Table of contents for 583 in Computeractive

I love editing photos to improve them, but I’m not sure about turning grey skies blue. It’s one of the tips in our Cover Feature, but there’s nothing wrong with a photo of an overcast day. Changing it to blue feels like you’re editing the weather rather than your photo. What’s the point in making a sky look sunny when the photo shows you shivering in rain-soaked anoraks? But I’m all for other tweaks to improve photo quality, such as fixing overexposure and adjusting white balance – two of the tips in the photo-editing section of our feature. We also explain clever ways to make your videos look better, my favourite being DaVinci Resolve’s Boring Detector, which tells you when a clip is too long (and therefore ‘boring’). As well…

The Welsh village of Devauden has become the first place in the UK to receive 4G-based mobile broadband as part of the new Shared Rural Network (SRN). Finalised in March, the SRN allows the UK’s four main networks – BT, EE, O2 and Vodafone – to share existing masts and build new ones to provide services to areas that are hard to reach. It’s being backed by £500m from the Government, while the networks will invest £532m between them. Devauden’s 4G is being provided by Vodafone, which published a photo of the village’s new mast (pictured, and see www.snipca.com/35188). The village, which has a population of just over 1,000, is situated in the Wye Valley, between the towns of Chepstow and Monmouth. The company’s UK Chief Executive Officer, Nick Jeffery,…

The British Army has created its first cyber-regiment to fight off digital attacks. The 13th Signal Regiment, based in Blandford, Dorset, will create a “digital armour” around soldiers, allowing them to operate online securely, both at home and overseas. It will work with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force to provide secure networks for military communications, preventing enemy agents from hacking them. The specialist unit will comprise around 250 servicemen and women who possess “relevant high-end technical skills”. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace described the move as “a step-change in the modernisation of the UK Armed Forces for information warfare”. He added: “Cyber-attacks are every bit as deadly as those faced on the physical battlefield, so we must prepare to defend ourselves from all those who would do us harm…

You might be wondering why we didn’t use ‘cheapest’ instead of ‘affordable’ in our heading. It’s because we’re looking at how much of a household’s income is eaten up by broadband. It’s a question of relative cost. The country’s most expensive broadband will feel like peanuts if you’re on a Premier League footballer’s salary. The results come from a survey conducted by consultancy firm Point Topic, which worked out what percentage of income it would take to subscribe to the cheapest deal available in a given area. It did this by dividing the UK into 34,753 Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in England and Wales, each comprising between 400 and 1,200 households. These areas, devised by the Office of National Statistics, are small enough to reflect differences within the…

As a long-term subscriber, I have come to trust and respect your reviews, often buying or downloading hardware and software you recommend. So last year, when looking to buy a new laptop, I went with your recommendation of the HP Envy 13 that has been your ‘Buy It’ laptop for over a year now (see page 30). Over the next six months my new Envy dealt with everything I threw at it. But then came coronavirus and in March like most people I was confined to home, followed by the onslaught of requests to join online meetings. So as people scrambled on the internet to buy overpriced webcams, I sat smugly with the knowledge that I had the highly rated HP Envy 13 with its HD wide-angle built-in webcam. Well,…

I’m writing to commend the excellent service I received recently from Humax UK. My PVR developed a fault and would not respond to re-tuning, finding only a few channels and reporting ‘no signal’ for most. I called the Humax helpline and was talked through several procedures by a very helpful and knowledgeable assistant. He eventually diagnosed a fault with the unit’s tuner and said he would organise a replacement unit for me. It was sent to me within two days, but it also turned out to be faulty. Within a further three days I received an alternative model of PVR as a replacement. This works perfectly. Having had several unsatisfactory experiences with helplines in the past, I was very impressed by the level of service I received in this case.…

What can I use to find similar photos? Q Can you recommend a tool that identifies similar photos in my collection. It spans 55 years and all have been scanned in. Perhaps one that creates an MD5 hash of the original, then scans for similar hashes? Andy Newton A An MD5 hash (a unique 32-character string generated using the contents of a file) is useful when locating identical photos, but not similar ones. Edit just a single pixel in a photo and it will generate a completely different hash. However, there are tools to help you find similar photos. Before trying these, be aware that running searches on collections as large as yours can take a long time, and you may find they return lots of photos that have nothing…

Einstein said you should make things as simple as possible, but no simpler. Well, he didn’t quite say that, but someone else came up with it as an accurate summary of what Einstein had said at greater length. In other words, they made it as simple as possible, but no simpler. This maxim must have been in the minds of Huawei’s engineers when they designed the MateBook 13, which whittles down the laptop form to a point where it can go no further without losing something. “Makes the right decisions on screen and performance – just lacks enough ports” We’ve seen rival slim laptops, for example, that waste i7 chip performance due to thermal throttling. But in our most demanding tasks, Intel’s new i7-10510U processor sustained Turbo Boost speeds over…

Q I have a Dell E193FP 19in monitor, probably about 20 years old, which I’d like to upgrade. My desk space is limited but I have room for a 22in. Is there a suitable Full HD model under £100, if possible with something better than a TN screen and with a VGA input? I’m not into gaming and don’t need built-in speakers. Neil Howells A We don’t often test monitors smaller than 24in, but in this price bracket you won’t be looking at fine distinctions in colour accuracy – the main thing is that any modern 1920x1080-pixel screen will be a big improvement on your 1280x1024 model. To start by ruling out some options: AOC’s 21.5in E2270SWDN (£65 from Amazon, www.snipca.com/35133) vindicates your concern about cheap TN panels, with users…

Amazon’s doorbell video brand, Ring, has caused controversy, having been accused of sharing data in ways that some people claim amounts to mass surveillance. Blink is a separate range that competes with more conventional Wi-Fi home-security systems (see our round-up in Issue 527, page 24). The new Mini is half the price of the original Blink camera and connects to your Wi-Fi all by itself, without needing a Blink Sync module (£50 from www.snipca.com/35170). Considering it records in 1080p Full HD at 30 frames per second (fps), that makes it very good value. The similarly compact Neos SmartCam (£30 from www.snipca.com/32065, see Issue 558, page 28) is 1080p but only 15fps, while the pricier BT Smart Home Cam (£50 from www.snipca.com/32063) records 15fps at a coarser 720p. Both of those…

Offering next-generation Wi-Fi 6, TP-Link’s Archer AX50 router can reach 2,402Mbps on 5GHz band and 574 Mbps on 2.4GHz band. Four highgain antennas and beamforming combine to extend strong, reliable Wi-Fi throughout your home. It has OFDMA technology, increasing your capacity by four times, letting you transmit to more devices simultaneously. It reduces latency by 75 per cent, resulting in more responsive gaming and video chatting. It’s also compatible with Amazon Alexa, so you can control it using your voice, while TP-Link’s HomeCare software – including parental controls – protects your devices from cyber-threats. To enter this competition, email your home address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk with ‘Archer AX50’ in the subject line by midnight 14 July. Good luck! You can buy TP-Link’s Archer AX50 router from Amazon priced £164.99: www.snipca.com/34977. For more information…

WINDOWS 7, 8.1 & 10 Always run programs in admin mod Some programs need to run in administrator mode, which lets them access and change system settings. Many of our favourite NirSoft tools (www.nirsoft.net), for example, provide extra functions when run in admin mode. To save you having to right-click these, then finding and selecting the ‘Run in administrator mode’ option, you can just edit their shortcuts so they always run in admin mode. If you don’t already have a shortcut for the program, right-click its EXE file in File Explorer, then select ‘Send to’, followed by ‘Desktop (create shortcut)’. Now right-click the shortcut, then select Properties. If it’s not already selected, click the Shortcut tab at the top, then click ‘Advanced…’ at the bottom. In the Advanced Properties window…

Beeb Does this mean the BBC is an uncle, not an auntie? What is it? A new tool from the BBC that responds to your voice commands. Like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri you mean? Yes. By starting commands with ‘OK Beeb’, you can ask it to perform simple tasks, such as play radio stations, music, podcasts, news and weather, and ask more complicated questions with answers taken from BBC programmes. It can also tell jokes from comedies, and provide facts from shows like QI. Is the BBC building a smart speaker for it? No. The BBC wants it to run on its existing services, like iPlayer and Sounds, through devices made by others. It’ll start on Windows computers, before being added to TVs, phones and smart speakers. Can I try…

Block PUPs Windows Defender may not be as comprehensive as paid-for security suites, but Microsoft has been improving it in recent years. The May 2020 Update continues these improvements by adding an option that scans for and offers to block PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) – or PUAs (potentially unwanted apps) as Microsoft calls them. The PUA blocker has been part of Defender for a while, but you previously had to use a PowerShell hack to enable it. This wasn’t easy and involved tweaking the Windows registry. Microsoft has now built this feature into Defender, making it easier to switch on. It’s disabled by default, so open Settings (press Windows key+I), click ‘Update & Security’, Windows Security, then ‘App and browser control’. In the window that opens, click ‘Turn on’ under…

Send photos from phone to computer I’ve got a theory that when people complain about modern life being “just too busy”, it proves the exact opposite. It’s only when you have time on your hands that you can start contemplating whether life is getting too hectic. It’s not a luxury our grandparents enjoyed 100 years ago, when mangles and carpet sweepers had yet to be replaced by washing machines and vacuum cleaners. I’m capable of fits of impatience that would embarrass a toddler, so I’m always looking for shortcuts It ties in with another pet theory: that the more time gadgets save us, the more impatient we get. We don’t put that time saved to good use reading Shakespeare or listening to Mozart. Instead, we simply moan that a program…

APRIL WAS VIRGIN’S BUSIEST EVER MONTH Virgin Media has said April was its busiest ever month, as internet usage soared during lockdown. It said that since lockdown began, customers have downloaded an extra 3.4GB per day. London has experienced the biggest jump overall, with an increase of 20 per cent, while Wales saw the smallest at 10 per cent. USE AMAZON’S ALEXA IN YOUR CAR Amazon has released its first Echo device for cars, letting you control Alexa as you drive. Called the Echo Auto (pictured), it has eight microphones so Alexa can hear you over your car’s engine. You can ask it to play music and audiobooks, read the news, tune into radio stations, and more. It plugs into your car’s USB port or 12V socket and is available…

Google has apologised for temporarily removing a photo of Sir Winston Churchill from results when searching for ‘British Prime Ministers’. His absence drew attention on Saturday 15 June, amid debate about Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square. Many people complained on Twitter, accusing Google of deliberately removing the photo in order to avoid offending people who disapprove of Churchill’s statue. But Google claimed the photo had actually been missing since April, and its disappearance had been caused by a failed update. It said that in late April it had been criticised for using a photo of Churchill as a young man, rather than an image of him as Prime Minister during World War 2. This image had been chosen automatically by Google’s software. Its human reviewers agreed with the criticism that…

WATCH OUT FOR… Fake supermarket websites What are they? Scammers are exploiting the rise in people ordering food online by setting up fake websites that mimic the major supermarkets. By ordering groceries on these sites, you’re handing over your personal and payment-card details. Researchers at London-based security firm Mimecast found 30 fake Tesco websites, 11 for Asda and 10 for Amazon. Criminals buy a domain name similar to a genuine grocery website, then create pages that impersonate the original. Mimecast said it had detected 60,000 fake business sites since January, with the retail sector being hardest hit. Mimecast said the scammers typically “keep brand font and tone consistent with the real branding” to make the fake sites look more convincing (our screenshot shows a fake Asda site). How can you…

LEAD CASE Why has Samsung repaired my oven five times? Q I bought a Samsung oven in November 2019 from a local retailer, which came with a five-year warranty. When it began exhibiting problems in February this year, I contacted Samsung, who sent an engineer to fix it, but I’ve now had five failed repairs for different problems. Samsung refused a replacement, only offering yet another repair. Does the Consumer Rights Act (CRA) not cover me because I went directly to the manufacturer, not the retailer? Howard Angel A Yes, the CRA does cover Howard, but not against Samsung. Howard’s contract for the oven is with the retailer, which he hasn’t informed of the problems. This is crucial, because the CRA’s one-repair rule applies only to retailers. It means the…

Uncover ancestors’ criminal records Reader Stephen Manistre got in touch with the following question: “I was reminiscing with my father about a relative who died in the 1980s. He surprised me by telling me that the relative had been in prison, though he didn’t know what for. Where can I find lists of prison sentences?” Whether Stephen is successful will depend largely on when his relative served time. The important cut-off date is 1930: from then, prison records are locked away for between 75 and 100 years. To stand a chance of accessing them, you’ll need to submit a Freedom of Information request (follow the Government’s instructions at www.snipca.com/34952). Search the Home Office Calendar of Prisoners Stephen should have more luck if his relative’s conviction dates from before 1930, because…

Having been a fan of Microsoft’s original PowerToys suite of tools (launched with Windows 95 and ended with XP), I was delighted when last year Microsoft announced its plans to resurrect the suite for Windows 10. And in a move that surprised me it also said it was going to make PowerToys open source. It’s a decision that’s paid dividends - fast forward just a few months and the revitalised PowerToys has seven new tools, with many more updates planned (see the PowerToys schedule at www.snipca.com/35103). To get the latest version, go to www.snipca.com/35104, scroll down and under the Assets header download the ‘PowerToysSetup-0.18.2-x64.msi’ file. All tools are configured using the main PowerToys Settings window. You can also turn off any you don’t want from here. FancyZones is my favourite…

Considering the price rises in computing over the past few years, and the divergence of products between desktop-based and mobile, it’s notable that the maker of Windows still offers a high-quality tablet that runs its full version for under 400 quid. As before, this new model runs Windows Home in S mode, meaning you can only install software from the Microsoft Store, but you can opt to switch this to regular Windows Home. “Great screen and copes well with basic Windows 10 tasks” The design remains the same as 2018’s Surface Go, which replaced the plain Surface as the most basic option below the larger Surface Pro (from £755, see our review, Issue 569, page 23), but with some significant changes inside and out. Narrower borders accommodate a larger screen,…

What is it? We’re all used to typing on a qwerty keyboard, but we also use the same keys to operate audio- or video-editing software, games and so on, using shortcuts unrelated to the characters written on the keys. A self-labelling keyboard would change to reflect different purposes. What does it do? One example appeared in 2007 as part of electronic music company Fairlight’s Xynergi production desk (pictured). Every key on its keyboard was a mini LCD screen showing its function in the current mode. PKT Technologies, a company connected to Fairlight, is currently seeking a manufacturer for a PC keyboard that works in a similar way. What’s the catch? The Xynergi cost $20,000 (then just over £10,000), and PKT’s Picture Keyboard won’t be cheap, if it gets made. Simpler…

Before being renamed to something that might be unleashed on the universe as a superhero, this portable Bluetooth speaker used to be known as the X-Boom or MaxBoom, and it does look suspiciously similar to the pricier UE Boom 3 (£99 from Amazon www.snipca.com/30982, see our review, Issue 550, page 28). The fabric-covered case is IPX7 waterproof, partly thanks to a chunky rubber flap over the microUSB power port and audio-input jack, and has a silicone strap. The rechargeable battery will last up to 20 hours, but you’ll need a USB port or charger to connect to the supplied cable. Like the Boom 3, the StormBox has two speaker drivers that promise a bigger sound than you’d expect from a 7in (180mm) cylinder. We didn’t find it quite as loud,…

HTC Status What was it? By 2011, Facebook had ballooned to a worldwide obsession, and it made complete sense to release a mobile phone specifically for its fans. Well, it made sense to Facebook and hardware partner HTC, anyway. Launched at $400 (then about £250), or $50 on contract with US network AT&T, the Status (pictured) ran Android and resembled a BlackBerry, with a colour touchscreen at the top and a qwerty button keyboard below. Inexplicably for a device aimed at texting and Facebook posting, it had a curved ‘banana phone’ profile, which had been designed to hug the face while making a phone call. For the benefit of younger readers, a phone call was a kind of video chat with no pictures. Why did it die? It’s not hard…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Upload handwritten notes to your computer Following Will Stapley’s helpful instructions on using Google Keep (Issue 582, page 20), I’d like to point out that Google Lens has just been given the ability to scan and digitise handwritten notes, then send them directly to Google Drive. First, make sure you’re signed into the same Google account on your phone and computer. Next, you need the Google Lens app. On Android, install it from www.snipca.com/35056. On an iPhone, install the Google app (www.snipca.com/35058). I have an iPhone, so I’ll provide instructions for that, though it’s similar on Android. Open the Google app then tap the Google Lens icon in the search bar (to the left of the microphone icon). Hover your phone over your notes and wait…

LIBREOFFICE WRITER Make parts of documents read-only Sometimes you’ll want to restrict what people can edit in documents you send them, such as questionnaires. LibreOffice Writer lets you do this using its Sections tool. Open the document you want to edit in Writer, then use your mouse to select the first block of text you want to prevent people from changing. With the text still selected, open the Insert menu, then select ‘Section…’. If you’re going to add a lot of read-only sections, it’s worth naming them, so change the name from Section1 to something more descriptive. Now, in the Write Protection section, tick the Protect box (see screenshot). If you want to stop people turning this setting off, tick the ‘With password’ box, then click ‘Password…’ to set the…

From fine adjustments to wholesale changes, most of our photos and videos could do with sprucing up. Actually carrying out these edits isn’t always easy. Even basic image- and video-editing tools are littered with confusing menus and controls, and if you don’t know what you’re doing the end result can look worse than the original. In this feature, we uncover the tricks of the trade to show you how you can enhance your photos and videos using free software. And unlike online tutorials, we won’t bamboozle you with jargon along the way. We’ve carefully selected tips to fix the 20 most common, but infuriating problems, such as adjusting wonky horizons, resolving poorly exposed images and sorting out video that doesn’t sync with its soundtrack. You can even change an overcast…

Why can’t I shrink my SSD? Q I was interested in Issue 579’s Workshop about movin software to an external SSD. So, I purchased a 1TB SanDisk external SSD (pictured). All went well until I began attempts to partition the SSD, as per Step 2 of your instructions. No matter what I tried the Shrink Volume menu item remained greyed out. I checked the other volumes listed and both my external hard drives showed this same option to be active. Rightly or wrongly, I formatted the SSD. Again, no change. I’ve tried to contact the SanDisk helpline, but with no success. Is it the fact that this SanDisk SSD cannot be partitioned? If so, then I think that SanDisk should make it known to prospective purchasers. I hope that you…

The Government is considering opening up 600,000 miles of underground sewage, gas, electricity and water networks to broadband companies, in a bid to speed up the availability of gigabit (1Gbps) connections. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has announced a call for evidence, which will allow interested parties to state their views. It’s been estimated that reusing existing infrastructure would save broadband companies £8bn because they wouldn’t have to dig ducts – small underground tunnels – to lay cables. Digital Minister Matt Warman said: “It makes both economic and common sense for firms rolling out gigabit broadband to make use of the infrastructure that already exists across the country”. “This will help them avoid the high costs and disruption of having to dig or build their own…

Here’s something we weren’t expecting. US software developer Digiarty has refunded reader Mike Chappell, even though it wasn’t legally required to. When we reported his case in Issue 579, we said Mike wasn’t entitled to a refund for the WinX MediaTrans software because he had downloaded it, which counts as using it. We followed this in Issue 581 with an update explaining that we still ask companies for a goodwill refund even when they don’t have to give one. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, after all. A few weeks later, Mike told us that Digiarty had refunded the £30 he paid for the software. We explained to the company that Mike admitted he could have used the free trial to try the program before buying it, and that he was asking politely…

SYSTEM TOOL O&O ShutUp10 1.8 www.snipca.com/35184 What you need: Windows 10 When Microsoft releases its major updates for Windows (see page 60 for more on the recent May 2020 Update), it also quietly resets some settings to their defaults – in other words, Microsoft changes your computer to better suit its needs. O&O ShutUp10 lets you take back control and tweak a wide range of settings with the click of a button. O&O calls it an ‘antispy’ tool for Windows 10, but it lets you tweak much more than just privacy settings, including hiding any annoying Windows tools you never use. The tool is just 1.3MB and requires no installation – simply copy the EXE file to your desktop, or any other folder, then double-click it to run ShutUp10. You’ll…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: WhatsApp Messaging and video-calling tools like WhatsApp have become essential for keeping in touch with our loved ones during lockdown, but they also have a nasty habit of filling our devices with junk. I hadn’t realised quite how badly WhatsApp junk can build up until my son complained he couldn’t access email from his iPhone. It turns out that this was because his device’s storage was full – thanks, in part, to WhatsApp hogging a whopping 2GB of the phone’s 16GB storage limit. By default, WhatsApp auto-downloads all the photos, GIFs and videos that people post on any group and chat thread you belong to. So, I assumed the solution would be to delete unwanted content. But when we tried to launch WhatsApp, it just…

We’ve been seeing new laptops for months now with 10th-generation Intel processors, and now at last there are desktop PC versions. This system from Computeractive favourites PC Specialist uses the mid-range i5-10600K chip, installed here at its standard base clock speed of 4.1GHz but capable of being overclocked even faster. As it stands, it can use Intel’s Turbo Boost to increase its speed to 4.8GHz, and a particularly chunky CPU fan is fitted to keep it running within Intel’s ambitiously low temperature limit of 70°C. The less heat your processor is pumping out, after all, the more power is being converted into computing. But the proof is in the pudding, or as we prefer to call it, our series of benchmark tests. The 10th-gen i7 and i9 processors have a…

If you have a PC or other computer-like box connected to your telly, it doesn’t make much sense to have it set up in a corner of your living room with a keyboard and mouse. This combined keyboard and trackpad lets you operate everything from the sofa. It connects using a widely compatible USB radio dongle, but officially it’s only fully supported in Windows. Features are limited with macOS or Android, and it’s not designed to work with iPhones or iPads. There’s no Bluetooth, so you need a USB port. This isn’t a rechargeable device, but comes with two regular AAA batteries installed under the bottom panel beside a handy receptacle for the USB dongle. To avoid running them down, it’s not backlit, which can be frustrating when you’ve turned…

LAPTOP PRICE DROP HP Envy 13 (2019) £ 870 from www.snipca.com/34945 Tested Issue 568 Thanks to eighth-gen Intel processors and dedicated Nvidia MX250 graphics, this sleek aluminium laptop offers a practical combination of all-round processing power and portability, topped off by 8 hours 30 minutes battery life – and the touchscreen is now excellent too. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 Gets the most out of Intel CPUs, now tenth-gen, but there’s no GPU option and the cheapest sensible configuration is £1050 from www.snipca.com/33309 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy S6 £619 from www.snipca.com/34752 Tested Issue 571 Although it resembles the iPad Pro, this competes more directly with the basic iPad and, considering the included S Pen stylus and generous 128GB of storage, costs about the same. It’s less powerful, but a great tablet…

What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 Time required: 30 minutes If you leave your PC running so it can carry out a lengthy task (such as download a large file or encode a video), you might return to it a few hours later to find Windows has put your computer to sleep before the task was completed. In this Workshop, we explain how to use a tool called Shutter to control precisely when your PC goes to sleep or shuts down. You can also use Shutter to carry out a range of other useful tasks, such as muting your speakers when your screen turns off or closing specific programs when your battery is low. STEP 1 First, install Shutter by going to www.snipca.com/35096, clicking the blue Installer button…

ANDROID & iOS Use filters before you take your photo There are so many image filters to choose from across so many different apps that you can spend more time ‘editing’ your photos with supposedly simple one-click enhancements than you do setting them up and shooting them. Adobe, which is better known for image-editing software than camera apps, might have the answer. Photoshop Camera for both iOS and Android (www.snipca.com/35168) lets you apply your filter before the picture’s been taken, and take it out before pressing the shutter button if it doesn’t look right. Better yet, it actively detects what it thinks is the main focal point of the image and applies filters as appropriate, giving you the best chance of capturing the perfect picture. It’s well worth downloading to…

Create a club poster using templates Creating a large-format poster for a club event might seem daunting. First you have to create an eye-catching design, then you have to get it printed at a size that’s beyond the ability of most home printers. Here, we show you how to overcome these challenges. Choose a template Because most of us aren’t graphics professionals, the most sensible course of action when creating your own poster is to use online templates. One option is Canva (www.snipca.com/35152), but as we recommended it for creating a club logo (see Issue 569, page 48) you may have already used up its 30-day free trial. Instead, we’ll show you how to use Adobe Spark, which is free. Go to www.snipca.com/35154, then click the blue ‘Create a Poster…

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

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. 720p/1080p Common types of high-definition video of 1280x720 and 1920x1080 pixels respectively. 802.11ax Wi-Fi standard with speeds up to 10 times faster than 802.11ac. Also called Wi-Fi 6. Bandwidth A measure of how much data can be transferred through a connection at one time. Benchmark Compare products with an accepted standard. Beta A version of software that’s being tested. Bloatware Unwanted software built into a new device. Client A program that acts as an interface…