Table of contents for 718 in Computeractive

Microsoft ends support for Windows 10 on 14 October – 3,731 days after it launched. That’s a pretty good innings – just six days shorter than Windows 7 and six longer than Vista (though XP still holds the record at 4,548). And yet no previous operating system’s demise has been so controversial. That’s entirely Microsoft’s fault. It never did enough to dispel the casual pledge made in May 2015 by its ‘developer evangelist’ Jerry Nixon that “Windows 10 is the last version of Windows”. This apparent promise that Windows 10 would be the final version prompted millions to upgrade. It was an instant success. But resentment grew as Microsoft clumsily backtracked, and then angered many by releasing Windows 11 in 2021. Wherever you stand, it’s now decision time. Robert Irvine…

Brits going abroad have been warned that thousands of fake and dangerous travel adapters are being sold online. The charity Electrical Safety First (ESF) said it found 15 fake models being sold on sites including Amazon, eBay, TikTok Shop and Wish. Researchers bought two models described as ‘universal travel adaptors’ from TikTok Shop. Both were designed with retractable pins to fit sockets in the UK, Europe, Australia and the US. The charity said that one of the adapters, which was black (pictured) and has been sold over 50,000 times worldwide, failed every safety test it conducted. It had more than one set of pins exposed at one time when plugged in and live, posing a risk of severe electric shock up to 240 volts if touched with wet hands. Universal…

PayPal users have been urged to change their username and password after a scammer advertised 15.8 million details for sale on the dark web. The scammer, called Chucky_BF, claims to have obtained the details in May this year. PayPal, however, says the data comes from a breach in 2022 that affected 35,000 people and for which it was fined $2m by New York regulators in January. Chucky_BF says that as well as login emails and passwords for PayPal, the data includes URLs of other sites where the login details were used. This makes the data highly attractive for scammers because they can use the details to access users’ other accounts, not just PayPal. The data has been carefully structured to make it easy for whoever buys it to launch ‘credential…

Back in 2022, Google added the option to create a shortcut to its password manager on the screen of your Android phone or tablet – visit www.snipca.com/56067, scroll down and click ‘Add Google Password Manager to your home screen’. Google has now launched an app that acts as the shortcut itself, which the company claims is “quicker and easier”. Install it from www.snipca.com/56066, then tap its icon (a key in Google’s colours, see screenshot 1) to go to its home page 2, where you’ll find all your accounts and settings. The app doesn’t add any new features, and the app’s icon is the same as the shortcut. Google’s reason for creating it is probably to make sure it appears when you search for ‘password manager’ in the Play Store, rather…

Can my ISP charge for engineer’s visit when broadband goes down? LEAD CASE Q I recently signed up with Grain Broadband (www.grainconnect.com) and all was well until my internet went down. When I contacted Grain, I was told it would cost me £75 for an engineer to come out and sort the problem, which was caused by my router not being fixed to the wall. Where do I stand if I decide to cancel the contract? M Green A Sadly, Mr Green is outside the 14-day cooling-off period during which he could have cancelled without penalty. However, his problems are so serious he might be able to cancel at no cost – particularly if he wasn’t made fully aware of the terms and conditions of his contract. An internet service…

Search Royal Navy and Marine wills Many sailors made wills before departing, knowing that accidents and disease meant there was a significant chance they may not return. However, fraud was common (forged wills were used to claim unpaid wages), so in 1786 the Admiralty set up the Inspector of Wills. This office registered and checked sailors’ wills to make sure they were genuine, creating a valuable archive you can search today. Find an original will (1786-1882) Original wills were usually written on printed forms. Those accepted as valid were filed alongside orders to issue cheques to the executors. Most wills include the testator’s name, rank and ship, plus the names of any beneficiaries. The beneficiary was often the next-ofkin, and in some cases their address is also recorded. The original…

SOFTWARE WARNING! Microsoft Bing hijacks ChatGPT search with Copilot ad For years Microsoft and Google have been fighting an online war in which searching for one product brings up its direct rival. Search for Chrome on Microsoft’s Bing search engine and Microsoft will show a full-width advert urging you to download Edge instead. Google responds in kind, promoting Chrome when you search for Edge. It’s playground stuff that you’d think two of the world’s richest companies needn’t bother with. But Microsoft now has a new enemy: ChatGPT. Search for it in Bing and at the top and you’ll see Microsoft’s ad for its own AI chatbot Copilot (1 in our screenshot above right) above the genuine result for ChatGPT 2. It’s a clever advert because it has a search bar that…

ROUTER | £180 from Amazon www.snipca.com/55981 We’ve recently reviewed several Wi-Fi 7 routers priced under £200, most of which are dual-band models. These omit the 6GHz band and instead focus on delivering Wi-Fi 7’s speed improvements over the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Since each band requires its own dedicated radio hardware for sending and receiving data, dropping one band cuts manufacturing costs — and in turn, the overall price — considerably. “It supplied enough bandwidth across the house to stream six 4K movies simultaneously“ Previously, the only exception to this rule was the Acer Predator Connect T7 (£170 from www.snipca.com/55194, reviewed in Issue 713), which squeezes in a tri-band system but compromises on other features – limiting the number of Ethernet ports to two, for example. With the Archer BE550,…

SMARTPHONE ❘ From £349 from Amazon www.snipca.com/55999 The Edge 60 is a cheaper alternative to Motorola’s Edge 60 Pro, which we reviewed in Issue 716 and is currently discounted from £599 to £499 (www.snipca.com/56001). With the Edge 60, Motorola has carved another £150 off, while keeping a surprising amount of the Pro’s functionality. First off, it has a phenomenal design. Our review model came in an attractive blue case that’s eye-catching without being garish. The whole thing has a smooth feel, with rounded screen edges and a slight texture on the rear (pictured right) that makes it easy to grip. The case has an ingress protection rating of IP68, which means it’s impervious to dust and can survive being dunked in water. Its pOLED screen measures 6.67 inches across the…

LAPTOP NEW ENTRY MSI Prestige A16 AI+ £950 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 £599 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…

CHATGPT Customise the colour of chats The new GPT-5 LLM has made ChatGPT faster, more accurate and less prone to ‘hallucination’. But aside from the new personality types we wrote about in Issue 717 (page 6), most new features added by GPT-5 are currently restricted to paying subscribers. One new option available to all ChatGPT users makes your chats look more vibrant. It changes the colour of the Send and ‘Voice mode’ buttons, your message bubbles and highlighted text – from the default grey to blue, green, yellow, pink or orange. To change the default colour, on the ChatGPT website, click your profile name bottom-left and choose Settings then General. Click the dropdown menu next to ‘Accent color’ and select your preferred hue (see screenshot below). In the ChatGPT mobile…

Digital Clock Free* Android www.snipca.com/55976 Many free clock apps suffer from ads and unnecessary features, but Digital Clock keeps things clean and simple. View the time, day and date; change the background colour by swiping left or right; tap the icon top left to switch orientation; and use the slider to adjust brightness levels. It syncs with the alarm clock on your Android phone. Best For Simple time display Flip Clock – World Clock Free* Android www.snipca.com/55979 This customisable clock offers a choice of colourful themes and can display the weather and your phone’s battery status. You can make it tick and chime on the hour, view the time in different cities around the world, and add a clock widget to your home screen. For iOS, try ClockPhone (www.snipca.com/55980), which…

Create and share a club leaderboard If your club has any kind of competitive element, a shareable leaderboard is a great way to keep members up to date with latest rankings, top scores and so on. This is especially useful if you run, say, a snooker, darts or tennis club. But a leaderboard can also be used for a variety of other scenarios. Perhaps you run a bridge club and want to track tournament results across a season. Or maybe your local history society or gardening club hosts a regular summer quiz league. Or perhaps you just need a handy tool to tally scores on a one-off game night. You can use Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets for this, but spreadsheets can feel clunky and aren’t always the most engaging…

Why can’t I sign in after wiping my laptop? QI’ve tried to wipe my old Dell Inspiron laptop following your instructions in Issue 710’s Cover Feature (‘Wipe all your old devices’). The procedure appeared to have been completed and the machine switched off. When I restarted it, it asked for a password in the normal way. But having entered this, I got the message: ‘The user Profile Service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded.’ So, I’m stuck. Can you help please? Richard Palmer A Are you still seeing your Windows account username above the password box on the Windows login screen? If so, this may mean you haven’t successfully wiped your computer using Windows’ built-in Reset tool. To fix this, hold down the Shift key, then click the…

1080p High-definition video: 1920x1080 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. 3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 720p A common resolution of high-definition video: 1280x720 pixels. Architecture A set of rules and language that govern how hardware and software work. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. An alternative technology to LCD for creating flat-panel displays. Most commonly used in smartphones, tablets and smart watches. Benchmarking Comparing software and products with an accepted standard. BIOS Basic Input-Output System. Software built into every PC that connects the vital components. It’s visible for a few seconds when the PC starts. cd/m2 Candela per square metre. Standard…

Bitwarden is one of several password managers to have released emergency updates for their browser extensions to fix a severe flaw that hackers can exploit to steal passwords, two-factor authentication codes and payment-card details. Dashlane, Keeper, LastPass, LogMeOnce, NordPass, Proton Pass and RoboForm have also all released updates to fix the flaw, but Apple has yet to release a new version of iCloud Passwords. The flaw was discovered by independent security researcher Marek Tóth and presented at the DEF CON 33 security conference in Las Vegas in August. He described it as a clickjacking flaw, in which hackers can hide invisible buttons and forms on a website and trick password extensions into automatically filling in personal details. The flaw isn’t with the password managers themselves, but how they interact with…

EE ‘failed payment’ I’m an EE customer, so I’ve received many genuine text messages from the company over the years. But I got one text in August that was clearly a scam. It said EE had “failed to take payment for your latest direct debit”. If I didn’t tap the link to sort this out, my services would be “put on hold”. Rather than tap that link I signed into my bank account, which confirmed payment had been made just three days earlier. It was a wholly unoriginal scam. Fellow EE customers should go to www.snipca.com/55916 to find out exactly how the company will and won’t contact customers. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

Philip Burman has closed his complaint against Doro, having endured several frustrating months trying to transfer files from its Leva L10 4G phone (pictured) to a memory card (see Issue 712). When he bought the phone (£85 from www.snipca.com/55907) he thought he’d be able to do this, but said it didn’t work in the way he’d been led to believe. He contacted Doro for help and the company posted him a paper manual. But Philip said this manual contained the wrong instructions after hours attempting to resolve the issue himself. Discussions between Philip and Doro reached a stalemate until we got involved. Doro eventually confirmed that Philip would have to connect the Leva L10 to his PC when transferring files to a memory card. Philip wasn’t impressed by this limitation,…

DRIVE-SPACE ANALYSER WizTree 4.27 www.snipca.com/56085 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 WizTree offers a speedy free way to analyse the contents of your hard drives, so you can see which files and folders take up the most space. It claims to be 46 times faster than its closest rival, WinDirStat (www.windirstat.net), and is regularly updated with new features and performance improvements. Version 4.27 introduces the useful ability to search for and filter files by time modified, as well by name or type. It’s not immediately obvious how to use this new option, but it will help you quickly locate items whose names you can’t recall. To try it, first scan a drive or folder in WizTree then click the ‘Filter scan results’ (funnel) button below the Scan…

Q My wife and I are in our 80s and have difficulty hearing dialogue on our TV. I thought the ZVOX AccuVoice AV157 (see Issue 705, page 63) would be just what we needed because you mentioned it’s designed for people who have trouble hearing speech. Unfortunately, we have a Sky Glass TV set which only has HDMI and Bluetooth audio output, not optical or headphone sockets, so the AV157 isn’t compatible. Would the Sony HT-S2000 soundbar (£299 from www.snipca.com/56005) fit the bill instead? John Hammonds A There are a number of devices specifically designed to help people hear their TV’s audio output, but everything we could find required optical or headphone sockets. However, there are plenty of soundbars that use HDMI, and these will definitely boost the audio of…

Majority’s Landbeach Portable DAB radio is your perfect on-the-go audio companion wherever you are, helping you stay connected to your favourite tunes. It also has DAB+ and FM radio, and delivers crystal-clear sound, ensuring you never miss a beat. Whether you’re at the park, on a road trip or simply relaxing at home, the rechargeable battery provides hours of uninterrupted listening. Switch seamlessly between radio stations, Bluetooth connectivity for wireless streaming and an AUX-in mode for wired playback. Designed for durability, the Landbeach is water- and dustproof, making it an ideal radio for demanding outdoor settings. Its shockproof design, featuring a hardwearing case, ensures resilience against accidental drops and harsh conditions. To enter this competition, answer the question at www.snipca.com/55855 and submit your details by midnight Tuesday 23 September. Good…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Collaborate on itinerary with fellow travellers The best tip in Issue 715’s Cover Feature (‘50 best ways AI will improve your life’) was unquestionably using Mindtrip (www.mindtrip.ai) to plan your holidays. I love how the map changes on the right (1 in our screenshot) as you make new requests. I’ve been using it to plan a trip to southern Spain in September with relatives. What’s great is you can invite them to the chat and discuss in real time. Once you’ve started a chat, click Invite at the top right and type their email address. This turns into a Share button 2 after you add the first person. They’ll then need to 3 click the link and create an account, then sign up. They’ll join the chat…

Cassette: Home Video Player Free* iOS www.snipca.com/55973 This retro-style video player lets you watch videos stored on your iPhone or iPad like you’re watching old VHS tapes. It displays video files as video-cassette icons, which you tap to load in the slot on the old fashioned TV. The free version plays a random video – pay 99p a month to choose the content to play on-screen. Ente Photos Free* Android www.snipca.com/55963 iOS www.snipca.com/55964 This privacy-focused photo-backup app has improved its AI-powered face detection and added new layout options. These group your pictures by day, week, month or year. Ente has also launched an advanced image editor that lets you adjust brightness, contrast and colour, apply filters and emojis, and doodle on your photos. Organic Maps Free Android www.snipca.com/55965 iOS www.snipca.com/55966…

WINDOWS 10 & 11 Use the improved PowerToys dashboard The latest version of Microsoft’s PowerToys (0.93) introduces a vastly improved Settings dashboard. On the homepage, there’s now a ‘Quick access’ panel (1 in our screenshot below) providing instant links to useful advanced tools, such as the registry and layout editor. There’s also now a dedicated ‘Shortcuts overview’ 2, to remind yourself of handy keyboard shortcuts. And, most useful of all, the Modules pane 3 provides a quickglance overview of which PowerToys tools you currently have turned on or off. Version 0.93 also has a faster, less resource-hungry Command Palette tool and a new Spotlight mode for the Mouse Highlighter, which dims the entire screen, leaving only the area around your mouse highlighted. If you already have PowerToys installed, you’ll be…

What are they? Google-owned YouTube has started asking users in the US to prove their age before allowing them to watch certain video content. It’s not just a basic ‘click to confirm’ pop-up, either. The company has introduced an advanced AI-based age-estimation system that attempts to establish how old you are, based on your account data, viewing history and more. How do they work? If you try to watch a restricted video, YouTube will use machine-learning tools to attempt to determine whether or not you are over 18, based on its interpretation of various factors. These include which videos you’ve viewed in the past, the types of videos you have previously searched for and how long you’ve had the account for. If the system identifies you as underage, you’ll see…

POST LARGE PARCELS AT NEW POSTBOXES Royal Mail is installing 3,500 postboxes across the UK with a barcode scanner and drawer for sending items as large as a shoebox (pictured). It’s responding to the rise in people selling items on sites such as eBay, Amazon Marketplace, Gumtree and Vinted. All the postboxes will be solar-powered.\ GET EXTENDED OFFICE 2016 & 2019 UPDATES Software-update firm 0patch is now selling unofficial security updates for Office 2016 and 2019, letting you use them safely after Microsoft ends support on 14 October. Prices start at 24.95 euros (plus UK VAT) per PC, per year (see www.snipca.com/56089). It plans to offer updates for at least three years, and already offers extended support for Windows 10 - see page 53. TOMORROW’S WORLD Look carefully and you’ll…

WATCH OUT FOR… Fake sites selling Viagra and Ozempic What’s the threat? Scammers are running more than 5,000 fake online pharmacies that claim to sell a range of popular drugs. Security firm Avast said the problem is huge, with 95 per cent of all pharmacies online operating in a “large-scale criminal network”. Avast said scammers focus on drugs that people are “either desperate to get quickly, prefer to keep private, or can’t afford through traditional means”. These include treatments for erectile dysfunction such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, and weight-loss medicines like Rybelsus (which is Ozempic as a pill). Fake versions of more traditional pills are also being advertised, including antibiotics (Amoxil, Doxycycline and Zithromax). The sites are usually professionally designed and appear to provide live-chat support. They claim to…

I’ve had three Roberts DAB radios and they’ve all stopped working after a while – for very different reasons, as it transpired. I contacted Roberts and told them the sorry tale and they took all three back for repair. Their technical department was incredibly patient with me as I went through all the details to discover what was wrong, and establish if they could fix them, for what sort of price, and how I could send them. It took a lot of emails, but they were always helpful. One of the radios, a solar-powered device, was three months outside warranty, but Roberts still agreed to fix it for a £7 postage cost only. The other two radios were both fairly old. In total the cost to fix them, including postage,…

How can I replace Microsoft’s Lens app? Q I can’t believe Microsoft is scrapping its scanning app Lens (see www.snipca.com/55881). I use it every day to convert documents to PDFs and Office files. I guess I have no choice but to find a replacement. But I’ve got no idea where to start looking. Can my favourite computing magazine help? Terry Guinness A We recommend OSS Document Scanner (Android www.snipca.com/55884; iOS www.snipca.com/55887). It’s free to use, and you can just ignore the occasional prompts to donate to help fund its future development. It offers a similar set of functions to Microsoft Lens and works in much the same way – import a document as an image or tap the camera button to line up a paper document using your camera. By…

What are they? When choosing a keyboard, it’s important to know how many keys it includes. A standard keyboard with a number pad, cursor keys and editing keys (Home, Insert, Delete, End, Page Up and Page Down) typically has at least 104 keys. Smaller keyboards often don’t list a specific key count; instead, they indicate their size as a percentage of a full-sized layout. How do they work? Reducing the number of keys allows manufacturers to create a more compact keyboard. Many of the functions of a full-sized keyboard are still available, but you may need to hold down a modifier key (similar to pressing Shift to generate capital letters or Control for shortcuts) to access certain functions. What are their specs? Full-sized keyboards with at least 104 keys are…

What is it? Chinese manufacturer 8849 has added a new model to its robust Tank range of Android phones. These are designed to withstand damage if dropped or exposed to the elements. However, a key selling point of the new Tank 4 (£327 from www.snipca.com/56029, pictured) is its built-in projector. What does it do? It can project a 720p image at a brightness of 100 lumens, with a refresh rate of 60Hz via a lens on the top of the phone. It focuses and adjusts the image’s shape automatically, so you won’t need to fiddle with the settings. What’s the catch? 100 lumens is not bright, so you’ll need to be in a dark room for best results. The phone’s speaker is also quite tinny, according to the reviewer at…

FIREFOX Convert units in the address bar As of Firefox 141 (released in July), you can use the browser’s address bar to perform unit and measurement conversions. This saves you having to visit a website or ask an AI tool for the answer. Simply enter a number and the unit types you want to convert from and to, and Firefox will show the result in the dropdown menu below the address bar. Click the Copy button next to it (see screenshot below) to save the figure to your clipboard to paste elsewhere. The feature supports temperature, length, mass and angle conversions, and can tell you the time in different time zones. You can also use the address bar to perform simple calculations. EDGE Switch to Copilot Mode more easily In…

iOS Block ads in Safari using uBlock Origin Lite Although Apple’s Safari browser can block pop-ups, prevent cross-site tracking and hide your IP address from known trackers, it doesn’t include an ad blocker. There are several apps for blocking ads in Safari, including AdGuard (www.snipca.com/55953) and Ghostery (www.snipca.com/55954), and now there’s an even better option – uBlock Origin Lite (www.snipca.com/55956). The brilliant content blocker was added to the Apple App Store in August, letting you use it with Safari on your iPhone or iPad. This means you can now filter ads and trackers from web pages as effectively as you can in your desktop browser. To set up uBlock Origin Lite, install the app then open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad. Tap ‘Apps’ then Safari, followed by…

LIBREOFFICE CALC & MICROSOFT EXCEL Turn off ‘marching ants’ around cells When you select cells to copy and paste in a spreadsheet, both Calc and Excel indicate them with a moving dotted border – sometimes nicknamed ‘marching ants’ (see screenshot below). If you find this effect distracting, press the Esc key and it will disappear. Your cells will remain selected though, ready for you to paste wherever you like. MICROSOFT OFFICE Set how many recent folders you can save to Microsoft Office lets you pin favourite folders so they’re always at the top when you’re opening or saving files. You can also right-click a folder and select ‘Add to Favorites’. By default Office also shows the 50 most recent folders you’ve been working on but haven’t pinned as favourites. These…

ONLY ONE MONTH LEFT! When Microsoft launched Windows 11 in October 2021, it assumed that within four years nearly every PC user would be running the new operating system. It therefore stuck to its original end-of-support date for Windows 10 – 14 October 2025. Now that day is almost upon us and it’s clear Microsoft’s prediction was overoptimistic. The latest figures show that, while Windows 11 now has more users than Windows 10, with a 53 per cent global market share, 43 per cent of us still run the older operating system (www.snipca.com/56046). That equates to around 600 million users, who all face the same dilemma of what to do when Windows 10 stops receiving security updates. One Californian man has even filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming the company…