Table of contents for 712 in Computeractive

I remember as a kid my Dad explaining we could set timers on our Betamax to record programmes while we were on holiday. I was astounded. I could spend a week in arcades in Butlins then return and watch the episodes of Top of the Pops, Tomorrow’s World and Grange Hill that I’d missed. Today’s technology means we can take our TV with us wherever we go – and that includes watching UK shows when abroad. You will, however, need to use VPNs to unblock geographical restrictions, and possibly fake your location too, as Robert Irvine explains in his Cover Feature. He also reveals the best ways to download shows before you set off, and what you need to stream remotely from your home PC. We’ve got a week in…

I inherited an Acctim radiocontrolled clock from my mother-in-law when she passed, and it worked well for years. But then it started showing the hour hand four hours slow, and soon after the pendulum stopped working. Replacing the batteries didn’t help. I finally decided to try to get it back to telling the right time. I emailed Acctim for help, though wasn’t expecting a reply because the clock was many years past its warranty. But they responded within a few days, asking for the exact model number and a photo. Acctim then emailed me instructions on how to fix the problem. I just had to take the batteries out and leave them for 10 minutes before putting them back in. This worked, and it now shows the correct time. I…

Fences 6 www.snipca.com/55084 Price: £9.99 per year Free trial period: 30 days What you need: Windows 10 or 11 If your desktop is cluttered with icons for files, folders and program shortcuts, Fences will help you keep it tidy. It works by arranging your desktop icons into themed groups called ‘fences’, which makes them easier to find than when they’re in one random sprawl. The default options are Programs, Folders and ‘Files & Documents’, but you can rename these and create your own fences by drawing rectangles on your desktop. The program lets you customise your fences to look and work exactly the way you want, including changing their background colour and opacity level, and rolling them up when not in use to free up screen space. We particularly like…

This is the latest in a series of Wi-Fi 7 routers from Netgear, following the Nighthawk RS300 (£238 from www.snipca.com/51974, reviewed in Issue 693), then the Nighthawk RS200 (£160 from www.snipca.com/52867, reviewed in Issue 699). The RS100 is the company’s cheapest yet. “Netgear has cherry-picked features to make this a powerful router for a reasonable price” As you might expect given the price, the specifications are pared-back compared with the other two units. Netgear has stuck with a dual-band system that uses 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, but not the 6GHz band that only Wi-Fi 7 devices can use. That’s fine for backward-compatibility but prevents connected Wi-Fi 7 devices having their own dedicated bandwidth. It also won’t let you take advantage of some of Wi-Fi 7’s more advanced tools, such as…

Reporting every 0.125 milliseconds, CHERRY’s XTRFY M68 Pro Wireless gaming mouse delivers incredible speed and extremely low click latency. By sending up to eight times more data than a standard 1000Hz gaming mouse, the M68 Pro Wireless makes your cursor movements more accurate on high refresh-rate monitors, and enables your computer to respond faster to every click. As an evolution of the innovative M8, the M68 features a unique design crafted with input from elite gamers. With a new shape, size and an ultra-low front with a revamped button design, it delivers unmatched control in every movement. This ultra-low front provides better control, and the low button height is enhanced further by added comfort grooves, improving your grip and accuracy. Its wireless technology has been refined over years, offering total…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Stop software cluttering your desktop with icons I liked the sound of UniGetUI (www.snipca.com/54788) in Issue 710 (page 18), so downloaded it and it’s a delightfully easy way to update software in one go. It even addresses my pet hate when downloading programs, which is when they add a shortcut icon to your desktop. Sometimes they ask permission, but not always. There’s an option in UniGetUI to stop software doing this. Click the Settings cog bottom left followed by ‘Package operation preferences’. Now turn on the ‘Automatic desktop shortcut remover’ slider and click the ‘Manage shortcuts’ button (see screenshot 1). On the next page tick the box bottom left 2, then click ‘Save and close’. Alternatively, tick the specific shortcut’s box. To finalise this change, click…

ANDROID Share files with nearby devices using mobile data Google has updated the Quick Share feature for Android phones and tablets, which makes it easy to share files with nearby devices. Just tap the Share button at the top or bottom of the screen (depending on the app) and choose Quick Share to scan for and connect to nearby devices. Previously, Quick Share used Wi-Fi to send files from one device to another, after establishing the initial connection using Bluetooth. It’s now possible to share files over your mobile network when Wi-Fi isn’t available. This should ensure file transfers are always completed even if you lose your Wi-Fi connection before they’ve finished copying over. However, unless you’re on an unlimited data plan with your mobile network, it could also eat…

Create free AI images using Wixel AI image-generating tools like Adobe Firefly (see Issue 663), Microsoft Designer (691) and Canva (698) let you generate images simply by describing what you want. There’s now another program to try – Wixel, launched in May by the website builder Wix. It specialises in creating images to use online, such as on social media, YouTube and your own website. Here we’ll explain how to generate an image to promote a summer fete on Facebook. Type your prompt and add extra elements Visit www.wix.com/wixel then click Get Started and enter your email address to create an account. You’ll be prompted to sign up for a free 14-day trial, but ignore this. Instead, on Wixel’s dashboard, click ‘Generate a Custom Image’ under the ‘Create with AI’…

ADD A DISC FOR £5.95 Your PC almost certainly came with Windows 11 Home. But did you know it’s easy to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro to get advanced features like BitLocker drive encryption? There’s no need to install a new version of Windows – just take your new Professional key, go to System, Activate, then select ‘Change Product Key’. To upgrade, visit www.snipca.com/50563 and click the red Buy Now button on the right. JUST SO YOU KNOW… This offer can be used by one person only, and expires at midnight on 1 July, 2025. It’s a lifetime licence for one computer.…

1080p High-definition video: 1920x1080 pixels. 3DMark Stress Test Benchmark test that repeatedly runs a graphics workout on computers to see if they stay stable and cool under heavy use. 3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. Architecture A set of rules and language that govern how hardware and software work. ARM Processors that are more energy-efficient and are used in more devices than those made by AMD and Intel. Aspect ratio A measurement of the shape of a screen. Traditional PC screens are 4:3. Widescreen displays are 16:9 or 16:10. Bandwidth A measure of how much data can be transferred through a connection at one time. Botnet A group of infected computers connected together via the internet, and used to…

Meta has finally released WhatsApp for the iPad, more than 15 years after it first appeared on phones. An iPad app for the popular messaging service had become one of the most eagerly awaited tools ever. It has been available on Android tablets for several years, but for most of that time it was simply a scaled-up version of the phone app, not built especially for larger screens. The new app has many of the same features as its iPhone and Android equivalents, but it’s been redesigned to take advantage of the iPad’s larger screen. The new two-column layout shows chats and contacts on the left and messages on the right (pictured), mirroring Apple’s own Messages app. It supports iPadOS, which is Apple’s operating system built especially for iPads. This…

ChatGPT will now remember your recent conversations for free as long as you’re logged into your account. Previously, it would remember chats only if you were paying for a subscription. OpenAI, which runs the AI chatbot, said that “as you chat with ChatGPT, whether you’re typing, talking or asking it to generate an image, it can remember helpful context from earlier conversations, such as your preferences and interests, and use that to tailor its responses”. It added that you can ask it to remember specific details, giving the example, “Remember that I am vegetarian when you recommend a recipe”. To check what ChatGPT remembers, type “What do you remember about me?”. However, memory for free users will be limited to recent conversations. OpenAI didn’t say how far back this is,…

We’re happy to say that Triton has replaced Charles Smyth’s faulty shower (see Issue 711), proving that sometimes using the manufacturer’s warranty gets faster results than chasing the retailer. Charles bought the shower from B&Q and paid for it to be installed, but it didn’t work properly. B&Q refused to help and claimed instead he had to approach Triton under its warranty. This advice was totally wrong. If a product is faulty then resolving the problem is always the responsibility of the retailer. However, often the retailer’s response is to contact the manufacturer for a fix. This is why sometimes it can be quicker to bypass the retailer and go straight to the manufacturer yourself. This was particularly true in Charles’ case because to get a refund from B&Q he…

Which app can convert speech into on-screen text? Q I was adopted as a baby many years ago and have totally deaf, but does read well and I’m going to visit him this summer. In order to communicate with him, I’d like to use an app on my iPad mini that converts everything I say to on-screen text he can read. Any ideas? David Norfolk A We’d recommend using NALscribe, which is free from the iOS App Store at www.snipca.com/54969, and works on iPhones and iPads. Although it’s made by Australia’s National Acoustics Laboratories, it worked perfectly fine with our British accent. Once installed, tap the microphone icon (see screenshot) at the bottom of the screen and start talking. NALscribe listens and after a couple of seconds starts writing what you’ve…

What do they do? Most of us are familiar with laser printers. LED printers are very similar, in that they use light to create an image of the page to be printed on a photoreceptive drum, which is then transferred to paper using toner. However, while laser printers use a single laser that’s guided across the drum with a moving mirror to create the image, an LED printer uses a strip of tiny LEDs. An LED printer is typically smaller, uses less power and is less prone to mechanical failure. How do they work? The light-sensitive drum starts off positively charged, but shining a light on to its surface changes the charge to negative. The toner is then positively charged and attracted to the negatively charged sections of the drum.…

This power bank from Chinese firm INIU has a large capacity and fast power output for a very reasonable price. It can charge small and medium-sized devices like phones and tablets in no time. Its sleek build and rounded edges make it pleasant to hold and easy to slip into your pocket. But the best thing about the design is its built-in USB-C cable, which is used to connect to the device you want to charge or plugged into the mains (via a USB-C adapter) when the bank itself needs recharging. It also has a USB-C and USB-A port, but you’ll need your own cables to use these. The bank has a maximum output of 22.5W, which is enough for fast-charging phones and other small devices, while three-way simultaneous charging…

CHROME Upgrade your passwords to passkeys Chrome 136 (released in May) adds a useful option to the browser’s password manager to help protect your online accounts. It automatically upgrades your passwords to passkeys, so you can sign into websites more quickly and securely using your fingerprint, face or other screen-lock method. This only works on sites that support passkeys, which you’ve recently signed into using a saved password. The site will confirm a passkey has been created (you can still sign in using a password) and save it to Chrome’s password manager. The new option is enabled by default, but if you’d rather stick solely with passwords you can turn it off. Click Chrome’s three-dot menu button and choose Settings, then ‘Autofill and passwords’. Click ‘Google Password Manager’, select Settings…

WINDOWS 10 Bring back the time in the Calendar box With the update KB5053643, released in April, Microsoft removed the time from the top of the Calendar box that appears when you click the bottom right of the Windows 10 taskbar. Microsoft made the change to reduce strain on the processor, but it still annoyed many users, who called for its return. It seems that Microsoft took notice because it has reinstated the time in the recent update KB5058481 (as shown in the screenshot below). It’s available to Windows Insiders now and should be coming to all users soon (see www.snipca.com/54940). WINDOWS 10 & 11 See photos taken on your iPhone and iPad on your PC You can easily view photos taken on your iPhone and iPad on your Windows…

Using your mobile phone abroad just got even more confusing this summer, after EU members rejected the UK’s bid to drop roaming charges for British holidaymakers during recent Brexit ‘reset’ talks. Roaming fees are imposed by your mobile-network provider to cover the cost of using international mobile networks while you’re abroad. They were abolished for UK visitors to European countries in 2017 but were subsequently reintroduced in 2021 when Britain left the EU. The current status is muddled, with some UK mobile providers charging fees and others offering free or capped services for travellers within the EU. And if you’re travelling beyond Europe, roaming costs can vary wildly. It’s easy to get caught out and incur roaming fees without realising, only to discover you’ve been hit with a hefty bill…

LOWEST-EVER PRICE! We’re delighted to announce our lowest-ever price for Norton 360 Premium. For just £19.99, you’ll protect 10 devices for two years. Available both for new customers and existing Norton users wanting to renew. WHAT YOU GET ✓ Real-time malware protection ✓ Secure VPN ✓ 75GB PC Cloud Backup PLUS Monitors the dark web for your personal information Norton is made by NortonLifeLock Inc – a standalone company dedicated to consumer cyber safety. It has always performed strongly in Computeractive antivirus tests, so we highly recommend it. 10 devices for two years NOW ONLY £19.99* Normally £179.99 Buy it from our Software Store at www.snipca.com/33247…

To run WhatsApp on your phone you now need to run iOS 15.1 or later on iPhones, or Android 5.0 or later. These systems were released in 2021 and 2014 respectively. WhatsApp dropped support for phones running earlier systems on 1 June. It means popular phones such as iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, Samsung Galaxy S III and Sony Xperia Z can no longer run WhatsApp. Read more at www.snipca.com/55089. You’ll like this… More O2 customers can now roll over unused phone data (www.snipca.com/55093) but not this… New Android malware adds fake contacts to your phone (www.snipca.com/55091)…

Why won’t eBay refund me for missing Doctor Who cassette? LEAD CASE Q I’ve been selling my Doctor Who father to a gorgeous baby daughter. One buyer who paid me £129.99 for a very rare Betamax cassette of a Doctor Who story claims the box was damaged and the cassette was missing. I refunded but eBay says because I did this voluntarily it won’t refund me for the missing video. Surely this cannot be legal? Dave Woodley A We’re afraid it is because eBay is These rules are very rigid and favour buyers over sellers. And as Dave found out, typically it won’t intervene in a case if the seller has voluntarily refunded the buyer. Where Dave went wrong is not letting the buyer open a case for a missing item.…

IMAGE EDITOR PhotoDemon 2025.4 www.snipca.com/55086 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1. 10 or 11 We’ve recommended several free image editors recently, including GIMP (in Issue 707) and Photo Variants (in Issue 709). PhotoDemon is easier to use than those programs and lighter on system resources – its developer wants it to be “the smallest, lightest photo editor money (can’t) buy”. This new version introduces a memory-management feature, similar to the one in some web browsers. When you’re working with lots of large photos, PhotoDemon will automatically suspend ‘inactive’ images (those you’re not currently editing) to free up RAM. This only happens when memory is running low and ensures the software doesn’t cause your system to freeze. When you switch back to an inactive image, PhotoDemon will restore the required RAM.…

SOFTWARE WARNING! VPNSecure cancels ‘lifetime’ subscriptions If you signed up to VPNSecure (www.vpnsecure.me) before 2023 you may have been tempted by its lifetime subscription. It was decent value – a one-off purchase costing up to $40 (around £31). But in 2023 the owners Boost Network Pty Ltd sold VPNSecure to InfiniteQuant Ltd, and they have now cancelled all lifetime subscriptions. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a huge backlash, with customers discussing potential legal action on Reddit (www.snipca.com/55047, see screenshot 1) and a wave of one-star reviews on Trustpilot (www.snipca.com/55049 2). InfiniteQuant’s argument is that they bought VPNSecure’s “technology, domain, and customer database”, but not the “liabilities”. In other words, it bought everything it could make money from, but nothing that lost money. Furthermore, it claims it only learned about the lifetime…

While several hundred pounds could buy you a huge, eye-catching OLED screen with a high resolution, not everyone wants to spend that much money on a monitor. For those with budgets nearer the £100 mark, expectations have to be lowered, though you can still find a surprisingly decent screen for the price. The 24in Acer Vero B247Y is a good example. “A no-frills, budget monitor with a good choice of connections, but it’s not for gamers or creative types” It comes with everything you need to get it up and running, including cables for every port, a power lead and a stand. We particularly liked the latter, which provides enough headroom for the monitor to rotate into portrait mode (as pictured top right). If you regularly read long documents or…

The Outdoor Camera Plus (Battery) is the latest in a long line of Ring security cameras designed to be easy to install. It can be positioned indoors or outside, and doesn’t require wiring thanks to its rechargeable battery. The camera is a little smaller than a soft drink can, so it’s not obtrusive, but you’ll definitely notice it’s there, which is the point if you want to deter burglars. “Produces crisp footage and is easy to set up and use” Before setting up, you need to charge the battery. It has a micro USB port and comes with a cable that plugs into any standard USB charger. The battery should last you a few months, as long as you’re not pointing the camera at a busy street where motion detection…

COPILOT Generate higher-quality images Microsoft has upgraded the AI model Copilot uses to generate images, to produce higher-quality results. It now uses the same GPT-4o model as ChatGPT, rather than the older and more limited Dall-E. This means you can create more photo-realistic pictures of humans, with “richer detail and composition”. Text is rendered more accurately and readably, and Copilot can handle more complex instructions. As with ChatGPT, you can now ask Copilot to apply a particular artistic style (1 in our screenshot below) to an image you upload 2, and edit its content. It has a more generous (though unspecified) daily limit for image generation than ChatGPT’s three. CHATGPT Save money when shopping online ChatGPT is continuing to expand its shopping features, providing links to relevant deals on retail…

MICROSOFT EXCEL Create number sequences in spreadsheets In Excel 2021 (and Microsoft 365), Microsoft added the =SEQUENCE function to let you easily generate a list of sequential numbers in an array of cells. For example, typing =SEQUENCE(10) fills the numbers 1 to 10 vertically in a single column, while =SEQUENCE(1,10) fills them across 10 columns horizontally. We’ve typed =SEQUENCE(5,6), which fills numbers row by row, down five rows and across six columns (1 in our screenshot). The first number before the comma sets the number of rows, and the second sets the columns. You can also use it to start at a specific number and pick a different sequence. For example, =SEQUENCE(5,6,100,10) 2 keeps the same five-row/six-column structure, but starts the sequence at 100 and jumps 10 each time 3.…

Why can’t I download Wintoys? Q Every time I try to download Wintoys by following your link (www.snipca.com/54456) in Issue 708, page 18 I get a ‘PUR-AuthenticationFailure’ message. Can you help? Phil James A This usually means your Microsoft Store app’s cache has become corrupted. Try resetting it by clicking Start, typing wsreset (see screenshot below) and pressing Enter. The Microsoft Store app will automatically relaunch and you can try downloading Wintoys again. The error can also be caused by a conflict with your PC’s region settings. Check that Windows is set to the correct region and that the time is also correct (under Settings, then ‘Time & language’). Alternatively, in Windows 10 try running the Windows Store Apps troubleshooter: click Start, Settings, ‘Update & Security’, Troubleshoot, then ‘Additional troubleshooters’ to do…