppers. In reality, it’s a dubious technique advertising networks use to track you even when you’ve blocked cookies. It works by quickly loading an intermediary site when you click a link - adding cookies to track your activity - then taking you to the site you wanted. You don’t realise you’re being ‘bounced’ to an intermediary site, and your browser doesn’t notice the site has added a sneaky tracking cookie. In August 2020, Mozilla strengthened Firefox’s security to protect against bounce tracking (see www.snipca.com/40378). Now the privacy-focused Brave browser has done the same by introducing a feature called ‘Debouncing’ (see www.snipca.com/40376). This feature is active by default, so all you have to do is make…

I’m feeling brave, so want to attempt Microsoft’s official workaround for installing Windows 11 on computers that aren’t compatible. Can you remind me which issue you explained how to do that? James Cobb CA SAYS Yes, it was the Workshop in Issue 618, on page 38. Good luck! When did you explain how to move bookmarks from Chrome to Brave? Terry Crockford CA SAYS In Issue 611’s Cover Feature – page 56. I’ve lost the recent issue that had the PC monitors Group Test. When was it, and which was the cheapest AOC model? Joseph Hall CA SAYS It was in Issue 618 (pages 24-25), and AOC’s cheapest model was the Q34E2A (£243 from www.snipca.com/39703). We gave it four stars.…

PayPal never discusses individual cases with us (understandably so), but we like to think our email to the company nudged it into refunding reader Jordan Ingram (see Issue 620), after initially refusing to settle his claim. Jordan got in touch with us after two records he’d bought from an independent label failed to turn up. Despite providing PayPal with the evidence needed, including confirmation from the record label that he was owed a refund, Jordan’s claim was denied. He thinks this may have been because he didn’t fill in the claims form correctly – something PayPal has been increasingly strict about since the start of the Covid pandemic. PayPal gives users 10 days to appeal its verdict of a claim (as explained at www.snipca.com/40282). We don’t know whether Jordan launched…

FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org) has changed its search format, and I can’t get my head around it. Is there a way of reverting to the old format? David Phillip Sadly no. Instead, to narrow your search results you’ll have to combine the advanced search parameters (which pop up under ‘More Options’) with the filters that appear above the search results. It’s not ideal, but should make the new search tool easier to live with. Have a genealogy question for Nick? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

Choose a security camera from a big-name company (Ring, Google and so on) and you’ll pay a lot for both the device and the subscription required to watch the footage. One alternative is to buy a budget camera and store footage on an SD card, but these typically have fewer features. My solution to this dilemma was to buy a budget camera, and combine it with Synology Surveillance Station, which is free software that works with any Synology NAS drive. This meant I could control the camera through my 1TB NAS and store the footage there, rather than on the camera’s SD card. First, I checked on Synology’s site (www.snipca.com/40243) for a camera that’s compatible with Surveillance Station. I like Annke’s cameras because video quality is excellent and the cameras…

Social media has many problems, not least that people think they can say what the hell they like. Natasha Dawn from Nottinghamshire has found out the hard way that you can’t. Dawn tormented a woman with up to 80 abusive messages a day on Instagram and Twitter, after she made a comment defending former EastEnders star Danniella Westbrook, who Dawn had been targeting online. The charming Dawn accused the woman of child abuse, made taunts about her dead mother, and claimed she was lying about a cancer diagnosis. When Dawn’s social-media accounts were shut down, she opened new ones and carried on. She pleaded guilty to three counts of stalking and is now serving three years inside.…

It wasn’t too long ago that your internet connection probably did little more than deliver your emails and let you browse web pages. Now, with your smart TV connected to on-demand and video-streaming services, it’s likely to be taking up more of your bandwidth than your PC. To make the most of today’s streaming services, you need a decent smart TV. High-definition 1080p models were perfectly adequate when we received TV signals via rooftop aerials and satellite dishes, but today’s streaming services work up to 4K (3840x2160 pixels). They also use advances in contrast and colour reproduction – called High Dynamic Range (HDR) – to ensure that the pictures you’re seeing on your TV are exactly as the filmmaker intended. These specifications used to be the preserve of huge sets…

What does it do? A Power Supply Unit (PSU) is the component in a desktop PC that takes the electricity from the power socket and distributes it to the other components within your PC. How does it work? Different machines require different amounts of power. A basic PC that lacks a dedicated graphics card, and has only a single hard drive or SSD, will need a lot less power than a high-end computer housing a number of demanding components. This means the basic machine can get by with a cheaper PSU that supplies a relatively low amount of power. However, if you intend to add more components in the future, you might also need to upgrade your PSU. What are the specs? The key specification of a PSU is how…

EXTENDER | £42 from Amazon www.snipca.com/40363 The Rock Space AC2100 WiFi Range Extender is a black plastic box with an integrated plug that slots straight into a power socket to boost your existing Wi-Fi 5 signal. It’s ideal for pushing Wi-Fi from a distant router into areas of your house that wouldn’t otherwise receive a reliable signal. The device is relatively bulky at 150x109x119mm (HxDxW), so if you have double sockets, it’s worth measuring before you buy to make sure it won’t obscure the neighbouring plug. It has four antennas that you can rotate to find the strongest signal. When fully extended, these increase the height of the extender by a further 71mm. “An easy way to boost your Wi-Fi, but it doesn’t support the latest standards” LEDs on the…

Eufy’s SoloCam S40 works by solar power, so you never have to worry about charging the battery. The ultrabright 600-lumen spotlight switches on as soon as motion is detected, shining a light on any unwanted guests, while the colour night vision picks out details in the darkness up to eight metres away. It captures every event that occurs around your home in ultra-clear 2K resolution. In addition, it uses artificial intelligence to make sure it only records when a person is present, rather than an animal or a passing car. This will eradicate false alarms. As soon as it spots a visitor the camera sends the image straight to the Eufy Security app on your phone. You can then use your phone to sound the 90dB alarm and flash the…

I store most of my data on external drives, either online or on my home network. That way, whichever computer I’m using, whether it’s running Windows, macOS or Linux, I have access to the same files. Introducing a new computer, therefore, rarely involves migrating much data, although if that were to change, I would certainly consider using Laplink PCmover. Setting up the two computers so they can see each other across my network was simple, and the process of selecting which files I wanted to transfer was easy, and didn’t require any other devices to use as an intermediate staging post. How do you transfer your data? Please let us know: letters@computeractive.co.uk…

CHROME Delete data stored by websites more easily Google is starting the New Year with a new version of Chrome (97), which simplifies the process of deleting data that websites store about you. Previously the browser let you protect your privacy by removing individual site cookies – we explained how to do this in our ‘Block all cookie pop-ups’ feature in Issue 618 (page 60). However, Google believes that these ‘granular controls’ were causing users to delete cookies that were essential to sites working properly, so it has now introduced a more streamlined approach. To try this in Chrome 97, click the three-dot menu button and choose Settings, then ‘Security and privacy’ (this option was formerly called ‘Privacy and security’). Select ‘Site settings’ and click ‘View permissions and data stored…

ANDROID & iOS Make all your WhatsApp messages self-destruct WhatsApp has expanded its feature that makes your messages automatically disappear. Previously, you could set specific chats to be deleted after seven days, but you can now use self-destructing messages as the default option in all new conversations, and decide when they automatically disappear. To turn on disappearing messages for all new WhatsApp chats (it won’t work with existing conversations), open Settings in the app and choose Account, then Privacy. Select ‘Default message timer’ and choose when you want your messages to be deleted: after 24 hours, seven days or 90 days (see screenshot below). Alternatively, to use the feature only when talking to a particular contact, press that contact’s name, tap ‘Disappearing messages’ and choose your preference. You can also…

WINDOWS 11 Compare your photos side by side A ‘multi-view’ option in Windows 11’s new Photos app makes it easy to compare images by placing them side by side. A ‘filmstrip’ of images appears at the bottom of the screen, allowing you to jump quickly between photos. If you move the cursor over a photo in the filmstrip, a box appears in the top-right corner (1 in our screenshot below). Click the box to select the image, which then appears bigger in the area above 2. Repeat this until you’ve selected all the photos you want to compare. WINDOWS 10 & 11 Change which options you see in ‘Device and Printers’ You can add and remove some of the ‘Sort by’ and ‘Group by’ options in the ‘Devices and Printers’…

When you paste new data over existing data across a number of spreadsheet cells, you usually want it to replace all the data that’s already there. However, this may not be the case if you want to change only cells that contain new data, leaving the original data in place. You can do this by using blank cells for data that stays the same. For example, if you keep a spreadsheet of your utility bills, you can replace only the data that has changed. In our example in Excel, the blank cells on the right (1 in our screenshot) indicate there was no change to the bill from one year to the next. Now highlight all the cells, right-click them and select Copy. Then highlight where you want to paste…

Fake news remains a big problem online, especially on social media. However, there’s no harm in creating your own fake content for the amusement (or pranking) of family and friends, provided you’re not spreading misinformation. For example, the website Break Your Own News (www.snipca.com/40361) lets you mock up a Sky News-style story, complete with a headline, photo and news ticker of your choice (see screenshot). You can then download the result as a PNG image or share it on Facebook. You can also create fake Facebook posts and Twitter tweets using a tool called Prank Me Not (www.prankmenot.com). Click one of the buttons on the homepage, then customise the template by adding a name, text and image. You can even add fake ‘liked’ and ‘shared’ counts. Similarly, Fake Details lets…

Drive Mode Dashboard Free Android: www.snipca.com/40271 Although it’s advertised as a dashboard for motorbikes, Drive Mode Dashboard has several features that are just as useful to car drivers. These include shortcuts to a slimmed-down selection of external apps to save you hunting through the full list, and useful velocity and distance indicators. The developers plan to add weather and map views soon, as well as a media player. Here WeGo Maps & Navigation Free Android: www.snipca.com/40272 iOS: www.snipca.com/40273 When you’re driving on unfamiliar roads, it’s easy to creep over the speed limit – especially if you’re also trying to read road signs and negotiate heavy traffic. Here WeGo provides an audible warning if you break the speed limit for your current location, reminding you to slow down. It also has…

Email us your problem and we’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT What’s this red bar in my drive? Q I’m a long-time Computeractive subscriber, so I’m hoping you might be able to shed some light on my problem. One of my Toshiba external drives has a red bar next to it in Windows, but it still has 79GB of storage left (see screenshot right). The other external drive has never shown this red bar. Is there a limit to how much storage is left? Stuart Hillier A In the most literal sense there’s a limit to how much storage is left on any drive, because each has a finite capacity. In your case, the File Explorer screenshot you sent us shows that you have a couple of…

Why can’t I use Secure Boot? Q I ran Microsoft’s PC Health Check app on my Windows 10 computer. Apart from the TPM 2.0 problem, it said my PC wasn’t using Secure Boot and that I’d need to change this in BIOS. Sure enough, when I checked, my boot settings were both Legacy and UEFI. I changed them to UEFI-only but my boot-drive list disappeared! Only when I reverted to Legacy and UEFI did I get my boot drives back. What can I do? Paul Cluett A This is because your system drive is currently formatted to use a master-boot record, or MBR. In order to use Secure Boot it’ll need to be converted to what’s known as GUID PT (or GPT), which stands for globally unique partition table. First,…

Happy New Year everyone. Do you mind if I take a peek at your calendar for 2022? Yes, you probably do, because it’s none of my business, but I always have an irresistible urge to glance at people’s wall calendars when I pop into their kitchens to get a glass of water. I don’t know why, because the entries are invariably mundane or obscure: ‘Dad’s birthday’, ‘Dentist 11am’, ‘Aliens arrive, Biggin Hill’. And I certainly wouldn’t want someone flicking through my schedule and clocking what a dull life I lead. Most sensible folk now plan the personal and confidential sides of their lives through online calendars, which fends off nosey parkers like me and means they only share details of upcoming events with Google, Microsoft, Apple or any passing hackers.…

Football dominated Google searches in the UK during 2021 as England reached the final of Euro 2020 – their first tournament final since winning the World Cup in 1966. ‘Euros’ was Google’s top trending search term for the year, which means it had the biggest increase compared with 2020. It was followed by ‘Premier League’ and ‘Christian Eriksen’, who suffered a cardiac arrest while playing for Denmark against Finland in the tournament. Only one term in the top 10 (see box below left) relates directly to the Covid-19 pandemic (‘Covid vaccine’), though ‘Matt Hancock’ appears in sixth place. The Conservative MP for West Suffolk resigned as Health Secretary in June after revelations that he had broken Covid rules by having an affair. Three of the top searches were for people…

CONTROL BBC SOUNDS THROUGH SONOS APP Sonos has added BBC Sounds to its phone and tablet app, making it easier to play BBC podcasts and radio stations through Sonos speakers. It’s currently available as a preview (www.snipca.com/40424), and will be released fully in the coming weeks. Read more on the BBC’s Media Centre site: www.snipca.com/40423. BITDEFENDER CLOSES FREE VERSION Bitdefender has stopped offering the free version of its antivirus software, though it will continue to provide tech support for existing customers until 30 June. It gave users on the Free package the chance to upgrade to the five-device edition of Bitdefender Total Security for £8.98 (full price £69.99), but this offer expired on 31 December.…

Google has released a beta version of its new Android 12L operating system, which is designed for mobile devices with larger screens, such as tablets and folding phones. Its main difference from the standard Android is a two-column interface, making it easier to perform different tasks on the same screen. This is illustrated in our screenshot, which shows settings on the left (for WiFi, Bluetooth, Alarm and more), and messages from contacts on the right. Other features are meant to make “multitasking even more powerful and intuitive”. These include swiping gestures that let you launch split-screen mode and move through apps you’ve recently used (see how this looks at www.snipca.com/40474). The first beta is aimed at developers testing their apps, and isn’t widely available yet for Android tablets, though it…

‘Tax refund’ from DVLA A few weeks before Christmas, I received a text message supposedly from the DVLA saying it had been trying to contact me because I was due a refund for overpaying my vehicle tax. It was a large enough amount (£103.57) to grab my interest, but it also made me suspicious. I was never seriously tempted to tap the link in the message that would supposedly allow them to process the refund. A quick search online confirmed that this was a scam. The message looked similar to the scams officially exposed by DVLA at www.snipca.com/40275. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

Issue 621’s ‘Question of the Fortnight’ (‘Has Windows 11’s release been a complete flop?’) asked the wrong question. You should have asked whether Windows 11’s popularity actually matters at the moment. I would say it doesn’t, because it’s clear Microsoft’s strategy with Windows 11 is gently nudging people towards upgrading, rather than constantly elbowing them in the ribs, as they did with Windows 10. I think this is the right strategy. I remember plenty of people, including writers on Computeractive, criticising the company for forcing Windows 10 on to people. Many users felt rushed into upgrading from an operating system they loved (Windows 7, in most cases). It would have been less disorientating for people if they’d felt confident to wait and upgrade in their own time. I don’t know…

I recently bought an Asus X415JA laptop (pictured) from Laptops Direct (www.laptopsdirect.co.uk). The laptop was good, but the advertised backlit keyboard didn’t work. I emailed the company and got a reply within the hour. They agreed that the specifications included a backlit keyboard and suggested possible keystroke combinations to get it to work, which were unsuccessful. I then contacted Asus, who told me the backlit keyboard was optional, though you can’t tell that from the box, only from the serial number. Despite Asus creating the problem by not making clear what was actually in the box, Laptops Direct replied quickly and positively to all my emails. When they found that the laptop didn’t have the backlit keyboard, they promptly offered me a discount or a refund. I now have a…

SYSTEM TOOL Ultimate Windows Tweaker 5 www.snipca.com/40389 What you need: Windows 11 The new version of Ultimate Windows Tweaker was released too late to be included in our ‘Hack Windows in 2022’ Cover Feature in Issue 621 (page 50), but it’s definitely worth adding to your arsenal of system-tweaking tools. It lets you make all kinds of useful changes to Windows 11, to make it look and work the way you want. If you use Windows 10, you’ll need to download Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.8 from www.snipca.com/40399, because version 5 won’t run on the older OS. The program’s interface has been updated to match Windows 11, complete with rounded corners and a higher-contrast colour scheme, but retains its simple design. This lists categories of tweaks on the left, including Customization,…

SOFTWARE WARNING! Edge’s shopping pop-up coupons Microsoft is the king of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It finally releases a browser – Edge – that people warm to and then stuffs it with features you never asked for. If you’ve visited any shopping sites in Edge recently, you might have noticed pop-ups promoting items cheaper elsewhere. For example, while I was on Tesco.com I was told I could get my Tetley tea bags cheaper if I bought them from Amazon (see screenshot 1). Is this some rogue shopping toolbar that’s wheedled its way into my browser? No, it’s a feature that Microsoft has shoveled into Edge. Whenever you’re shopping and a little blue label appears in Edge’s address bar, it indicates there are coupons that could “save you…

LAPTOP | £899 from Currys www.snipca.com/40245 This almost became our new top laptop, dethroning our long-time favourite, Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7. When we tested the Aero 13 it was priced £749 on Currys. But that had risen to £899 just a few days later, which was enough to keep it off top spot. It’s still an excellent laptop though. As you’d expect from a laptop with a 13.3in screen, the HP Pavilion Aero 13 is compact and light, making it easy to slip in a bag and carry around. It measures 16.9x297x209mm (HxWxD) when folded up and weighs just 900g. That’s really light, even at this size, to the extent that it left us wondering if HP might have forgotten to put the components inside. We didn’t need to worry.…

Can you suggest a replacement laptop? Q I need a new laptop and have a budget of around £800. My current laptop has an old Intel Core i7-3520M with 8GB RAM. It has a 16in screen with DVD drive, and I updated the hard drive it came with to an SSD. However, its keyboard is no longer working so I have to use an external one. Ian Barlow A To maintain a similar size screen, we’d opt for the Acer Aspire 5 A515-56G, which has a 15.6in screen. It comes with an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, with 8GB of memory and a 512GB SSD. While these are similar specifications to what you already have, we think the 11thgeneration Intel Core i7 processor will help the laptop feel significantly faster. It…

EARBUDS | £199 from Amazon www.snipca.com/40377 Earbuds tend to do some things well but not everything. For example, if you want the best noise-cancelling earbuds, you should consider the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (www.snipca.com/40395), which are a little more expensive than these Sony earbuds, but do a fantastic job of blocking out sound. The downside with Bose’s buds, however, is that the battery life is relatively short. Sony has pulled off an interesting feat with the WF-1000XM4 buds, though, because while none of the features are top-notch, it’s an excellent product that’s pretty good in most important respects. They’re comfortable to wear, easy to carry around, their battery lasts a long time (eight hours with noise cancelling on and 12 hours without) between charges and they come with a handy mobile…

What is it? Intel has launched its 12thgeneration of processors, called Alder Lake, in a bid to keep up with rival AMD. What does it do? The new processors are faster and more efficient than Intel’s 11th generation chips, and also faster than AMD’s equivalently priced alternatives. They have more cores than previous chips, too, so they’re better at spreading the load of your computing tasks. What’s the catch? The new processors need a new type of motherboard, so you can’t just upgrade your PC by adding a 12th gen processor. They work with Windows 10, but you’ll need Windows 11 to benefit from Alder Lake’s power and efficiency gains. So can I do without it? Yes, for now. If you buy a new PC this year, it may be…

What you need: Laplink PCmover Home Time required: 30 minutes setup; transfer time depends on amount of data Whether you were lucky enough to get a new computer this Christmas, or you inherited a hand-me-down after a friend or relative upgraded, you need a strategy for moving your files from your old machine to your new one. The alternative – running the two side by side – not only creates a space-hog, it’s also confusing and time consuming, because you’ll either forget which one has the files you need to work on, or you’ll waste time switching between them. There are several ways to transfer large amounts of data from one computer to another, not all of which are necessarily expensive. One of the simplest solutions is to use a…

1 Edge’s new Ski Slopes game provides a winter-themed twist on its Surf game, and will be available for the next few cold months. You need to be using Edge 96 to play it - check the version under About 1. To access it, type edge://surf into the browser’s address bar 2 and press Enter. 2 Choose a character by clicking the arrows 1 to move through the different skiers. Click the cog icon in the top-right corner to select a game mode, such as Zigzag or ‘Time trial’ 2, and to switch on ‘Reduced speed’ 3 if you want to slow down your skier. 3 Press the Spacebar or double-click to start the game. Use the arrow or WASD keys, or your mouse, to guide your skier 1 down…

Truecaller Free* Android www.snipca.com/40381 The latest version of Truecaller goes beyond identifying and blocking spam phone numbers. It restores the ability to record calls (an option it dropped a few years ago) and lets you record a short video that plays when you call other Truecaller users, as a form of video caller ID. Sadly, the iOS app (www.snipca.com/40380) hasn’t added these new features. Vivaldi Free Android www.snipca.com/40379 Vivaldi has updated its Android browser with an ingenious feature called Two Level Tab Stacks. This organises your tabs into two rows, making them much easier to view, manage and switch between when you have multiple pages open. To use this new option, long-press the ‘New tab’ plus-sign button and select ‘Create new tab stack’. Amazon Photos Free* iOS www.snipca.com/40382 Amazon has…

By default, Windows doesn’t show you which processes are running in the background when you start your computer. However, this is precisely the kind of information that can help you identify and fix PC problems when they arise. To make this information appear when you start your PC, you need to perform a registry tweak. Open the registry editor (press Windows key+R, type regedit, then press OK), then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\System - or copy it from www.snipca.com/40362 and paste it into the bar at the top (1 in our screenshot). Next, right-click an empty space in the pane on the right, then select New, followed by ‘DWORD (32-bit) Value’. Type VerboseStatus 2 in the New Value box that appears, then right-click it, select Modify, type 1 in the ‘Value…

Two ways to make your audience more interested in a presentation are to set polls and quizzes during the talk, and host a question-and-answer session at the end. You can make this more interactive by using the brilliant online tool Slido (https://sli.do). It creates a slide – or ‘Slido’ – for you that contains polls and quizzes, then lets you add it to Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint. The free version lets you add three polls and one quiz to each presentation, and allows 100 people to respond to them. The paid-for versions (from £8 a month) relax these restrictions and add extra features, such as question moderation. Decide which poll or quiz to use First, you need to sign up for an account at the URL above. Once logged…

1 Switch on your car radio and move the dial until you find an empty frequency on the FM band. You’ll need to do this manually, because if you use the seek buttons, your radio will lock on to the next available station. Try 87.5FM 1 or 108FM, which are at the extremes of the FM band, and so are unlikely to be in use by licenced broadcasters. 2 Plug the receiver into your car’s cigarette lighter or 12V socket. It will switch on automatically, displaying its name and a frequency on the screen. Press CH (for Channel) 1, then turn the dial on the receiver 2 until the frequency on its screen matches that on your radio. Any hiss or interference your radio was picking up should stop when…

Microsoft must’ve known that forcing Edge on its users would backfire. It’s a perfectly fine browser – certainly as good as Chrome, if not as innovative as Brave or Vivaldi – but more than ever, people want to make their own decisions about which browser they use. That applies to other tools too, such as email, PDF viewers and photo editors. Thankfully, for every restriction there’s a software developer somewhere trying to build a workaround. We’ll continue to recommend the best.…

Websites should be forced to treat online fraud as seriously as terrorism and prevent scams from appearing, a group of MPs and peers has said. It’s one of the recommendations made by the parliamentary committee scrutinising the landmark Online Safety Bill, which the Government hopes to make law in 2022. The committee said scams such as fake financial adverts should be classed as ‘priority illegal content’, meaning sites would be required to stop them appearing in the first place. It also recommended that porn websites must demonstrate what they’re doing to stop under-18s accessing their content. Damian Collins, chairman of the joint committee issuing the report, said that “for too long, big tech has got away with being the land of the lawless”. He added: “A lack of regulation online…

Telecoms analysts have urged the Government to help people adjust to the end of 2G and 3G phone services, after ministers announced plans to phase out both networks by 2033. The Government has agreed the switch-off date with networks Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three. BT, which owns EE, has already said it will stop providing 3G by 2023 and 2G later in the decade. However, Matthew Howett, founder of Assembly Research, said that it’s likely the networks will be switched off earlier than 2033, and called on the Government to protect customers who will be affected. He told BBC News that it’s crucial ministers “act on behalf of consumers who may be slow to adjusting” in order to avoid major disruption to their lives. He added: “You will of course…

What’s the threat? Fewer than 48 hours after the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was announced, scammers were sending emails exploiting people’s concerns. The messages claim to be from the NHS (‘contact-nhs@nhscontact.com’) and offer a free PCR test so you can “avoid restrictions”. They also falsely claim that the NHS has to use new test packs because Omicron “appears dormant in the original test kits”. Several versions of the scam have been spotted. In one, you’re asked to click the link ‘nhs-order-pcr/COVID-10-omicronresearch’ (see screenshot), while another has a blue ‘Get it now’ button. Both messages claim you’ll be taken to the “NHS portal”, but in fact it sends you to healt-service-nh.com, which mimics the official NHS site. The bogus site then asks for your full name, date of birth, address, mobile…

Windows 10 runs my software, so why upgrade? I feel that there’s a point of view not reflected in the Windows 11 update debate. I have a Windows 10 laptop which I purchased 12 months ago to replace a tired laptop running Windows 7, which itself was purchased to replace a laptop running XP, which replaced a desktop PC running Windows 98 – and so on. I could accept the pending offer to update to Windows 11, but why bother? I don’t own a computer just to run the operating system (OS). If the OS runs the software I use then that’s all I need, and Windows 10 runs my software without fault, in the same way that Windows 7 did, and before that XP and 98. Some of my…

LEAD CASE Did I complain too late for an automatic refund? Q On 15 November, I bought a Samsung Tab 6 Lite (pictured) from an Amazon seller. It was a Christmas present for my grandson, so I thought I should check that it worked. Good job I did! It wouldn’t turn on, so I contacted the seller. I emailed them on 20 November to report the fault and ask for a refund, but they didn’t reply until 22 December. They said I was outside the 30-day deadline for an automatic refund. Is that right? Joe Warden A No it’s not right. Joe reported the fault within the 30-day period for demanding a full refund, so the seller must return his money. The seller can’t wait over a month to reply…

While most family-history programs focus on individual ancestors, the GEDCOM standard recognises the need to work with family units, classified as a couple (with or without children). To this end, it supports ‘shared’ events, sources and media, which can be linked to a family group rather than just an individual. Several programs let you add this shared information, but they don’t make it easy. If you want to create shared facts for a family in Family Tree Maker, for example, you need to navigate to your chosen family in People view by selecting one of the parents, then clicking the small ‘couple’ icon (see screenshot below), which will pop up a separate window. Import your tree into Gramps One free tool that places families at the front and centre of…

How can I stop my PC going to sleep? Q I am getting very frustrated by my PC switching off its screen automatically after only a few minutes. This means I have to keep waking it to log in again. There’s only me in my house so I’m not worried about privacy. Is there any software I can use to keep my PC awake? Martin Dale A The traditional way to prevent your PC from going to sleep is to tweak your power plan in Windows’ Power Options. Type power into the Windows search box and click ‘Power & sleep settings’ at the top of the results list. Select ‘Additional power settings’, then ‘Change plan settings’ and click the ‘Turn off the display’ dropdown menu. Here you can specify how…

WHAT THEY SAY Samsung www.snipca.com/40242 “Now more than ever, consumers want the power to make their products their own. From fresh colours to a personalized UX, they crave customization in all aspects of their mobile experience. That’s because today’s consumers are multifaceted. They seamlessly move between lifestyles and identities – work and play, home and the office – and they want their technology to reflect their unique personality.” WHAT THEY MEAN Our favourite ‘identity’ is the tech-obsessed shopper with more money than sense.…

LAPTOP | £899 from Scan www.snipca.com/40318 MSI’s Pulse GL66 has been configured to catch the eye of gamers, but don’t let that put you off if gaming isn’t your thing. Its graphics are certainly powerful enough to produce stunning backdrops if, for example, you like to take Microsoft Flight Simulator out for a spin, but with a better processor and screen than we typically see in gaming laptops, it’s also ideal for everyday Windows users. “A gaming laptop that’s good enough for everyone” In our tests the powerful eight-core Intel Core i7-11800H processor rattled through our benchmark tests with a score of 8,969. Compare that with smaller, cheaper laptops like the HP Pavilion Aero 13 (5,876, see opposite page) and you can appreciate how much better this is at running…

PHONE | £380 from Amazon www.snipca.com/40350 The 50 is the first smartphone Chinese manufacturer Honor has produced since it split from its parent company Huawei. This means it has regained the opportunity to use Google’s apps, including Google Maps and Google Pay, as well as the Google Play app store, which remain unavailable to new Huawei phones due to continuing restrictions put in place by the US government. However, you’ll be disappointed if you were expecting this divorce to produce a phone that continues Honor’s reputation for combining value for money with top performance. There’s not much wrong with the phone, but it doesn’t do enough to stand out from rivals that cost around the same price, such as our current favourite the Xiaomi Poco F3 (reviewed in Issue 608)…

STICK | £45 from Amazon www.snipca.com/40375 If you’ve already updated your router to a Wi-Fi 6 model, to make full use of any new gadgets you may have, you might be wondering if there’s a way to upgrade your older devices to Wi-Fi 6. D-Link has the answer, with this USB stick that you plug into any laptop or desktop PC that has a USB 3.0 port and runs Windows 10. Setting up the device is a little fiddly, because although the drivers you’ll need are already installed, you still need to access your computer’s network settings to switch off any existing Wi-Fi hardware to enable the new device. Once the initial installation has been carried out, however, we found the device was very effective. To test it we measured…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2020 Back Issue CD: £15 from www.snipca.com/38164 LAPTOP PRICE DROP Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 (256GB) £659 from www.snipca.com/39635 Tested Issue 601 Weighing just 1.16kg, this is an excellent lightweight laptop with a great screen and an AMD processor faster than many Intel rivals. It has two USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports and a microSD card reader. Battery lasts nearly 16 hours. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 New Intel CPUs and a taller screen make this a more powerful, all-round slim laptop. Prices start at £999 from www.snipca.com/40042 ANDROID TABLET PRICE DROP Lenovo Tab P11 Pro £549 from www.snipca.com/38585 Tested Issue 609 A fast tablet that comes with a magnetic stand and keyboard that means you can also use it as…

Visit www.snipca.com/40387, then click the red BUY NOW button on the right. Next, type the exclusive discount code pcmoveroffer in the ‘Coupon Code’ box, then click Apply. You’ll see the price change from £14.95 to £9.99 (offer lasts until end of January). Next, enter your email address at the top right, tick the terms and policy box, and select your payment method. Enter your details, then click the orange ‘Pay £9.99’ button. You’ll now receive an email with an activation code, containing letters, numbers and dashes, in this format: XXXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXX. Click the link in the email to automatically download PCmover, following the instructions. When you first run it on either computer you’ll be asked for the code that was emailed to you. Copy and paste it into the box and…

Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Sync and access Apple Notes in Windows I hop between iPads and Windows laptops, and have mastered the art of taking notes in Apple Notes, then syncing them and saving them online so I can access them on any other device – usually my Dell XPS 13, which runs Windows 10. You should first make sure iCloud Sync is switched on, especially if you use more than one Apple device. Do this on your iPad by tapping Settings, then your name, followed by iCloud and tapping the Notes slider so it turns green (see screenshot). Also make sure you save your notes in iCloud folders. Now that your notes are syncing, you can access them online on another device by signing…

Buster Chromium & Firefox www.snipca.com/40255 When you sign into a website, you sometimes have to prove you’re not a robot by selecting all the squares containing traffic lights, cars, street signs or other objects. These picture-based CAPTCHAs are now a common security measure, but that doesn’t make them any less irritating. Buster saves you having to identify the contents of small, indistinct images by letting you skip them with a single click. It works by switching image CAPTCHAs to audio ones, and then using speech recognition to decipher them and enter the details. Simply click the Buster icon that the extension adds to reCAPTCHA widgets (this looks like a yellow person with a tick – see screenshot) to solve the challenge. It doesn’t work every time, or stop CAPTCHAs appearing…

Decibel X Free* Android www.snipca.com/40383 iOS www.snipca.com/40384 From rustling leaves (30 decibels) to a chainsaw (120 decibels), this app does a great job of monitoring noise levels around you. It lets you record up to three minutes of audio for free, switch between different graph styles and capture photos and videos to match what you hear. Best For Capturing evidence of excessive noise NIOSH Sound Level Meter Free iOS www.snipca.com/40388 Developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (a US agency), this app is intended to measure noise in the workplace and identify hazardous levels, but it’s equally effective for monitoring other environments. It’s free of ads and in-app purchases, and provides professional advice. Best For Getting advice from noise experts SnoreLab Free* Android www.snipca.com/40385 iOS www.snipca.com/40386 To…

What is it? Microsoft’s long-standing text editor. It first appeared in MS-DOS in 1983, was part of Windows 1 when it launched two years later, and has been in every version of the operating system since. The screenshot below shows what it looked like then (you can try it yourself by running Windows 1 in your browser: www.snipca.com/40398). It’s designed for writing and editing plain text. How is that different from normal text? It contains none of the rich-text formatting that you can use in Microsoft Word to make documents more attractive, such as indenting lines, bolding text, adding colours and creating columns. So it’s very basic? Yes, but that’s its strength. It’s ideal for writing quick notes in a casual style, when you don’t have to worry about punctuation…

A VPN is undoubtedly the most powerful way to fake your location. Not only does it mask your IP address so websites can’t see where you are, but it also lets you pretend you’re in a different country altogether. This keeps you anonymous online and lets you access content that’s blocked in the UK. However, if you only want to disguise your location temporarily, a VPN can be overkill, particularly because it routes your internet traffic through distant servers, which can significantly slow your browsing. Many free VPNs threaten your privacy rather than protect it, because they log your activities and sell the data to advertisers, but paid-for VPNs - which are more trustworthy and offer more servers - can be expensive. For the best balance between anonymity, flexibility and…

1 O&O AppBuster www.snipca.com/37141 O&O AppBuster played a leading role in Issue 599’s Cover Feature (pictured above right), just two months into 2021, and remained your favourite program throughout the rest of the year. We explained how it can remove all unwanted items from Windows 10’s Start menu, even when the Uninstall option isn’t available. We found 114 removable items when we ran the program on our computer. We bet many of you found a lot more. 2 Winaero Tweaker www.snipca.com/37666 We said that another name for Winaero Tweaker could be Registry Avoider, because it lets you make extensive changes to Windows without having to navigate that labyrinth of keys, strings and values. We devoted Issue 603’s Cover Feature (‘Windows Settings You Must Change’) to the program, revealing the essential…

Q While installing Office 2016 on my new Windows 11 PC recently, I was offered a choice of default file types – Office Open XML or OpenDocument (see screenshot). Having read a short description of each, I went for the first one. Was this the right decision? Why does Microsoft want to confuse users like me with choices like this? Colleen Stafford A There’s no quick answer to this, suffice to say, it’s due to a complex mix of factors including industry disagreements, a desire by Microsoft to be seen to be doing the right thing and an underlying fear of legal sanction. The first of these is the easiest to explain, because it’s a good old-fashioned format war – not unlike the VHS and Betamax battle of the 1970s…

1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 1920x1080 pixels. 32bit/64bit A measure of how much data a PC can process at once. Most older computers are 32bit, more modern ones are 64bit. 3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. Accelerometer A sensor that detects movement. Used in smartphones to decide whether or not to display a portrait or landscape screen, control games or even work as a spirit level. Active noise cancelling Method for reducing unwanted sound by adding a second sound specifically designed to cancel the first. Add-on A program that adds extra features to your browser. AI Artificial Intelligence. A computer program designed to mimic the behaviour of humans or animals. Alpha…