Table of contents for 678 in Computeractive

Chrometophobia isn’t a fear of Google’s market-leading browser, but a profound aversion to spending money. Robert Irvine suffers from it (see page 74) and so do I. This frugality often comes into conflict with my passion for technology. Yes, I want to watch 8K TVs, use foldable phones and wear smart-watches from wrist to elbow. But I also want to have enough spare cash to make Scrooge seem like a spendthrift. I think our Cover Feature perfectly captures this conundrum. We’d all like to splash out on a new TV to access the best streaming services, but it’s hard to do on the cheap. A better option for many is to buy a streaming device and connect it to your existing TV. Robert explains your choices, covering devices from Amazon,…

The BBC is scrapping the app that lets you download iPlayer shows to your computer. It stopped users downloading the app on 2 February, and will remove it completely on 11 March. You’ll be able to watch any existing downloads until 8 April. The move, announced on the iPlayer help page (www.snipca.com/49297), means you can no longer download shows from the iPlayer to watch offline on your computer. Angry viewers took to social media to express their frustration and surprise. On X (formerly Twitter) Steve Gerrard called it “terrible news”, adding that it’s “really inconvenient as I often watch stuff when there’s no Wi-Fi” (www.snipca.com/49303). Others complained that it discriminated against viewers who use PCs more often than phones and tablets. The BBC launched the current Downloads App in 2013,…

TABLET SALES AT LOWEST SINCE 2011 Global sales of tablets plunged by 20.5 per cent in 2023 to the lowest total since 2011. More than 128 million devices were sold last year – down from over 161 million in 2022. Industry analysts IDC said the decline is due to people “allocating their money to things beyond consumer electronics”. Apple led the way with 37.8 per cent market share, followed by Samsung (20.4) and Lenovo (7.2). Read more at www.snipca.com/49239. WINDOWS BITLOCKER HACKED IN 43 SECONDS A security expert has managed to break Windows’ BitLocker encryption using a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller. He posted the video on YouTube (www.snipca.com/49243), revealing that it took him just 43 seconds to steal BitLocker’s master key and access a locked laptop. He claimed to have…

Microsoft’s PC Manager has finally launched. We first wrote about it in Issue 645, back in late 2022, after it arrived as a beta on Microsoft’s Chinese website. It looked promising – an official Microsoft tool to provide a “one-click boost” to your PC, for both Windows 10 and 11. It promised to clean up your storage, manage your files and protect your default settings from unauthorised changes. The last of these aims raised a few eyebrows, given that it’s often Microsoft’s own updates that cause the unauthorised changes in the first place. Still, if it did what it claimed to, you’d never need to use third-party programs again. No more CCleaner; no more BleachBit. We expected it to launch fully in 2023, but it stayed in beta. Microsoft didn’t…

‘Lastpass account has been blocked’ email The first thing I noticed when I received an email titled ‘Your Lastpass account has been blocked!’ was that the ‘p’ in the company’s name was lower case. I knew that the correct style was an upper-case P, so suspected a scam straight away. The mistake was repeated in the message itself, which claimed that an “unauthorized attack” on my account had been blocked. I was urged to click a ‘Verify’ link to prove who I was. I had been planning to switch from LastPass to Bitwarden, following a recent recommendation in your magazine – and this scam was the final nudge I needed. Nigel Clarendon Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

SOFTWARE WARNING! Fake ‘Alldup’ duplicate remover In an unsettling piece of irony, the brilliant duplicate-removing tool AllDup has itself been duplicated - or so it appears if you type its name into Google (1 in our screenshot right). Top of the results is an advert for a tool that seems to be called ‘Alldup’ 2, but a closer look shows it’s actually Duplicate Files Fixer 3. I was concerned by this because in Issue 677 we named AllDup as our favourite duplicate remover. We said to download it from www.snipca.com/49056 (which redirects you to the correct site), but I’m sure some of you would have searched for it on Google and found this copycat software. To me, it seems a classic case of one program deliberately masquerading as another more reputable…

LAPTOP Acer Swift Go 14 £950 from www.snipca.com/49324 Tested Issue 677 With the 32GB Swift Go (£1,300) out of stock, we’re recommending the 16GB model instead. It’s great value and has one of Intel’s Ultra processors, making it the fastest laptop we’ve tested. Has an OLED 14in screen and 1TB SSD. ALTERNATIVE Honor MagicBook X 16 2023 Has a 16in screen and is good value, though nowhere near as fast. £700 from www.snipca.com/47868 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 £799 from www.snipca.com/49029 Tested Issue 667 With a much brighter screen than our previous favourite – the Galaxy Tab S8 – this is perfect for watching TV. It also has a faster processor, so tasks feel smoother, even with several windows open. £799 will get you the 128GB version. If you want…

MUSIC Download free live recordings Over the years I’ve read Computeractive recommend plenty of content on the magnificent Internet Archive, but there’s one source you’ve never mentioned: the Live Music Archive (pictured below). Visit www.snipca.com/49088 and you can search 264,000 live concerts – all free to play or download. I can’t claim that every band is included. I’ve never found any concerts by The Rolling Stones or Queen, for example. But it’s worth a browse to see what you might find. Grateful Dead fans should certainly give it a go! Gary Warner PASSWORDS Enter login details with a keyboard shortcut You regularly recommend Bitwarden as the best free alternative to LastPass, and I can’t fault your judgement. One of my favourite things about Bitwarden is that you can use a…

WINDOWS 10 & 11 Download Apple’s replacement for iTunes Apple has been phasing out iTunes since 2019, and has now officially launched Windows apps on the Microsoft Store that replace the service – having initially made them available in beta in early 2023. In Apple Music (pictured below) you can access songs and albums from your iTunes library, while Apple TV lets you watch films and TV shows. Apple Music in particular is a welcome addition to Windows. It has a clearer design than iTunes, and offers dark mode as well as support for lossless audio. You can also play Apple’s music-streaming service in it too, which wasn’t possible in iTunes. Search for either app in the Microsoft Store to install them. If you’ve been using iTunes, all your music…

Some older Windows 11 computers may not be able to run future updates because they don’t have the right processor. The claim comes from Windows Insider Bob Pony on X (formerly Twitter), who spotted that Microsoft’s forthcoming 24H2 update for Windows 11 requires a processor instruction called Population Count (POPCNT). “Without POPCNT, it doesn’t boot!” he wrote (www.snipca.com/49329), having examined the code for a preview build of 24H2. Introduced in the 1960s, POPCNT counts the number of ones in binary datasets, and has typically been used in computer graphics and encryption. However it can also help run neural networks, which are computer systems inspired by the structure of human brains. These can be used to perform complicated tasks such as recognising patterns in data, images, speech and more. Microsoft hasn’t…

Virgin has added over 100 Freeview channels to its Stream TV service, including 20 ‘+1’ channels, which show programmes one hour after they’re first broadcast. These include the +1 channels for ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Also new is the Great! network of channels (Romance, Movies and Action), plus classic film and TV from Talking Pictures. Fourteen news channels have been added too, including BBC News, GB News, Sky News and TalkTV, as well as Sky Sports Racing HD and a range of kids, music, shopping and regional channels. Stream gets Freeview channels through the internet, so you don’t need a TV aerial. As well as new channels, Virgin has improved the My Watchlist feature so it now lets you save your favourite programmes from different sources in one…

Ring has launched a video doorbell with radar technology that it claims helps to detect intruders more effectively than previously. The Ring Battery Doorbell Pro (pictured) has radar-powered 3D Motion Detection instead of passive infrared sensing. This can detect how close someone is to your front door, and be better than previous models at distinguishing people from static objects like trees. It also uses Bird’s Eye Zones and Bird’s Eye View to provide an aerial perspective of your home. Video is captured “head to toe” in 1536p HD resolution, and it uses colour pre-roll to record footage a few seconds before it detects motion or the doorbell is pressed. The Low-Light Sight feature allows it to use the illumination from lamp posts to record in colour night-vision. And if you…

WATCH OUT FOR… ‘I’ll miss him so much’ Facebook scam What’s the threat? Scammers are hacking into people’s Facebook accounts and sending messages to friends and family claiming a loved-one has died. The messages are accompanied by a fake news story – usually impersonating the BBC – that appears to provide more details. In the example pictured, the message is: ‘I can’t believe this, I’m going to miss him so much’ 1. It’s above a false BBC news story about a car crash in the US. The YouTube play icon 2 helps to give the impression that it’s genuine. Clicking the story takes you to a site asking for your Facebook login details. Entering these eventually takes you to sites containing dodgy VPNs, malicious browser extensions and other potentially unwanted…

SYSTEM TOOL Winaero Tweaker 1.60 www.snipca.com/49308 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 Winaero Tweaker does a great job of fixing minor problems in Windows that may not threaten the security of your PC but make it more annoying to use. Most of these are unwelcome changes Microsoft has made in its various updates. Winaero Tweaker 1.60 is the first major release since June 2023 and offers full support for Windows 11 23H2. Perhaps not surprisingly, it introduces an option to disable Copilot, for those who aren’t keen on Microsoft’s ubiquitous AI assistant. On a Windows 10 PC, scroll down Winaero’s list of tweaks to the ‘Desktop and Taskbar’ section, select Disable Copilot and tick the ‘Disable Copilot’ box. In Windows 11, the setting is located in the…

What you need: Web browser Time required: Two hours Audiobooks can be expensive. They often cost as much as a hardback, even if they’re a few years old. And because nowadays they’re more often streamed or downloaded than sold on a CD, you can’t pick them up second hand. Thankfully, there are many alternatives to buying an audiobook, as we explain here. 1 Borrow an audiobook from your library Most public libraries let you borrow audiobooks using the Libby (www.libbyapp.com), Overdrive (www.overdrive.com), or BorrowBox (www.borrowbox.com) apps. Check with your library which you need to use, as this varies between local authorities. We’re writing this feature in Essex, where Essex County Council uses Libby to manage audiobook, magazine, comic and ebook loans. Follow the download links from your library’s website, then log…

CHROME Save screenshots of YouTube videos Last year, Google quietly added a feature to Chrome that lets you capture screenshots of YouTube videos. Right-click a video twice and choose ‘Copy video frame’ to take a screenshot of the content that’s currently playing. You can then paste the captured frame into an image editor or document at the original quality and resolution. Chrome 121, released in January, adds a second option that lets you download screenshots directly to your PC. This saves you the trouble of copying and pasting frames into another program, and makes it easier to capture multiple screen grabs in quick succession. To use the new feature, right-click a video twice but this time select ‘Save video frame as…’ (see screenshot below). When the Save As box opens,…

MICROSOFT WORD Show top table rows across multiple pages You can split your tables in Microsoft Word over two or more pages, but it might be hard to know what your data is referring to as you scroll down because you won’t be able to see the header row at the top of your table describing each column. Fix this by setting your header row to repeat on subsequent pages if a table splits over a page break. Start by highlighting your header row in your table. Click the blue Layout tab (1 in our screenshot below), then Properties 2. In the box that appears, click the Row tab 3, then tick ‘Repeat as header row at the top of each page’ 4. Click OK. This will force your header row…

WATCH ALL JAMES BOND FILMS ON ITVX All 25 James Bond films are coming to ITVX, making it the first time the series has been available on a free ad-supported on-demand service in the UK. They are being aired first on ITV4, and will then be available for 30 days on ITVX, starting with Goldfinger (pictured) on 4 March. Read more at www.snipca.com/49252. VIRGIN PROBED OVER VULNERABLE CUSTOMERS Ofcom is to investigate whether Virgin Media is providing vulnerable customers with “uninterrupted” access to emergency services after they move them to digital phones. It also wants to check that Virgin is following rules for the “fair and appropriate treatment of vulnerable consumers” (www.snipca.com/49261). Virgin said it’s “cooperating fully” with the investigation. APPLE REMOVES FAKE LASTPASS APP Apple has removed a fake…

NordVPN, one of our favourite VPNs, has launched a link-checking site where you can check whether a URL is safe. Go to the link above, then type or paste the URL into the box and click Analyze. You don’t need to create an account to use it. The result will be either green (‘no signs of malicious activity’) or red (‘It could trick you into revealing your personal information, like login credentials and credit card details’ – see screenshot). It works by scanning the URL against “massive online databases” of websites that are known to contain scams or malware (read NordVPN’s blog for details: www.snipca.com/49200). We checked it with 10 known phishing URLs, and it identified seven as unsafe. That’s not bad for a new tool – and it’s powered…

Can Amazon refuse to provide a replacement hard drive? LEAD CASE Q In January, I ordered a brand new Seagate ST1000VM002 Pipeline HD 1 TB internal hard drive for £19.99 from Amazon Marketplace seller Melkor. But I was sent one that had been used and was made in 2013. I asked Amazon for a new replacement, but it only offered me a refund because it says it can’t replace items sold by third parties. Is that legal? Danny Ward A Yes, it’s legal. This is because Amazon is acting only as the fulfilment agent for another seller on its Marketplace. Its contract with Melkor requires it to deliver goods, handle returns, and follow its policy on repairs, complaints and refunds. This doesn’t mean Melkor has no legal responsibilities, but…

How can I recover lost photos for free? Q I’ve always hated how file-recovery programs claim to find lost photos, but then charge you to locate them. Is there software that actually does it all for free – with no sneaky hidden charges? Simon Lindsay A There are several free photo-recovery tools, but our favourite is PhotoRec. It’s open-source, so is completely free with no hidden catches. It can recover all kinds of files (not only photos) from hard drives, USB sticks and memory cards. The program is part of the partition-recovery tool TestDisk. Visit www.snipca.com/49107 and click the green download button for TestDisk 7.2-WIP. Save the ZIP file to your Downloads folder, then right-click it and choose ‘Extract all’, saving the contents to the same folder. The ‘testdisk-7.2-WIP’ folder…

MINI PC | £250 from Amazon www.snipca.com/49205 Trick or treat? Chinese manufacturer Acemagic positions its S1 as an entry-level mini PC for home and office users. With its compact design, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD, it’s meant to be used for everyday Windows tasks. Its standout feature is its 1.9in LCD screen (pictured right). By default, this displays the time and date, along with data about the processor, memory and cooling system. While this isn’t a ‘must have’ feature, it’s definitely welcome. You can delve into the display’s installed app and customise what it shows, but in essence it’s all about monitoring your system, so don’t expect too many frills. “At this price you can’t expect a powerhouse, but it copes well enough with basic tasks” When it comes to…

SMARTPHONE | £579 from RedMagic www.snipca.com/49269 Game the system RedMagic is marketing its 9 Pro as a phone for gamers, which is usually another way of saying it’s powerful enough to run the most demanding software and has a brilliant screen. It also tends to mean manufacturers can hike up the price, thanks to the premium components they use. Like other Chinese manufacturers, however, RedMagic has mastered the art of making premium phones that cost less. We saw this with the RedMagic 8 Pro (reviewed in Issue 652), and now the company has repeated its feat with the 9 Pro, which has a similar launch price of £579 (with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage) or £709 (16GB RAM and 512GB storage). It’s one of the first phones to use the…

ANDROID & iOS Block WhatsApp spam from your lock screen WhatsApp has introduced a useful feature that lets you block spam messages from unknown senders directly from your phone’s lock screen. This saves you having to open an unsolicited message to block the spammer – which would let them know that you’d received their message and run the risk of accidentally tapping a malicious link. When a spam message pops up on your lock screen, simply long-press the notification and select Block, then Block again (see screenshot below). You can also report the sender’s number to WhatsApp – they won’t be notified that you’ve blocked or reported them, and can no longer message or call you. Previously, you had to either open a chat, tap the three-dot menu and choose…

Searching for your name online – a practice known as ‘egosurfing’ – may uncover a photo of you that’s been posted without your knowledge or permission. To get it taken down, you’ll need to contact the owner of the site hosting the image, or – if the picture contains intimate or personally identifiable content – ask Google to exclude it from future results (www.snipca.com/49325). But photos that aren’t labelled with your name are much harder to find and remove. Here’s what you can do. Find photos of yourself using PimEyes The most accurate – and potentially the most alarming – tool for finding photos of yourself online is undoubtedly PimEyes (www.pimeyes.com). This ‘face search engine’ uses AI-powered facial-recognition technology to scour the web for pictures containing your face, based on…

Is it wrong to only use Windows backup? Q In Issue 674 (page 20), Andrew Ball asks for an alternative backup tool to replace the discontinued SyncToy. You recommend IDrive (www.idrive.com), but I’ve only ever used the built-in backup tool in Windows. Am I doing something wrong, as you don’t appear to mention Windows backup in your answer? David Moorhouse A You’re correct – Windows does have a free backup tool, called File History. It’s a basic, but perfectly competent tool for backing up your files to an external drive. It feels hidden in recent versions of Windows, though. These days, Windows 11 defaults to backing up via Microsoft’s OneDrive online storage instead, which isn’t ideal if you only have a free 5GB account. You’ll find File History in the old Control…