Table of contents for 668 in Computeractive

More than 95 per cent of Windows users have Chrome or Edge as their main browser, which is an awful lot of people we risk upsetting with our Cover Feature. But we can no longer ignore the chasm between browsers that respect your privacy, and those that track you so they can blast you with non-stop adverts. For proof, look at the table on page 57 and compare the green ticks in Brave’s column with the red crosses for Chrome and Edge. The difference is startling. Chrome and Edge have their strengths, such as plenty of settings to change how they work, and excellent extensions to add features. I still use both every day for times when Brave, Firefox or DuckDuckGo can’t do what I need. But I resent the…

Microsoft looks set to remove the option to upgrade from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 or 11 for free. It first promoted a free upgrade to Windows 10 after launching it in 2015. It said the offer would expire in mid-2016, but the company never officially ended it. This ‘loophole’ continued after Microsoft launched Windows 11 in 2022, letting users activate the system by typing a valid product key. It has now blocked free upgrades to preview builds of Windows 11, and will probably extend this to cover upgrades to the full version of the operating system. It didn’t announce the change in a blog, choosing instead an update to its Device Partner Center website: www.snipca.com/47777. Upgrades to Windows 11 from Windows 10 will remain free, it added.…

WATCH OUT FOR… Copper network switch-off scammers What’s the threat? Scammers are already exploiting fears about the copper network switch-off in 2025 to target vulnerable customers. In particular, they are phoning people who use health devices that rely on the existing network, such as personal alarms that contact emergency services. They pretend to be from the NHS or your phone company and ask for personal details. Some threaten to disconnect you if you don’t hand over your bank details. The warning comes from the Local Government Association (LGA), which says that 1.8 million people in the UK use telephone-based health devices. How can you stay safe? First, make a mental note that switching from a copper-based landline to a digital phone service won’t cost you any money. Nobody from councils,…

What are my rights for dog food that hasn’t arrived? LEAD CASE Q A month ago I paid £44 for an expensive brand of dog food from www.notinthedoghouse.co.uk. The website says it has been sent, but it hasn’t arrived. The site is now refusing to answer my emails. What are my rights in this instance? Sara Planter A If Sara has been waiting longer than 30 days for delivery she’s entitled to take more serious action than merely emailing the company for help. First, she should consider reporting it to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice (www.snipca.com/47605). Trading Standards won’t be able to retrieve her money, but it can investigate the company’s trading practices. More than half of its customers have given it a one-star rating on Trustpilot (see screenshot), with…

SOFTWARE WARNING! SUPERAntiSpyware’s barrage of offers You can tell that SUPERAntiSpyware (www.superanti spyware.com) is confident in its ability to keep you safe by the way it rather desperately capitalises ‘SUPER’. This is no ordinary spyware protection, but SUPER protection. The logo and garish red-and-yellow colour scheme make us think of mosquito spray, which we guess helps to sell it as a powerful pest repellent. But many users have complained online that it’s becoming almost as big a pest as the threats it aims to block, with endless adverts nagging you to upgrade to the paid-for version. I braced myself when downloading the tool, but I still wasn’t prepared to be barraged with special offers at almost every click. The pop-ups were bad enough, but worse were the Chrome tabs it…

What do they do? The cameras built into smartphones already have a wider field of view than most regular cameras, but many – such as the iPhone 15 Pro (pictured) – now come with an extra ‘ultrawide’ lens. These have an even wider field of vision (measured in degrees) so they can fit more of a scene into the photo frame. They’re good for taking a picture of a landscape or a large group of people. How do they work? Wide lenses have a more convex shape than regular lenses, which means they can capture light from a wider area and focus it on to the camera’s image sensor. As a result, the camera captures more of a view, although it may produce some distortion, particularly around the edges. This…

If you’re looking for a way to quickly build a database of your precious collections, then Data Crow is that tool. As recently as 2020, it seemed to be on the verge of falling into a state of disrepair. Fast-forward to now, however, and not only has the original developer, Robert Jan van der Waals, returned to the program, but he’s spent the past nine months updating and refining it so that it’s better than ever. Data Crow is designed to work with a wide range of collections, from books, music and films to newly added modules that let you organise your board games and comic books too. You can input details of your items manually or use online databases – letting you type a name, find a match and…

SOFTWARE Use aText to quickly type long text Come on Computeractive – you must remember aText, which you recommended in Issue 634 (page 57). It’s the perfect solution to Alan Pedder’s problem (‘Can I create an email shortcut?’, Issue 665, page 66). It’s certainly easier than your suggestion of using the Windows key+V keyboard shortcut to paste text. More importantly, it’s all mouse-free because all you have to do is type a few easily remembered letters. When you recommended it, you showed how typing tyvm can be converted into ‘thank you very much’ (see screenshot above right). I use aText all the time to enter my email address. For example, by typing ap**** I get ‘adampride@fakeemailaddress.com’. I also use it for longer multi-line text like email signatures. It’s particularly useful…

Aelrsoch External Blu-ray drive £50 from www.snipca.com/47567 Inspired by Issue 665’s feature on making DVDs last longer (page 62), I bought this Blu-ray drive reader from Amazon. It also reads and rewrites DVDs and CDs, and is compatible with both USB-C and USB 3.0 slots. It works with all versions of Windows between XP and 10, but not 11. It can take quite a while to burn discs, but that’s the trade-off for it being around £40 cheaper than other Blu-ray readers. I’ve now digitised my entire TV and film collection, and what struck me is just how enjoyable watching the 480p (or 576i) content is, let alone the 1080p Blu-ray. I’m into my third decade on this planet and grew up with physical media. I feel maybe we’ve been…

Battery Status Chromium www.snipca.com/47628 Although you can check your laptop’s battery level by hovering your cursor over the battery icon on the Windows taskbar, it’s more convenient to have this information in your browser. This extension shows you the current battery percentage on its toolbar button, which changes from green to red when power drops below 15 per cent. Click the button for further details including whether the battery is charging and the estimated time until it’s full. Best of all, Battery Status lets you set up audio notifications to alert you when your laptop’s battery is running low. To do this, open the add-on’s Settings, click Add and specify the battery level at which you want to play a sound. Select a sound in the dropdown menu (see screenshot)…

Best Coffee Free Android www.snipca.com/47706 iOS www.snipca.com/47705 This app helps you find a tasty cup of coffee while you’re out and about, without relying on chains such as Starbucks and Costa. It lists the nearest independent coffee shops, including details of their facilities, provides customer reviews and lets you explore places on a map. It works best in big cities. Best For Finding coffee shops Untappd Free* Android www.snipca.com/47707 iOS www.snipca.com/47708 Untappd is a social network for beer lovers that uses your location to recommend the best venues in the area for a decent pint. You can create a list of your favourite tipples, earn badges for trying different styles and get alerts when places add new ales. The app also connects you to friends so you can compare notes.…

ONLYOFFICE Zoom in beyond 200% Version 7.4 of OnlyOffice, released in June, lets you zoom into your documents, spreadsheets and presentations beyond the previous limit of 200%. When working on documents and spreadsheets, you can zoom using increments of 100 from 200% up to 500% by clicking the bottom-right menu (1 in our screenshot below). Our photo has been zoomed to 500%. For smaller increments, hold down Ctrl on your keyboard then scroll with your mouse wheel, or move two fingers up or down your laptop’s touchpad. Alternatively, click the + and - (plus and minus) buttons 2. You can’t type your own number to zoom by. MICROSOFT OUTLOOK Go back to the old ribbon menu Microsoft redesigned Outlook earlier this year, and added several new features that we’ll explain…

Amazon has released new versions of its two 4K Fire TV Sticks, with faster Wi-Fi, increased storage and quicker processors. The standard Fire TV Stick 4K (£59.99 from www.snipca.com/47764) has a 1.7GHz quad-core processor that Amazon claims is 30-per-cent faster than the chip in the previous model, which was launched in 2018. This should mean you’ll be able to scroll through menus faster and start playing TV shows quicker. It also has Wi-Fi 6, one level up from the previous Stick. This keeps Wi-Fi speeds faster when multiple devices are connected to the same router. It’s backwards compatible, so works with Wi-Fi 5 routers too. Storage stays the same at 8GB. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max (£69.99 from www.snipca.com/47765, pictured right) has Wi-Fi 6E, which is even faster –…

Virgin Media is emailing customers to say they can cancel without a fee if they don’t like its new policy of increasing bills by the rate of inflation plus 3.9 per cent. It will make this change in April 2024, and base the increase on the Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation as announced for February 2024. It’s the first time Virgin has tied rises to inflation, which is how BT, EE, Plusnet and Vodafone already calculate price rises. Until now, Virgin has hiked prices based on market conditions and other factors. The most recent RPI figure, for August, was 9.1 per cent. At this rate, Virgin customers would be paying 13 per cent more each month, though inflation is expected to fall by next February. In the email…

Password manager Dashlane will now warn you when you paste your password into a site that “looks suspicious” or doesn’t match its records. When its browser extension thinks you’re signing into a dodgy site, it will ask you to “make sure you trust this website before pasting your login details” (1 in screenshot). On its blog (www.snipca.com/47666) it gives the example of signing into a fake Disney URL 2 rather than the genuine address, shopdisney.com 3. Dashlane says the phishing warning will appear in all major browsers except Apple’s Safari, though it’s aiming to add support soon. However, it’s available only in paid-for versions of Dashlane, not the free edition. We recommend the ‘Friends & Family’ package because you can split the cost with nine other members. Pay upfront annually and it…

Top marks to Samsung for delivering one of the best goodwill gestures we’ve ever covered. It paid reader Chris Roberts £100 after he was unable to get the same amount off a Samsung S23 phone under the company’s trade-in scheme. By law, it didn’t have to pay him anything, so we’re delighted by the result. To recap, Chris rejected the S23 when it was delivered to him in a damaged box (see Issue 667). When he’d ordered the phone, he’d managed to get a £100 discount by trading in his old device. However, he could no longer get this discount when he tried to reorder the phone soon after rejecting the delivery. Samsung said the problem was that his old phone’s IMEI number was still tied to the original order,…

SOFTWARE UPDATER WingetUI 2.1 www.snipca.com/47740 What you need: Windows 10 or 11 On 31 October, one of our favourite free tools for updating software, SUMo Software Updater, will be discontinued following the closure of its parent company. WingetUI provides a reliable alternative, and though it works in a different way to SUMo, it’s significantly improved since it launched last year. Rather than get updates from developers’ websites, WingetUI uses package managers to detect and download the latest versions of programs. These include the built-in Windows Package Manager (Winget for short), the rival services Chocolatey and Scoop, and – as of the latest version – the. NET package manager required to install updates for Microsoft’s. NET framework. If that sounds rather technical, don’t worry – WingetUI is straightforward to use. On…

LAPTOP Acer Swift Edge 16 £1,299 from www.snipca.com/47480 Tested Issue 667 This is a much better all-rounder than Acer’s Swift 3, and so replaces it as our top choice. It’s faster, has a sharp 16in screen – two inches bigger than the Swift 3 – and comes with more ports, including two USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports and HDMI. It’s 13mm thick with the lid closed and weighs a mere 1.25k ALTERNATIVE Lenovo Yoga 6 Gen 7 Has a slower processor, but with a 15-hour battery and a great 13.3in screen it remains a good laptop for the price. £549 from www.snipca.com/44950. ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 £768 from www.snipca.com/47493 Tested Issue 667 With a much brighter screen than our previous favourite – the Galaxy Tab S8 –…

CHROME Explore the new Chrome Web Store The Chrome Web Store, which hosts thousands of extensions and themes to install in Google’s browser, has remained relatively unchanged for years. To celebrate Chrome’s 15th birthday, Google has redesigned the site to give it a fresh, modern look and make it easier to browse. The new store features a larger, more prominent search box at the top of the page, which now provides accurate auto-complete suggestions when you start typing the name of an extension. The Categories list on the left-hand side has been replaced with a ‘Top categories’ section in the centre, which includes Shopping, Entertainment and Tools. There are recommendations for add-ons you might like, ‘Editors’ Picks’ and a new category for AI-powered extensions. There’s also a carousel of themed…

iOS Turn your iPhone into a smart display in iOS 17 Arguably the biggest new feature in iOS 17, which is now available for iPhones from the past five years (see list at www.snipca.com/47749), is StandBy mode. This in effect turns your phone into a smart display when you position it horizontally while charging. You can use StandBy mode to show the time on a large clock, view photos from your library and interact with widgets like those on your Lock or Home screen. These include a calendar, weather forecast, to-do list, music player and news app that shows the latest headlines. Incoming notifications appear fullscreen, so if you receive a message, you’ll be able to see the sender’s name from across the room. StandBy is enabled by default in…

WINDOWS 10 & 11 Turn programs into smaller ‘thumbnails’ The ‘Crop And Lock’ tool, new in version 0.73 of Microsoft’s PowerToys, lets you create a ‘thumbnail’ image from a program that you’re using. This means you can crop a section from a larger window into a smaller one, which you can then treat as a desktop widget. We’ve used this tool to crop the BBC weather forecast, so it gets updated in real time. Open PowerToys, click ‘Crop And Lock’ on the left, then Open Settings and make sure Enable Crop And Lock is set to On (1 in screenshot). Use the Thumbnail ‘Win+Ctrl+Shift+T’ shortcut to crop, or click the pencil icon 2 to create your own. This can be any length, as long as it starts with Win, Ctrl,…

Using the formula EOMONTH you can set spreadsheets to generate end-of-month deadlines. In our example, we’re setting deadlines for a long-term project kicking off in January 2024. We’ve entered the start date into C3 (1 in our screenshot), the task names in column B, and our deadlines into column C. To calculate the deadline for our first task, we entered =EOMONTH(C3,0) 2 into C7. In the formula, we used C3 to refer to the project start date, and ‘0’ to refer to 0 months after the project start month (January 2024). Changing 0 to 1 means the formula would generate the end-of-month date for February 2024; 2 for March 2024, and so on. For example, in C18 3, we used the formula =EOMONTH(C3,7) to generate the end date for August…

1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 1920x1080 pixels. 3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 480p A resolution of high-definition video: 640x480 pixels. 576i Standard-definition TV video mode with a vertical resolution of 576 lines. 7z Also known as 7-Zip. A free, open-source file archiver. ADF Automatic Document Feeder. A device that feeds sheets of paper into a photocopier or scanner, one by one. AI Artificial intelligence. Intelligence demonstrated by a machine rather than a human being. Often used to describe technology that can perform human-like tasks. Batch file Commands that are processed in sequence, often without requiring input from the user. Benchmarking Comparing software and products with an accepted standard. Beta A…

The arrival of passkeys in Windows 11 signals the beginning of the end for passwords. Signing in without typing anything might feel odd at first, but you may soon wonder why you ever had to remember your pet’s name, your year of birth, and a few random punctuation marks. Even password managers are introducing passkeys, realising that if you can’t beat them, join them. However, such a major change needs plenty of explanation and reassurance. We’ll play our part in our ‘Stop using passwords’ Cover Feature – out soon.…

Spotify Premium payment ‘failed’ I listen to Spotify for free, so was startled to get an email supposedly from the service claiming my monthly payment for Spotify Premium “didn’t seem to go through”. My instant reaction was, “Well, that’s because I don’t subscribe to Spotify Premium”, and was about to email them to complain when I realised it was probably a scam. A quick search online confirmed this. The scam was well written and used Spotify’s real logo – see the image at www.snipca.com/47659. I can identify most scams in seconds, but this one made me think for just that little longer. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

I’ve worked in business long enough to recognise when a company is preparing the ground for a decision that will anger customers. That’s exactly what WhatsApp is doing by leaking plans to show adverts in your Chats screen (‘Question of the Fortnight’, Issue 667, pictured right). It may have denied the story, but it would have monitored the response from users and press to check how big the backlash is likely to be. I’m resigned to adverts appearing in WhatsApp because, as you rightly said, it simply doesn’t make enough money from its 2 billion users. I’ll probably continue to use it unless the adverts are based on what you search for online. WhatsApp is owned by Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram. So if I search for a…

Some months ago I bought a ‘pan, tilt and zoom’ webcam made by Nuroum on Amazon (www.snipca.com/47603). When the tilt stopped working, I thought the problem was outside Amazon’s expertise, so I contacted Nuroum, based in Philadelphia. Over a period of a couple of weeks Nuroum emailed me a range of suggestions as to how I could work out whether the fault was in the webcam or it’s remote control. They even provided me with a copy of software they were developing, which would control the camera directly (ie, without using the remote). Although I couldn’t provide all the info they asked for, they promised that if either the camera or the remote was faulty they would send me a replacement for free. Eventually I found a firmware download which…

Can I convert my CDs to MP3? Q Can you recommend a program for converting CD tracks to MP3 for playing on my music player? I’ve tried using VLC Media Player and Windows Media Player, but they won’t work. Carl Hughes A You should be able to rip your CDs in Windows Media Player. Indeed, it’s what Microsoft recommends (expand the section ‘Rip music from a CD’ at www.snipca.com/47642 for details). But if you’re having no luck, try Foobar2000 instead - it’s a free download from www.snipca.com/47644. You’ll also need the Free Encoder Pack – download at www.snipca.com/47645. Once you’ve installed everything, insert your CD then click File followed by ‘Open audio CD…’. Foobar2000 should detect your disc and display it in the Open Audio CD box. Make sure it’s…

Most all-in-one printers follow the same basic design, with the printer on the bottom, the scanner in the middle and a sheet feeder for scanning documents on the top. That’s fine if you’ve got plenty of room, but is less convenient if you’re hoping to hide your printer under a desk. This makes the Canon Maxify GX6550 relatively unique, because you can access its document feeder from the front, making it an attractive option if you’re short of space or simply don’t want your printer out on display. The downside is that the scanner bed is less than A4 size. You can still use it to scan A4 documents, but you’ll have to feed them into the ADF slot. That’s not a problem when scanning individual sheets of paper, but…

Q I’ve read with interest your reviews of PCs that don’t come with graphics cards, such as the Palicomp AMD Cobra (£400 from www.snipca.com/43515, reviewed in Issue 643, pictured). However, you often claim that not having a dedicated card can slow down working with graphics. I’d like to use this as my main computer and to store several thousand photos and short video clips. I do a small amount of image processing when enhancing my photos. Would the Cobra be suitable or is it advisable to buy a PC with a graphics card fitted? Trevor Smith A The Cobra – currently our top PC choice (see page 30) – should be fine for your needs. The graphics hardware built into processors is improving all the time, with some laptops and…

BeFunky In Issue 666’s Readers’ Tips, Jessica Hunt makes a good case for using BeFunky (www.snipca.com/47100) to blur entire photos. I tried it for a while – and it’s not bad. But I’ve since discovered an easier tool. And what I use instead I’m a big fan of Adobe software, so it makes sense for me to use the blurring options in Adobe Express. This is free and simple – no registration required. Visit www.snipca.com/47654, click ‘Upload your photo’, then drag your photo into the white space or click ‘Upload from device’ and find it on your computer. Click on the photo to open editing options on the left, then select Adjustments. At the bottom you’ll now see the Blur slider (1 in our screenshot). Move this across to blur…

Geekbench Free Android www.snipca.com/47692 iOS www.snipca.com/47693 When this benchmarking app was updated last year, many users were annoyed that its handy History feature was missing. Geekbench has now restored this, so you can analyse and track the performance of your phone’s CPU and GPU over time. You can also compare your scores with similar devices. Blackmagic Camera Free iOS www.snipca.com/47691 From the maker of the powerful video editor DaVinci Resolve, this app adds digital film controls and image processing to your iPhone’s camera, so you can give your videos a cinematic look. You can tweak settings such as frame rate, shutter angle, white balance and ISO with a single tap, and adjust the audio levels, too. Expiring Product Notifications Free Android www.snipca.com/47695 Expiring Product Notifications – Xpiry for short –…