Table of contents for 607 in Computeractive

We’re not meant to get excited about ports. The tech industry wants us to develop unhealthy obsessions with phones, smartwatches, gaming consoles and foldable doo-dahs, but I have a hunch that many of you are more interested in those mysterious holes dotted along the back and side of your computer. That said, up to USB-C, computer ports were asymmetrical beasts resembling grimacing mouths or eyes that refuse to blink. They were ugly and intimidating. But USB-C’s reversible design is a thing of beauty. It’s just dawned on me that I actually get pleasure from connecting it to my laptop. But, ahem, enough of my Freudian nonsense. Will Stapley is far more pragmatic in his excellent Cover Feature, explaining what every port is used for – splitting them into audio, video and…

Microsoft has confirmed that it has officially scrapped plans to launch Windows 10X, following rumours online. The system was meant to offer a faster-booting, streamlined version of Windows, with fewer programs and a slimmer Start menu (pictured). However, it has now decided that Windows 10X shouldn’t be aimed at a “subset” of users, and its best features will instead be added to the full version of Windows 10. Read more on Microsoft’s blog: www.snipca.com/38366.…

EBAY NOW PAYS INTO BANK ACCOUNTS EBay is now paying sellers directly into their bank account rather than PayPal, and taking fees at the point of sale rather than ina monthly invoice. The new system, which began on 31 May, charges sellers 12.8 per cent of the final value fee (including delivery), plus 30p per order. PayPal will no longer take a cut, leaving sellers fractionally better off. Buyers can still use PayPal to purchase items. 77 MORE AREAS TO DITCH COPPER PHONE Openreach has named the next 77 UK exchanges where it will replace the old copper-based analogue phone service with a VoIP network. Download a spreadsheet of locations by visiting www.snipca.com/38315, then look for places in column E marked ‘29-Apr-22’-which is when the copper service will be switched…

You can now use What3words to report the exact location of damaged broadband cabinets, telephone poles and overhead wires across the UK. Openreach has teamed up with the website, which divides the whole planet into 57 trillion three-metre squares, giving each a unique three-word code. For example, Openreach’s London headquarters is recorded as ‘lock.factor.tall’, while Dennis Publishing, home to Computeractive, is ‘fuels.rods.bolts’. You can find your own code by visiting https://what3words.com, then typing your address in the box at the top left, pressing Enter, then selecting the correct suggestion (see screenshot). Writing online, Openreach said What3words will prove especially useful when customers need to report problems in hard-to-reach and rural areas, helping its 35,000 engineers pinpoint the location. The easiest way to get a code is through the app (www.snipca.com/38250).…

WATCH OUT FOR… Fake Amazon, Argos and Asda texts What’s the threat? Mobile-phone networks have warned about a second wave of the fast-spreading FluBot malware that uses fake messages from Amazon, Argos and Asda to give hackers full control of your Android phone (iPhones aren’t at risk). Researchers at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) first warned about FluBot in April (www.snipca.com/38257), saying it was infecting phones disguised as a text from delivery firm DHL (pictured) that asked you to install an app to track your parcel. The new version of the scam, as highlighted by Three (www.snipca.com/38253), tells you to download a parcel-tracking app, but this time says it’s coming from Amazon, Argos or Asda. Delivery scams are common, but they’re mostly phishing attempts to steal details like your…

Councillor should’ve been offered help to use Zoom I was saddened to hear about Dennis Baxter being disqualified from his role as a local councillor (Star Letter, Issue 606). Having researched the background to the story, I do wonder whether it could have been easily prevented by following similar measures that my parish council undertook. We had a councillor who was unable to use a PC, though she was very active in the community. Councillors are disqualified if they go six months without attending a meeting, and given the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic I thought it would be unfair for her to leave her role just because she lacked Zoom skills. We arranged for her to attend virtually in a parish office using a computer. There was somebody present…

☑ Last October, we bought a new 250v/12v TV from Hampshire company Unispectra (www.unispectra.co.uk) for our motorhome. We couldn’t set up the TV at the time because Covid restrictions meant we were unable to use our motorhome, and there was no signal where it was parked for the winter. We simply turned the TV on to check it worked, and left the protective screen cover in place. When we eventually got away recently and turned on the TV, we noticed thin lines down the screen. I phoned Unispectra to explain the problem. A helpful member of staff arranged to send a replacement, which arrived the next day. She also sent a pre-paid returns label for me to return the faulty unit. I regard this as faultless customer service and feel…

UNINSTALLER BCUninstaller 5.0 www.snipca.com/38373 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 With so much free software available, it’s tempting to fill your hard drive with programs. Some you’ll use all the time, others are left abandoned – taking up space and slowing down Windows. You can uninstall these using Windows’ built-in tool (go to Settings, then select Apps), but if you’ve got a whole bunch to uninstall this method can take time. BCUninstaller (click the first link in the Download section at the URL above) is much faster. It scans your hard drive for programs, then displays them in a list you can search and filter (see below). Once you’ve selected the programs to remove, you can choose how BCUninstaller does this. Select ‘Uninstall quietly’ and the program will…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: Windows 10 I’m not normally one for bashing Microsoft, but I do sometimes wish the company would ask before loading my PC with stuff I don’t want. I was pretty annoyed when I booted my computer recently only to discover that half my taskbar had been randomly taken up by a weather forecast. Okay, ‘half’ is a bit of an exaggeration. But the offending article – Microsoft’s new ‘News and Interests’ widget – takes up a decent whack of the right-hand side of the Windows 10 taskbar and seemingly arrives on your PC uninvited and without any apparent way to opt out. Microsoft is rolling out the widget to customers over the coming months (see www.snipca.com/38286), presumably via a Windows update, though it’s hard to…

LAPTOP | £1,000 from HP www.snipca.com/38234 Perfect performance The 15-en0006na is the cheapest laptop in HP’s Omen range, which is primarily aimed at gamers who also want to browse the web and work with Windows. While the black laptop case looks smart, it’s mostly made of plastic. The screen lid is particularly flexible, which does make us doubt how robust it is, particularly if you’re likely to use it on the move. Its aluminium palm rest and keyboard deck add a touch of quality, though. The whole thing is around average size and weight at 22.5x358x240mm and 2.3kg. “Its performance level and connectivity make up for a poor screen” Connectivity is comprehensive, with three USB 3.0, one USB-C, a mini DisplayPort and an HDMI port. It also accommodates a Gigabit…

What do they do? PCs are designed to be modular, and one of the key components is the graphics hardware. In most desktop PCs this comes on a separate card that connects directly to the motherboard, containing everything that the PC needs to process what should be appearing on screen and sending it to your monitor. However, because graphics cards are expensive and take up a lot of room, they aren’t used in laptops and small PCs. Instead, processor manufacturers from around 2010 Intel and AMD started to build graphics hardware directly into the main processor. How do they work? Manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to miniaturise the components on their chips so they can squeeze more on. Adding the graphics hardware to the processor gives you a smaller,…

SMART TAG | £29 from John Lewis www.snipca.com/38259 Lost and found If you’re an iPhone user and tend to lose things, such as your keys or wallet, AirTags can help. They’re Bluetooth tracking devices, similar to those made by companies such as Tile (https://uk.tile.com) and Chipolo (https://chipolo.net). If you’ve lost an item with an AirTag attached nearby, you can make the tag emit a beep that will help you locate it. If your item is lost further afield, the tag will communicate with nearby iOS mobile devices (including other people’s) and your Find My app will show you ona map where your item was last detected. This is where AirTags are better at finding lost items than Tiles and Chipolos. They can communicate with any passing iPhone, whether its owner…

What is it? A foldable Samsung device with two hinges that split it into three screens (pictured). What does it do? In its folded state, you can use it as a smartphone, to make calls, browse the web and run apps. When the screen is unfolded it becomes a larger device, measuring 7.2in across the diagonal, approaching the size of a small tablet. The larger screen is better for watching video, browsing websites and running any other apps that might benefit from having more screen space. What’s the catch? It’s still only a prototype, with no promise that it will ever be available to buy. This probably won’t be your next smartphone, but something similar might arrive in the next few years. So can I do without it? Yes, but…

What you need Zoom or Skype; Blue Snowball Ice microphone (optional) Time taken 45 minutes We all know how frustrating it can be when the person you’re video calling is using a substandard microphone, making it almost impossible to understand what they’re saying. But what if that person is you? Over the next three pages, we’ll show you how to test your microphone and explain the steps you can take to improve its sound quality in Skype, Zoom and other video-chat tools. We’ll also recommend our favourite standalone mics and headsets should your current mic fail the test. And even if your mic is working well, you can use our advice to help your call recipients improve their audio. 1 Test your microphone Before changing any audio settings, it’s a good…

What you need: Gmail account; Simple Gmail Notes; Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 Time required: 15 minutes How often do you receive an important email, then completely forget to respond to it or act upon it? Here, we’ll show you how to quickly apply notes to your emails in Gmail that can act as a prompt to action using a free extension called Simple Gmail Notes (SGN). Your notes will only be visible to you, and you’ll be able to view them no matter where you log into your Gmail account. We’ve also got a bonus tip at the end explaining how to add notes in Outlook.com. STEP 1 The SGN extension works on all major browsers. To install it on a Chromium-based browser such as Chrome, Edge or Brave,…

iOS Block or allow app tracking The next full version of Apple’s iOS isn’t due until later this year but the operating system’s recent 14.5 update has added a surprisingly wide selection of new features, including a handy new way to control your privacy. It’s called App Tracking Transparency and has been causing a certain amount of consternation among big tech companies because it stops apps like Facebook from tracking users’ activity across the internet. To use App Tracking Transparency, you’ll first need to make sure you’ve updated your device to the latest version of iOS (currently 14.5.1). Tap Settings, General, then Software Update to check which version you’re using – if you haven’t got the latest update yet, tap ‘Download and Install’ and follow the instructions to complete the…

WINDOWS 7, 8.1 & 10 Open folders in new windows When you double-click a folder in File Explorer (which you can open by pressing the Windows key+E), the contents of that folder will appear in the same File Explorer window. Sometimes, however, you’ll want to open it in a new window, such as when you want to compare the contents of two folders or drag and drop files between them. To do this, hold the Ctrl key when double-clicking a folder. The folder will then open in a separate File Explorer window, allowing you to place it and the original File Explorer window side by side. Windows 7 doesn’t have the same shortcut, but you can open a new File Explorer window by pressing Ctrl+N – the new window will…

Both Excel and Calc let you temporarily hide specific rows simply by selecting the relevant rows, right-clicking that selection within the rows column, then clicking Hide (Excel) or Hide Rows (Calc). However, if you want to calculate the sum of only visible cells in a single column using the standard SUM formula, you’ll find both programs include visible and hidden cells. The solution is to use the SUBTOTAL formula. Unlike SUM, this requires you to insert a function number before the range of values you want to calculate (this lets you control how the values are calculated). To calculate the sum total of visible cells only, you need to use the function number 109. In our example, cells B2 to B10 all contain numbers, but within that region we’ve hidden…

Take a look at the back of your PC. Can you name all those weird and wonderful ports? And more importantly, what do they all do? Even those you might be familiar with – such as USB and HDMI – have hidden features that will transform how you use them. Over the next few pages, we’ll identify the most common video, audio and data ports found on PCs, laptops, monitors and TVs, explaining what they do and how you can make the most of them. Some of you might still be using PCs from the mid-to-late 2000s, albeit ones that have since been upgraded. As you’ll see from the gallery of ports below and opposite, we look at modern ports as well as those from yesteryear – and as we’ll…

Bluetooth technology is constantly improving. The most recent version – or ‘standard’ – is Bluetooth 5.2, which was released at the beginning of 2020 and introduced a feature called LE (Low Energy) Audio. This lets Bluetooth devices stream audio to multiple users simultaneously, so you can, for example, have several Bluetooth headsets wirelessly connected to a single speaker. LE Audio uses less power and bandwidth than previous Bluetooth standards, conserving battery life, and will also support (high-end) hearing aids (read more about these at www.snipca.com/38240). Details of the first devices with Bluetooth 5.2 are currently emerging, including new earbuds from Google, Sony and Honor, and Intel’s NUC 11 Essential Desktop PC (www.snipca.com/38183). However, it’s worth waiting for the standard to appear on more hardware before you rush to upgrade, because…

32bit/64bit A measure of how much data a PC can process at once. Most older computers are 32bit, more modern ones are 64bit. 3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 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. AI Artificial Intelligence. A computer program designed to mimic the behaviour of humans or animals. 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. Analogue A signal whose value varies over time, as opposed to a digital signal which is either on or off. Bandwidth A measure of how much data can be transferred through a connection at one time. Benchmarking Comparing software…

Although it’s lovely that lockdown has lifted, so we can meet friends and family again, it’s also brought back one of my biggest bugbears: I hate having my photo taken. I’ve long found it impossible to look natural when someone points a camera at me, and either glare into the lens with my chin stuck out like Desperate Dan, or pull a startled, bug-eyed expression, as if someone’s just dropped a wet fish down my back. “Hotpot erased most of the creases from my grandfather, though the remnant of one left him with a scar” My awkwardness in posed shots is one reason I enjoy perusing old-timey photos, when the length of the exposure process tended to produce scowls rather than smiles in the subjects. I can relate to their…

Google plans to release a tool that tries to identify skin, spot and hair conditions based on photos of your body that you take with your phone’s camera. The ‘dermatology assist’ tool uses artificial intelligence to compare the image with photos on its database. Google said it can recognise 288 skin conditions, but added that it’s not a substitute for medical diagnosis and treatment. Google explained how it works in its blog (www.snipca.com/38346). When you take a photo 1, Google will analyse it and then show matching images 2 to help you identify what the condition might be. It will also provide information from skin experts and answers to commonly asked questions. The tool – due to go live later this year – took Google three years to build, and…

Virgin customers suffer the longest wait when phoning to speak to an assistant, Ofcom has found. On average in 2020 Virgin Media customers waited seven minutes and 40 seconds, while Virgin Mobile customers were left hanging for six minutes and 44seconds. EE had the shortest average waiting time, with one minute and 15 seconds (see box for all the major broadband providers). Virgin Media said the pandemic had forced it to change how its call centres worked. “We’re proud of how we rose to this challenge,” the company said, adding that it recognises “there’s room for improvement”. It claimed that increased investments in customer service had created 1,000 more roles in the UK last year. The results come from the regulator’s annual Comparing Customer Service research, which compares how the…

The Government is to start sending emergency text messages to phones to warn people about events that pose a risk to life, such as floods, fires, industrial accidents and terror attacks. They’ll contain information on the incident and the area affected, as well as advice on what to do and a link for more details. A first trial held in east Suffolk on 25 May, when residents received a test alert, will be followed by another in Reading on 15 June. If successful, the system will be implemented across the UK. It uses cell broadcasting technology, which sends messages to phones in a specific area without knowing their phone number. The Government said this makes the messages “secure, free to receive, and one-way”, and is not a threat to personal…

www.dashlane.com LastPass ending free syncing across computers and phones was great news for rival password managers, which have come up with eye-catching packages to tempt people to switch. Dashlane’s response is an Essentials plan that offers some features previously found only in its Premium package: unlimited passwords (the Free package limits you to 50), autofill (see screenshot), and Secure Notes for storing private text. What it doesn’t do is let you sync passwords on more than two devices – but at $23.88 a year (about £16.80), it’s around £7 cheaper than Premium. Compare all the packages, including Family, at www.dashlane.com/plans. Overall, we still prefer Bitwarden (www.snipca.com/37640 – see Issue 603, page 38), which syncs passwords across unlimited devices for free, and lets you share with one other person. But the…

Do I have to put up with repeated repairs? LEAD CASE Q Last August, I paid £799 for an Acer Aspire 5 laptop (pictured) from Currys PC World. It was faulty from the start, so Acer replaced the SSD. However, when they returned the laptop the case was warped. Acer promised another repair, but they stopped replying to my emails, so I took up the issue with Currys. It replaced the case but then the laptop kept shutting off. Currys promised me a refund, but instead repaired it again, which I believe was in breach of my consumer rights. Is that correct? Stewart Moore A Stewart’s case is complicated by the fact that he used Acer’s warranty for the first repair. Warranties from manufacturers aren’t covered by the Consumer Rights…

Add evidence to prove your data One of the most overlooked aspects of genealogy is providing evidence for the details you add to your tree. Adding sources such as birth certificates and census returns ties in with the Genealogical Proof Standard (read more about this at www.snipca.com/38155), which professional genealogists use to indicate their research can be trusted by others. Here, we’ll look at ways to add these sources to your work. Use source-driven data entry As things stand, virtually all family-history programs encourage you to enter facts into your tree first, then attach sources later. The danger of this is that sources become an afterthought instead of being a fundamental part of the process. A better method is ‘source-driven data entry’. This may sound dull, but it forces you…

What can I use to mark points in audio files? Q I used to use Sony MiniDiscs for my dance recordings and found the track-marker facility essential as it allowed me to backtrack to the start of a sequence or a particular point. Can you recommend a Windows tool that can do a similar job? Barry Pugh A Audacity (www.audacityteam.org) is the best tool for this. Open your audio track in the tool, then move the playhead to the point you want to go back to either by pressing Play from the start then Pause when you reach that point, or by clicking the appropriate point in the timeline. Now press Ctrl+B – this adds a ‘label’, which will appear in anew Label track below the timeline (see screenshot). Give…

How’s this for an exercise in corporate stupidity? Last month West Midlands Railway sent emails to 2,500 employees promising a bonus for their hard work during the Covid pandemic. Rewarding your staff’s dedication with a cash bonus is hardly villainous behaviour, you might think. Except that in this case, there was no bonus. The emails were fakes, intentionally sent by the railway’s IT team as a test to assess staff awareness of phishing scams. It’s hard to imagine that a company would authorise such a shockingly crass, tone-deaf stunt at the best of times. But during an actual pandemic, when so many staff have genuinely put their own wellbeing on the line for their employers? Simply staggering.…

MESH ROUTER | £270 (3 pack) from Amazon www.snipca.com/38254 Another fine mesh The Orbi RBK352 is Netgear’s new, low-cost Wi-Fi 6 mesh router. At least, it’s low cost compared with the company’s previous Wi-Fi 6 mesh offerings. The high-end Orbi RBK852 (www.snipca.com/38245) costs £645 for a two-node kit, while the mid-range RBK752 (reviewed in Issue 603, www.snipca.com/38246) will set you back £437. The RBK352, by contrast, starts at £195 for a kit with two units, or £270 for three, which is the version we’ve reviewed here. “Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 mesh system reaches into every corner” Inevitably, however, the lower price tag comes with a trade-off. TheRBK352 hardware isn’t as powerful as Netgear’s premium models, and this results in a poorer (though still-good) Wi-Fi performance. For starters, this is a dual-band…

PC MONITOR | £300 from Amazon www.snipca.com/38301 The bigger picture Size isn’t everything, but when it comes to monitors, a big screen can come in very useful. It lets you spread out and do more things at the same time, as well as enjoy films, games and other entertainment in a more immersive way. The AOC Q32P2 is 31.5in across the diagonal, so this is a hefty beast, around the same size as a modest living-room TV. However, it comes at a very affordable price: as we write, Amazon is selling it for around the £300 mark. “A huge screen that adjusts to your needs, but it’s a bit dim” It also looks the business, clad from head to toe in classy black finish and solidly built. It uses an…

PHONE | £629 from Amazon www.snipca.com/38258 Fast, but may make you furious OnePlus made its name with affordable mid-range smartphones that had many of the features of pricier flagship phones from Apple and Samsung. At £629, this latest model is slightly more expensive than its previous models, edging OnePlus closer to those rivals it has previously undercut. As you might expect then, the phone is equipped with an impressive selection of high-end components, including the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. It comes with only 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage, though, which is increasingly common on cheaper phones. The processor does a lot of heavy lifting here, and when we ran our performance and gaming tests the OnePlus 9 proved to be as fast as any phone we’ve reviewed to…

LAPTOP Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 £799 from www.snipca.com/37348 Tested Issue 601 Weighing just 1.16kg, this is an excellent lightweight laptop with a great screen and an AMD processor faster than many Intel rivals. It has two USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports and a microSD card reader. Battery lasts nearly 16 hours. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 New Intel CPUs and a taller screen make this a more powerful, all-round slim laptop. Prices start at £949 from www.snipca.com/36642 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite £299 from www.snipca.com/35795 Tested Issue 582 Competing with Apple’s cheapest 10.2in iPad, this slim aluminium tablet comes with an S Pen stylus and a generous 64GB of storage at a reasonable price. It’s less powerful, but a great buy if you prefer Android. ALTERNATIVE Amazon Fire…

I like my Dell XPS 13 laptop. It’s small, light and fast. However, its video-chat hardware is something of a let down. The quality of the webcam is fine, but it’s positioned at the bottom of the screen, so unless I put the laptop on a stand the poor unfortunates I call often end up getting a view up my nostrils. Even more disappointing is the laptop’s built-in microphone, which adds a nasty mechanical hiss to my dulcet tones and even occasionally chops off the ends of words (the audacity!). I hadn’t realised just how bad it was until a friend pointed out that he was struggling to hear me on a call. Reducing the microphone’s volume in Zoom helped reduce the hissing, but also made it harder for people…

Typewise Free* Android www.snipca.com/38210 iOS www.snipca.com/38211 Typewise has released a new version of its highly customisable keyboard for Android and iOS. The update introduces a fresh interface, improved autocorrection and an option to protect your privacy by switching to offline mode. Unlocking all of the Pro version’s advanced features, will cost you £5.99 per year. DrawPortal Free* Android www.snipca.com/38209 DrawPortal is a fun new way to connect with people online. It’s a drawing app that lets you sketch with other users over the internet – perfect for enjoying time with far-flung grandchildren. There’s even a simplified Baby Mode for younger users. DrawPortal is free to use but in-app purchases unlock additional features. Splice Free Android www.snipca.com/38221 Until recently, this award-winning video-editing app was exclusive to iOS, but has now been…

Windows 10’s Action Centre lets you review recent notifications and turn on settings including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Windows’ mobile hotspot tool. There are two ways to open the Action Centre. One is to click its icon (a square speech bubble) on the right of your taskbar – if you can’t see this icon, right-click an empty section of the taskbar, select ‘Taskbar settings’, then scroll down the ‘Notification area’ section, click ‘Turn system icons on or off’ and click the slider next to ‘action centre’. Alternatively, you can open it using the Windows key+A keyboard shortcut. You can also customise the options in the bottom half of the Action Centre. To do this, right-click one of the buttons and select ‘Edit quick actions’. To remove a button for a setting…

Transcribe in-person meetings in real time In Issue 604 (page 48) we explained how even the most advanced transcription tools struggle to accurately detect what’s being said in online meetings, such as on Zoom and Skype. Microsoft’s new Group Transcribe app (launched in March this year) is different in that it performs real-time transcription during in-person (ie, not video) meetings – something that clubs are finally starting to do again as lockdown restrictions are being eased. It’s also useful if you have members who are hard of hearing since they can follow what’s being said on their device. In our tests, the app worked impressively well, with almost flawless speech-to-text performance. To use it, you’ll need an iPad or iPhone running iOS 12 or higher (that’s the iPhone 5s, 5th…

When a port fails to work – or only works intermittently – a loose connection is often the culprit. Fixing this on a laptop isn’t straightforward because you need to remove the chassis - which can be fiddly and may invalidate the warranty. Things are much easier with a PC, though. First turn off your PC and touch a nearby radiator to earth yourself. Next, open the case, then follow the cables from the faulty port to the motherboard and ensure both ends are securely connected. For ports on PCI cards (as is common with FireWire and eSATA cards), push firmly down on the card and make sure the screw on the backplate is securely tightened. It’s also worth checking your ports in Device Manager (type deviceman in the Start…

Wall-socket faceplates with integrated USB sockets are an increasingly popular option for charging devices around your home. It’s fairly cheap and straightforward to replace existing faceplates with ones that offer USB connections, such as the BG Electrical nbs22u3g (£12 from www.snipca.com/38283 , pictured). Currently, the maximum output from USB ports on most wall-socket faceplates is 15.5W, but watch out for cheaper faceplates with lower rates, as these will charge your devices more slowly. Note that some manufacturers quote their output in voltage (V) and current (A for amps), requiring you to perform a quick spot of maths to calculate the wattage. Basically, V x A = W, so a 5V/3.1A socket will output at 15.5W.…

Feature updates are normally more likely to produce deep rumbling groans than high-pitched beeps, so at least Microsoft is keeping us on our toes. Thankfully, it quickly fixed this bug, and in any case not too many people were affected. More significant is Microsoft’s confirmation that Windows 10X will never find its way on to your desktop. It’s the right decision. We don’t need a stripped-back version of Windows; we just need a system that’s easy to use and can be tweaked to individual tastes.…

You may soon be able to buy a wider range of devices to boost your phone signal indoors under new Ofcom proposals. In 2018 the regulator authorised the use of ‘indoor mobile repeaters’ – sometimes called ‘signal boosters’ – without a licence, provided they met specific technical requirements. Until then, it was illegal to use a repeater that wasn’t approved by a mobile firm because they can interfere with other networks used by people nearby. However, at the moment only the Cel-Fi products from US firm Nextivity (www.signalboosters.co.uk) meet Ofcom’s standards. Its Cel-Fi Prime model (pictured), which is designed for flats and small homes and works with EE and Three only, costs £580. The Cel-Fi Solo model, for larger homes, costs £1,249 and works with EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.…

EBay is letting regulators remove unsafe items being sold on the site without having to consult with it first. It said officials will be able to take down listings “where they have evidence of a risk to consumer safety” in order to speed up the removal of “illegal or unsafe items”. UK regulators already signed up to eBay’s new Regulatory Portal include Ofcom, Westminster City Council Trading Standards and the Office for Product Safety and Standards, with more expected to join soon. More than 50 watchdogs around the world are involved. For years investigators have complained that eBay doesn’t do enough to remove items that pose a danger to the public. Officials have repeatedly found unsafe batteries, toys and electrical appliances being sold on the site. Lesley Rudd, chief executive…

Not sucked in by Dyson win I get so many scams supposedly from Royal Mail and DHL that they’ve become boring now, but one that did surprise me recently claimed to be a message from Currys PC World congratulating me on winning a new Dyson hoover. All I had to do was “participate” in a “Loyalty Program” (whatever that was) and pay £1 to cover delivery cost. Very suspicious! It also wanted my credit-card details. I haven’t shopped in Currys for years, and hardly ever enter competitions, so I knew it was a scam. The email was quite convincing though, with the genuine Currys logo. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

No matter how messy a case gets, sometimes it can be fixed with a single phone call. That’s what we found with Annette Hudson’s complaint against Currys PC World (see Issue 606), which hadn’t delivered on its promise to extend the expiry date of a voucher issued by Domestic & General (D&G). She had bought an extended warranty with the company when she purchased a fridge freezer. When it stopped working two years ago, D&G gave her a £249.99 voucher to spend at Currys. However for various reasons she has been unable to spend it, and it eventually expired. Currys understood her situation and said it would extend the deadline, but this never happened. We suspected this was down to Currys forgetting to contact Annette rather than disputing her request,…

I’ve imported a GEDCOM file from Family Historian into RootsMagic 7, but it doesn’t show any primary photos. How do I fix this? Alan Wilton You’ll need to install the free Export GEDCOM File plug-in for Family Historian (www.snipca.com/38061). It should install automatically once you click the download button and choose to open the file in Family Historian. Next, switch to Family Historian and choose Tools, Plugins, then Export GEDCOM File. Set the ‘GEDCOM Export Mode’ to ‘(RMT) Roots Magic Tree’ and click the Export button. Import this file into RootsMagic and the primary photos should now appear. Have a genealogy question for Nick? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

Websites from the late 1990s (like those classic GeoCities sites, which you can revisit at www.snipca.com/38370) might have looked garish, but I’d much rather browse them than some of today’s monstrosities. It’s not just the bombardment of adverts, but also the insistent way which modern sites try to prevent you from leaving. YouTube is a prime example. Unless I’m watching a video in full screen, it inflicts upon me a list of ‘watch next’ suggestions down the right-hand side of the page – often entirely unrelated to what I’m actually watching. It’s a distraction I could do without. To take these sites to task, I use uBlock Origin (UBO) - not to be confused with an inferior extension simply called uBlock. As well as blocking ads and cookies, this amazing…

PHONE | £90 from Nokia www.snipca.com/38279 Four score and ten While manufacturers like Apple and Samsung charge hundreds of pounds for their latest models, it’s still possible to get a new smartphone for less than £100. The new Nokia 1.4 is a good example. Of course there are compromises involved at this price, but if you don’t want to spend more, it’s a perfectly capable smartphone. The design is eye-catching, with a robust plastic chassis. The bezels around the edge of the screen are reasonably thin, with a neat hole-punch notch at the top-centre of the screen for the front-facing camera. “A surprisingly decent screen and performance level for the price” The two rear-facing cameras are neatly arranged, sitting just above a sensibly placed fingerprint sensor that unlocks the device.…

Q I enjoyed your feature about label printers in Issue 604 (page 62). As someone who often buys and sells things on eBay, I’m wondering if any of the models you featured would be able to print the eBay or Royal Mail postage labels? If not, can you recommend the cheapest model that does? I currently print, cut out and stick my online postage labels with tape on to parcels and wouldn’t mind paying for greater convenience and less waste. Hefin Davies A Both eBay and Royal Mail use 6x4in (150x100mm) labels, so you just need a printer capable of printing at that size. In Issue 604 we recommended the Dymo LabelWriter 4XL (£232 from www.snipca.com/37769), which can print these and works with labels produced by the Post Office, eBay…

FITNESS WATCH | £45 from Amazon www.snipca.com/38332 Wide open face Despite costing less than £50, the Honor Band 6 has the styling of a more expensive smartwatch, with a wider, squarer face than most of its rivals. The screen’s dimensions of 0.8x1.6in make using its touch controls a little less fiddly than slimmer rivals. However, there’s still a physical menu button, which is more reliable when rain and sweat are involved. The screen is a colourful AMOLED panel with a resolution of 194x368 pixels, but it isn’t all that bright, which can make it tricky to read in sunshine. It tracks steps, heart rate and exercise, as most fitness watches do, but adds the less common options of tracking stress (through heart rate), sleep and blood oxygen (SpO2) level. It’s…

Crucial’s Ballistix gaming memory is designed for high-performance over clocking and is ideal for gamers and performance enthusiasts looking to push beyond standard limits. In this competition we’re giving away two packs of 16GB memory each pack contains two 8GB memory modules. They’re DDR4 modules, with a clock speed of 4400MHz, so deliverer exceptional gaming performance. Each module has a high-quality matte black extruded aluminum heat spreader, providing maximum heat dissipation, while an on-DIMM sensor lets you monitor the temperature in real time. You can control the LEDs using software. We’re giving away black kits, though the modules also come in white and red. To enter this competition, email your home address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk with ‘Crucial’ in the subject line by midnight15June. You canbuy these 16GB kits from Amazon priced…

Jabra Evolve2 65 £146 www.snipca.com/38340 This Bluetooth headset keeps going for 35 hours of calls on a single charge, and with comfortable memory-foam cushions on the earpieces it’s perfect for long video chats. Its mic mutes when you flip it up, and the headset displays a red light when you’re on a call so people know not to disturb you. Sennheiser/EPOS Adapt 135 £46 www.snipca.com/38341 If you don’t like the idea of having to charge your headset, consider this single-earpiece Sennheiser set, which connects via USB-C or 3.5mm audio. We found the microphone captured high-quality audio and did impressively well at blocking out nearby noise. Jabra Talk 25 £29 www.snipca.com/38342 One of the cheapest Bluetooth earpieces, the Talk 25 performs well and, thanks to its omni-directional microphone, it picks up…

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Check if you can hear lossless audio My hearing has slowly deteriorated with age, so I’ve often wondered whether my ears can still tell the difference between lossless audio and normal. I checked using a clever site that plays you tracks from Spotify. Visit www.snipca.com/38062 and click Do The Test. Read the instructions, then click the ‘I’m busy, do 5 trials’ button. On the next screen click the X in the middle. Now click the A and B buttons and listen carefully to work out which sounds the same as X (only one of them does). When you’ve decided, click ‘X is A’ or ‘X is B’ at the bottom (see screenshot), then ‘next’. You’ll now hear the same track a further four times, so make…

Knots 3D £5.49 (Android), £5.99 (iOS) Android www.snipca.com/38212 iOS www.snipca.com/38213 At just over a fiver, this app might seem relatively expensive, but it provides an exhaustive reference, with more than 150 different knots detailed and displayed in 3D, all of which can be rotated, zoomed, slowed down and viewed from every angle to help you learn how to master them. Best For A more comprehensive selection What Knot To Do Free iOS www.snipca.com/38214 This wittily named app is a bit more back-to-basics compared with Knots 3D above, with straightforward step-bystep guides to tying more than 70 knots. Usefully, however, the app arranges knots by activity – fishing, sailing, camping and so on – as well as by name. Best For Identifying knots for specific activities Tangle Master 3D Free* Android…

MICROSOFT EXCEL Add tick boxes to Excel… Tick boxes in documents are very handy for recording attendance at a meeting, marking items that are out on loan and for many other lists, but you may struggle when trying to use them in spreadsheets. In Excel, you first need to enable the Developer tab. Right-click anywhere within the top toolbar (such as over the File menu), then select ‘Customize the Ribbon’. In the window that opens, locate the Developer option with the ‘Main tabs’ pane on the right and tick the box next to it (see screenshot below), followed by OK. You’ll now see the Developer menu in the toolbar. Click this, select Insert, then click the tick-box icon within the Form Controls section. Next, click and drag to place the…

What are they? The smallest microchips ever made, created by IBM in its test labs in Albany, New York state. It announced the breakthrough in May, predicting that it will lead to a boost in computing power while using less energy. How small are they? The ‘nm’ stands for nanometre, which is a billionth (0.000000001) of a metre, so the chips (or semiconductors) are almost unfathomably small. They’re narrower than a single strand of human DNA. However, the name ‘2nm’ itself doesn’t specifically refer to the size of the chip. Instead, it’s a marketing term used to describe the power and performance of chips, with smaller being better. Is that them in the main photo? Yes. We know it looks like an X-ray taken at a dentist for robots, but…

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Shouldn’t you have recommended an SSD not more RAM? Q I was surprised that your advice to George Wensley in Problems Solved (Issue 604, page 66) didn’t include suggesting that he upgrades the hard drive of his PC with a solid-state drive (SSD). This would speed things up far more than adding RAM, and he could clone his existing installation to the SSD using Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/reflectfree), with no need to reinstall Windows. Maybe he already has an SSD, but that doesn’t seem likely if his PC is running slowly. Also, your advice to Ying-Hui The in the same issue (page 67) could have suggested he try accessing the “persistent miscreants” in Incognito mode. I don’t know for sure, but it seems likely to me that Chrome wouldn’t save…