Table of contents for 512 in Computeractive

Normally a bulging inbox means I’ve signed up to something I shouldn’t have, and am being punished with endless spam. But not this time. Since our last issue I’ve received hundreds of emails from readers responding to my request for tech tips. To remind you, we’re planning a special Cover Feature celebrating the best tips that you want to share with your fellow readers. You’ve still got plenty of time to send them – please see page 71 for more details. Several tips refer to converting and restoring old videos, photos and music, the subject of this issue’s Cover Feature. It’s been a hobby of mine since I saw, at a family reunion, Super footage of my parents in their carefree years (ie, before I was born!). Digitising it wasn’t…

Microsoft has built a computer system that replaces humans in call centres, meaning you may find it harder to talk to a person when phoning companies’ customer services. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, said that tech giant Hewlett-Packard and US retailer Macy’s are already using the so-called ‘chatbot’ technology, which developed from the company’s research into artificial intelligence (AI). The chatbot responds to callers’ enquiries with suggested solutions from a user manual. Should it fail to help, callers can ask to speak to a human. HP says it deals with over 600 million calls annually. Talking to the Wall Street Journal Gurdeep Singh Pall, head of Microsoft’s AI-solutions team, said: “We’re trying to come up with a model we believe is most efficient in terms of how quickly AI can get…

It was with considerable dread that I read Issue 511’s ‘Question of the Fortnight’ (‘Will computers and robots replace doctors?’). I’ve lived in the same house for 50 years, and had the same GP for about 30 of those, in a surgery less than five minutes away. During this time I’ve got to know my GP very well, and I trust his opinion completely. Also, more importantly, he has got to know me well. He can always sense when I’m understating a problem, and is very good at asking the right questions to extract more information. There is simply no way that an automated service like a robot could have the same level of empathy. I appreciate that it might be cheaper - perhaps even quicker. But better? Absolutely not.…

What happened? A recent version of the junk-removal tool CCleaner, a favourite among Computeractive readers and staff, was hacked. Piriform, which makes the program, said that version 5.33 had been “illegally modified” to allow hackers to download the Floxif malware on to users’ PCs. This can steal information such as the computer’s name and what software is installed. Released on 15 August, version 5.33 was available to download until 12 September, when Piriform detected “suspicious activity”. It’s thought that 2.27 million people installed it during this time, although only those running 32bit Windows PCs were at risk. The hack didn’t affect the Android version of CCleaner. In a blog (www.snipca.com/25643) Piriform’s Paul Yung said that the server hosting the malware had been taken down, removing the immediate danger. He said…

What can I use to record radio programmes? Q In the old days, it was easy to record radio shows to tape, but there doesn’t seem to be any obvious modern method. Is there a tool I can use to record radio stations to MP3 on my computer, so that I can listen to them on my phone at a later time? Andy Drayton A There a number of options. If, for example, you want to listen to BBC radio programmes, you could use the free BBC iPlayer Radio app (Android www.snipca.com/25683; iOS www.snipca.com/25682), which lets you download programmes and keep them for up to 30 days. Browse for a programme and look for the download icon. To record non-BBC stations, and keep recordings for longer, you could use TuneIn…

PHONE | £119 from Amazon www.snipca.com/25659 As recently as 2012, only half of us in the UK owned a smartphone. Today, according to a survey by Deloitte (www.deloitte.co. uk/mobileuk), it’s 85 per cent. Among 55-75s, the number has shot up from 29 to 71 per cent (see page 8). Just because you’re older, that’s no reason to get left behind. That said, today’s smartphones can often pose a few problems. Although the touchscreens seem easy to some, the lack of labelled buttons can leave others wondering what to do. Tapping graphics under glass isn’t easy if your eyesight’s not 20/20 and your fingers aren’t as nimble as they used to be. The Doro 8030 is more helpful. Its chunky case feels sturdy, though it isn’t waterproof. Three physical buttons take…

802.1b Wi-Fi WHAT WAS IT? In the late 1980s, there was no way to connect computers together without plugging in a cable. In 1988, Victor Hayes at tech company NCR started work on a standard for wireless data to take advantage of the 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz radio bands that had been deregulated by the US government. Hayes and others set up a committee at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 1997, they reached agreement on the 802.11b protocol, and the first big computer maker to take it up was Apple, which branded it ‘AirPort’. Steve Jobs wowed an audience in 1999 by passing an iBook laptop (pictured) through a hula hoop while it stayed online. Magic! HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED? 802.11b worked at up to 11Mbps, but…

Night Sky* Free iOS: www.snipca.com/25767 The latest version of this app lets you take virtual tours of planets and moons in our Solar System. The new Night Sky Tonight feature shows you a short animated video of the sky directly above you from sunset to sunrise. Drag the timeline slider to rewind and observe any events in detail. Adblock Browser Free iOS: www.snipca.com/25772 This advert-free browser has a new Ghost Mode, which lets you browse the web without fear of being tracked by marketing companies. Turn it on by tapping the ghost icon. And, whereas, previously your bookmarks, tabs and browsing history were buried in various menus, you can now access them from the button at the top right. Amazon Music Free Android: www.snipca.com/25775 iOS: www.snipca.com/25776 Amazon Prime customers (£79…

Keyboard shortcuts are a great way to open programs and apps you use all the time. To create a shortcut for one of your downloaded programs, simply right-click its desktop shortcut (or its search result in your Start menu), then click Properties. In the window that opens, you’ll see a ‘Shortcut key’ field (set to None). Click in this field, then press the keys you want to use as a shortcut (see screenshot). You can use a combination of the modifier keys (Ctrl, Shift, Alt) and a letter key. Finally, click Apply, then OK to confirm your shortcut. Click Continue if you see a pop-up message asking you to provide administrator permissions. The process to create a keyboard shortcut for apps from the Windows Store requires one additional step at…

STEP 1 Your video-capture device will come with a disc with the necessary drivers on it, but we suggest you download the most up-to-date drivers. If you’re using the August VGB100 (see page 51) go to www.snipca.com/25649, scroll down to the VGB100 section, then click Driver. Open the ZIP file that downloads, extract its contents to a folder on your PC, double-click setup.exe, then follow the instructions. Install VideoPad, then plug the USB end of the device into your PC 1 . STEP 2 Plug the AV cable that came with your camcorder into the AV socket on your camcorder 1 , then plug the yellow, white and red plugs into your USB video-capture device 2 . Switch on your camcorder. STEP 3 Put your tape into your camcorder. In…

STEP 1 In our photo, the door on the left 1 had been wrongly coloured green (including the glass) by Colorize. The door should actually be the same colour as those on the right 2 . To fix problems like this first open your photo in Paint.net. STEP 2 To ensure you only change the area you want, use the Magic Wand tool. Click its icon 1 , lower the tolerance to around 30 2 , then click the area you want to change 3 . Lower the tolerance level if a bigger area than you want is selected. If you haven’t framed all the area, hold Ctrl and keep clicking to select more of it. You can use the Rectangle Select tool 4 to expand the selected area. Hold…

Q I have a homebuilt desktop PC that’s fairly up to date, but I use it with a classic but ancient IBM Model M keyboard. This was made in the UK, and it’s still working well after billions of keystrokes! In fact, this keyboard dates from 1989, which I believe is a good while before Microsoft came up with the idea of a dedicated physical Windows key for keyboards. I’m keen to make use of the many Windows key shortcuts you publish, but not so keen on ditching my faithful old keyboard — so I’m wondering if there’s a way to ‘reprogram’ another key so that it acts as the Windows key? My PC runs the 64bit edition of Windows 10. Garth Williams A Yes, this is possible using a…

What’s the best email client for Windows 7? QIn Issue 509 (page 58) you mentioned that Outlook 2007 will soon stop receiving support from Microsoft, so I am looking for an alternative for my two email accounts. My wife uses Thunderbird, but I don’t want our addresses to be confused, so I’d rather try Windows Mail. However, I can’t find a download link to it. I did find one for Windows Live Mail, but I understand that’s unsafe too. What do you suggest for a Windows 7 user? Dave Brownstone AYour question demonstrates just how confusing email can be and why we dealt with it in our Cover Feature in Issue 511 (see page 50). When you talk about ‘Windows Mail’ we think you mean Microsoft’s Mail app (which comes…

Most police forces have refused a BBC Freedom of Information request asking how many Windows XP computers they are using. This includes the UK’s biggest force, London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), even though in June it revealed it was still running 10,000 XP machines. The MPS’s information manager Paul Mayger said: “Disclosing further information would reveal potential weaknesses and vulnerability”. He added: “This would be damaging as criminals/ terrorists would gain a greater understanding of the MPS’s systems, enabling them to take steps to counter them”. Several forces said that revealing a large figure would put them at risk of attack, while a low number would make others a target. However, Greater Manchester Police (GMP), the UK’s second biggest force, was forthcoming, saying that XP is still running on 20…

Smartphone sales have rocketed among the over-55s in the UK, but some may have been “forced” into buying one in order to use modern facilities. Research from consultancy firm Deloitte shows that 71 per cent of people aged 55 to 75 now own a smartphone (up from 29 per cent in 2012). In its 2017 ‘State of the smart’ report Deloitte said many of these so-called “silver swipers” are using their phones in a similar way to teenagers. It predicted that this growth will continue, driven by the over-55s’ “proportionally higher disposable income” and their “increasing awareness of technology”. Paul Lee, Deloitte’s head of research for technology, said: “Older consumers will become an increasingly important segment of the mobile industry: they are no longer a fringe group”. However, Deloitte’s report…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Autorun Organizer Autorun Organizer ( www.snipca.com/25719) is a very good program. This free, newly updated tool checks your PC’s startup items for malware, displays their boot times on a graph, and lets you enable and disable them. It would’ve been worthy of a spot in Best Free Software, if only it weren’t ferrying a PUP on to users’ computers. Finding ‘Bonus Software’ in its installer was much more disappointing than being junked by notorious PUP-peddlers like Adobe Flash Player (last issue’s junk offender) and Java (Issue 508). It was like finding a worm in a delicious apple. You can untick the PUP, just as you can remove the worm – but it doesn’t half put you off installing or eating. Maybe I’m overreacting. Autorun Organizer’s PUP, a…

1Gbps broadband will ‘raise average for all’ In Issue 511 reader Ruth Brown criticises plans to trial 1Gbps broadband. She says it’s “perverse” to focus on this when many people are stuck on 10Mbps, and less. But it’s possible to aim for 1Gbps as a best-case scenario without it affecting how quickly speeds improve for the masses. I think the Government and the broadband industry is pursuing the right strategy, which is to go for the highest speed that’s theoretically available while setting a minimum speed that everyone should be entitled to get, currently set at 10Mbps. If five per cent of the population get 1Gbps, surely that’s fine as long as speeds for the remaining 95 per cent improve too? Dr Ron Brown Make pupils give phones to teachers…

Why should I pay more if I cancel my landline? Q I don’t need my landline phone, which is part of a Virgin bundle package. But if I cancel it, my internet and TV costs will actually go up. Why should I pay £19 a month for something I don’t use, and pay even more if I remove it? Richard Bailey A We understand Richard’s frustration, but Virgin’s contract is perfectly legal. The clue is in the word ‘bundle’. As the competition between internet service providers grows fiercer, companies are adding more services to their packages to persuade people to stick with them. If Richard breaks the contract by removing the landline he loses the discounts for TV and internet that were part of the bundle package. The main issue…

Reader threatens to cancel BT package – and saves £50 a month Regular readers of Consumeractive will know that goods you buy have to be ‘fit for purpose’ under the Consumer Rights Act (CRA). But what about products that are ‘lent’ to you as part of a service, such as set-top TV boxes included in broadband packages? Well, these are also covered by the CRA, as we explained in David Harrison’s case against BT (Issue 509). He wanted to cancel his contract because BT’s set-top box had stopped working twice since July 2016. Programmes would often freeze or fail to record. Under the CRA, BT had one chance only to repair it. When this failed, David was entitled to cancel his contract without an early-termination fee. It’s important to note…

PC £999 from PC Specialist www.snipca.com/25644 How much do you need to spend for a good PC? It sometimes feels like one of those unanswerable questions, like how long is a piece of string or why do people still watch Big Brother. If we had to give a number, though, based on nearly 20 years of testing the latest desktop PCs, we’d have to say £999. “A cost-effective choice for fast allround performance” Many of us will spend less on a PC, of course, and these days even £500 will buy you a machine that works perfectly adequately for most purposes. But if you want a really solid example of the best that current computer technology has to offer, with enough muscle to run all types of software comfortably now…

What does it do? Everything imaginable! But not quite yet. Augmented-reality (AR) software overlays computer-generated visuals on your view of the real world. Not to be confused with virtual reality (VR), which means putting on a plastic helmet and trying not to bump into (real) furniture, AR is typically used on a phone screen. Why would I want it? Current apps focus on fun, like showing 3D dinosaurs roaming through your house (the Pokémon Go craze was also based on AR), and measurement. Ikea’s Place app (pictured) has models of sofas, cupboards and so on that appear on your phone screen, over a live view through the rear camera, so you can see what they’ll look like in your home. Dozens of apps called ‘Measure’ or ‘Ruler’ let you draw…

Nvidia’s rival Shield TV (see www.snipca.com/25669) has just been updated to HDR and costs the same. It only has 16GB of storage, but you can expand this with a USB 3.0 drive. The Shield’s Tegra X1 processor is more powerful than the Apple TV’s and, with a £7.49 monthly subscription, you can play thousands of Android games and stream PC games over broadband, giving you the equivalent of a high-end gaming PC. You get Google’s equivalents of Apple’s voice control and paid-for content. If you’re not already wedded to Apple, it seems a good choice. Unlike Apple TV 4K, it’s not Dolby Vision HDR certified, but we don’t think that matters. The other big rival has been Amazon’s Fire TV 4K (see our review, Issue 462), but Amazon has withdrawn…

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. £900 from www.snipca.com/24852 DESKTOP PC Wired2FirePyroVX £775 from www.snipca.com/25607 Tested: ed: Issue 511 Has a six-core Ryzen 5 1600 processor, a GTX 1050 graphics card, a 240GB SSD, a generous 2TB hard drive and 16GB of memory for exceptional performance, despite a microATX motherboard. Unlike some rivals, it runs quietly too. ALTERNATIVE: Palicomp i5 Titanium Good all-round performance from a…

In Issue 511’s Best Free Software (page 18), we told you about ON1 Effects – a brilliant program that lets you add eye-catching effects and filters to your photos. One of its best features lets you customise its default filters to create your own. What’s more, you can combine multiple filters and customise each one to create a unique effect. Previously costing $60 (£45), ON1 Effects is now free and very easy to use once you master the basics. STEP 1 To install the program, go to www.snipca.com/25648, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Free Download button on the left. You now need to fill in a simple form with a few personal details and what you intend to use the program for 1 , then…

PHOTO EDITING Remove red-eye effects in your photos One common problem I’ve noticed in my photos is red eyes. There are many red-eye removal tools, but the one I’ve found most useful is Fotor ( www.snipca.com/25660) – a free online photo editor. Click the Import button (top right), select the photo with a red-eye effect, click Open, then click your photo to open it in the editing pane. Next, click Red-Eye Remove on the left, then move your cursor over one of the subject’s red eyes. You’ll see the cursor turns into a small, white circle. Ensure that the white circle covers the red eye exactly. Use the Size slider (see screenshot below) if it’s too big or small. Once the circle is the correct size, click your mouse. You’ll…

AGES 0-5 Kidloland Nursery Rhymes* Free www.snipca.com/25778 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/25779 (iOS) This app contains 40 free nursery rhymes, games and activities to keep your toddler entertained – each song has a related activity. For example, the ABC song teaches your kids about letters. AGES 6-10 Top Gear: Road Trip* Free www.snipca.com/25780 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/25781 (iOS) In this new game (based on the popular BBC show) your child connects coins of the same colour to drive a racing car. Match coins at the bottom to accelerate and ones on the right and left to turn in those directions. AGES 11-16 Loner* Free www.snipca.com/25782 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/25783 (iOS) In this relaxing game your child plays the role of a pilot. Use touch controls or tilt your device to fly the aircraft. The…

EXCEL Prompt users to type specific data into cells If you’re creating an Excel sheet for others to enter data into (for example, a survey), there’s an easy way to prompt them to type the correct information in each cell. For example, in a cell where they need to type their age, you can prompt them to enter an age within a specific range (say, 40 to 75) when they click the cell. If by mistake they enter a number outside that range, you can set a pop-up message to appear prompting them to enter a number between 40 and 75. We’ll show you how to set these prompts in your Excel sheet using the example above. First, click inside the cell where the respondent’s age will be entered. Next,…

What is it? Optical computing – sometimes referred to as photonic computing – is an emerging technology that uses beams of visible and UV light energy to process, transfer and store data. What’s the point of that? Currently, all computers process data as electronic pulses. In basic terms, data is moved through integrated circuits, semi-conductors and other components as a flow of electrons. But photons (light particles) travel much faster than electrons. Therefore, replacing traditional electronic circuits in PCs and other devices with optical ones could dramatically increase their processing power. Better still, it’s possible to split a beam of light, meaning optical processors could carry out multiple complex calculations simultaneously, rather than performing each one in sequence, as processors currently do. Are there other benefits I should know about?…

High-street photo printers such as Snappy Snaps (www.snipca.com/25701, see screenshot) and supermarkets like Asda (www.snipca.com/25702) offer digitising services of your old home movies – including Super 8 and 8mm formats. You’ll receive your converted footage on a DVD that’s ready to watch. Whether this is the best solution depends on how much film you have and how much money you want to spend. Snappy Snaps quotes a price of £35 for the first 200ft of film, then £10 for each additional 100ft (your film reel will have its total length printed clearly on it). Asda is a quite a bit more expensive, charging £24 for 100 feet of film, then £24 for any additional 100ft (plus £12.50 postage on top). Leaving it to the specialists will certainly save you time…

STEP 1 Connect the August VGB100’s red and white cables to the ‘Line out’ sockets on your stereo system 1 , making sure you connect white to white and red to red. Next, connect the other ends to the red and white sockets on the VGB100, then connect it to your PC. STEP 2 You now need to set your PC to record the audio playing from your stereo system. Click the Start button, type sound, then press Enter. Click the Recording tab, USB2.0 Video Capture, then Properties. Tick the ‘Listen to this device’ box 1 , select Default Playback Device in the dropdown menu 2 , then click Apply 3 . STEP 3 Open Audacity, then in the dropdown menus at the top select (from left to right) Windows…

Q Following a Windows update, I noticed a warning message that said my laptop was plugged in but not charging. After a week, the battery level has fallen to 90 per cent. I contacted the manufacturer but the company wanted to charge me for support! The machine is about 18 months old, and gets only personal use. Is my battery broken? Jeanne Pike A All rechargeable batteries have a limited life, which is typically somewhere between 500 to 1,000 charge-discharge cycles. However, batteries don’t often die suddenly: rather, over time their ability to hold a charge diminishes. Even so, a deteriorating laptop battery will still charge and show ‘100%’ when it’s finished charging, but that ‘100%’ won’t last as long as it used to. In this case we think the…

One of the most enjoyable parts of editing Computeractive is reading the tips you send us every week. I’m always impressed by the ingenuity and breadth of your advice, whether you’re recommending a program, revealing a hidden feature, or sharing a fix to a particularly fiendish problem. Sadly, we don’t have space to include them all in our Readers’ Tips section (page 43). I’ve always regretted so many great ideas going to waste, so instead we’re planning a special Readers’ Tips Cover Feature featuring dozens of your best tips. If you want to share some tips with your fellow readers, please email them to me via editor@computeractive.co.uk, with ‘readers tip’ in the subject line. At the top of your email please tell me what the tip is about by writing…

A paedophile has been jailed after using his neighbours’ internet to download images of child sex abuse. Police initially questioned the neighbours, who had sold an iPad to the sex offender for £20, and given him access to their broadband. Nottingham Crown Court heard that Mark Branson, 38, had been banned from using the internet after being released in 2013 from a three-year jail sentence for offences linked to indecent images of children. Branson admitted breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and was jailed for six months. Judge James Sampson said: “The prohibition from using the internet was designed to prevent you from repeating your offending”. He added that one of the “serious aspects” of the case was that suspicion had been thrown on Branson’s innocent neighbours. Samuel Coe, prosecuting,…

BT TOPS COMPLAINTS TABLE AGAIN BT was the UK’s most complained-about broadband provider for the fifth quarter running, according to Ofcom’s latest data. The regulator said between April and June it received 28 complaints about BT per 100,000 customers. Ofcom’s figures only count complaints it’s received, not those made directly to BT or other ombudsman services. Read Ofcom’s report at www.snipca.com/25730. BBC APP MAPS UK FLU PANDEMIC A new BBC app will help doctors plan for a flu pandemic by tracking how many people you interact with over 24 hours. It’s part of the ‘National Outbreak’ experiment, with results being broadcast in a BBC 4 programme. The app uses GPS and Wi-Fi to anonymously record your approximate movements. The data is used to work out how to deploy NHS resources…

Theresa May has told tech giants that they should find a way to remove online terrorist content within two hours, or face fines from the Government. At a meeting in New York with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter, the Prime Minister said that she wants to see progress within a month. She urged them to do more to block extremist content so it never appears online, and to quickly take down any that gets through. Before the meeting, in a speech at the United Nations, Mrs May had urged websites to go “further and faster” in building artificial intelligence that can detect and remove terrorist material. The PM’s official spokesman said the Government wants websites to act voluntarily, but is prepared to take legal action, and issue financial penalties. Mrs…

Facebook I don’t use Facebook much these days. The ghastly ‘Your memories’ feature forces me to look at photos I posted while blindly making the worst mistakes of my life, and “promoted” posts now take up more space than friends’ updates. It’s about to get worse, with Facebook letting advertisers track us at the shops – while we’re offline. US department store Macy’s and fast-food chain KFC are among the first businesses using Facebook’s new “offline conversions solution” (ugh) to track “people who have recently visited the store” with their smartphones, then target them with ads (www.snipca.com/25731). This is a gross invasion of privacy, and entirely designed to benefit Facebook advertisers, not users. But you know the worst part? I still don’t trust myself to erase my account. To paraphrase…

For many years I’ve used video-editing program Corel VideoStudio without any hitches, but recently had a “capture from HDV camera” problem using the Pro X8 edition. I suspect this was caused by a driver conflict with the latest version of Windows 10, because I’d had no problems with Windows 8.1. Corel were very helpful, but because they couldn’t solve the problem they said I should try a trial version of Pro X10 (pictured), which had been updated for Windows 10. Rather than go through the tedious business of downloading the trial version I took a chance and paid for a cheap upgrade, which solved the problem. Although Corel weren’t able to solve my problem, I’d like to compliment them on their prompt replies to my emails. Finally, I asked their…

BACKUP TOOL MiniTool ShadowMaker Free 1.0 www.snipca.com/25679 What you need: Windows 7, 8/8.1 or 10 ShadowMaker is a brand new backup program from MiniTool – makers of the excellent Partition Wizard Free Edition. It’s brilliantly easy to use and provides a complete set of tools for creating system images of your PC, restoring lost data, cloning drives, creating bootable rescue discs and more. To get ShadowMaker Free, go to the URL above and click the ‘Have a Try’ button. Save the .exe file to your PC, then follow the prompts. There’s nothing nasty to watch out for during installation and no unwanted extras to untick. Launch ShadowMaker Free and you’ll be greeted by a clean, simple interface. Tabs along the top provide access to its main functions – Backup, Restore…

PHONE| From £799 from Apple www.snipca.com/25694 Last year, the iPhone 7 cost £60 more than the iPhone 6s the year before. This year’s iPhone 8 is £100 more again. At least it comes with 64GB of storage as standard, so you probably won’t need to consider the higher-storage option – now 256GB at an extra £150. But to get Apple’s best hardware feature, the larger iPhone 8 Plus’ dual camera, you’ll need big hands and £799, or about £60 a month on contract. We tested the Plus, but the first thing to say of both new phones is that they’re not as different from their predecessors as you might have hoped. Cosmetically, the 8 replaces the metal back with glass, and has little stripes on the sides, which curve in…

Can I use a two-way security camera without internet? Q I need a security camera to see and speak to whoever is at my front door. I have a smartphone and a Wi-Fi router, but my home isn’t connected to the internet. Video cameras like the Google Nest Cam (see review, Issue 509) seem to rely on ‘the cloud’. Can I do it without the internet? Jim Corrigan A Logitech’s Circle 2 (£170 from www.snipca.com/25657, pictured) is a new smart camera with two-way audio that could be what you need, but it does rely on an internet connection. Any basic IP (internet protocol) Wi-Fi camera, however, should work on your Wi-Fi router’s local area network (LAN). But we didn’t have much luck confirming this with a number of vendors. Time2,…

You can get Photoshop-like results for less with PaintShop Pro 2018 Ultimate, which is the fastest, easiest version ever. There’s an exclusive bonus collection of premium software you won’t find in Photoshop, including Painter Essentials 5, which turns your photos into works of art. Also new is Perfectly Clear 3 SE, which contains excellent tools for restoring details and colour to your photos. To enter, email your address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk with ‘paintshop’ in the subject line by midnight 24 October. PaintShop Pro 2018 Ultimate is available priced £89.99 from www.paintshoppro.com. There is also a standard version priced £69.99. For more information follow @CPaintShopPro on Twitter and ‘like’ Corel’s PaintShopPro Facebook page: www.facebook.com/corelpaintshop.…

What you need: Android phone or iPhone Time required: 15 minutes Aphone’s battery tends to drain more quickly the older it gets. Kaspersky Battery Life (KBL) is a new, free Android app that will make your battery last longer by closing energyhogging background apps. There’s no similar app for iPhones so (from Step 5) we’ll provide you with some handy tips to keep your iPhone running longer. STEP 1 On an Android phone, install and open Kaspersky Battery Life (www.snipca.com/25693), keep tapping Next, then tap Done. You’ll now see how long your current charge will last 1 . Below that, you’ll see a list of all apps running in the background 2 and the length of time you can extend your battery life by force-closing each one 3 . There…

WHAT’S NEW IN APPLE’S iOS 11 Update your iPhone and iPad and fix Outlook problems In Issue 511 (page 45), we explained how you can check whether your iPhone or iPad can be upgraded to iOS 11. If your device is eligible, then make sure it has at least 60 per cent battery charge and is connected to a Wi-Fi network. Now open Settings and tap Software Update. If there’s an update pending, you’ll see the option to ‘Download and Install’ (see screenshot below). Tap this, type your device’s passcode when prompted and the update (11.0.1 at the the time of writing) will begin. This version fixes a few problems with iOS 11, including one which stopped Outlook, Office 365 and Microsoft’s Exchange Server 2016 users from sending and receiving…

WINDOWS 7, 8, 10 Change your laptop’s default touchpad gestures Every laptop has different touchpad gestures that you can use. These include pinching to zoom in/out and two-finger scrolling. There’s an easy way to see which gestures are enabled by default and to enable others of your choice. Press the Windows key, type mouse, then press Enter. In Windows 7 and 8, this opens the Mouse Properties window, so click the Advanced tab, then click the ‘Advanced feature settings’ button. In Windows 10, click the ‘Additional mouse settings’ link at the top right, then click Settings. In the window that opens, click the Gestures tab to see available options. Gestures will be switched on or off by default, but you can tick/clear the boxes, click Apply, then OK to enable/disable…

Zoom anything on a website The pinch-to-zoom magnifying gesture is widely used, but it doesn’t work all the time. You can’t, for example, pinch to zoom phone and tablet home screens, while many ‘mobile’ websites disable this feature. But there are hidden tricks that’ll let you zoom anything, anywhere. In iOS, open Settings, then tap General, followed by Accessibility. Tap Zoom, then tap the switch to On. From now on, using three fingers to double-tap the screen will zoom into anything, including your device’s home page and any website. To move around the magnified image, tap, hold and drag with three fingers. To change the zoom level, double-tap then drag up or down. In Android, open Settings, tap Accessibility, followed by ‘Magnification gestures’, then switch the setting on. You’ll now…

If you first started recording home movies when You’ve Been Framed first hit our screens, or if your music collection includes cassettes, vinyl and 8-track tapes, you probably have a treasure trove of video and music that hasn’t seen the light of day in decades Back then, it was difficult to imagine just how quickly digital media would replace video tapes, vinyl records, cassettes and film-based photos. This rapid transformation is one reason why converting ‘analogue’ content into digital media can be such a complicated and time-consuming process. But if you’re keen to enjoy your scratchy vinyl collection or vintage television recordings on your PC, tablet or phone – or just want to back them up for posterity – we’ll explain how you can take the pain out of the…

STEP 1 Download Google’s PhotoScan app (Android www.snipca.com/22691; iOS www.snipca.com/22692). Open the app, watch the short animation that explains how to use it, then tap Start Scanning. Tap Allow when prompted to grant PhotoScan permission to use your phone’s camera. Hold your phone up to your photo until it fills the screen, then press the shutter button. Four dots will appear on the screen. Move the central white ring so it surrounds each in turn 1 (avoid tilting your phone). STEP 2 Once you’ve reached the fourth dot you’ll see a message that says the image is processing. A small thumbnail of the image will appear at the bottom right. Tap it to open the image in full screen. You’ll see three options along the bottom of the screen. Tap…

The demise of MP3 might have been exaggerated when its creators, the Fraunhofer Institute, announced an end to MP3 licensing earlier this year ( www.snipca.com/25788), but the story does highlight how formats rise and fall. MP3s are still perfectly fine to use, but many people are moving to the highdefinition audio format FLAC because of it is higher quality. Audacity can export your recording in either format (though for MP3 it does need some additional help, see below). We suggest you convert to FLAC first and check that your audio files play on all your devices (portable music players as well as computers). If any of your devices don’t support this newer format, then MP3 is still a good, and universally compatible, second choice.…

Q My nephew set up my Windows 10 laptop for me but has gone to Europe to study, so I don’t have his help to hand. The other day I accidentally clicked the little antenna picture at the bottom right of my PC screen and was surprised to see a long list of strange device names. One in particular caught my eye because it was my neighbour’s surname and door number! I have no idea what’s going on here, but I’m concerned that if I can connect to my neighbour’s devices then they can connect to my laptop. Can you advise what’s happening here, and what I need to do to stay safe? Megan Stewart A When you click the Wi-Fi icon in the taskbar’s notification area the list that…

Q In the screenshots that accompanied your answer to Aiden Ingram about his slow iPhone clock (Problems Solved, Issue 509), I noticed that the General link was a button. I find that interesting because on my iPhone 7 they’re simply links — not buttons. Is this because you used an old iPhone to take the screenshots? It made me realise how much I miss those old buttons: they’re much easier to see and tap than the iPhone 7 links. Tommy Carter A In fact, we used an iPhone 6s for those screenshots. However, there’s a littleknown option hidden away in the phone’s settings that enables these Button Shapes, as Apple calls them. They’re not quite the same design as the old buttons, which Apple killed with the introduction of iOS…

Q Can you please explain in simple English how to enable a website URL to be created on the home screen of an Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet, to act as a shortcut to that website? I’ve Googled lots of supposed methods, none of which work. This has been frustrating me since I bought the tablet and I can find no easy path to follow to rectify it! Bryan Lillywhite A Bad news – there’s currently no way to do this. Even more annoyingly, there used to be. But, for reasons best known to Amazon, the firm has repeatedly updated the Fire OS – the Kindle’s operating system – to prevent users from making home-screen web shortcuts. The best we can offer is bookmarks. Just in case you don’t know…

1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 1920x1080 pixels. 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. 720p A common resolution of high-definition video: 1280x720 pixels. 802.11ac A standard for wireless networks that allows for much higher transfer speeds than 802.11n. 802.11n A standard for wireless networks that allows for high transfer speeds. 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. Augmented-reality Lets you view the real world on a digital…

KEN RIGSBY is Computeractive’s Mr Angry In the confusing world of technology, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) is the standard connection that promises the simple life. String a USB cable from your latest gadget to a USB socket on your computer and – bing, bing, bing, bong – Windows 10 tells you that it’s detected, connected, set up and ready to go. At least, that’s what happens once in a blue moon. At all other times, USB has multiple ways to drive us all a bit around the bend. First, there’s the little matter of getting the USB plug into the socket. Sod’s law dictates that your first attempt will be the wrong way up. So you flip the cable and try again, but it still won’t go in. Finally,…