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Ken Dodd took a box of scented soap, Terry Wogan took vodka, and Victoria Wood took a cinema organ (I can’t tell you what Oliver Reed would take – it’s far too rude). That’s a good collection of luxury items, whichever desert island you’re stranded on. I found these while spending an entire Sunday afternoon listening to the BBC’s archive of Desert Island Discs, one of the highlights in Jane Hoskyn’s round-up of the Beeb’s best tools and sites. As a recipient in her youth of a Blue Peter badge (see page 50), she was the ideal writer for the feature. If you want to share any BBC gems with friends, turn to page 60 for tips on shrinking and sending large files. Daniel Booth editor@computeractive.co.uk PS: Our 2017 Reader…

‘SELFIE’ APP SPOTS PANCREATIC CANCER US scientists have built an app that looks for early signs of pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously hard to diagnose conventionally. Called BiliScreen, it uses a smartphone’s camera to check for levels of bilirubin in the whites of a person’s eyes. A build-up of bilirubin is one of the earliest signs of pancreatic cancer, as well as jaundice and hepatitis. Watch this video for more details: www.snipca.com/25506. NEW ANDROID BOOSTS BATTERY LIFE Google’s new version of Android limits what apps can do in the background to improve performance and battery life on phones and tablets. Called Android O, it will also start your device “twice as fast”. Google’s own Nexus and Pixel devices will get it first, followed by other Android phones and tablets. For…

A forthcoming ban on cold-calling pension companies will now include text messages and emails, the government has said. Previously the law was going to include phone calls only. Only two types of call will now be allowed: companies contacting existing customers about offers, and companies responding to a customer’s request for information. If you receive any other type of call, you can confidently assume it’s a scam. Other types of cold-calling scams, such as selling mortgages, have already been banned. Companies breaking the law face fines of £500,000, issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office. However, only companies based in the UK will be affected, so it’s likely that many will move overseas. The law is a major crackdown on fraudsters who target savers’ retirement funds. Around 3,000 people have been…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: Opera Is Opera the new Yahoo? Yahoo is by far the most common PUP I come across when researching this page and Best Free Software. But in recent weeks I’ve noticed a couple of PUP appearances from another web giant that should be looking after its reputation more carefully: Opera. Free browser Opera (www.opera.com) is currently doing the rounds in the installer for DVD-ripping program CDBurnerXP, which has been tried by reader Anthony Swalwell (see What Should I Download?, page 19). I’ve also found Opera junk bundled with EaseUS ToDo Backup Free (see this page, Issue 506). The PUP is pretty classic, as you can see from the screenshot. It’s on the dreaded ‘Install Additional Software’ page of CDBurnerXP’s setup wizard, and its ‘Yes, Install’…

Tell us what’s on your mind Email: letters@computeractive.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive Twitter: @ComputerActive www.twitter.com/computeractive Rural broadband isn’t just for the better off It’s all very well Patricia Groome saying that “stressed city folk” shouldn’t have to pay for her rural broadband (Star Letter, Issue 509), but it sounds like she’s in a very privileged position. She describes herself as a “baby-booming pensioner” who can afford high broadband bills. Good for her. With long periods of unemployment, and tax raids on pensions, I’ve not been so lucky. I need to count every penny. She also makes the classic mistake of assuming that everyone who moves to the countryside does so through choice, and therefore has no right to complain about things like rubbish broadband. But I had to move to the country…

Q On 18 July I received an offer from Hallmark to upgrade my Hallmark Card Studio Deluxe 2017 software for $35.95, plus some other associated downloads. But after downloading I found everything was related to US sizing, so I can’t use the software. None of my emails to Hallmark asking for a refund or a European version have been answered. Can you help? Barry Whitake A We’ll try, but under the Consumer Contract Regulations Barry had 14 days in which to reject the software for a refund. He lost this right when he downloaded the software, which counts as ‘using’ the software. But Barry could argue that he couldn’t have known the sizing was USspecific until he downloaded it. We do sympathise because we feel it’s misleading for companies to…

Contact us so we can investigate your case Email: consumeractive@computeractive.co.uk Please include both your phone number and address. Q I’ve been getting texts that say “FreeMsg:Reminder. You are subscribed to UK vipgames4u for £4.50 per 1 week from VIPGAMES4U until you text STOP to 64055. HELP? 020337349268”. I don’t remember signing up to ‘Vipgames4u’, and I don’t want to pay £4.50 for it. What should I do? Brian Webb A First things first: Brian must text STOP to the shortcode provided (64055). Many people in a similar position make the mistake of replying to such messages, which companies usually ignore because they want to keep taking the monthly payment off them. We checked the number Brian gave us and it appears the service was set up in May this year,…

What’s the threat? Scammers have created fake NatWest sites that include ‘https’ and a green padlock in the browser’s address bar. These are security certificates issued by organisations and companies that indicate that a site encrypts personal data, and is therefore safe to use. Victims are tricked into visiting the site by clicking a link in a scam email that claims NatWest is introducing “new online banking authentication procedures”. The email urges you to confirm your personal details to let you continue to access your account. This scam would be unexceptional were it not for the ‘https’ and padlock, which the fraudsters know is what many people check for online before submitting personal data. But they’re not able to use the legitimate NatWest URL: https://personal.natwest.com. Instead, the fake site uses…

What should I use to extract songs from a concert DVD? Q I have a video DVD of a music concert, and I’d like to transfer the audio to a blank CD. I thought CDBurnerXP might be able to help, but I can’t figure how to do it. Is there an easier program? Thanks. Anthony Swalwell A CDBurnerXP is worth avoiding – it’s bundling a pre-ticked PUP in its installer (see Named & Shamed, page 10). Movavi Video Converter (www.snipca.com/25454) is a junk-free alternative. It lets you ‘rip’ audio from DVDs or video files and export it for CD, iPod, phone and other devices, and everything is explained step by step. What’s the catch? First, it costs £29.95, though the free sevenday trial may be enough time for you to…

All brands of smart bulbs rely on the fact that LEDs last years – Hive’s are rated at 25,000 hours, for example – so technology can be built into them without having to be replaced too often. A different approach is represented by systems like LightwaveRF, which replaces your light switches and wall sockets instead of your bulbs (it can also control heating). This requires a lot more DIY and/or the assistance of an electrician, but the obvious benefit is that you can choose any bulbs you like, and they’ll cost you a lot less to replace when they do eventually die. On the other hand, you can’t control features like colour changing. LightwaveRF is a well-established system that offers both physical remote controls and a wireless bridge for operation…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2016 Back Issue CD: £15 fromwww.snipca.com/23209 LAPTOP Dell Inspiron 15 5000 £749 from www.snipca.com/24851 Tested: Issue 459 Now featuring Intel’s seventh-generation Kaby Lake processors, the Inspiron 15 is great value for a full-size laptop with i7 CPU, anti-glare Full HD screen, 4GB AMD R7 graphics and a 1TB hard drive. More basic models start at £429. ALTERNATIVE: Asus ZenBook UX310UA This sleek (if slightly plasticky) 13in adds a super-sharp 3200x1800-pixel screen to i5 performance with a 256GB SSD. £700 from www.snipca.com/24852 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 9.7 £600 from www.snipca.com/24140 Tested: Issue 501 Samsung’s new mid-sized tablet has a wonderful HDR screen and comes with a pen included, unlike Apple’s iPad Pro. But its processor isn’t the fastest and it’s disappointingly…

Handy hints and tips from your fellow readers Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk Create flowcharts quickly and easily I’m a retired consultant who occasionally helps a few local businesses chart long-term business plans. I like creating flowcharts and one of my favourite free programs is Diagram Designer. To install it, go to www.snipca.com/25518, click the installer link at the top, then run the downloaded setup file. You’ll see a blank canvas with different flowchart elements – including tiles and pointer icons of different shapes – on the right (see screenshot). Click and drag the element you want anywhere on your canvas. You can then click and drag its borders to resize it and double-click anywhere inside a tile to type whatever you want. At the top of the page, you’ll…

AGES 0-5 Busy Shapes & Colours* Free www.snipca.com/25483 (iOS) This new app helps children learn to identify shapes and colours. It has over 150 levels and three game modes: Shapes, Colors and ‘Colors & Shapes’. There’s a separate practice mode where they can focus on one shape or colour. Cute penguins appear after each level. AGES 6-10 Pictoword Free www.snipca.com/25484 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/25485 (iOS) In this simple game, your child will see two pictures that combine to form a word, which they then need to type using the letters below. In some levels they need to identify landmarks, countries, movies and characters from the images. AGES 11-16 Sky Tram Simulator Free www.snipca.com/25486 (Android) There are simulation games for most modes of transport. What sets this one apart is the gorgeous…

XCEL Add your own colours to determine the value of cells Excel has a useful feature called Conditional Formatting that lets you add different types of indicators (including bars and colours) within numbered cells. It’s a good way to get an idea of the value of these cells at a glance. To use it, highlight numbered cells within your spreadsheet, then click the Conditional Formatting dropdown menu at the top right. Here, you’ll see options to highlight the top 10 values of your selected data, add data bars indicating the highest and lowest values and so on. Move your cursor to Color Scales to see its options. For example, if you choose the first option (Green-Yellow-Red Color Scale) the highest numbers will appear in green, the lowest in red and…

The BBC has come a long way since the days of sending photocopied typed letters to Blue Peter badge winners (including yours truly for being a runner-up in a stamp-designing competition in 1981 – pictured). The BBC is no longer just a British broadcasting corporation. It’s now a global technology innovator, leading the way in streaming TV, virtual reality and smart news apps. But what’s special about the Beeb is that it embraces the old as well as the new. Its incredible website – a Beeb-wide-web of hundreds of websites – is packed with classic shows, historical documents and archived sites from the earliest days of the BBC online, as well as innovative interactive tools. Perhaps that’s why people love the Beeb so much. It doesn’t force change on us,…

BBC Director-General Tony Hall wants the iPlayer to rival Netflix and Amazon. We admire his ambition, while we think the Beeb should make some basic improvements first… Fix the dead links: It’s frustrating to click ‘Help and FAQ’ in iPlayer Downloads and arrive at a 404 error page, or to click tabs on the BBC Earth page (www.bbc.com/ earth) and be told ‘Oops!’ One-click Add: In Netflix you can click a show’s thumbnail to instantly add it to your list, but in iPlayer you have to go to the show’s page. That may sound trivial, but it’s enough to make you give up if adding lots of series at once. More box sets: Netflix makes all episodes of most series available at once. The iPlayer has to follow suit if…

Q I’m shopping for a new PC, so I’ve been looking at adverts and trying to make sense of all the specifications. One that’s causing me no little confusion is USB. My old Vista PC has four USB 2.0 ports. Some new PCs have USB 2.0 ports, but many also have USB 3.0. I’m confident that USB 3.0 is a newer and faster version of USB 2.0 but I’ve also seen some PCs with USB 3.1 ports. I assume that USB 3.1 is in turn also better than USB 3.0, but I don’t understand how or why. What’s the difference between all these standards? Graham Hobson A Strictly speaking, USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 aren’t physical ports. Instead they are methods of transmitting data and delivering power. You’re right that…

The Government has named the first six areas to take part in trials of full-fibre broadband, which can reach speeds of 1Gbps (1,000Mbps) – fast enough to download films in seconds. Aberdeenshire, West Sussex, Coventry and Warwickshire, Bristol and Bath & North East Somerset, West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester will receive the technology, though a date hasn’t been announced. The trials, which will cost £10m, are the first part of a £200m programme to stimulate the growth of the UK’s full-fibre broadband. This kind of broadband, currently available to only two per cent of UK premises, is delivered on fibre cables directly to the door. This makes it much faster and reliable than fibre-to-thecabinet (FTTC) broadband, in which slower copper cables take over from a streetside cabinet to deliver broadband…

Microsoft has vowed to stop downloading Windows files on computers without the user’s permission – but only in Germany. The company caved in to pressure from German consumer-rights group Verbraucherzentrale Baden- Württemberg, which filed a lawsuit in 2016 ordering it to cease and desist the practice. Instead of arguing its case in court, Microsoft has voluntarily said it will end the policy. Microsoft’s decision to automatically download files angered thousands of users worldwide. It was part of the company’s massive marketing push in 2015 and 2016 to move people from Windows 7 and 8.1 on to Windows 10. The company claimed that the files were added to computers to prepare them for upgrading to Windows 10. But they were often downloaded even if the user hadn’t shown an interest in…

A French security company has been criticised for claiming that parents could use its spyware program to check whether their son is gay. Fireworld said in an online article that parents could use its “invisible PC spy software” to see whether their son had visited gay internet forums. The company also suggested parents should look for “clues” by hacking into their son’s Facebook account. Other clues included being shy, liking female singers and preferring reading and theatre to football. The site adds: “If your son is gay you may never be grandparents and you will not have the happiness of knowing your grandchildren. If your child is gay, he can not help it because it is not a choice on his part”. The article was spotted by a French gay…

Sarahah Is it a desert? Is it a woman’s name typed with clumsy fingers? No, it’s a new app that lets people (including children) post comments to each other – anonymously and for free. I can hardly think of a better gift for bullies. Sarahah (www.snipca.com/25495), whose name comes from the Arabic for honesty, claims it encourages “constructive criticism”. Yeah, right. My schooldays are a blur, but I do remember there was little ‘constructive criticism’ going on in the playground. We didn’t pass notes assessing each other’s intellectual skills. We passed notes about each other’s spots, sexuality and stupidity – and that was to our friends. It was terrible, but at least it was years before kids all had smartphones and apps like Sarahah. Child-protection campaigners have warned parents and…

Q I was travelling on Virgin Trains’ East Coast line and needed Wi-Fi access for work. I was able to get free access initially, which was not that good, but then had to pay £5 after a few minutes. However the service was awful and I couldn’t get any work done. Can I get a refund? Sean Tiptree A Yes, Sean should be able to claim a refund under the Consumer Rights Act (CRA), because he paid for a service he couldn’t use. He should raise a complaint with Virgin on its website: www.snipca.com/25435. But Sean may still have had a case even if he hadn’t paid for Wi-Fi, and stuck instead with the free service. This is because free services are covered by the CRA if they are part…

Reader rejects damages after QAV Direct admits patio heater fault It’s very satisfying when our intervention leads to a company admitting products it sold to a reader are faulty, particularly if it leads to a refund. In Issue 508 we reported that QAV Direct (www.qavdirect. co.uk) wanted to test burner units for a patio heater, after reader Keith Bond said they weren’t working. Keith returned them, expecting an instant refund, but the company wanted to check whether the fault was inherent (present since purchase) or caused by accidental damage (by the customer). All companies have the right to do this, though they have only 30 days after receiving them from the customer. QAV Direct was initially reluctant to discuss Keith’s case with us, citing privacy concerns. It didn’t even talk…

Gmail for iOS www.snipca.com/25436 As fraudsters get better at disguising their scams (see ‘Watch out for’ above), we need extra help to stay safe. Our eyes can’t spot every misspelling and grammatical error. Assistance comes from Google’s Gmail, which has been showing warnings about phishing emails for years. But until this year, these appeared only on computers, not phones and tablets. In May, Gmail finally started to show warnings in its app for Android phones and tablets (read more at www.snipca.com/25431). And now, three months on, Google has brought those warnings to Gmail’s iOS app for iPhones and iPads. If you click a dodgy link in an email, you’ll see the following message (see screenshot left): “The site you are trying to visit has been identified as a forgery, intended…

What are they? A central processing unit (CPU), usually made by Intel or AMD, is the chip that does a PC’s main computing work. Each of its cores is like a little computer in itself. Why would I want it? The more cores you have, the faster the CPU should get through the work your software gives it, and the less time you should spend waiting for progress bars and spinning wheels or suffering the classic ‘nothing seems to be happening’. What’s the catch? More cores only means faster results to the extent that software can take advantage of them; it’ll vary between programs. To generalise, adding a core can roughly double performance, but only if you’re trying to do several hard things at once (like rendering video effects in…

What’s a good low-cost laptop? Q A while ago you recommended the Toshiba Satellite C40-C as a low-cost laptop. When my old laptop died recently, I thought it was just what I needed, providing a 14 inch screen for around £200, but sadly it’s no longer available. Can you suggest an alternative? Jim Entwhistle A The C40-C came out alongside a number of cheap full-size laptops, but few have been launched since. Lenovo’s IdeaPad 100S-14 looked good but it has also been discontinued, as has Dell’s Inspiron 14 3000. We haven’t tested the larger 15 3000 (£279 from www.snipcacom/25500) but it seems a decent option, although Dell’s budget screens can disappoint. The HP Stream 14 (£200 from Amazon www.snipca.com/25501) is a larger version of the Stream 11 (see Issue 447,…

PHONE - £159 from Vodafone www.snipca.com/25468 Smart V8 sounds like a raw vegetable juice drink that claims to boost your IQ. But no, it’s a phone. You could get a lot of raw vegetable juice elsewhere for 159 quid, but not a lot of phone. Yet Vodafone has managed to squeeze a surprisingly large amount of good stuff into it. The sturdy metal case feels classy, despite odd rubbery panels at the top and bottom of the rear, presumably to help you avoid dropping the Smart V8 and concussing a passing dog. Also here is a fingerprint sensor that supports Android Pay. Has a bright screen and good camera features – it’s an excellent buy On the front, the Full HD resolution is sharp and an oleophobic coating helps prevent…

ANDROID Annotate your screenshots If you’re describing a problem with your phone and want to get someone to help you, then it can be useful to annotate a screenshot and send it to them. There are many free apps that let you do this, but we like the tools within Screen Master (www.snipca.com/25470). Whenever you want to take a screenshot of a particular problem, open Screen Master, tap Start Capture, then tap the ‘Turn on Screen Capture’ button. You’ll see a small, circular floating icon on your screen. Navigate to the app or screen that you want to take a screenshot of, tap the floating icon, then tap Start Now to take a screenshot. You’ll see three options at the bottom – Share, Save and Edit. To add annotations, tap…

WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 Launch Task Manager in six different ways Windows’ Task Manager is probably the first tool you turn to when a program crashes or your PC freezes. It’s very useful to see which processes are using the most PC memory and stop problematic ones. Most people resort to the Ctrl+Alt+Del keyboard shortcut, where you’ll see the option to open the Task Manager. However, there are many other ways to open it. The fastest way to open Task Manager is to press Ctrl+Shift+Esc. You can also right-click the taskbar, then click Task Manager/Start Task Manager (see screenshot above). Another way is to press the Windows key, type taskmgr, then press Enter. You can also open your C Drive, the Windows folder, the ‘System 32’ folder, then scroll down…

Control MusicBee from an Android device To control what MusicBee ( www.getmusicbee.com) is playing on your PC from your Android tablet or phone you need the MusicBee Remote plug-in from www.snipca.com/25419. Click the blue Download button then, once the page refreshes, click the green Download button on the right (ignore the one on the left, as it’s an advert). Close MusicBee if you currently have it open, then double-click the downloaded file to install the plugin. Next, open MusicBee and a window with options for the plug-in will open along with the program’s main window. Click the ‘X’ at the top right to close the plug-in’s window. Next, download the MusicBee Remote app www.snipca.com/25423to your Android tablet or phone (there isn’t an iOS version as yet). Once installed, open the…

If you’ve tried watching anything on the iPlayer since June, you’ll have noticed you had to create a BBC account or sign in with an existing one. The Beeb says this new requirement is about “making the most of your BBC” by connecting your BBC tools, syncing your activity and enabling personalised recommendations (read its explanation at www.snipca.com/25353). For example, any songs you add using BBC iPlayer Radio on your PC are automatically synced to your playlists in the BBC Music mobile app. Critics are less enthused by this hightened connectivity, instead claiming that the change is more about catching TV Licence dodgers. You now need a £147-per-year licence to watch on-demand content as well as live TV. In a blog post, the corporation admits there’s a connection: “The information…

Q I went to a lunch celebration in Looe, Cornwall. I printed some photographs I had taken and put a title on them with the location. To my annoyance, on examining the photos I see my iPad had changed the title from ‘Looe’ to ‘Love’, so the title reads ‘Love lunch’. Also, if I type a capital ‘P’ then the iPad changes it to ‘QP’. I’ve been into the Settings app and disabled Auto- Capitalisation, Auto-Correction, Shortcut and Predictive, but it will not be told! Come back, my old mechanical typewriter — all is forgiven! Adrien Willcocks A This is certainly odd, though one possible explanation is that you’re using a physical keyboard attached to the iPad. When used in this way, the keyboard will adhere to its own settings.…

Q Just before last year’s deadline for the free Windows 10 upgrade, I installed it. However, after experiencing problems I decided it wasn’t for me and took advantage of the option to revert to Windows 7. I understand that Microsoft has since overcome the early problems in Windows 10 and I have renewed interest in updating. So, is Windows 10 still on my computer somewhere, or would it have been deleted? If so, how do I restore it now? Bernard Collins A Remnants of your Windows 10 adventure might exist on your PC’s hard drive, in a folder called ‘Windows.old’, but the contents to resurrect Windows 10 aren’t there. Microsoft’s free upgrade offer was a time-limited deal that expired on 29th July 2016: if you hadn’t upgraded (and stuck with…

Q I have an old program called Will Maker, by a defunct company called Life Software. It originally ran on Windows 95 and 98. I want to retrieve some data created with this, so I’d like to know how to run it on Windows 10. Can you tell me how to do so? Harry Bush A First, have you simply tried installing the program from the CD-ROM? There’s a chance that it’ll just work, so it’s worth a try. Pop the disc in the drive and, if nothing happens, press Windows key+E then click the drive that contains Will Maker and look for a setup file, typically called ‘setup.exe’. Double-click this. If you’re lucky, the installation will proceed and you’ll then be able to run the program. If that fails,…

The next Windows 10 update will arrive on 17 October, Microsoft has confirmed. It will be called the Fall Creators Update worldwide and, despite rumours, won’t be renamed ‘Autumn’ in the UK. A follow up to the first Creators Update, released in April, it will contain the new Files On-Demand tool, giving you desktop access to your files stored online in OneDrive, without you having to download them to your PC (see screenshot). This could save considerable storage space. However, it will lack some useful-sounding features that Microsoft announced earlier this year. These include Timeline, which lets you find what you were working on in the past (“two hours or two months ago”); and ‘Pick up where you left off’, which lets you resume your work at the same place…

SILENCE NOISY WEBSITES IN CHROME Google is testing a Chrome tool that lets you permanently turn off a website’s sound. It’s a response to the growing number of sites that play loud videos – often adverts – when you visit them. The tool has been added to Chrome Canary (www.snipca.com/25466), which is an ‘experimental’ version of the browser aimed at developers and advanced users. If it is popular, Google may add it to the full version of Chrome. NEW RANSOMWARE HITS SCOTTISH HOSPITALS An NHS board has been hit by ransomware a few months after WannaCry devastated computers nationwide. NHS Lanarkshire said the Bitpaymer ransomware infected its network on Friday 25 August, leading to some appointments and operations being cancelled. Staff worked over the bank holiday weekend to repair the…

Security experts have urged PC users to check whether their passwords have been leaked online following one of the largest privacy breaches ever. The email addresses and passwords of 711 million people were stolen by a spambot – a program that collects the addresses to build huge mailing lists for spam – and put on a server believed to be in the Netherlands. This particular spambot, called Onliner, spreads the Ursnif malware, which steals victims’ banking details. To see if you’ve been affected, visit the site ‘Have I Been Pwned?’ (https:// haveibeenpwned.com, see screenshot), which contains searchable databases of privacy leaks. Type your email address into the search bar then click ‘Pwned?’. The site will search for your details in the latest leak, as well as in dozens of others…

NEW NHS APP TRACKS YOUR WALKING A new app has been launched to encourage people to walk more, following statistics from Public Health England (PHE) showing that 6.3 million adults fail to walk a brisk 10 minutes every month. PHE has teamed up with the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine (NCSEM) to launch Active 10, which lets you set exercise targets. Download it from: www.snipca.com/25448. ONLINE HATE CRIME ‘AS BAD AS FACE?TO?FACE’ People convicted of online hate crimes should receive the same punishments as those found guilty of faceto- face abuse, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. It will order judges to treat more seriously hateful comments made on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Alison Saunders, director of public prosecutions,…

Playing outside is fun, but you learn more with computers I’m tempted to agree with former GCHQ boss Robert Hannigan, who says that we shouldn’t get fixated about children spending too much time online (‘Question of the Fortnight’, Issue 509). I’m in my 70s now, so I’m one of those ‘old fogeys’ who you’d expect would have fond memories of spending long summers outdoors, getting up to mishaps and mischief. But, actually, I think a lot of the time I spent outside was wasted. I certainly had fun playing in woods and streams, but did I actually learn anything that would help me in later life? Looking back, I would have loved a bit more structure to my free time. Instead of roaming wild, so to speak, I wish I’d…

I ordered the Panasonic RF-D10EB-K digital radio for my wife from Purewell Electrical (www.purewell.co.uk). It showed the radio in stock. But when nothing arrived, I rang the website to find out why. They told me that they had been promised the radio, which is why they showed it as ‘in stock’, but they had been let down by Panasonic. To apologise for the delay, they sent me the radio as soon as it came into the shop by next-day courier, charging me nothing at all. Normally deliveries are free only within 30 miles of Christchurch, Dorset, where Purewell are based. We are at the other end of England, in York. In total I had to wait about 10 days, but that did not bother us much. The radio is still…

SPACE SIMULATOR NASA’s Eyes 5.4 https://eyes.nasa.gov What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 Calling NASA’s Eyes a ‘space simulator’ is like calling the International Space Station a vehicle. This incredible tool, developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, lets you virtually explore our solar system and beyond. It’s rendered in glorious interactive 3D using current NASA mission data. It’s also the simulator to end all simulators, and it made me gasp with joy. Version 5.4 was released to coincide with August’s solar eclipse over the United States – just one of the events given the full NASA’s-eye-view treatment here. The update adds full support for 64bit PCs, and ditches support for Windows XP and Vista. The program is quick and easy to install. It…

LAPTOP - £1,379 from HP www.snipca.com/25330 Two-in-one tablets like Microsoft’s Surface Pro give you Windows 10 in an exceptionally slim and light case, but their floppy clip-on keyboards just aren’t the same as a proper laptop. The alternative is a convertible – a laptop that can be folded back on itself. It’s a format that sounds logical, but never quite seems to work: if the case is made so that it closes neatly when it’s folded up the normal way, it doesn’t when it’s reversed with the screen and keyboard outwards, and you’re left clutching what feels like an awkwardly thick and heavy tablet that’s got slightly broken. That’s not entirely untrue of this latest effort from HP’s EliteBook range, which is aimed at IT managers and anyone else who…

PHONE - £800 from Asus www.snipca.com/25333 Remember when everyone thought it was a daft idea to put a camera in a mobile phone? It was just another expense, we muttered. It would never catch on. Now, hold that thought and suspend the powerful sense of scepticism that washes over you as we introduce the ZenFone AR: a phone with built-in virtual reality (VR). Welcome back from turning the page, reading the rest of this magazine, leaving it on the coffee table, coming back to it three days later and choosing to finish reading this review. Where were we? Ah yes, the Asus ZenFone AR. It’s a phone. With virtual reality. What does that mean? Well, you can pair it with Google’s £69 Daydream View (see box below) to create a…

SMART LIGHTING - £79 (with Hive Hub) from www.snipca.com/25460 Hive is British Gas’ home automation brand, best known for its central heating control system (£249). There’s also Hive Active Lighting, which lets you use an app to control special lightbulbs that fit ordinary sockets. It uses the same wireless Hive Hub as the central heating, which is handy if you already have it for your heating; if you don’t, you’ll need to start by buying one, at £80. All the rest of the technology required is built into the Hive bulbs, which are available with full-size screw or bayonet mounts, but not for halogen fittings. You can choose a basic yellow light (£19), a bulb that can vary from warm (reddish) to cool white (£29) or (and this is where…

CRT monitor WHAT WAS IT? Before LCD flat panels became affordable, PC screens used a cathode ray tube (CRT). This resembles a giant lightbulb, whose flattened top forms the screen (pictured), coated on the inside with phosphor, which glows when it is struck by an electron beam. By scanning the beam quickly across and down, a picture is built up which can be updated enough times per second to show a moving image. HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED? A series of advances transformed the early ‘goldfish bowl’ CRTs into nearly flat screens, commonly 15in or 17in. When liquid crystal panels arrived, containing a grid of pixels, they were flat by default, and were more reliably made than their CRT predecessors. Today, a 27in monitor with 1920x1080 pixels costs around £150. In…

What you need: LibreOffice or Microsoft Word; Any Windows version (XP to 10) Time required: 25 minutes Regardless of whether you use Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer, there are many free letter templates that you can download and use. This will save you valuable time because you then only have to replace the dummy template text with your own words. It’s easy to save these templates for future use. We’ll also show you how to print envelopes. This Workshop is divided into two sections. See the bottom of page 36 if you use LibreOffice. WORD STEP 1 To see the available letter templates that you can download and use in Word, click the File tab 1 , then click New 2 . In the Available Templates section, you’ll see different…

What you need: Android phone or tablet Time required: 15 minutes Block WiFi Thief is a new free app that lists all the devices that are connected to your home Wi-Fi network. This means you can use it to spot devices that are piggybacking on your Wi-Fi, which can result in lower speeds on your network. If that’s the case, you should use the app to permanently block those devices from being able to connect to your network. STEP 1 Install and open the app (www.snipca.com/25450), then keep tapping Next until you get to the main screen. Here, tap Scan/Rescan 1 to see all devices (including phones, tablets, PCs and smart TVs) that are connected to your home Wi-Fi network. After the initial scan, only two devices will be marked…

LibraryThing Free Android: www.snipca.com/25478 iOS: www.snipca.com/25479 New to Android, LibraryThing lets you catalogue your books, CDs and DVDs by scanning their barcodes using the camera within the app. You can add photos of your book covers so that you can easily browse them. Caffeine Android: www.snipca.com/25477 By default, your Android screen turns off after 30 seconds of inactivity, which can be annoying if you’re reading long articles or ebooks. Caffeine adds a useful icon to your device’s notification area. Tap it to keep your screen on for five, 10 or 30 minutes. Adapticons* Android: www.snipca.com/25480 Adapticons lets you change the shape and colour of your devices’ icons. You can download packs of icons from Samsung and Google, or create your own, such as by using photos on your device. Icons…

Whenever you open a new tab within Microsoft Edge, you’ll see a panel of seven website tiles (including Microsoft Store, Facebook, Amazon, Daily Mail, etc.) at the top. Below that, you’ll see a ‘My feed’ section with the top news stories from different sources, including Sky News, Press Association, The Telegraph and The Huffington Post. On the right, you’ll see the weather in your area, the latest Premier League scores and share prices. To customise the website tiles at the top, simply click and drag them to the left or right. Right-click any tile to see options to remove it. This will then be replaced by a blank tile that you can click to add a website of your choice. Click the cog-shaped icon at the top right of the…

Are you sitting comfortably? You’ll need to be. We dug deep into the iPlayer for classic shows you won’t find on the homepage – and often nowhere else online. Many of these gems can’t be downloaded but are available to stream for much longer than the usual 30 days David Attenborough - The Early Years www.snipca.com/25377 A magnificent collection of 31 shows from Sir David’s first 14 years on TV, starting in 1963. Back to BASIC www.snipca.com/25379 Six 1980s shows including coverage of the BBC Microcomputer launch, a chat with Sir Clive Sinclair and a Tomorrow’s World compilation. Parkinson www.snipca.com/25386 Interviews, featuring Billy Connolly, David Niven and Dr Jacob Bronowski. Dad’s Army www.snipca.com/25391 A handful of episodes from 1970 are currently available to stream and download, but hurry - they’ll…

Email us your problem and we’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk Q I have an Acer Aspire One Cloudbook 14 with Windows 10 Home. As my device has just 32GB of total storage I was looking for ways to free up space by shrinking stuff. I came across a suggestion that typing the command compact.exe / compactOS:always will compress Windows. Is this true? John Foulkes A Yes, it’s true. The little-known ‘compact’ command works much like any other compression system, by using clever maths to shrink files so that they take up less space. Usefully, though, it is also able to apply its file-shrinking magic to operating system files and folders. How much space will be saved depends on many factors, but you can probably expect to free up at least…

Q I went to the ‘Networking and Sharing Centre’ panel in Windows 10 to troubleshoot a problem, which I did easily enough. However, while I was there I noticed at the bottom left a link labelled Infrared. Curious, I clicked this and it opened a box with the same heading. This has a bunch of options that seem to suggest I can transfer files to other computers or from my digital camera. The latter in particular sounds interesting, because I currently use a USB lead to do this, which is a small hassle. So, how do I do it? Francis Mainwaring A We’re sorry to say that you almost certainly can’t. Infrared ports are, if not quite extinct, then at the very least a seriously endangered species. While it’s possible…

How do I unlock my Start menu? QSome time last year you published a tip showing how to lock the tiles on the Start menu. I promptly followed your advice. Unfortunately, I did not keep a copy of how to achieve this and I now want to temporarily unlock the screen in order to add more tiles. Can you help me get out of this problem? George Metcalfe AWe managed to track down the tip you mention – a feature called ‘Lock your PC settings’ back in Issue 484 (page 60). Our advice at the time was to lock Windows 10’s Start menu using the registry, and it’s this setting you’ll need to switch off. To do so, click Start, type regedit, then press Enter to open the registry. Next,…

32bit A measure of how much information a computer can process at once. Most older computers are 32bit, more modern ones are 64bit. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. 64bit A technology that processes information in larger chunks. Most modern computers are 64bit. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. An alternative technology to LCD for creating flat-panel displays. Most commonly used in smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. App launcher An app that changes how the Android home screen looks and works, especially for managing and opening apps. APTX (sound transmission) A codec that compresses audio so it can be transmitted over Bluetooth with minimal loss in quality. Bandwidth A measure of how much information can be transferred through a connection at one time. BIOS Basic Input-Output System. Essential…

KEN RIGSBY is Computeractive’s Mr Angry I’m a grouch of a certain age. I won’t say what age because I sometimes struggle to remember things. However, while I can’t currently recall my age I do know that I’m not a child. I’m certainly not a teenager, either. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that I’m no spring chicken. That’s why I don’t watch TV shows aimed at today’s youth like Big Brother, Love Island or anything broadcast on BBC Three (whatever that is). There’s nothing wrong with any of those, incidentally – they’re just not for me. That’s hardly any surprise, because they’re not aimed at people of my advancing years. I’m not alone. There are a couple of facts on which most global-population studies agree. The first…