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I love that in the middle of an AI revolution the humble USB stick is as popular as ever. They remain brilliantly simple devices – and are getting bigger (in capacity) and smaller (in actual size) all the time. My first USB stick was a mere 8MB, but that seemed big enough in 2001 when all I wanted to store were Word documents. The one I have in my pocket right now is 8,000 times bigger (64GB) and home to several hours of family videos. In his Cover Feature Robert Irvine reveals fantastic new ways you can maximise that storage – and in doing so reveals how USB sticks have moved with the times. You can now use them to run the latest operating systems (Windows 11, Linux), update hundreds…

Admiral ‘car emergency kit’ I’ve read in Computeractive about scams offering ‘emergency car kits’ that impersonated the AA and BP. I’ve not received those, but in July I did get an email supposedly from Admiral insurance saying I could claim a free kit by answering a survey about my “experience” with the company. I’ve never actually used Admiral for my insurance, so it wasn’t hard to dismiss the email as a scam. There’s a yellow button at the bottom saying ‘Get It Now!’. The logo at the top appears to be the genuine Admiral one, but despite this it’s a tacky email that feels fake. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

You’ll hopefully be pestered by fewer ‘cookie consent’ pop-ups now that the Data (Use and Access) Act has become law. This lets websites remember your preferences for ‘low-risk’ cookies, such as which language or theme you want. The law, implemented on 19 June, aims to simplify rules governing your data without weakening your privacy. Websites will still need to tell you they are using cookies, and let you opt out easily. And it doesn’t affect more intrusive cookies, such as those websites use to track your activity online in order to show adverts. Other changes in the law are more controversial. For example, it lets companies use Automated Decision-Making (ADM) more freely. These are computer algorithms that make decisions about matters such as loan applications, insurance quotes or health diagnoses.…

SOFTWARE WARNING! Microsoft’s money-grabbing games subscription I barely understand Minesweeper’s rules, yet I’ve spent hundreds of hours playing it and other classic Microsoft games like Solitaire and Mahjong. They’re still on Windows 11, but the experience is unrecognisable from my youth – and not in a good way. In Minesweeper, it’s hard to tell whether you’re meant to dodge adverts or bombs (see screenshot 1). After hitting a mine on my second click, I couldn’t keep playing without watching an ad or coughing up £8.99 a year for the ‘Microsoft Casual Games Premium Edition’ 2. It’s also overloaded with cartoonish visuals and frustrating paid-for gimmicks like unlocking features. If I did pay £8.99 I could remove those ads and earn more ‘XP’ – which stands for ‘experience points’ and lets…

Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Change default file format SoftMaker saves in You recommended some excellent programs in Issue 713’s Cover Feature (‘Best free software you’ll master in minutes’), but I was particularly pleased to see you praise SoftMaker FreeOffice (www.snipca.com/55249). I switched to SoftMaker from LibreOffice last year and haven’t regretted it. But I still need to save files in other formats – usually Microsoft’s DOCX for Word documents – so they can be easily opened when I send them to work colleagues and friends. To make this easier, I’ve told TextMaker (which is SoftMaker’s Word equivalent) to save in DOCX by default. How you do this depends on the toolbar you’re using. I use the red ribbon, which means clicking File, followed by the…

Fossify Calculator Free Android www.snipca.com/55632 This free alternative to your phone’s built-in Calculator app has no ads or trackers, and works entirely offline. You can customise its colour and that of its home-screen widget, and use its unit converter to calculate lengths, volumes and temperatures. Fossify Calculator is still in beta but it works very well. Nextdoor Free Android www.snipca.com/55616 iOS www.snipca.com/55617 The social network for neighbourhoods has redesigned its mobile app and added several new features to its Search tab. These include real-time alerts for weather warnings, traffic problems, power outages and other community concerns; and a news feed showing the latest stories from trusted local-news sources. PDFgear Scan Free Android www.snipca.com/55634 iOS www.snipca.com/55635 Our favourite free PDF editor has a new mobile app for digitising your paper documents.…

WINDOWS 11 Turn on ‘Quick machine recovery’ to fix boot problems Microsoft has added a new ‘Quick machine recovery’ option to Windows 11. If your PC fails to boot and enters recovery mode, it can now automatically connect to Microsoft’s servers to check for fixes – such as updated drivers or system updates – and apply them without you needing to do anything. It’s turned on by default for Windows 11 Home users, but Pro users have to activate it by opening Settings then clicking System, Recovery, followed by ‘Quick machine recovery’ (see screenshot). Make sure your PC can connect to the internet during recovery, or it won’t be able to fetch fixes. WINDOWS 11 Stop Windows shrinking your taskbar icons Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday update for July (KB5062553) automatically shrinks…

What is it? The latest version of the wireless charging standard Qi (pronounced ‘chee’). It was approved in April and the first devices are now starting to arrive. Wireless? So you don’t need any cables? Correct. Wireless charging has been around since 2009 when the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) introduced Qi. But it took until 2012 for phone manufacturers to make phones that could be charged wirelessly. How does it work? Magnetic induction. Wireless chargers have a coil of wire. When you switch it on, it sends a current through that coil, creating an invisible magnetic field. Your phone has a matching coil. Put the two close enough together, and that magnetic field induces a current in your phone’s coil. That current is turned into electricity, which tops up your…

Can I remove duplicate music from Screenbox? Q I’m in my 90s and have been struggling to read the text in VLC Media Player, so Screenbox (www.snipca.com/55147 Issue 713, page 38) is a breath of fresh air. But having downloaded the program and opened it, I’m seeing a lot of duplication of music files. Do you know if Screenbox has a way of removing these duplicates? David Kerney A Screenbox doesn’t appear to try clicking Settings, then Refresh under ‘Refresh libraries’. If that doesn’t help, click the down arrow next to the Refresh button and untick the ‘Use indexer for scanning’ box (1 in our screenshot below). Now click the Refresh button 2 and wait until the scan finishes (it could take a while). Our thinking here is that, by…

BUY GIFFGAFF DATA ADD-ONS ABROAD Giffgaff has launched new ‘add-ons’ that boost your phone data when you hit your initial limit (up to 5GB) while roaming abroad. They’re available in packets of 1GB, 5GB and 10GB and in 42 destinations – 38 of which are in the EU. Prices vary by country and the data lasts for 30 days. For details visit www.snipca.com/55742. TALKTALK AXES EMAIL FOR EX CUSTOMERS TalkTalk is turning off its free email services for former broadband customers using addresses that include @talktalk.net, @lineone.net, @tiscali.co.uk, @tinyworld.co.uk and @pipex.com. The company stopped users sending emails through its service on 28 July, and from 8 September they’ll no longer be able to log into their account unless they sign up for the paid service. TalkTalk will permanently close all…

Why is Honor refusing discount sent after purchase? Q In June I bought an Honor MagicPad 2 Android tablet, paying £399.99. After ordering online I noticed that Honor had sent me a code for a five-per-cent discount. I immediately sent two emails to Honor requesting they apply this discount to my order. I repeated the request the following day, and have sent six more emails, but Honor refuses to give me the discount. What should I do now? Richard Gant A There’s not a lot Richard can do because Honor hasn’t acted illegally. It didn’t offer the discount before the purchase, so it doesn’t have to honour it. It can simply ignore any discounts applied after purchase. Indeed, it’s not uncommon for retailers to send a discount code shortly after a purchase…

WEB BROWSER DuckDuckGo 0.121.3 www.snipca.com/55750 What you need: Windows 10 or 11, macOS, Android or iOS DuckDuckGo has given its privacy-focused browser a fresh look, both on desktop and mobile devices. By applying the same new design to all versions of the browser, it aims to make moving between devices “more seamless than ever”, whether you sync your data across them or not. The most obvious change is the use of rounded corners for the browser’s menus, boxes and buttons. DuckDuckGo has also introduced a new, more modern ‘colour palette’ and redesigned the browser’s icons. These include the Fire button in the top-right corner, which deletes all your browsing data in one click, and the green shield button in the address bar. Clicking the latter opens Privacy Dashboard, which confirms…

SMARTPHONE | £600 from Motorola www.snipca.com/55793 The Motorola Edge 60 Pro is the premium model in Motorola’s Edge range of smartphones, sitting above the similar-looking Edge 60 (£380 from www.snipca.com/55733) and the Edge 60 Fusion (£300 from www.snipca.com/55734). However, with a faster processor, larger screen and higher-capacity battery, the Edge 60 Pro offers the best performance of the three. It isn’t Motorola’s most expensive phone – its Razr models with folding screens start at £800 – but the Edge 60 Pro is currently at the top of Motorola’s range of non-folding smartphones. “A phone with a decent performance and a price to match” Its MediaTek Dimensity 8350 processor, 12GB of RAM and 512GB storage is certainly a generous specification, but in practical use it doesn’t do enough to trouble our…

Q I switched from wired broadband to mobile internet in 2020, and I wouldn’t go back. I get 170Mbps download speeds compared with my area’s best wired speeds of 40Mbps, and I love the fact that there are no contracts or mid-term price hikes. I’ve been using the excellent Huawei B535 4G LTE router, but now that 5G is available in my area, I’d like to upgrade. I need a router that can connect to 64 devices – I’ve already got more than 40. Can you suggest a model that has Ethernet ports and, if possible, an RJ11 socket? Martin Bottrill A The only 5G router we’ve found that has an RJ11 socket (a standard telephone port) is the Draytek Vigor 2865L-5G, but it costs an astronomical £540 from www.snipca.com/55700.…

SMART TV | £479 from Very www.snipca.com/55739 Televisions vary enormously in price, but this is the first time we’ve seen a 70in TV below £500. We’ve seen many TVs with much smaller screens at almost twice the price. So the big question is what has Sharp taken out to keep the price down? At first glance, it’s not easy to tell. Its 4K screen supports HDR and Dolby Vision, while its audio system handles Dolby Atmos. Some cost-cutting is evident in the build quality. It feels light and a little flimsy, but once you get it into position, it doesn’t look like a budget TV. It’s worth noting that the set is 1.5 metres wide and its feet are very close to the edges, so you’d need a piece of…

CHROMIUM Add a‘kill switch’ to your browser Stop nosy parkers seeing what you’re looking at online by installing the new extension Kill Switch (www.snipca.com/55608). This instantly closes all open tabs when you press its keyboard shortcut Alt+K. It then opens a fresh browser window with no tabs displayed, though you can specify a ‘safe’ site to load. Click its toolbar button, enter the URL and click Add Site (1 in our screenshot below) Kill Switch also deletes your browsing history to prevent people from peeking at sites you’ve previously visited. Use the Delete Browsing Data From slider 2 to specify the time period – from 30 minutes to 24 hours. VIVALDI Assign colours to your tab stacks Vivaldi is already the most vibrant browser, with its toolbars changing colour to…

ANDROID & iOS Try the Government’s new Gov.uk app The UK government has launched its long-awaited Gov. uk app (Android www.snipca.com/55614; iOS www.snipca.com/55615). It’s currently a public beta, which means it doesn’t yet have all the features planned for it and you may experience a few bugs. Sign in with your Gov.uk One Login – or create one – and either allow or disallow ‘statistics sharing’. You can then choose which topics you want to include on the app’s home screen. These include Benefits for claiming and managing Universal Credit, ‘Driving and transport’ for DVLA information, and Retirement for pension advice. Tap ‘Your local services’ (see screenshot below left) and enter your postcode to access info from your local council. You can also search across all Gov.uk articles to find…

MICROSOFT WORD Bold and italicise words as you type Word has a setting that automatically changes words to bold and italics as you type. Click File at the top, Options then Proofing. Now click AutoCorrect Options (1 in our screenshot), then the Auto Format As You Type tab 2 and tick ‘*Bold* and _italic_ with real formatting’ 3. Click OK. From now, words you type with asterisks on either side will instantly change to bold, while words with underscores on either side will change to italics. LIBREOFFICE CALC Turn off spreadsheet wrapping In previous versions of LibreOffice Calc, when you pressed Ctrl+Page Down or Ctrl+Page Up the cursor moved to the next or previous sheet, but stopped dead when you reached the last or first sheet. This changed in version 25.2,…

USB sticks have shrunk in physical size as they’ve grown in capacity. That’s probably why nobody calls them ‘thumb drives’ any more –‘half-your-little-finger drives’ would be more accurate. However, it’s not just the tiny size of USB sticks that makes them easy to overlook. Many of us buy them to transfer files from one computer to another, then leave these versatile portable devices languishing in a drawer. Even if you regularly plug in your USB stick, you probably use only a fraction of its available storage. With the latest drives offering capacities of up to 2TB and super-fast USB 3.2 connectivity, there’s a lot of storage space and speed potential going to waste. What’s more, USB sticks are now cheaper than ever – you can buy a 128GB model from…

1080p High-definition video: 1920x1080 pixels. 3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. Benchmarking Comparing products with an accepted standard. Beta A version of software that’s being tested. Bitrate A measure of data transfer speed. BIOS Software built into every PC that connects the vital components. Bitcoin A digital currency, not controlled by governments, that can be used to send money to individuals. Bootable Describes a device or disc with system files on it so it can be used to start up your computer. Browser engine Turns website code into pages you can interact with. Buffering Downloading a certain amount of data before starting to play a video. Cache A temporary space for storing information. Chatbot An AI program designed to…

Apple now lets you use its iCloud Passwords browser extension in Firefox. This lets you log into websites in Firefox on your Windows PC using passwords saved on your iPhone (see screenshot – the key icon shows that it’s iCloud). It can also generate two-factor authentication (2FA) codes, which you can set up by right-clicking a QR code. It’s part of Apple’s broader push to make its iCloud Keychain – the tool that stores your logins and passwords across iPhones, iPads and Macs – available to Windows as well. Previously, the extension worked only on Chromium browsers such as Chrome and Edge. There’s a catch though: it only works in Windows 11. And with Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 in October it’s unlikely Apple will ever make it work…

Issue 715’s ‘Question of the Fortnight’ (pictured) about the forthcoming test alarm being sent by the Government gave instructions for configuring your phone so it doesn’t receive the alert. I believe there are good reasons why some vulnerable people would want to do this – if they use a ‘secret’ phone at home, for example. But my own personal experience shows how these alerts can be useful even if you think they’ll never apply to you. I was one of the Three customers who didn’t receive the test in 2023. Annoyed by this, I switched to O2. I live in an area of Somerset prone to severe flooding, so welcomed a warning system. It proved worthwhile last December when Storm Darragh hit. I knew strong winds were coming, but the…

I recently decided to switch my broadband service from Sky (www.sky.com/broadband) to Plusnet (www.plus.net). However, Plusnet took over six weeks from the date I ordered it to get it up and running. This was extremely frustrating but it was not the fault of Plusnet or Sky. Instead Openreach was to blame, because it took them too long to install the cable to my home. I recently received an email from Plusnet apologising for this delay. It also said the company would credit me £368.16 in total for my inconvenience. This level of compensation effectively means I won’t actually start paying for my broadband until late next year. Now that is a great company to deal with. Alex Tyrrell Has a company impressed you with its customer service? Please let us…

How do I move files between virtual machines? Q I use two virtual machines and have been trying to work out a way of transferring files between them. Maybe it’s not possible. But if anyone knows, it’ll be Computeractive. Any advice? Andy Craven A We’re assuming you’re using VirtualBox 7.1 or later (www.virtualbox.org). You’ll also need to install the Guest Additions package on both virtual machines, which adds extra drivers and functionality, including support for transferring files in several different ways. To do this, click the Devices menu while each virtual machine (VM) is running and choose ‘Insert Guest Additions CD image’ to run the installer. Once installed, you need to drag and drop files from the VM window to a File Explorer window on your PC (and vice versa).…

What does it do? The finish on your screen can have a profound effect on image quality, comfort and ease of use. Glossy screens produce more vivid images but are prone to glare and distracting reflections. Matte screens are less reflective but their colours can look washed out. How does it work? A screen’s reflectivity depends on the transparency of its surface. Glossy screens allow light to pass through unimpeded, but they also reflect light directly, so light from windows and other sources can bounce straight at you. Matte screens diffuse light, which makes reflections less of a problem. However, this also effects the quality of light coming from the screen, which can leave colours less vivid and contrast weak. What are the specs? Annoyingly, manufacturers rarely state whether their…

What is it? Security camera manufacturer Wyze has launched a vase you can hide your camera in. Called simply the Cam Vase, it has a hole in the front for the lens and a space above for a short plant pot. It costs $19.99 (around £15) from www.snipca.com/55759. What does it do? It disguises your camera as a house plant. There’s a hole in the base for the power cable, so it isn’t obvious that anything is hidden inside. What’s the catch? It won’t fool anyone who gives it more than a cursory glance, and you can’t put a real plant in it because the camera might get wet when you water it. It comes with a plastic plant, but you can provide your own. We couldn’t find a UK…

CHATGPT View summaries of your prompts ChatGPT’s chat history keeps a record of your conversations and names them according to the initial prompts. You can revisit these chats by clicking their titles on the left-hand side of the ChatGPT website, but to find the answer to a specific question you need to search for a keyword. The new Chromium extension ChatSight (www.snipca.com/55609) makes things easier by listing all the prompts you used in a ChatGPT exchange. Click one to jump straight to that question or command, and view ChatGPT’s response, without needing to scroll. The prompts appear in a sidebar (see screenshot below), which you can show or hide by pressing Ctrl+Shift+M. ChatSight is particularly useful for finding information in long conversations that veered off topic. NOTEBOOKLM Explore featured notebooks…

OneFootball Free* Android www.snipca.com/55640 iOS www.snipca.com/55641 OneFootball provides all the latest scores, news, transfer rumours and pre and post match analysis for your favourite football teams, leagues and players from around the world. You can stream some games live through the app (for a fee), as well as videos of highlights. Pay 99p month to remove ads (currently iOS only). Best For Football news and rumours Live Football on TV Free* Android www.snipca.com/55638 iOS www.snipca.com/55639 This app (called WherestheMatch on iOS) tells you which channels, websites and streaming services you can watch upcoming matches on, and add them to your watchlist and calendar. It now covers 34 live sports, so use its filters to focus on football. You need to download and sync schedules before you start using the app.…

Running a local club means keeping your members – and yourself – ontop of upcoming dates and events: meetings, venue bookings, deadlines and so on. You can do some of this via group chats or email threads. But even the most organised among us would be lost without some kind of calendar tool. A shared Google Calendar might seem like the most obvious option, as it sends notifications to remind members of events. And any changes – such as rescheduled events – are all updated in real time, so everyone always knows what’s happening. The catch is that members need a Google account, and not all will have – or want – one. Teamup (www.teamup.com) is a terrific alternative. The free version has most of the features of Google Calendar,…

Email us your problem and we’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT How do I connect my old speakers? Q I have an old Sonos controller they would if the controller was working. I’d like to connect the speakers to a more modern sound source, but I don’t recognise any of the connection sockets on the back. The first is square and looks like a LAN port. The second is threaded and doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before. I’ve been a reader for over 25 years, so I’m hoping you can help. William Potter A You didn’t tell us exactly of the equipment as ‘old’, we’d guess that the controller is the Sonos CR200. This was discontinued well over a decade ago, but a working model can…