Table of contents for 721 in Computeractive

Windows 7’s market share rose to a three-year high in September as users left Windows 10 ahead of support ending. The surprise jump sees Windows 7 running on 9.61 per cent of Windows computers worldwide, up from 3.59 per cent in August. This rise closely mirrors a fall in Windows 10’s market share in the same month, from 45.53 to 40.50 per cent – its lowest since 2017. When Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 in January 2020 it was running on 24.9 per cent of computers. It fell to 19.44 per cent the following month and when Microsoft ended extended support for businesses in January 2023 only 9.55 per cent of computers were using it. It fell to 5.34 per cent in February 2023 and hadn’t gone above four…

Amazon has launched its cheapest ever 4K Fire TV stick, priced £49.99. This is cheaper than the launch price of the 2023 model, which cost £59.99. Called ‘Fire TV Stick 4K Select’ (pictured), it has only 1GB RAM, half what’s in the 2023 model. But Amazon claims this won’t make it slower because it runs on the company’s new operating system, Vega OS. It says this is “highly responsive” and allows “fast app launches and smooth navigation” (www.snipca.com/56590). Vega OS is based on Linux and replaces the Android-based Fire OS. It has been built to work with all Amazon’s devices – from streaming sticks to smart speakers and TVs. However, the Select also compares poorly with its predecessor in Wi-Fi power. It operates on Wi-Fi 5, which has less bandwidth…

Virgin Media has increased its annual price rise from £3.50 to £4 a month, but has added Netflix in some packages at no further cost. The changes affect new customers and those who renew their contract from April 2026. Like most broadband providers, Virgin previously increased prices annually by 3.9 per cent plus the rate of inflation. But Ofcom has now banned telecoms companies linking annual increases to inflation, and instead insists they state any rises clearly in “pounds and pence”. To soften the blow, Virgin has added Netflix’s ‘Standard with ads’ plan to all its TV deals, as well as to broadband-only packages of M500 (516Mbps) and faster. Virgin has also increased the base price for its broadband packages. The M125 plan (132Mbps) rises by £2 to £23.99, while…

LAPTOP ❘ £700 from Lenovo www.snipca.com/56535 A launch price of £700 for a Chromebook is a big ask for many in today’s economic climate. ChromeOS has come a long way since its launch in 2011, but that price tag places this particular Lenovo model firmly in the firing line of a number of decent Windows laptops, and that’s a big hurdle to overcome. “A restrictive operating sytem contained within a beautifully crafted device” Google built ChromeOS around the idea of providing a budget alternative to more expensive Windows laptops and PCs. This was achieved by using cheaper ARM components that had lower memory and storage requirements. That’s always come at a cost, though. Unlike Windows, with its comprehensive back catalogue of compatible programs and apps, ChromeOS effectively limits you to…

SMARTPHONE I £649 from Amazon www.snipca.com/56540 In a world filled with iPhone Airs and Samsung S25 Ultras, it’s nice to find a brand that’s innovating at the cheaper end of the spectrum. Xiaomi’s 15T Pro looks to be doing exactly that, delivering impressive specs at a reasonable price, but it’s not without its flaws. While this isn’t the Chinese brand’s flagship phone, it happily competes with the likes of Samsung’s S25 series and even Apple’s latest iPhones in many areas. The screen, for example, is a 6.83in AMOLED panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 2772x1280-pixel resolution, making it silky-smooth to navigate and surprisingly sharp. For context, Apple has only recently moved its basic iPhone 17 to a refresh rate that high. It’s not quite as bright as the…

PORTABLE SPEAKER ❘ £130 from LG www.snipca.com/56542 While the application of AI in today’s world is a contentious issue, there’s no doubting its ability to analyse data and pick out trends faster than you can blink. That’s something LG is banking on with its latest portable speaker, the Xboom Grab. At first glance, the Xboom looks like many other portable speakers, with its modest dimensions, black mesh finish and red logo. There’s a light strip on the bottom that shows you when Bluetooth is activated and when you’re connected. Throw in a few elasticated straps on either end – allowing you to hang it up or attach it to your bag – and that’s about it. There’s nothing to really shout about, until you dive into the software. In essence,…

LAPTOP MSI Prestige A16 AI+ £1,100 from www.snipca.com/55962 Tested Issue 718 A powerful Copilot+ laptop with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD to guarantee fast performance. Screen is excellent too, while battery lasts an impressive 17 hours. ALTERNATIVE PCSpecialist 16 Fusion British-made laptop with superb screen and built for advanced AI tasks. £996 from www.snipca.com/55094 ANDROID TABLET OnePlus Pad 3 £529 from www.snipca.com/55302 Tested Issue 714 With an incredibly fast processor and stunning 13.2in screen, this is the best ever Android tablet, and rivals the iPad Air. At launch both the 12GB RAM/256GB and 16GB/512GB versions were £529, so grab the latter as soon as possible. ALTERNATIVE Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Has a much brighter screen than its predecessor, making it ideal for watching TV. Also has a faster processor,…

What you need: AdGuard Time required: 30 minutes Ads are annoying, but they can be blocked. AdGuard, which is available to download to your PC to prevent ads within programs and as a browser extension to remove them online, has just been updated. Alongside its built-in filters, it lets you apply additional block lists for other online annoyances, such as pop-ups and evendubious websites. And you don’t need to create these yourself. As we’ll explain here, you can simply download filters that users of AdGuard and other tools have compiled and shared for anyone to use. We’ll also point you towards a great new feature from Windscribe VPN, which reduces websites’ ability to track you online. STEP 1 Download AdGuard from the Microsoft Store at www.snipca.com/56503. As part of the…

In September, the Government announced a new digital-ID scheme for all UK adults. It’s been called informally the BritCard, though Government ministers have suggested this won’t be its official name (www.snipca.com/56505). If the plan goes ahead, it will be introduced by the end of the current parliament (expected to be 2029). The news immediately triggered a widespread backlash, relating to privacy concerns about government surveillance and the risk of a national ID system being targeted by hackers. A petition to abandon the scheme has been signed by nearly three million people (www.snipca.com/56459). Here we explain how digital IDs work and how to enjoy their benefits without worrying about the BritCard. What is a digital ID? A digital ID is an electronic representation of personal info that can be used to…

Security chiefs are warning Brits not to install the free VPN and streaming app ‘Mobdro Pro IP TV + VPN’ because it contains malware that steals money from your bank account. It was detected by Italian security firm Cleafy, which said it has infected 3,000 devices, mostly in Spain and Italy. But UK security experts are worried that it’ll spread through the UK as users look to bypass the new age-check laws for porn websites. At first glance the app, which is Android only, appears to offer free access to high-quality IPTV channels, alongside a VPN. After installing, it asks you for permission to use Android Accessibility Services, which If you grant access, it uses the new malware Klopatra to give the hackers complete control over your device. They can…

Microsoft is cracking down further on loopholes that let you install Windows 11 without signing up for a Microsoft account. Many people prefer to use local accounts when installing Windows 11 because it keeps their details stored on their computer (ie, locally) rather than on Microsoft’s servers. Microsoft never approved of this but generally tolerated the workaround that allowed you to do it. However, in 2024 it prevented one option of creating a local account, which was by typing example@example.com or a@a.co as the username. Another option remained, which was typing OOBE\ BYPASSNRO in Command Prompt (see screenshot). But Microsoft has now said it will block that and any similar methods too. In its release notes for Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.6772, it said it’s “removing known mechanisms for…

OpenAI has been stunned by how quickly ChatGPT has caught on. Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT, recently told the website TechCrunch it’s “kind of bonkers” that 800 million people use it every week considering it’s not especially easy to use. He said that people prefer “going to Mac or Windows and opening applications versus remembering all the commands”. He has a point. At times ChatGPT feels like a glorified Command Prompt, or even a text-based adventure game from the 1980s. You can’t launch full software from it, or open websites. “ChatGPT wants launching an app to be as easy as clicking a software icon on your taskbar or desktop” But Turley has a solution. He wants to turn ChatGPT into “an operating system where you can come and use applications.…

Master FamilySearch’s Full-Text Search US genealogy site FamilySearch has launched Full-Text Search – a tool that uses AI and optical character recognition (OCR) to search handwritten and typed documents. Unlike traditional searches, which only look at indexed fields like names or dates, Full-Text Search scans the full text of each record. This means you can find relatives mentioned anywhere in a document — as witnesses, beneficiaries or tenants, for example — uncovering details you might otherwise never see. It contains almost two billion records from around the world. Here’s how to use it. Type name, keywords and location First, sign up for a free FamilySearch account at www.snipca.com/56465, then log in and visit www.snipca.com/56466. You can also click Search at the top followed by Full Text. Now type a name…

SMARTPHONE ❘ £999 from Amazon www.snipca.com/56485 Apple’s not exactly known for shaking things up when it comes to its iPhone releases. Yes, you get software updates, gradual performance improvements and tweaked design, but it’s typically a strategy of refinement. The iPhone Air is a radical departure from that approach. It takes a bold step forward in contrast to its more conventional iPhone 17 and 17 Pro stablemates, sacrificing a little performance level, some camera lenses and battery life. It even ditches the traditional SIM card, relying entirely on an eSIM to accommodate its slick, lean new styling. “Measuring 5.64mm thick and weighing a mere 165g, it takes the definition of ‘lightweight’ to a whole new level” And that is, first and foremost, what draws the eye – the iPhone 17…

MINI PC I £499 from Amazon www.snipca.com/56536 Recently refreshed for 2025, Geekom’s Mini IT12 is an intriguing mini PC for those with a very specific set of needs. If you’re looking for a system that forgoes dedicated graphics cards and saves space, while still providing excellent value and solid performance for general office and light creative tasks, then this is it. “Its tiny case packs in a superior processor and ports a plenty” To be clear, Geekom’s not exactly revolutionised the design with its new edition. You still get the same 32GB of DDR4 RAM and 1TB SSD, as well as the same chassis complete with its tiny dimensions, and generous complement of ports, including a 2.5GB Ethernet socket and twin HDMI 2.0 ports. But Geekom has changed the processor,…

Q I’ve just retired and now want to buy a sturdy and flexible tablet to accompany me in pubs and cafes. I used to just read the news on my tablet, but now I want a foldable device that I position on a table so I can also watch the news (through my earbuds of course!). I’m not bothered about the operating system, and I’m happy to spend up to £900. Ken Bradshaw A With that generous budget we’d suggest the HP Envy x360, which runs Windows 11 Home. We liked the 13.3in edition when we tested it back in Issue 691, but we can’t find that on sale anywhere. Instead, we now recommend the 14in model, which is currently priced £900 on Amazon (www.snipca.com/56594, pictured) – though it fell…

SMART SCREEN I £179 from Amazon www.snipca.com/56547 The E10 from Eufy could be so much more. Right now, it’s an 8in portable screen that syncs nicely with your Eufy home-security setup, and for that, it’s great. You can use it as a tablet – unlike the TP-Link Tapo H500 we reviewed in Issue 720 (£120 from www.snipca.com/56548); mount it on a wall; leave it in its dock; or carry it around your home with you. It lets you answer your doorbell and check your security feeds whenever you want. However, it’s only compatible with Eufy security products. This is in contrast to the H500, which has Matter integration giving it complete control over a wide range of smart-home devices from various brands. The E10 can’t even work with Eufy’s non-security…

What is it? It’s the process of installing apps from independent sources, outside of your device’s official app store. If you use an iPhone or iPad you may not be familiar with this concept, because it’s something Apple flatly refuses to allow. And it’s one of the reasons many users prefer Android, which has always taken a much more open, flexible approach, allowing users to freely install any app they want. Until now. What’s changing? Google will soon require anyone who develops Android apps to verify their identity with Google, even if they make their apps available outside of the Play Store. When the new system is introduced, your Android device will check to see whether the developer of an app you attempt to sideload on to your device is…

In our Windows 10 Survival Guide (Issue 718, page 50), we offered nine potential routes for staying with or moving on from Microsoft’s 10-year-old operating system, following the end of support. Now the 14 October deadline has passed, fresh problems have surfaced – from confusing Windows 10 Extended Security Update (ESU) enrolment glitches to stubborn Windows 11 upgrade errors. In this follow-up, we’ll tackle your most common questions and provide practical fixes for your most pressing problems. Q Why don’t I see the enrolment message? I’ve enrolled one HP laptop and a Lenovo model into Microsoft’s ESU. Both sync with OneDrive. However, my third laptop, also made by HP, doesn’t show the message ‘Windows 10 support ends in October 25. Enroll in Extended Security Updates to help keep your devices…

A US politician says AI chatbots are getting so good at mimicking people that laws are needed to stop them having human-like rights, such as getting married. Thad Claggett, a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives, has introduced a bill proposing “no AI system shall be granted the status of person or any form of legal personhood”. It adds that AI must never “be recognized as a spouse, domestic partner, or hold any personal legal status analogous to marriage or union with a human or another AI system”. Claggett told Ohio newspaper The Newark Advocate that it’s “fairly obvious” that in future AI will start taking over “all kinds of things that traditionally only involved humans”. He warned that AI could be “even more dangerous than nuclear weapons…

PROTON VPN FREE ADDS TWO COUNTRIES Proton has added servers from two more countries – Canada and Norway – to its free VPN. It brings the total to eight, alongside Japan, Poland, Romania, Singapore, the US and the Netherlands (see screenshot). Proton VPN Free won Gold in Issue 717’s review of free VPNs (page 55) – use it at www.snipca.com/56611. ITVX PREMIUM COMES TO PRIME VIDEO ITVX has launched its advert-free Premium channel on Amazon Prime Video. It costs £5.99 a month and mostly includes shows from ITV 1-4 and Quiz, as well as live sport. However, it doesn’t include all the archived shows that you get if you subscribe directly to ITVX Premium through other streaming services and devices. Read more at www.snipca.com/56610. TRAIN Wi-Fi SPEEDS IN UK ON…

Humax looks set to launch a Freely box that you can record TV programmes on. Called the Humax FHR-6000T Freely PVR Recordable, it has appeared on the websites of several UK retailers. The listings state the box will be 4K and lets you record “up to four channels simultaneously on a single screen”, with a maximum recording time of 1,000 hours. It also has HDMI 2.1 and USB ports, as well as Wi-Fi, aerial (1 in our photo below) and Ethernet 2. However, it’s not known when the box will be on sale, or even whether it exists officially. While it appears on the websites BJs Electrical (www.snipca.com/56555), Kings & Barnhams (www.snipca.com/56556) and Sonic Direct (www.snipca.com/56557), they say the box isn’t available (see screenshot above). Humax hasn’t commented nor has it…

WATCH OUT FOR… Termination Experts’ cancellation fees What’s the threat? A firm called Termination Experts is charging customers to cancel subscriptions on their behalf, even though cancelling a service should always be free. The company has been investigated by consumer campaigners Which?. In one example, a Specsavers customer went to cancel a contact-lens subscription online, but accidentally clicked a pop-up from Termination Experts and filled in the details it asked her. Termination Experts chased the customer for “the payment for drafting and sending your Specsavers Contact Lenses cancellation letter” (1 in our screenshot). It asked for a payment of £32 for the letter 2, and threatened a charge of £21.50 in “reminder fees” 3. Specsavers later told her it hadn’t received a letter from Termination Experts. Another example shown by Which?…

Pay to block ads? Most people will just ignore them Facebook doesn’t appreciate the long-term effects of charging people to block adverts (Issue 720, page 7). Some people might want to pay for this privilege, and good luck to them. But most of us will just put up with adverts but pay far less notice to them. That’s because by treating them as something ‘bad’ to avoid, Facebook is stigmatising adverts. It’ll probably backfire and mean fewer people click them. This is true all over the web and on streaming services. It’s a doom loop. As adverts continue to be seen only as something irritating to avoid, so advertising companies will have to make them louder and more vulgar to grab attention. That makes them even more irritating, which leads…

LAPTOP ❘ £1,099 from Amazon www.snipca.com/56491 Taiwanese manufacturer Gigabyte’s A16 laptop blurs the lines between gaming, home and and business needs. Look deep enough into the specifications, and you’ll find a laptop that seems to be full of some of the latest and quickest components. There’s 1TB of SSD storage, 16GB of DDR5 memory, and an Nvidia RTX 5060 graphics card all sat alongside a slightly ageing Intel Core i7-13620H processor – so let the games begin! And yet, it doesn’t quite feel like a gaming laptop. There’s no bold, gaudy angles here, big bulky frame, or ridiculous RGB logos. Instead you get a clean and slick design with a lovely black metallic finish, subtle embossed logos, and, well, little else. It’s cool, quiet and understated. “A powerful laptop for…

EARBUDS I £119 from Amazon www.snipca.com/56546 These are one of the best earbuds money can buy right now. Cambridge Audio’s Melomania A100s are outstandingly well priced, delivering exceptional audio quality and a battery life that’s leagues ahead of the competition. The reason it doesn’t score a five-star Buy It! award is the active noise-cancellation (ANC), which is average at best. And phone-call quality is disappointing given the A100s have three microphones in each ear. They look a bit dated too. They’re quite similar to Apple’s AirPods, lacking that modern ‘stemless’ design found in the likes of Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 (£220 from www.snipca.com/56543). Still, they fit snugly and are impressively robust, feeling like they would survive the odd fall-out. The compact charging case – like the buds – is…

What is it? Logitech’s Signature Slim Solar+ K980 (pictured) is a wireless keyboard powered by the sun and artificial light. What does it do? The LightCharge bar at the top captures light from any natural or artificial source, converting it into energy to charge the internal battery. It requires a minimum of 200 lux to work properly. Logitech says it lasts four months once fully charged. What’s the catch? There’s no backlight, its flat design won’t suit everyone, and at £100 it’s a bit steep (www.snipca.com/56595). Also, it was only released in September, so we’ve not had time to check Logitech’s four-month claim. So can I do without it? Ask us again in four months.…

14 pages of easy-to-follow workshops and expert tips What you need: Raindrop account Time required: 30 minutes Browser bookmarks have been around for more than 30 years. The world’s first browser was called WorldWideWeb (later renamed Nexus). It was built by Tim Berners-Lee, who also came up with the concept of the web that we use today, and released for free in 1990 for anyone to download and use. You can see a screenshot of it at www.snipca.com/56457. It didn’t have bookmarks as we know them, but did store a system of home pages, which the user edited within the browser itself and to which they could add links they needed to remember. You could create several such home pages, in the same way you might create multiple folders to…

We think you can break the internet era into three rough phases. First, for a few years in the mid-to-late 1990s, it seemed that most online content would always be free. That utopian vision didn’t last long as media companies and the early tech giants quickly realised how much money could be made. Thus began the second period, where companies often launched paid-for services, only to later make them free to attract more customers as they developed other money-making schemes. This lasted many years and gave us loads of superb free software and services, but it started to fade around 2018-19, led by TV-streaming firms seeking to maximise their profits. Then came the Covid lockdowns and increased public reliance on digital services. As inflation soared, companies started to squeeze customers…

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT Can I undo OneDrive activation on my laptop? Q I recently bought a new Windows 11 laptop. Foolishly, I dived straight in and activated OneDrive. However, with more than 5GB of data to sync, this seemed to paralyse the service. I’m now frequently reminded that I have exceeded my allocation. Is there any way I can release this laptop from OneDrive’s clutches and start again? If so, I would use OneDrive only for selected folders and documents, saving everything else to an external hard drive. I know I should have been more cautious and created system restore points so I could undo my actions. I hope you can help me out of this mess. Peter Hutchinson A Windows is designed to lure people into activating all…

“Take two bottles into the shower? Not me,” scoffed the woman in the old Vidal Sassoon advert (www.snipca.com/56453). She just wanted to wash her hair and go, without spending time on shampoo and conditioner. Similarly, I seldom use Tor Browser and a VPN to access the web privately. Because they both encrypt your data and hide your IP address, combining them seems like overkill. It also slows your internet connection by routing it through two different networks. Even Tor says: “Generally speaking, we don’t recommend using a VPN with Tor unless you’re an advanced user” (www.snipca.com/56454). “You can foil nosy parkers by changing Tor’s icon to make it look like a gardening app” However, that hasn’t stopped the Tor Project creating its own VPN, as we reported in Issue 719…