Table of contents for 705 in Computeractive

I’d be lost without my maps. They tell me where to find the cheapest petrol, how to park for free, where to go walking with the kids and how far the nearest coffee shop is. I have more map apps on my phone than any other type, while the maps folder in my browser’s bookmarks is bursting. I know from your emails that you love maps just as much. They don’t get as much attention as AI chatbots, streaming services or 4K TVs, but they’re often much more useful. Robert Irvine agrees, and in his Cover Feature recommends the best ways to customise mapping tools so they work better for your needs. What I love is that his tips are for different types of journey (walking, cycling, driving, trains) and…

Apple has launched the cheapest iPhone yet that has AI tools, though it’s much more expensive than the budget iPhone SE, which was previously the cheapest. The cheapest version of the iPhone 16e has 128GB of storage and costs £599. There are also 256GB and 512GB models, priced £699 and £899 respectively. By contrast the most recent iPhone SE, which Apple no longer sells, cost from £419 to £569 (with 64GB to 256GB of storage) when it launched in 2022. However, it never had any AI tools. The iPhone 16e provides complete access to Apple Intelligence, which is a set of AI features that aim to improve your photos and writing, and give better responses from Siri. It also includes Visual Intelligence, which lets you point your iPhone’s camera at…

Sainsbury’s has updated its Nectar app to let you ‘lock’ your spending and stop criminals stealing your points. It comes after the financial website This Is Money revealed that 12.5 million points worth nearly £63,000 had been stolen from its readers (www.snipca.com/53886). First, update the app on your phone or install it from the relevant app store (Android www.snipca.com/53884; iOS www.snipca.com/53885). Log into your account, then click Settings followed by ‘Lock or unlock spending’. Finally, slide the button from Unlocked to Locked (see screenshot). Your points will show as zero when locked, but you can unlock them at any time. You’ll still collect points and get discounts and offers while your points are locked. Only the person who set up the Nectar account will be able to lock it. If…

I’m worried that my phone company has recycled my old number. When did you explain the risks of this? Dawn Archer CA SAYS In Issue 696, page 60. I recall you mentioning how to use VPNs to avoid rip-off prices in the UK, but in which feature? Simon Graham CA SAYS That was on page 56 of Issue 692’s Cover Feature on VPNs. When did you reveal the best AI tools for editing photos? Roger Fuller CA SAYS In Issue 688, page 51. Read it and the features above on our Back Issue CD: www.snipca.com/53433.…

Lidl has suggested it will refund Jenny Beady after the £11.99 lamp she bought, partly with a £10 coupon, turned out to have a faulty USB charger (see Issue 704). If Jenny had paid in full with cash, Lidl would have had no choice but to refund her. But legally coupons are an ‘invitation to treat’, which means a retailer can refuse to accept them unless by doing so it’s in breach of unfair trading regulations. Lidl initially offered Jenny a £3 refund, which is actually more than it had to. It was obliged to give her only £1.99 - the difference between the coupon and what she paid. The company told us its coupons are non-refundable as laid out in its terms and conditions because they hold “no monetary…

My father was captured as a prisoner of war during World War 2, while his much older brother was captured during World War 1. I remember as a child how they would compare experiences. Now that I’m compiling my family tree, where would I find information relating to their years as POWs? Den Richardson For both wars, search Findmypast’s ‘Prisoners Of War 1715-1945’ collection (www.snipca.com/53867). You’ll need to pay for a subscription to see the records. Ancestry separates its records into WW1 (www.snipca.com/53869) and WW2 (www.snipca.com/53870) – again, you’ll need a subscription. If you’re not a member of either, search the free WW1 records from the International Committee of the Red Cross (https://grandeguerre.icrc.org). Have a genealogy question for Richard? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

What’s the best alternative to PaintShop Pro? Q Many of the features I used to like in PaintShop other similar program I can buy? I can afford a one-off payment, but not a yearly subscription. Ann Casey A We’re big fans of Serif’s Affinity Photo 2 (www.snipca.com/53855), which is packed with professional image-editing tools and costs a very reasonable £68 for Windows or Mac, or £18 for iPad. You can combine it with Designer (a vector-graphics editor) and Publisher (for laying out documents) for £160. All updates to the version 2 programs are free, so you won’t need to spend anything extra unless you decide to upgrade to version 3. Among its many clever tools, we love the option to add adjustments to layers rather than applying them directly to the…

Net worker HP has become the latest manufacturer to dive into the Chromebook Plus market with this big-screen 15.6in laptop. Chromebooks run ChromeOS so can’t use Windows software, but they’re ideal for running web-based tools in a browser window, such as Gmail, online office tools and web apps, such as online image editor Photopea (www.photopea.com). And this HP machine goes beyond the minimum Plus requirements. “ChromeOS laptop with vibrant screen and long-running battery” On closer inspection, the high build quality reveals itself. The whole case feels solid, yet it’s also quite light and thin for a device of this size. It’s not as slim as some other Chromebooks or laptops, but given its 15.6in screen, it’s relatively easy to carry around and travel with. It’s powered by an Intel Core…

Tapo is a spin-off brand of Chinese networking manufacturer TP-Link, but it focuses on smart-home gadgets rather than routers and Wi-Fi extenders. We’ve previously reviewed its security cameras and smart plugs, but this is the first Tapo video doorbell we’ve tested. The D235 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does offer an excellent alternative to the leading brands in this field, with some great features at an affordable price. “Excellent features, easy setup and detailed video footage” There are two ways to set it up – connect it to existing doorbell wiring or use the included rechargeable battery. You also get mounting brackets, a USB charging cable and wires for connecting the doorbell to an existing chime. Tapo claims the battery will last 210 days from a full charge, though…

While iPhone owners have plenty of wireless chargers to choose from, Android phone users have fewer options. This is partly because all Apple phones support MagSafe wireless charging – a technology that uses magnets to attach your device to a wireless charger. Android phones with wireless charging don’t contain magnets, so they’re not compatible with magnetic chargers. Thankfully this charging stand from UK firm Inui is compatible with iPhones and Android devices from Google, Samsung and Motorola that support wireless charging. To get around the lack of magnets in Android phones, the Inui Ergonomic Wireless Charger Stand’s cradle has a lip on its bottom edge, which you simply rest your phone on. The cradle also rotates 90 degrees, so you can place your phone vertically or lay it almost flat…

Winner of a Recommended award in Issue 700 (page 28), the SwannBuddy4K video doorbell from Swann Security is a full-featured, easy-to-install wireless doorbell and chime unit that’s now even smarter. It can operate completely wire-free with the rechargeable battery or connect to your existing doorbell wiring. See every detail in crystal-clear 4K with head-to-toe view and a superwide 165-degree viewing angle. The SwannShield AI Voice Assistant can talk with visitors for you in a natural, dynamic way to take the worry out of doorway security. Its True Detect system senses heat and movement, and it sees in the dark up to 16ft with powerful infrared night vision. You can save clips locally and to the cloud. It’s security you can trust. To enter this competition, answer the question at www.snipca.com/53771…

Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Use the new ‘Card view’ in Files I’ve not read in Computeractive that there’s a new version (3.9) of Files, even though I’ve been using it for over a year now. Allow me then to point out the new ‘Cards’ layout in version 3.9, which includes metadata like name, file type and size. It shows the information you need at a glance, and is another reason why it’s better than relying on the basic File Explorer in Windows. Open a folder in Files then click the Layout icon (1 in our screenshot) followed by Cards 2. Now move the slider 3 to decide how big you want the cards to appear. Images show the dimension 4, while videos show the length. I…

WINDOWS 10 & 11 View your Wi-Fi information in dark mode You can see your saved Wi-Fi networks by opening Windows settings (press Windows key+I) then clicking ‘Network & internet’ followed by WiFi then ‘Manage known networks’. However, you don’t see details such as when you logged on, whether the connection was automatic, or what kind of encryption it uses (if any). You can see this information in Command Prompt, but it’s easier to use NirSoft’s superb little tool ManageWirelessNetworks, which has been updated with a dark mode. Download it by clicking the purple download link at the bottom of www.snipca.com/53879. It’s safe to use, so if Microsoft Defender shows a ‘Windows protected your PC’ warning, click ‘More info’ then ‘Run anyway’. Now click View at the top followed by…

1080p High-definition video: 1920x1080 pixels. 2K A screen with 2048x1080 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. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 5.1 A surround-sound system with five speakers and one separate subwoofer. 802.11ax Wi-Fi standard with speeds up to 10 times faster than 802.11ac. Also called Wi-Fi 6. Administrator Someone who can make changes to a computer that will affect others who also use it. AI Artificial intelligence. Intelligence demonstrated by a machine rather than a human being. Often used to describe technology that can perform human-like tasks. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. An alternative technology to LCD for creating flatpanel screens. API Application Programming Interface. A…

Google has stopped selling the Chromecast, leaving the more expensive TV Streamer (£99) as the only streaming device it now offers. However, this still lacks the iPlayer app because of what the BBC calls a “technical issue”. This probably means the TV Streamer hasn’t passed the BBC’s strict compatibility tests to guarantee the iPlayer works on it. The BBC said last November that the iPlayer would be added soon, and included the TV Streamer in its list of supported devices (see Issue 698, page 7). But the TV Streamer has now been removed from the list. Instead, it shows just the 2020 and 2022 versions of the ‘Chromecast with Google TV’ and the original Chromecast from 2013 (see www.snipca.com/52942). The last Chromecast on sale was the 2022 edition of the…

‘Winter Fuel Payment’ text Computeractive has warned us recently that scammers will be trying to trick us with messages about claiming the Winter Fuel Payment. I got a strange text from something called the Subsidy Payment Centre reminding me I hadn’t applied for my £300. It was sent to a “group chat” with eight other people, though I had no idea who they were. I didn’t recognise the numbers. The link in the message began with grco.de, which is a giveaway – ‘.de’ is a German suffix. The message ended with ‘The Benefit Delivery Centre wishes you all the best’. How ludicrous! Mick Rowe Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

In Issue 704 (page 8) you asked whether we sympathise with James Howells (pictured), who chucked away £620m worth of Bitcoin and now wants permission to search for it on a landfill site. Well, no, I don’t sympathise with him. He caused his own misfortune. But I also think what’s the worst that could happen if he did search for it? I think Newport City Council should have been a bit smarter in its strategy. Back in 2021, Howells said he’d give 25 per cent of the proceeds of selling the Bitcoin to the council. At the time that would have given them around £50m. The value of Bitcoin has risen so sharply since that his 25-per-cent offer equates to about £150m. That could fund a lot of local services.…

I’ve been using Palicomp computers for about 15 years and have never been let down by its customer service, which I can’t say about higher-profile companies like Dell and Lenovo. Computers are complicated machines so I accept things occasionally go wrong. Ten days after my most recent Palicomp PC arrived the power supply unit (PSU) stopped working. I emailed the company about it on Friday lunchtime, expecting a replacement the following week. But they responded within minutes asking me to check a few things. Nothing worked, so they said they’d send a replacement. I was amazed to be disturbed while eating my breakfast the following morning with a parcel containing a new PSU. In all, it was less than 24 hours between my first email and the PSU arriving. They…

VIDEO DOWNLOADER 4K Video Downloader Plus 25 www.snipca.com/53999 What you need: Windows 10 or 11, macOS or Linux Downloading videos from streaming services typically means either paying for a subscription or using a third-party tool, many of which are stuffed with ads and trackers. 4K Video Downloader Plus isn’t perfect – it’s freemium, so some features are restricted to its paid-for plans – but it’s the easiest way to save videos to your desktop to watch offline. It’s a significant upgrade over its predecessor, 4K Video Downloader (without the ‘plus’), which was discontinued on 1 February. A built-in browser lets you search for videos and music on popular services including YouTube, Dailymotion, SoundCloud, Facebook and TikTok, and download them with one click. Alternatively, paste a video or audio link from…

SOFTWARE WARNING! Microsoft’s ‘don’t uninstall’ guide to uninstalling Edge If at any time recently you’ve searched for advice on uninstalling Edge, you might have seen a guide from Microsoft promising exactly that. And you might have clicked it, assuming quite reasonably that Microsoft would know the best way to remove its own browser. But that would be forgetting the company’s almost pathological desire to keep you using Edge instead of Chrome. The company’s instructions online were more concerned with questioning your judgement. As screenshot 1 shows, it asked ‘Are you sure you want to uninstall Microsoft Edge?’. It also claimed you’ll miss out on “features powered by Edge”, with images below suggesting these include the Microsoft Store and widgets. Well, they might work a tad less smoothly, but you’ll hardly…

What you need: Web browser; Gemini app Time required: One hour OpenAI’s ChatGPT is the best-known AI chatbot, but it has plenty of impressive rivals. One is Google’s Gemini, which you might have come across in a previous incarnation when it was known as Bard. Both Gemini and ChatGPT use what’s known as a large language model (LLM) to generate answers. An LLM is a huge pool of unstructured data, such as books, news stories, translations, film scripts and so on, which the AI uses to generate its written output. It can also use this data to answer questions, which is why you can ask an AI service just about anything and get a convincing answer. Like ChatGPT, Gemini has free and paid-for versions. Many of its core capabilities are…

BRAVE Discover the best new features in Brave It’s been a while since Brave had a significant update, but version 175.178 – released mid-February – brings a host of welcome changes to the privacy-focused browser. It’s now easier to access the Chrome Web Store so you can install Chromium extensions in Brave – which some users don’t realise is possible. A ‘Visit Web Store’ option has been added to the Extensions section of the main menu (1 in our screenshot below), and the Extensions page (brave://extensions) now has a direct link to the Chrome Web Store 2. Brave has also introduced a quicker way to take screenshots of web pages. Previously, you needed to click the Share button in the address bar and choose Screenshot. You can now simply press…

LIBREOFFICE CALC Remove duplicate entries from spreadsheets In earlier versions of LibreOffice Calc, removing duplicate entries from columns and rows in a spreadsheet meant using the sorting or filtering tools, or typing complex formulas. Version 25.2, released in February, makes this much easier. Select the cells containing the data, then click Data at the top followed by Duplicates. In the window that opens, next to Compare, select Rows (1 in our screenshot below) if you want to check whether any data in your rows is duplicated (as is the case in our example 2), or Columns to check in those. Tick ‘Data contains row headers’ if this applies, and ‘Compare by: All’ to compare all the rows/columns 3. Finally, choose to select or remove 4 the duplicate entries, then click OK.…

WATCH OUT FOR… Fake adverts promoted by celebrities What’s the threat? Fake adverts featuring celebrities and prominent figures were the most-reported scam ads to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in 2024. It said scammers are using this tactic to promote fraud involving “cryptocurrency, investment, keto slimming gummies and the like” (see www.snipca.com/53888). Scammers are increasingly presenting the adverts as news stories with sensationalist headlines from major broadcasters – in the hope that a BBC, ITV or Sky logo will make them appear genuine. The ASA gave the example of TV presenter Stacey Solomon speaking to BBC News about a “scandal that engulfed the whole world” (see screenshot 1). More recently BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty wrote about a fake story which claimed she gave a “scandalous interview” (www.snipca.com/53889, 2). The…

Can Zoom refuse refund for unwanted subscription renewal? LEAD CASE Q My girlfriend signed up to the taken an automatic subscription renewal. She hasn’t used the service for most of the past year and will have no need for it in the future. However, she’s finding it impossible to get a refund from Zoom. Isn’t Zoom bound by UK consumer law? If so, surely it must refund her. She paid using PayPal. Vincent Hampstead A Zoom Communications is based here it’s bound by UK law. That means under the Consumer Contract Regulations Vincent’s girlfriend had 14 days to cancel her renewed subscription, as long as she hadn’t used Zoom in any way. But what counts as ‘using’? This is often hard to define, but in the case of renewing Zoom…

MINI PC ❘ £261 from Chuwi www.snipca.com/53972 Chuwi UBox AMD Ryzen 5 6600H Bite-size beauty There’s a mini PC for every need and budget, whether you want to splash out on a powerful model such as our current favourite, the Geekom A8 (£719 from Geekom at www.snipca.com/51157, tested in Issue 689) or spend less on a more modest computer. The Chuwi UBox falls firmly at the affordable end of the spectrum, with an attractive price of £261. “A stylish, affordable mini PC that’s perfect for office tasks and web browsing” This gets you a stylish PC in a white plastic case that has been designed with a little more thought than we’re used to seeing in mini PCs. The slanted vents along each side look smart while keeping the components…

This 64mm-square external SSD may look inconspicuous, but it’s the first drive we’ve tested that’s equipped with a super-fast USB 4.0 port. USB 4.0 offers theoretical top speeds of 40Gbps, which is twice what the fastest USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 drives can manage. The manufacturer says that in real-world use the EX400U can read data at up to 32Gbps and write at 28Gbps. USB 4.0 ports and connectors are the same shape as USB-C, and because they’re also backwards compatible, you could connect this drive to an older USB-C port that doesn’t support USB 4.0. You won’t benefit from the faster speeds unless you connect it to a proper USB 4.0 port, however. “With a new USB 4.0 port, this drive offers blistering speeds” Another feature that makes this drive…

Find out which other products we liked. Buy our 2024 Back Issue CD: £19 from www.snipca.com/53433 LAPTOP Dell Inspiron 14 Plus £799 from www.snipca.com/51831 Tested Issue 683 This laptop has the same processor (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H) as our previous favourite (Acer Swift Go 4), but manages to squeeze more speed out of it. It also comes with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and a 14in 2240x1400-pixel screen. Excellent value overall. ALTERNATIVE Acer Swift Go 14 Still a fast and powerful laptop, with a great 14in screen. £699 from www.snipca.com/49733 PRICE DROP ANDROID TABLET Honor MagicPad2 £450 from www.snipca.com/53150 Tested Issue 700 With a larger screen (12.3in) than the Galaxy Tab S9 (below) and a similar performance for less money, Honor’s MagicPad2 is a superb new tablet. The OLED screen…

ANDROID & iOS Use images and audio in ChatGPT WhatsApp chats In our ‘Why you must use ChatGPT’ feature in Issue 702 (buy a back issue from www.snipca.com/53838), we explained how to add the AI assistant as a WhatsApp contact so you can chat like you’re messaging a friend. OpenAI has now expanded the feature to let you include images and voice notes in your WhatsApp conversations with the chatbot. This means you can ask ChatGPT to analyse photos you upload or capture with your phone’s camera, and tell you more information about their subjects. Just tap the paperclip or camera icon to add an image to your text query (1 in our screenshot right). To interact with ChatGPT in WhatsApp using your voice, press the microphone button to record…

If your club has a Facebook page, you probably use the ‘What’s on your mind?’ box at the top to promote events. These can get lost among other posts on your followers’ feeds, so for greater prominence and a sense of urgency try creating a Facebook Story instead. These appear at the top of your followers’ news feed and in the Messenger app, and can include photos and clickable buttons that link to your website. Your story will remain in your followers’ news feeds for 24 hours, but if you switch on your Story Archive you can save it to repost later. Bear in mind that you can’t block specific people from seeing your Story, so once you’ve made it public, all your followers will see it. You can only…

If you use Microsoft 365 – the company’s subscription-based way of paying for Office apps and additional OneDrive storage – you I may have received an email telling you that the cost of your subscription is set to rise. Some of you may already be paying more, because the price rise comes into effect automatically on your first billing date after 16 January 2025, if your account is set to renew automatically. It’s a hefty price increase, too. Microsoft 365 Personal subscribers will see their fees jump from £5.99 to £8.49 per month, or from £59.99 to £84.99 if they pay yearly. Microsoft 365 Family subscribers will now pay £10.49 per month (up from £7.99) or £104.99 (up from £79.99) per year. To put it another way, 365 Personal subscribers…

Is there any point me buying a Wi-Fi 6 router? Q I read Issue 701’s Cover Feature on binning your old router with great interest. I have Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) broadband, with the last short section to my house on copper only. My provider is Plusnet, and I have the company’s Hub Two router. Plusnet told me it would be pointless for me to use a Wi-Fi 6 router because my service can only use Wi-Fi 5. I would not get 802.11ax speeds even with the world’s best Wi-Fi 6 router. Also, most routers provided by ISPs are actually routers and modems combined, so how exactly would this work with my kind of service? Nick Corcos A Your Plusnet advisor is partially correct. The top speed of the data stream from the internet…