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Managing a multi-person email conversation in Gmail can be so difficult that I often wonder whether it would just be quicker to drive to each individual’s house and shove notes through their letterbox. And Outlook is now so bad at blocking spam that I might as well beam my email address into the night sky under the heading, ‘Please scam me’. Clearly, I should consider a new email service. I imagine many of you are thinking the same. But I realise how daunting it feels to switch from a big-name service that you’re familiar with. For guidance, read Robert Irvine’s outstanding Cover Feature, in which he recommends the best alternatives and reveals why they’re better (more private, no adverts, less spam). Crucially, Robert also explains how to continue using Windows…

Having to cancel Netflix is ‘unsettling’ Katherine West is surely right to say that being forced to cancel Netflix doesn’t mean you’ve been reduced to poverty (Letters, Issue 643). TV-streaming is a modern luxury that anyone should be able to live without. But nobody likes having to cut back on what they’ve become used to. A more proportionate view is that people are cancelling Netflix and other subscription services because they are feeling poorer, and are worried about the future. That sense of anxiety shouldn’t be so easily dismissed. It must feel unsettling for many to have cut back in unexpected areas. Julie Arundel Could it simply be that millions signed up to services like Netflix during the lockdowns when they had time and money on their hands? I signed…

Four months ago I had the pleasure of getting full-fibre broadband delivered to my home. I chose to go with BT as I didn’t know how good the other local providers were. However, there were problems laying the fibre, including the collapse of the underground conduit on my landline. They had to get contractors to repair part of it and dig a new track to my home. The service was fantastic, even though it took a couple of weeks longer than expected. I received no bill for the first two months, so asked BT why. To my surprise, they said I had been given a £146 compensation payment for late delivery of service. I was very impressed they did this. To date I’ve paid just £16 for my 1GB broadband.…

How can I find images and videos scattered across multiple drives? Q My image and video files are spread across multiple folders on laptops, desktop PCs and external hard drives. I have been trying to find software that will do a targeted search of my C: drive and any drive attached by USB. I’ve tried using the search tool in Windows 10, but this didn’t find a single JPEG. Can you advise please? Tony Cronin A As you’ve discovered, the Search function built into Windows is notoriously poor, especially at finding images and videos on your hard drive and any connected drives. A much better option is to use the free search tool Everything, which finds files almost instantly on any drive. Visit www.snipca.com/43810 to download Everything – we recommend…

WHAT THEY SAY Jared Spataro, Microsoft www.snipca.com/43681 “To better manage physical space, leaders need space insights such as utilisation data, energy-saving opportunities, and occupancy trends. These valuable inputs are what guide dynamic space adjustments on a particular day, like changing excess huddle rooms to overbooked collaboration rooms.” WHAT THEY MEAN Office space is the final frontier, and you’ll need to boldly buy our expensive software just so you can book a meeting room.…

What does it do? An automatic document feeder (ADF) is a mechanism mounted on the top of scanners and printers – such as the Epson EcoTank ET- 4800 (pictured) – that automatically feeds sheets of paper through the device. It makes scanning and printing multi-page documents faster and easier. How does it work? Documents are placed into the ADF’s paper tray. The sheets are then mechanically extracted, one at a time, and run through the scanner/printer. It’s similar to the way a printer collects the next sheet of blank paper to be printed. The ADF may use the entire scanning bed, or have a separate smaller scanning area. The latter option uses the passage of the paper through the ADF to scan the entire sheet, rather than moving the scanning…

What is it? Lenovo has given us a glimpse of an unnamed laptop that appears to have a screen that can roll up and down (pictured). What does it do? It’s not easy to see from the video how it works (www.snipca.com/43722), but it appears to be a fairly small laptop with a sliding mechanism on the screen that expands upwards, rolling extra screen space out of the keyboard. This converts the small landscape screen into a much larger portrait screen. What’s the catch? The laptop is still a prototype, so hasn’t made its way into production yet. That means we have no idea about pricing. So can I do without it? Yes. If you need a bigger screen, just buy a larger laptop for now. We recommend the 16in…

What you need: Power meter Time required: One hour Even when you’re sleeping, you’re using electricity. Unless you make a point of switching them off, your router, smart speakers, printer and screens left on standby will continue to draw a small but steady flow of electricity. You might not have thought about it before but, with energy prices rising sharply, it’s time to start taking note of this so-called ‘phantom load’ power consumption (sometimes called ‘vampire power’). Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to check how much electricity your devices consume and how much they’re costing you. All you need is an energy meter, which you plug into a socket, and then attach a device to using its front-facing socket. Here, we’ll show you how you can use the Power Meter Plug…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Search for words across browser tabs I regularly use the Ctrl+Shift+A shortcut in Chrome to see the option to search across my open tabs. But this only looks for words in the title of a tab. Recently, I’ve been using an extension that digs deeper to search for words on the actual webpages that are open as tabs. The tool I use, called ‘Search all Tabs’, can be installed on Chrome from www.snipca.com/43698. It also works on Brave, which is my second favourite browser. When you have lots of tabs open, click the extension’s icon (a magnifying glass - 1 in our screenshot), then type your search in the box. I typically use it when researching holidays. So let’s say I have several tabs open on…

Love Clean Streets Free Android www.snipca.com/43798 iOS www.snipca.com/43799 This app lets you report environmental problems in your area to your local authority, including flytipping, graffiti, potholes and dog mess. Simply specify the location, take a photo, provide a description and submit a report to the council. You can then track its progress and view reports submitted by other people. Best For Reporting messy streets PawBoost Free* Android www.snipca.com/43801 iOS www.snipca.com/43802 Lost your beloved cat or found a confused dog roaming the streets? PawBoost helps reunite missing pets with their owners via its massive global community, which uses local Facebook pages to share details. You can subscribe to its lost and found email alerts or receive notifications on your phone. Best For Reporting lost and found pets Nextdoor Free Android www.snipca.com/43803…

Record an online learning video People find learning from home on their computer extremely convenient, so it’s no surprise that offering video tutorials is a booming business. Many companies charge to participate in courses, but you can create your own video lessons for free and then share them with members. It’s a great way of teaching them new skills. Here, we’ll explain how to use the superb program DemoCreator to create video lessons using PowerPoint slides and your webcam. Add your slides and speak into your webcam First, you need to create a presentation that conveys the main points you want to explain in your video. Remember that you’ll be recording a video of yourself talking over the top, so keep the slides brief. You can do this in any…

GMX www.snipca.com/43719 GMX gives you a whopping 65GB of email storage for free (see screenshot), a 50MB file attachment limit and end-to-end encryption through its Mailvelope PGP extension for Chromium and Firefox browsers. It also offers online office tools for creating and editing documents, and simple apps for Android and iOS. On the downside, it’s supported by annoying ads for products from GMX and its partners, which make its web interface tiresome to use. Yahoo Mail www.snipca.com/43729 The free version of Yahoo Mail is blighted by the same problems as Gmail and Outlook, including inbox ads, poor spam filtering and unreliable TLS-only encryption, but its 5TB of storage is undeniably impressive. Its recently redesigned mobile apps are pretty good, too. Upgrading to Mail Plus for £4.99 (see screenshot) removes ads,…

Why is my Snappy Driver installation 32GB? Q I tried to install Snappy Driver Installer Origin (SDIO, www.snipca.com/42966) as recommended in Issue 639’s Cover Feature. Once installed on my Windows 11 Pro computer, I see the screen you show on page 53, but on top is another window with three other downloads that you don’t mention. I clicked the first of these, and it said it was a 32GB download, not the 20MB as you say in your feature. What’s happening? Martin Perry A We didn’t have the space to provide full instructions and screenshots in Issue 639’s Cover Feature, so we pointed readers to a recent Workshop (Issue 630, page 38) for more details. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused. As to your specific question, the 20MB…

VIRGIN WAIVES £35 STREAM SETUP FEE New customers signing up to Virgin Media’s 350Mbps, 500Mbps or 1Gbps broadband service no longer have to pay the £35 activation fee to get the company’s TV-streaming box, which is called simply Stream (pictured above). It provides access through the internet to Netflix, iPlayer, YouTube, ITV Hub and more. For details visit www.snipca.com/43821. CHROME TO END FOR WINDOWS 7 & 8.1 Google is ending support for Chrome on Windows 7 and 8.1 in early 2023. Version 110 of the browser, expected to arrive next February, will be the last to work securely in the operating systems, though older versions will continue to run (see www.snipca.com/43805). On 10 January, Microsoft is ending both standard support for Windows 8.1 and Extended Support for Windows 7.…

BT SWITCHES OFF MORE COPPER NETWORKS BT has named the next batch of local exchanges where copper phone lines are to be switched off, including locations in Aberdeen, Exeter, Sheffield and the Ayrshire hamlet of Moscow. To see all 32 exchanges visit www.snipca.com/43686, click the ‘Click here’ link to download a spreadsheet, then search for ‘01-Nov-2023’. 5.3 BILLION PHONES TO BECOME ‘WASTE’ IN 2022 More than 5.3 billion mobile phones will “drop out of use” this year, say experts on tech waste, but only a “fraction” will be recycled properly. The International Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum said that phones thrown away or left in drawers have valuable metals that can be reused. It estimates there are 16 billion mobile phones in use worldwide. Read more at www.snipca.com/43713.…

Version 106 of Firefox, launched in October, lets you pin to your PC’s taskbar the option to open a Private Browsing window. This is Firefox’s equivalent of Chrome’s Incognito mode: it doesn’t save your internet history, so you should use it when visiting sites you want to keep private from others who share your computer. To do this, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+P in Firefox to open Private Browsing, then click the ‘Pin to taskbar’ button (see screenshot). This gives you a one-click option to go private in future, so you won’t need to press the shortcut anymore. If you don’t see this button, Firefox may not have updated to version 106. To check, click the top-right menu button (three horizontal lines), followed by Help, then About Firefox. You’ll see…

LEAD CASE Can I return smart TV over privacy fears? Q I bought an LG smart TV from John Lewis, but unless I hand over my personal details all I get are the basic Freeview channels. I think this will compromise my privacy. Can I use this as a reason to return the TV? And should I return it to LG or John Lewis? Kevin Clews A We think it’s unlikely that Kevin’s privacy concerns will justify a refund, but we’ve asked him for more details so we can check whether they’re valid. It’s reasonable for LG to require his name and email address, as well as ask him to create a password. However, Kevin’s right not to be complacent, particularly because tech companies often ask for more information than…

Back in 2019 I grew so fed up with web pages taking ages to load on Chrome that I switched to Firefox. It was the right decision. Firefox uses less memory than Chrome so pages load far quicker, and – just as importantly – all my favourite extensions work on it. I spend a lot of time online, whether writing and researching, editing, uploading podcasts, or browsing for retro computer gear (I’m currently looking for a BBC Micro). Meanwhile, my three children spend around half of their free time at dance school. As the only driver in the family, this means I have to be flexible with where and how I work. Getting the job done means chatting to colleagues and managing tasks, so it’s vital that I see the…

Far be it for me to give lessons to fraudsters, but if you’re going to steal £100,000 from your company, best not to post photos online showing what you’ve bought with the proceeds. Laura Howarth from Blackpool was, in the words of the sentencing judge, stealing money to fund a lifestyle she couldn’t afford. She advertised the fact by posting photos of an SUV and VIP concert tickets on Instagram. The 41-year-old was rumbled when the finance controller from her company (British Independent Utilities) found credit-card statements on her desk. That night she sent a message to her boss saying she was “sorry for everything”. That apology didn’t spare her from being sentenced to 10 months behind bars.…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2021 Back Issue CD: £17 from www.snipca.com/42077 LAPTOP Lenovo Yoga 6 Gen 7 £783 from www.snipca.com/42509 Tested Issue 637 Lenovo’s new laptop has an amazing screen, a fast processor and lasts 15 hours on a single charge. It has all the ports you need, including two USB-C, two USB 3.0 and HDMI. At £663. It represents stunning value. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 New Intel CPUs and a taller screen make this a more powerful, all-round slim laptop. Prices start at £950 from www.snipca.com/42979 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 £649 from www.snipca.com/42211 Tested Issue 634 Samsung has replaced its own Tab S7+ to become our favourite Android tablet. It’s fast with a stunning 11in screen, and has a longer battery…

Using just the examples cited above, we could claw back up to £56 by unplugging or switching off computers when they’re not in use; £2 for each clockwork plug we replace with a Wi-Fi smart plug; around £2 by only turning on our printer when we actually need to use it; and £11 by unplugging half of our voice assistants (or £22 if we got rid of them all and relied on the assistant on our phone instead). That’s £71 a year, even before we consider PC screens and smart TVs, and turning off our router overnight when we’re not using the computer (our smartphone will still work via its 4G/5G connection). It isn’t inconceivable we could find £100 of savings with a thorough audit, which is more than six…

CHROMIUM & FIREFOX Show preview images of search results Text-based search results sometimes don’t include much information, which means when you click through to the relevant web page you find it isn’t what you were looking for. A popular extension called SearchPreview solved this problem by displaying preview images next to search results, but the developer decided to abandon the tool on 24 October. Thankfully, an alternative add-on called Search Result Previews has already become available and works in much the same way. Available for Chromium browsers (www.snipca.com/43769) and Firefox (www.snipca.com/43770), Search Result Previews shows screenshots of web pages next to search results in Google and DuckDuckGo (1 in our screenshot below). You can add further search engines, including Brave Search, Bing and Startpage by clicking its toolbar button and…

ANDROID Enhance your chats in Google Messages So much attention is paid to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger that the Messages app on your Android phone often gets overlooked, even though millions of us still send and receive text messages every day. Google clearly hasn’t forgotten the app, though, because it’s just given Messages a big update with several useful new features. These include the option to set reminders to reply to messages at a more convenient time – by long-pressing them, tapping the clock icon and specifying when you want to be reminded. Messages will also remind you about people’s birthdays, if you have that information stored in your phone’s Contacts app, and will suggest you ‘star’ messages that contain important details such as addresses and phone numbers. When someone…

WINDOWS 11 Use the old File Explorer Microsoft has started to add tabs to File Explorer as part of its first ‘moments’ update for Windows 11 (see page 6). It’s a long-awaited feature that makes navigating the tool easier, but if you’re not keen on it – or if you didn’t like Windows 11’s File Explorer even before the tabs arrived – you can bring back Windows 10’s File Explorer with a few clicks. First, press Windows key+E to open Windows 11’s File Explorer, then click the up-pointing arrow to the left of the toolbar. This will open the Desktop folder. Now double-click the Control Panel icon (see screenshot 1 below), then click the up-pointing arrow to the left of this toolbar 2. This will bring up the old File…

The addition of ‘privacy labels’ to the Apple App and Google Play stores has revealed some slightly worrying details about the Gmail and Outlook apps for iOS and Android. These labels confirm that Google’s email service collects your location and usage data and links it to your identity for third-party advertising purposes, as well as analytics information about your contacts, purchases, search history and more. Microsoft, meanwhile, uses your email- usage data to track you, and links it to your identity for advertising and marketing purposes, for the company itself and third parties. Although data collection can help to improve and personalise apps, Gmail and Outlook go beyond that required by other email tools.…

1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 1920x1080 pixels. 1440p High-definition video of 2560x1440 pixels. 4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. Administrator Someone who can make changes to a computer that will affect others who also use it. ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. A technology that converts a standard phone line into a broadband internet connection. AI Artificial Intelligence. Intelligence demonstrated by a machine rather than a human being. Often used to describe technology that can perform human-like tasks. APK Android Package Kit. The file format Android uses to install apps. Benchmarking Comparing software and products with an accepted standard. Blue light Light given off by PC and phone screens. Can disrupt sleep…

400 APPS STEALING FACEBOOK LOGINS AXED Facebook has said more than 400 phone apps that steal login details have been removed this year. It contacted Apple and Google about the threats, which deleted them from their respective app stores. Facebook said many of the apps were disguised as games, photo editors, VPNs, phone flashlights and fitness trackers. Read more at www.snipca.com/43711. O2 LAUNCHES ROLLING MONTHLY CONTRACTS O2 has launched new rolling contracts that let you pay monthly for your phone data, minutes and texts without signing up to a long-term contract. Plans start at £10 for 10GB, though you’ll get 25GB in a promotional offer that runs until 28 December. You can change your package or cancel at any time. Read details at www.snipca.com/43687.…

There’s been a lot of useful media coverage about energy scams that claim to be from the regulator Ofgem, but I’d like to point out that some of these messages don’t mention Ofgem. For example, I received a text supposedly from the Government (‘GOVUK’) telling me I was ‘eligible for a discounted energy bill under the Energy Bills Support Scheme’. The link I was meant to tap didn’t mention Ofgem either. Interestingly, it didn’t mention the saving you’re entitled to. Most other energy scams quote a figure of £400. It’s clear fraudsters are trying different versions of this scam. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

We’d like to clarify the advice we gave to Christopher Murphy in Issue 643, who asked us how he could force Facebook to close his late wife’s account. We said that he had power of attorney over her affairs, but as several readers have pointed out, this legal position ends upon the death of the person in question. Sorry for the error. Instead, Christopher has executor status over his wife’s affairs. This gives him responsibility over her intellectual property, such as online accounts, as well as her financial situation. Once he can confirm his executor status to Facebook, the site must close her account. He believes Facebook sent him the wrong forms to prove this, which we are trying to rectify. When Facebook is notified that a person has died,…

SOFTWARE UPDATER Patch My PC Home Updater 4.5 www.snipca.com/43819 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11, .NET Framework 4.5 It’s important to keep the software on your PC up to date, both to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities, and to ensure you have access to the latest features. But while some programs – such as browsers – automatically install new versions as soon as they’re available, others need to be updated manually. Patch My PC makes this task much easier by letting you update more than 300 popular tools in one go. Download and run Patch My PC Home Updater (it doesn’t require installation) and you’ll be presented with a list of all the programs installed on your computer, plus others in the software’s database. Previously, these were…

Android apps in Windows that don’t work The recent arrival of Android apps in the Microsoft Store was meant to be a shot in the arm for Windows 11. But if my early experience is anything to go by, it’s more of a shot in the foot. Take, for example, the PDF Viewer And Reader app (www.snipca.com/43704), which was one of the apps Microsoft showcased at launch. It promises to let you “read PDF files, e-books and documents”. This is a fairly modest promise given you can do that in any web browser, but it fails to do even that. Why? Because when you use its ‘Folder view’ to search your PC, you’ll quickly realise it can’t access them (as shown below in probably the dullest screenshot we’ve ever published).…

PC | £1,000 from Palicomp www.snipca.com/43653 In Issue 643, we reviewed Palicomp’s AMD Cobra – a desktop PC that offers a perfect balance between great Windows performance and a reasonable price. We were so impressed we gave it our favourite PC Buy It! award (see page 30). However, we wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking for superior gaming performance, because it uses the graphics hardware built into its AMD processor. While this hardware has come a long way in recent times, if you want top-quality graphics for games and video editing, it’s still best to leave the intense processing work to a standalone graphics card. “Enough power for gamers and breezes through Windows – but at a price” That’s where Palicomp’s Intel Hellfire comes into its own. It comes fitted…

PHONE | £290 from Argos www.snipca.com/43700 For many years, Moto G models were a straightforward recommendation for anyone looking for an Android smartphone at a reasonable price. Competition from Chinese firms Realme, Xiaomi and OnePlus have made for a more competitive market, though, with a lot more choice available for under £300. However, the essence of the old Moto G spirit lives on in this G82 5G device. It’s a sensible, reliable and uncluttered phone that comes with a fairly large OLED screen, 5G mobile coverage, a generous amount of storage and stereo speakers – all at an appealing price. With its plastic case this isn’t a particularly attractive phone, but its design is pragmatic and simple. The screen is a 6.6in 120Hz OLED panel, which is the kind of…

Winner of a Recommended award in Issue 642 (page 28), Audio-Technica’s ATH-SQ1TW earbuds can be paired with devices that have the latest Bluetooth 5.0 technology. They have a 6.5-hour battery life, while the charging case gives you an additional 13 hours of portable power. A ‘Quick Charge’ of around 15 minutes provides about 60 minutes of continuous playback. When the hear-through function is activated, the microphone captures sounds nearby to ensure you remain aware of your surroundings. The touch-sensor control lets you play or pause music, skip between tracks, answer calls and adjust the volume. To enter this competition, answer the question at www.snipca.com/43707 and submit your details. It runs until midnight on Tuesday 22 November. Good luck! You can buy the Audio-Technica ATH-SQ1TW earbuds for £73 from www.snipca.com/43423. For more…

Checkmate or Die Free Android www.snipca.com/43795 iOS www.snipca.com/43796 As if playing chess wasn’t stressful enough, this new game from Chess.com challenges you to checkmate your opponents – who are all ravenous zombies – or be eaten by the undead. There are 50 levels of increasingly difficult chess puzzles to complete, and coins to collect that revive you when you’ve been caught. Google Chrome for tablets Free Android www.snipca.com/43797 Chrome’s latest update makes it easier to use on Android tablets. It now hides the ‘close’ button when you have lots of tabs open, to prevent accidental closure, lets you tap to restore recently closed tabs and provides a visual tab grid for simpler navigation. You can also drag and drop content from Chrome to other apps. Steam Free Android www.snipca.com/43793 iOS…

LIBREOFFICE CALC & MICROSOFT EXCEL Add sparklines to your spreadsheets LibreOffice 7.4 added a feature to spreadsheets that’s been in Excel for years: sparklines. These interpret data to show trends in a cell without needing to insert a large chart. To use them in LibreOffice Calc, select the data you want shown as a sparkline, then click the Insert tab at the top, followed by Insert Sparkline to open the Sparkline Properties box. You should see the cells you selected in the ‘Input range’ dropdown menu. Now click in the ‘Output range’ menu, then click the cell in your spreadsheet where you want your chart to appear Next, under Properties, choose the type of sparkline you want. In our screenshot we’ve chosen Line 1, Column 2, and Stacked 3, which…

If you find the Outlook mobile app slow and bloated by features for business users, switch to Microsoft Outlook Lite for Android (www.snipca.com/43766). Released in August, this new version includes all the essential tools from the standard Outlook app, but is considerably smaller – around 5MB in size – and uses less memory, processing power and battery. Outlook Lite is designed to run on low-specification Android phones, but works just as well on higher-end devices. In contrast, Google’s similarly streamlined email app, Gmail Go (www.snipca.com/43767) can only be installed on low-specification phones that run the stripped-down Android Go mobile operating system. These include the Nokia 1.3, Nokia C21 and Alcatel 1. However, you can sideload an APK file of the Gmail Go app on any Android phone by downloading it…