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Landlines have been such a fundamental part of how we communicate for so long that losing them feels unsettling. I’ve not used mine for years, but that doesn’t stop me wondering whether the UK is ready for them being switched off in 2025. So much could go wrong. We revisit the subject in this issue because we received such a huge response to Issue 648’s ‘Ditch your landline’ Cover Feature. You were thankful for the advice we gave, but still had lots of questions that you thought were being ignored by the wider media. Will you need a new phone? Will you have to install new equipment? Will you need faster broadband? What happens when there’s a power cut? We answer those questions and many others from page 50. I…

‘Paperback’ book came as an ebook – can I get a refund? LEAD CASE Q I recently spent £12.54 on what I believed were physical books from Regbooksi (www.regbooksi.uk). But the site didn’t make it clear that these were actually ebooks. These were useless to me because the books were a gift for a friend’s young son, who doesn’t have an ebook reader. The seller has refused my request for a refund, saying the purchase is “final”. Have I got a case? Alan Walton A Yes, Alan definitely has a case. When we visited the site we saw a measly eight books for sale, all of which were listed as paperback (see screenshot). If a retailer describes a book as paperback, it would be breaking the law by delivering it…

FastStone Capture www.snipca.com/46155 Price: $29.95 (£24) Free trial: 30 days What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 Following the release of FastStone Capture 10 last month, we decided to find out if the screen-capture tool is worth the money and how it compares to our favourite rival program, ShareX (www.snipca.com/45646 – see our Workshop in Issue 657, page 38). FastStone Capture’s deceptively simple interface consists of a tiny floating toolbar, which – unlike ShareX – gives you one-click access to all its main functions. These include options to capture windows, specific areas (rectangular or freehand), your whole screen and scrolling windows – which is useful for capturing long web pages. You can also delay captures by up to nine seconds, convert images to PDF and much more. However,…

WHAT THEY SAY HONOR on its new Magic Vs phone “Designed with style in mind, the HONOR Magic Vs is available in two stunning colours – Cyan and Black. Resembling the twinkling stars in the magnificent galaxy, the one-of-a-kind Cyan colourway features a shimmering glossy coating to add depth to the colour and create a silky-smooth touch, while Black is a classic colourway that never goes out of style.” WHAT THEY MEAN Its twinkling stars also resemble its astronomical price – a mere £1,400.…

What are they? The processor socket is the link between your motherboard and your processor. If you build your own PC (see our Cover Feature in Issue 658) you need to ensure the motherboard you choose has the correct socket for your processor. If you buy a ready-made PC you need to know what socket you have if you ever want to upgrade your processor. How do they work? There are two main types of processor socket: one has pins that insert into holes in a processor’s casing, and the other has holes that accommodate the pins on a processor. Intel processors have holes so need sockets with pins, while AMD processors have pins and attach to sockets with holes. Each pin communicates with a different part of the processor.…

What is it? Rumours suggest the forthcoming Google Pixel 8 Pro will have a medical thermometer that can take your body temperature. What does it do? Open the temperature app on your phone and hold it up to your forehead. A sensor on the back of the phone will provide your body temperature. High temperatures can be a sign of illness, even before other symptoms appear. What’s the catch? It’s only a rumour at the moment, based on a YouTube video that was later removed. However, Indian website 91mobiles grabbed a few still images (pictured) before it disappeared. See for yourself at www.snipca.com/46180. So can I do without it? Yes. If you tend to take your temperature regularly, you’ve probably already got a medical thermometer.…

Vegan Bowls Free* Android www.snipca.com/46128 iOS www.snipca.com/46129 Whether you’re fully vegan or just want to include more plant-based food in your diet, this app is packed with tasty recipes for every meal of the day. These range from hash-brown avocado toast to chilli sin carne and coconut lemon cake, though some require a subscription. You can also add the ingredients to a shopping list. Trakt Free* Android www.snipca.com/46125 iOS www.snipca.com/46126 New to Android, Trakt helps you keep track of the TV series and films you watch on streaming services, across all your devices. You can add series you’re interested in to a personal schedule, browse recommendations, see statistics about your viewing habits and tap to play shows and films in the relevant apps. PDFgear Free iOS www.snipca.com/46115 PDFgear has updated…

MICROSOFT EXCEL Use =ISNUMBER to search for keywords You’d normally use Excel’s =ISNUMBER function to search your cells to see if they contain any numbers. But you can also combine it with Excel’s SEARCH function to look for specific words, returning a TRUE or FALSE value to indicate whether or not they contain what you are searching for. In our example, we’re searching hotel addresses in Dublin (column B) for locations in the central Temple Bar area. First, we typed the target keyword in C1 (‘Temple Bar’ – 1 in our screenshot). In C4, we typed =ISNUMBER(SEARCH(C$1,B4)) 2, and the FALSE value is returned because the address in B4 does not contain the target keyword. We used $ in C$1 because we want that value to be fixed as we…

UNSKIPPABLE ADVERTS COME TO YOUTUBE TV YouTube is introducing unskippable 30-second adverts at the start of some videos when you watch them on its TV app. These replace the two consecutive 15-second adverts which you can sometimes skip. It will also start showing adverts when you pause a video. The only way to avoid the ads is to pay £11.99 a month for YouTube Premium (www.youtube.com/premium). Read more information at www.snipca.com/46171. TRAINS TOLD TO AXE FREE PASSENGER WI-FI The Department for Transport has told train companies to stop offering free Wi-Fi unless they can prove that it boosts business. It’s reviewing whether free Wi-Fi delivers “the best possible value for money”, claiming that studies show it’s a low priority for passengers. However, passenger groups said that the public now expects…

LOGITECH’S CHEAPEST EVER BLUETOOTH MOUSE Logitech has launched its cheapest ever Bluetooth mouse, with a wireless range of 33 metres. Priced £23, the M240 Silent (pictured below) uses Bluetooth LE, which means you won’t need to insert a USB dongle to connect it. Logitech says it makes 90-per-cent less clicking noise than its previous mice. Buy it at www.snipca.com/46113. NOW BROADBAND HIKES PRICES FROM JULY Now Broadband has said it will increase prices by £3.50 a month from 5 July. The increase isn’t written into Now’s contract so you’ll be able to cancel within 31 days of being notified without paying a fee. Customers on a discounted deal will continue to pay the lower price until it ends. The increase doesn’t affect Now’s social tariff. Visit Now’s site for details:…

Clicking ‘Google Sign-In’ buttons as you browse the web is an easy way to sign into websites using your Google account. It’s perfectly safe most of the time, but some sites send cookies to Google as part of the process that signs you in. These cookies might be necessary for the site to work properly, but in theory they also give Google the potential to track what you do there. Brave is having none of that, and so blocks these cookies by default. Until recently it did so for all sites using Google Sign-In, but version 1.51 (released last month) changed this to let you decide site by site. This is better because it lets you approve cookies on sites you trust, keeping the convenience of signing in quickly without…

Wasn’t there a Consumeractive case where Currys tried to force a reader to retrieve data from a laptop when repairing it? Frances Thomas CA SAYS There was – see Issue 649, page 14. Buy it at www.snipca.com/46108. I think I’ve bought a fake hard drive from Amazon. When did you advise how to check? Catherine Pinter CA SAYS That was also in Issue 649 – see page 60. When did you give advice on checking whether Russian hackers have stolen your password? Liam Shotton CA SAYS That was in Issue 653, page 62. Buy it at www.snipca.com/46107.…

Virgin Media has agreed to waive the £248 early-termination fee it was planning to charge a disabled and housebound customer after he switched to Sky following several weeks of no broadband supply. Steve McCue contacted us about his brother’s predicament, asking us for urgent help (see Issue 658) after Virgin had cancelled a technician’s appointment. Steve had tried more than 20 times to speak to someone at the company. We had more luck when contacting Virgin, prompting it not only to cancel the early-termination fee, but also to refund the last monthly payment of £62. This will cover the amount Steve’s brother had to pay to log into the internet with his O2 phone, and partially compensate him for not being able to watch Netflix. However, Virgin is refusing to…

My father JP Roberts was an electrical engineer in the Air Ministry during World War II. The Ministry of Defence told me that because he was a civilian his service record has been destroyed. He held the equivalent rank of Wing Commander and prepared Manston Airport in Kent for D-Day. How can I find out more about him? Aubrey J Roberts First, check the Air Force list publications (see Issue 656). If he appears there, contact the National Archives at Kew for advice. It holds some Air Ministry records from 1918-1964 (catalogued under AIR), with a history of the service detailed at www.snipca.com/45930. In 1964 the Air Ministry was absorbed into the Ministry of Defence. Although it doesn’t look as if service records exist, he may be noted in general…

Can I set a delay when taking screenshots? Q I’m looking for a way to delay the taking of screenshots, so I’ve got time to perform actions on screen – such as opening/closing menus and moving the cursor. I’ve not worked out whether Windows can do this, so I’m wondering if there is a third-party program I could use instead? Lisa Shorey A There is – and it’s called PicPick (https://picpick.app). Version 7.0, updated late last year, added the very feature you need. It gives you the choice of three, five or 10 seconds, which should be enough for preparing your screenshot. Once you’ve installed and opened the program, click the cog next to Screen Capture on PicPick’s Tasks screen, followed by Time Delay. Now choose how long you want…

When Trevor Jacob set off for a solo flight from a Californian airport in November 2021, he took both a parachute and a selfie stick. Nothing odd about the former item, but the latter was a sign of his intentions. His plane soon ran into “trouble”, so he ejected before it crashed, filming his descent (pictured) then uploading it to YouTube. But authorities later accused him of recovering the wreckage and impeding a federal investigation. He has since admitted deliberately crashing the plane as part of a product-placement deal for his channel. The good news for Jacob is that his video has been watched more than 3.3 million times. The bad news is that he faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years – enough time for him to regret…

Find out which other products we liked. Buy our new 2022 Back Issue CD: £17 from www.snipca.com/44660 LAPTOP PRICE DROP Acer Swift 3 14in £849 from www.snipca.com/44367 Tested Issue 648 Comes with a powerful 12th-generation Intel processor and 1TB SSD to make Windows tasks feel incredibly fast. Also has a decent 2560x1440-pixel IPS screen and comes with plenty of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4-compatible USB-C. ALTERNATIVE Lenovo Yoga 6 Gen 7 Has a slower processor, and half the storage and RAM, but remains a good laptop for the price. £799 from www.snipca.com/44950 ANDROID TABLET PRICE DROP Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 £629 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…

This is the first time I’ve set up passkeys using my phone but, having done so, I’m going to enable it on as many accounts as I can. Logging in is quick and easy, and it feels incredibly secure as nobody can look over my shoulder when I’m typing my password. I’ll also continue using my YubiKey to secure several online accounts, because simply tapping a device that’s always in front of me (when I’m at my desk) is an extremely convenient way to use 2FA. How do you use passkeys? Please let us know: letters@computeractive.co.uk…

Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Add ‘Search Everything’ to right-click menu Thanks to your recommendation of the program Everything (www.snipca.com/45586) in Issue 656 (page 52) I can now search my PC more accurately than when I had to rely on Windows. If other readers are using it as often as I am, they should consider adding it to their right-click menu. Click ‘Tools’ at the top of Everything, then select Options, followed by General on the left. Now tick ‘Show Search Everything folder context menu item’ on the right (see screenshot 1), then OK. You’ll now see the ‘Search Everything’ option and icon when you right-click a folder or your desktop 2. Another option lets you automatically close the Everything search window whenever you click a…

Met Office Free* Android www.snipca.com/46132 iOS www.snipca.com/46133 Far more reliable for UK residents than the BBC Weather app (which stopped using Met Office data five years ago), this app provides simple daily and hourly forecasts, along with extra information such as sunrise and sunset times, pollen and air-pollution details, maps showing rainfall and cloud cover, and weather warnings. Best For UK weather forecasts WeatherBug Free* Android www.snipca.com/46135 iOS www.snipca.com/46136 If there’s a developing weather situation you want to track, WeatherBug can help. As well as providing an hourly and 10-day forecast, it lets you apply weather layers to a map, so you can view data including precipitation, local temperature, wind chill, air quality and much more. You can also track storms and lightning strikes around the world. Best For Viewing…

Improve your podcast for free With free services like Spotify for Podcasters (https://podcasters.spotify.com) and PodBean (www.podbean.com), it’s fairly easy for any club to launch its own podcast, without any of the technical expertise previously required. All you need to do is record and edit your podcast, then upload it. However, recording audio is hard to get right, and being able to do it easily doesn’t guarantee the results will always be high quality. You can improve your audio by buying expensive microphones or even hiring a recording studio, but here we’ll explain how to use new Adobe tools to enhance your podcasts for free. They’re part of a service called Adobe Podcast (codenamed Project Shasta), which is the company’s latest attempt to offer everything you need to create and distribute…

Email us your problem and we’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT Why can’t I update to W11 22H2? Q Last year, I upgraded my Lenovo IdeaPad laptop from Windows 10 to 11 with no problem – or rather, a local ‘computer doctor’ did it for me. Recently, though, a message has appeared at the bottom right stating ‘System requirements not met’. The doctor said he’d never heard of this and can’t understand why I can’t get the 22H2 update. Is there anything that can be done to fix this or I’m I stuck with my current Windows 11 version forever? Alistair Bee A Potentially, there are two separate issues here. Many users, yourself included, discovered that it was possible to install Windows 11 regardless of Microsoft’s warnings about their…

Why won’t Icecream Photo Editor run on my PC? Q I recently downloaded Icecream Photo Editor (www.snipca.com/45607) after reading Issue 656’s Workshop (page 38). However, I can’t get it to run, and just keep seeing the message: ‘This app can’t run on your PC. To find a version for your PC, check with the software publisher.’ George Rea A We were unable to recreate your problem because Icecream Photo Editor downloaded and installed perfectly on our Windows 10 and 11 PCs – and it also works in Windows 7 and 8.1. However, there are a couple of fixes you can try for the ‘This app can’t run on your PC’ error message. First, try running the compatibility troubleshooter in Windows. Right-click the ‘photo_editor _setup.exe’ file you downloaded, choose Properties and click the…

You can now edit WhatsApp messages after you’ve sent them, though you’ve got only 15 minutes to make changes. Mark Zuckerberg, head of WhatsApp’s owners Meta, announced the feature on his Facebook page: www.snipca.com/46183. WhatsApp said the feature is for “the moments when you make a mistake, or simply change your mind”. On its blog (www.snipca.com/46182) WhatsApp gave an example of how editing could be used by changing the word ‘dad’ to ‘dog’ in the message ‘Sorry I’m gonna be late my dad just pooped on the floor again’ (pictured above right). It added that “as with all personal messages, media and calls, your messages and the edits you make are protected by end-to-end encryption”. Editing joins other long-press options on WhatsApp, including forwarding a message and deleting it. WhatsApp…

‘MISLEADING’ SKY BROADBAND AD BANNED Advertising watchdogs have banned a Sky Broadband TV advert that boasted of a “wall-to-wall Wi-Fi guarantee”. BT complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) saying it “misleadingly implied that customers would receive seamless Wi-Fi in every room of a house”. The ASA ruled that it “exaggerated the performance of the product” and was “likely to mislead” (www.snipca.com/46205). Watch the ad at www.snipca.com/46204. VIRGIN BOOSTS UPLOAD SPEEDS TO 104Mbps Virgin Media has increased upload speeds from 36Mbps to 52Mbps on its 500Mbps package, and from 52Mbps to 104Mbps on its 1Gbps deal. The increase is for new and existing customers and won’t cost extra. The UK’s average upload speed is just under 11Mbps, according to Ofcom. Visit Virgin’s site for details: www.snipca.com/46189.…

‘OneDrive storage full’ I hardly use my OneDrive account any more, so I was instantly suspicious about an email claiming my storage was full and that I had reached my limit. It came from an address containing random letters and numbers, and was from Gmail! As if Microsoft would use Gmail for official alerts! It was trying to tempt me with a “loyalty program” through which I would receive 50GB storage for free. If I didn’t sign up, all the files on my “Cloud Drive” would be deleted. I found a similar example of this preposterous email online: www.snipca.com/46056. It’s a blatant scam. Rod Campbell Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

I sense there’s a lot of unease at the moment about jobs being replaced by AI, but it’s just the latest form of automation as technology progresses. In a way, I lost my job to AI many years ago. You know those infuriating ‘press 1 to speak to an advisor’ automated phone lines? Before they were created it was my job to answer phones for various companies and ask the caller who they wanted to speak to. It wasn’t the most exciting job ever and I often used to joke that a robot could do it, but it helped to pay the bills. When I was first shown a system that answered phones automatically and gave the caller options, my boss said, “Don’t worry, we’ll always need humans to answer…

I was due to go into hospital in mid-May, and it advised me not to take my mobile phone in because it couldn’t be held responsible if the device went missing. I have an older iPhone that I don’t mind losing, so decided to take that into hospital with me. I needed to insert a SIM card into it, so went to the O2 shop in Morfa, Swansea. I explained the situation to an assistant called Jon and he asked if I’d like the phone reset to its factory settings. I agreed to this. He then asked which apps I’d like in order to get some basic features on the phone. He installed what I wanted, carrying out his work in a pleasant manner. It really felt like he was…

SYSTEM TOOL Wintoys 1.0.58 www.snipca.com/46141 What you need: Windows 10 or 11 We’re always on the lookout for new tools that can optimise, customise and remove junk from your PC, and Wintoys combines several of them in one free, easy-to-use app. Available to install from the Microsoft Store, it’s packed with useful options that give you more control over the way Windows looks and works. The Home screen in Wintoys provides a handy overview of your system – including the make of your processor and graphics card, the number of installed programs and running processes, and your PC’s current memory and network usage. Click the Apps tab on the left for a full list of installed software, which you can sort by name, date or size. Click the three-dot icon…

Gmail invades your inbox with adverts Gmail first started showing adverts back in 2013, but stuck them at the top of the Promotions tab in your inbox – home to marketing emails you’ve signed up for. This made it easy to ignore them as you scrolled down to look for offers you might actually be interested in. But something changed recently. Google is now showing ads all the way down your Promotions inbox, so they’re sitting cheek by jowl with newsletter offers. You’ll see them in our screenshot – shared on Twitter by one unhappy user (www.snipca.com/46080) – in the form of those green ‘Ad’ signs. Google calls these ads ‘instream’, which makes them sound almost pleasant, like a swan gliding sedately down a river. More suitable terms would be…

PC | £950 from Stormforce Gaming www.snipca.com/46051 With prices going up all over the place, it’s nice to see that PCs designed for running games and other graphically intensive programs aren’t following the general trend. A few months ago a PC with decent specifications cost well over £1,000, but now we’re seeing prices significantly below that. This is because the price of graphics cards has been falling, which lets PC custom builders like Warrington-based Stormforce Gaming put together a decent PC at a reasonable price. “A solid PC with a decent processor for a reasonable price, but it skimps on storage” Any graphics work (or play) on the Onyx 6164 is powered by an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 card, with a similar specification to the Cyberpower Infinity X133 RTX we…

VIDEO DOORBELL | £140 from Very www.snipca.com/46127 The DB60 is a battery-powered video doorbell from Chinese company Imou that challenges big players in the sector like Ring and Google Nest. The setup is relatively straightforward, but you need to attach a fixing plate to your doorframe using the supplied screws and plugs, while you charge the device’s battery for the first time. There are two plates to choose from: one sets the doorbell at an angle, to provide better coverage if it needs to be in a corner. It also comes with a wireless chime unit, which you plug in somewhere in the house where everyone is likely to hear it – even if they don’t have the Imou Life app (available for Android and iOS) installed on their smartphones.…

Q I’m looking to buy a new desktop PC to use with Microsoft Flight Simulator. I have about £1,500 to spend, but I’m confused by the range of computers available. I’d like a machine that can run the game fairly smoothly. John Howard A In Issue 644 we reviewed Palicomp’s Intel Hellfire PC (£1,000 from www.snipca.com/43653, pictured). It performed very well in our gaming benchmark tests but its components can be customised so it fit your needs and budget, which is easily done at the point of ordering. We upgraded the processor to a Core i7-12700KF chip, boosted the RAM to 32GB and opted for a GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card with 12GB of onboard memory rather than 8GB. That took the price to £1,509 – ever so slightly over…

This extra-slim rechargeable keyboard is perfectly suited for using either at home or on the move. If you want a compact keyboard that’s as comfortable to use as a full-size one, it’s the ideal choice. You can control up to four devices at the same time and switch between two Bluetooth channels, a 2.4 GHz wireless channel and a cable channel. For example, you can connect the small wireless keyboard to your computer at home via the included nano USB receiver, use it as a Bluetooth keyboard for your tablet when you’re in a cafe, and use the included cable to connect it to your PC in the office. With the detachable USB-A to USB-C cable, you can connect the KW 9200 MINI keyboard to a device and also use…

CHROME Delete Auto-fill search suggestions in one click Chrome’s Auto-fill feature is useful for saving passwords, addresses, payment-card numbers and other information you frequently type into websites, allowing you to enter the stored data with a single click. But it also collects text you type into search boxes on some websites, which then appears in a list of auto-complete suggestions when you click search boxes on other sites. Not only is this more irritating than useful, but it compromises your privacy if you share your PC with other people because they can see what you’ve been searching for. Until now, the only way to remove these suggestions was to hover your cursor over them and press Shift+Delete, but Chrome 113 (released in May) thankfully makes things easier. It places bin…

ANDROID & iOS Lock and hide your private chats in WhatsApp Anyone who picks up your phone can read your WhatsApp chats, which may contain personal messages intended only for your eyes and those of specific people. To address this privacy concern, WhatsApp has added a welcome feature called Chat Lock, which lets you hide your most intimate conversations from any nosy parkers. Locking a chat with Chat Lock removes it from your Chats list in WhatsApp and places it in a secure folder, which can only be accessed using the passcode or biometric method – such as your fingerprint – that you use to unlock your phone. Once a chat has been moved to a locked folder, the contents of any new messages in that chat won’t be shown…

WINDOWS 10 & 11 Keep a window always on top using AutoHotkey You can use Microsoft PowerToys to press a keyboard shortcut that keeps your current window on top, but there’s another superb program that does the same: AutoHotkey. The software lets you write scripts that perform tasks when you press a shortcut. First, download and install AutoHotkey from www.autohotkey.com. It gets automatically added to your context menu, so right-click your desktop, hover over New, then select ‘AutoHotkey Script’. Give the script a name (1 in our screenshot below), then choose ‘Empty’ 2 from the list and click Edit 3. On the next window, select Notepad as the editor, and press OK. An empty Notepad window will appear. Type ^SPACE:: Winset, Alwaysontop,, A into the text editor, before saving and closing.…

WHAT YOU GET ✓ Anti-malware protection✓ Powerful firewall✓ Secure VPN✓ Password manager PLUS Monitors the dark web for your personal details Norton is made by NortonLifeLock Inc – a standalone company dedicated to consumer cyber safety. It has always performed strongly in Computeractive antivirus tests, so we highly recommend it 3 devices for 2 years NOW ONLY £14.99* Normally £149.99 Buy it from our Software Store at www.snipca.com/46206 *while stocks last…

1080p/1440p/2160p High-definition video of 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 pixels. respectively. 3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 7-Zip A free, open-source file archiver. Administrator Someone who can make changes to a computer that will affect others who also use it. AI Artificial Intelligence. Intelligence demonstrated by a machine. Often used to describe technology that can perform human-like tasks. Aspect ratio A measurement of the shape of a display. Traditional PC screens are 4:3. Widescreen displays are 16:9 or 16:10. Augmented reality Lets you view the real world on a screen and add virtual elements. Benchmarking Comparing software and products with an accepted standard. Biometric Using measurable personal characteristics, such as fingerprints, for identification. BIOS Basic Input-Output System. Software that connects…