****

USE JUST ONE

PASSWORD...
RECORD YOUR PC
SCREEN – EASILY! DITCH
...to access ALL your accounts
page 35
Superb new FREE tool you’ll love p38
AUG 2022 THESE
DEVICES?
ISSUE 636 ❘ 20 JUL – 2

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Best Apps For Your

SMART TV
Add these to your TV – and go beyond Netflix,
BBC, ITV & Amazon Prime Video p50
 Watch free films & TV
 Stream from your PC
 Listen to radio
 Unblock restricted TV
Remove unwanted apps
to free up space

RENAME YOUR FILES FASTER HOW WE REMOVED

9.5GB FROM OUR PC
Learn this clever PowerShell command p20 Follow our junk-wiping masterclass p62
WELCOME
EDITORIAL
Group Editor Daniel Booth
Deputy Editor Robert Irvine
From the Editor
Production Editor Graham Brown
Art Editor Katie Peat The Netflix paradox is that the more shows screen and you’re missing out.
Contributors Dinah Greek, David Ludlow, Jonathan Parkyn,
Chris Paton, Nik Rawlinson, Andy Shaw
it offers me, the less I find that I want to Robert Irvine’s recommendations still
watch. It’s why I’m considering cancelling contain some big names (Paramount+,
ADVERTISING
Advertising Manager Alexandra Thomas
my account, along with the millions Discovery+), but also many more specialised
Deputy Advertising Manager Rebecca New expected to leave this year. channels with content far more compelling
MARKETING AND CIRCULATION
Increasingly I’m seeking niche channels than the latest cliched drama from the US.
Subscriptions Juber Ahmed with content that may be less glossy, but is Thanks to Robert’s suggestions, I’ve
For subscription enquiries ring 0330 333 9493
more interesting and authentic. It’s what recently gone on safari (WildEarth),
PRODUCTION gave me the idea for this issue’s Cover orbited the Earth (Nasa TV) and visited
Head of Production
Stephen Catherall
Feature. We often recommend looking the world’s major cities (EarthCam).
Senior Production Manager beyond the pre-installed programs on your Not once did I wonder what I was missing
Lawrence Brookes
computer to find better alternatives – well, on Netflix.
INTERNATIONAL LICENSING AND SYNDICATION the same is true of your smart TV. Stick Daniel Booth
Computeractive is available for licensing and syndication.
with the main channels on your home editor@computeractive.co.uk
To find out more contact us at licensing@futurenet.com or
view our available content at www.futurecontenthub.com.
Head of Print Licensing
Rachel Shaw p38
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Material may not be reproduced in any form without the
written consent of the publisher. Please address such
requests to editor@computeractive.co.uk.

LIABILITY
While every care was taken preparing this magazine, the
publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy
of the information or any consequence arising from p50
it. All judgments are based on equipment available to
Computeractive at the time of review. Computeractive
takes no responsibility for the content of external websites
whose addresses are published in the magazine.

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Average sales, Jan-Dec 2021 68,144

copies per issue. THIS ISSUE IN NUMBERS HOW TO USE
Computeractive
Printed in the UK £50 75% SNIPCA URLs
What Virgin says Proportion of people We use snipcas to turn long URLs
it’ll pay you for the Government that are hard to type into ones that
referring a friend to wants using the NHS are short and simple. They aren’t
its broadband - p14 app by 2024 - p7 websites themselves, which means
they won’t be recognised if you type
1,000 years them into Google. Instead, you need to
How long M-Discs type them into your browser address
are designed to last bar, then press Enter. Doing this will
- p25 take you to the correct website.

Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 3

 Contents
20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636

6 News Huge rise in scammers

impersonating real businesses

10 Question of the Fortnight How would a

BT strike affect your broadband?

11 Protect Your Tech

‘Link-less’ PayPal email scams

12 Letters Google News no substitute for

local papers
p10
14 Consumeractive
Where’s my model train from eBay?
Will BT picket
16 Grow Your Family Tree
line take you
Explore FamilySearch’s Research Wiki
offline?
18 Best Free Software
Thunderbird 102 Samsung Galaxy Book2 360
21 Named & Shamed p22
TuberVanced’s hypocritical app adverts

Reviews
22 Samsung Galaxy Book2 360
Galaxy laptop in a world of its own

23 Huawei MateStation X
All-in-one PC could be one for all

24 Lenovo Tab P12 Pro

AMOLED tablet for movie buffs

25 HP Envy Inspire 7920e

Reliable printer looks good on paper Huawei MateStation X

26 Realme 9 5G p23
pxx
A phone of acceptable compromises

28 Logitech G413
Sturdy keyboard makes the right switch
Grell TWS/1 In-ear Headphones
Earbuds for the hear and now

29 CyberLink PowerDirector Ultimate

Video editor is a home-movie star

30 Buy It/Competition
Win a TP-Link Deco X20 Mesh Wi-Fi unit

4 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636

 Subscribe now!
See page 58 for our special subs offer

Workshops & Tips

35 
How to… Access all your
passwords on any device

38 
Record your PC screen with audio 4
using PicPick

40 Readers’ Tips Use strikethrough to

cross out loads of data

42 Browser Tips Fake your location

when browsing the web
p35
44 Phone and Tablet Tips Move your
WhatsApp data from Android to iOS Passwords: access all areas

46 Make Windows Better Press Tab to

Best Apps For Your

move through Settings quickly

47 Make Office Better

SMART TV
Find and replace special characters

48 In the Club
Embed an Excel file on your site

49 What’s All the Fuss About? Add these to your TV – and go beyond Netflix, CO
Cancelling Amazon Prime BBC, ITV & Amazon Prime FEATVER
UR
P50 E
50 COVER FEATURE  Watch free films & TV
Best apps for your smart TV  Stream from your PC
There’s more to your smart TV than just the  Listen to radio
usual streaming services. We reveal the  Unblock restricted TV
apps that’ll revolutionise your telly Remove unwanted apps

60 Ditch these old devices?

Is your tech on borrowed time? Find out if
your device is nearing the end of support

62 Remove junk with BCUninstaller Should you

ditch these
Get rid of unwanted programs, folders and
leftovers quietly and completely

64 Problems Solved
Where’s my CMOS battery?

71 Reader Support How can I uninstall

‘irritating’ YouTube extension?
old devices?
p60
72 Jargon Buster
Amazon Galaxy
Is your tech
74 Easy When You Know How heading for an iPad Kindle
Tab S4
Robert Irvine reads the web bionically early grave? Mini 4&5

Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 5

 News
Huge rise in scammers
impersonating real businesses
S
cammers impersonating
legitimate businesses
and organisations stole
£580m from Britons in 2021,
an increase of 40 per cent year
on year.
The figure comes from the
annual fraud report published
WHAT WE THINK
It’s important to realise
that the APP code places
some responsibility on
your own actions. You’re
expected to pay attention to
warnings from your bank,
and follow any instructions
to confirm the legitimacy
of the payment. To make a
successful claim, you must
have had a “reasonable
basis” for believing that the
person you paid was the
person you were expecting
to pay, and that they offer a
genuine service. Whenever
we get an invoice by email, no
matter who from, we always
phone the sender to check it’s
authentic. You should too.
Microsoft delays banning ‘copycat’ Store apps
M icrosoft has delayed
banning paid-for apps
from the Microsoft Store that
are available for free elsewhere
following complaints from
developers
It had said that its new
Store policy would prevent
open-source apps from being
sold when it’s “otherwise
You’ll like this…
3,000 rural primary schools are getting
1Gbps broadband (www.snipca.com/42578)
6 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
The top stories in the world of technology
by banking trade body UK
Finance (www.snipca.
com/42579), which warned
that the country is suffering
from an “epidemic of fraud”.
In ‘authorised push
payment’ (APP) scams,
criminals pretend to be from a
trusted source like the NHS,
government departments or
your bank or solicitor and
trick you into authorising a
payment
These attacks aren’t random
because the scammer has
intercepted emails from you
to the service you owe money
to. It means often you’re
expecting the payment that’s
being requested, making it
more likely you’ll fall for the
scam.
In the past banks have been
reluctant to refund the money
you lost because technically
you approved the payment.
However, most have now
signed up to the Authorised
Push Payment Scam Code,
which means they must seek
to reimburse victims.
Investment scams in which
generally available for free,
nor be priced irrationally
high relative to the features
and functionality provided by
your product” (see Issue 635,
page 7).
However, developers
said that Microsoft was
wrong to assume that
open-source should always be
criminals stole gold, property
and cryptocurrencies
accounted for the biggest total
loss (£171m), followed by
scams impersonating police
or bank staff (£137m).
UK Finance said that
push-payment scams made
up 44 per cent of the £1.3bn
stolen by fraudsters in 2021.
Another 40 per cent involved
payment cards, including
counterfeits, while the rest
were fake transactions made
online, over the phone or
through mobile apps.
free, and asked the company
to clarify.
In response, Giorgio Sardo
– the General Manager of
Apps, Partners, Store at
Microsoft – tweeted that the
aim was not to prevent
open-source software being
sold, but to clamp down on
“misleading listings”.
but not this…
Fake UK passports are being sold on the
dark web (www.snipca.com/42584)
Katy Worobec, UK Finance’s
managing director for economic
crime, noted that fraudsters
“have become increasingly
adept at adapting their
methods to suit changes in
our lifestyles and in consumer
behaviour”, in a reference to
how criminals continuously
evolved their scams during
the Covid pandemic.
“We need continued efforts
from government and other
sectors to tackle what is now a
national security threat,” she
added.
This seemed to suggest
that Microsoft would stop the
sale of ‘copycat’ apps that
impersonate official tools,
but developers still asked for
more detail.
Sardo then tweeted that the
new rules will be delayed to
give Microsoft time to “clarify
the intent”.
New-look Gmail is here,
but you can easily go back
G oogle is rolling out a new
design for Gmail, but you
can revert to the previous
version if you don’t like the
changes.
The new look adds a panel
on the left that Google says
lets you switch more easily
between Gmail, Chat and the
video-tool Meet (see
screenshot right).
Notifications of new
messages in Chat appear as
“bubbles” at the bottom of the
panel. You can change which
tools appear in the panel in
Gmail’s settings, as Google
explains at www.snipca.
com/42575.
Google first announced the
redesign in January, offering it
to people who wanted to ‘opt
in’ to try it. It’s now being
rolled out as the default design
for “select users”, who will
need to ‘opt out’ to go back to
NHS digital revolution ‘must not leave
elderly patients behind’
P atients groups have
called for the
Government to ensure that
elderly people are not
neglected as part of its
“digital revolution” for
the NHS.
It follows then Health
Secretary Sajid Javid
announcing plans to
modernise the NHS app to
make sure the service can
meet “the challenges of
2048 – not 1948, when it
was first established”.
He said the current NHS
App (www.nhs.uk/nhs-app,
pictured) will be upgraded to
allow video consultations
with GPs by March 2024.
Ministers claim it will give
patients easy and direct
access to a doctor, but critics
say the move risks excluding
millions of elderly Britons
the old style.
To do this, click the Settings
cog at the top right, then
select ‘Go back to the original
Gmail view’ (see screenshot
right). If you haven’t got the
new design yet but would like
it, click the cog, then select
‘Try out the new Gmail view’.
who aren’t comfortable using
a phone.
Dennis Reed, from the
over-60s’ rights group Silver
Voices (https://silvervoices.co.
uk), told MailOnline: “In the
rush to digitalisation, older
people are being swept to one
side, as if their needs do not
merit consideration”.
He added: “Where
are the safeguards for
those who do not own
smartphones or find it
very difficult to work
with apps because of
dexterity or eyesight
problems?”
Javid also announced
that by March 2023
patients will be able to
use the app to receive
messages from their
GP, and see their
medical records. Some
patients who use the app
can already access these
services.
The Government wants at
least 75 per cent of adults to
be using the app by March
2024. Currently, less than
half – about 28 million –
have installed it.
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 7
IN BRIEF
AMAZON TESTS
DELIVERY BY E-BIKE
Amazon is
trialling delivery
by electronic bike
in central London
as part of its
ambition to be
carbon neutral
by 2040. The ‘e-cargo bikes’
(pictured) are being used
alongside deliveries made on
foot. Amazon says it already
has 1,000 electric vans on
UK roads, which made
45m deliveries in 2021.
Read more at www.snipca.
com/42558.
ADD POWERTOYS TOOLS
TO RIGHT-CLICK MENU
Microsoft has released a
new version of PowerToys
(0.60) that adds the tools
Image Resizer and Power
Rename to the right-click
options in Windows 11. If you
already have PowerToys
installed, open it, then
click ‘Check for updates’.
If not, you can download it
from the Microsoft Store
(www.snipca.com/42572),
or from the developer’s
GitHub page at www.snipca.
com/42573 – scroll down
and click ‘PowerToysSetup-
0.60.0-x64.exe’.
TOMORROW’S
WORLD
This robot has just learned
what toddlers know
instinctively: play dough
is fun. Scientists at the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology taught it to turn
the “shapeless sludge” into
identifiable
letters, saying
it could be
used to help
people with
mobility
problems.
Watch it at
www.snipca.
com/42557.
 News
IN BRIEF
MICROSOFT TESTING
EDGE IMAGE EDITOR
Microsoft is testing an image
editor in its browser Edge.
The tool (pictured), available
in the Canary preview
version of Edge (www.
snipca.com/42562), lets
you edit a picture before you
save it using several features
from the Windows Photo
app. These include cropping,
changing brightness, and
annotation. See more
screenshots at www.snipca.
com/42561.
LEBARA ADDS WI-FI
CALLING TO PHONES
Mobile network Lebara has
added Wi-Fi Calling to its
service, letting you make
phone calls over your home
Wi-Fi connection. It has also
added 4G Calling, which
keeps calls on 4G, rather
than dropping back to 3G or
2G. Lebara is a mobile virtual
network operator (MVNO),
using Vodafone’s network.
Check its coverage at www.
snipca.com/42568.
THE WORLD’S
GONE MAD!
Hong Kong’s
Transport
Department
is doing its
best to make
sure this man
doesn’t get run
over. He’s being bathed in a
‘zombie traffic light’ designed
to remind pedestrians glued
to their phones not to cross
while the red light is on.
Four such lights have been
installed across the city.
8 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
Driver cancels parking fine after
Google proves he wasn’t there
A motorist has overturned a
£100 parking fine after
using Google’s Location
History to prove he had not
overstayed in a car park.
Premier Park, which
manages 850 car parks across
the UK, fined Jamie Chalmers
for over-staying in a car park
by three hours, even though
he claimed he hadn’t used it.
Chalmers, from Hilsea,
Portsmouth, appealed by
sending evidence of his
Location History that showed
he had instead visited two
drive-through restaurants
nearby. Premier Park upheld
his complaint and cancelled
the fine.
He told the Telegraph that
he was “shocked” by the fine,
which he was given while
on a night out celebrating his
21st birthday.
He said Premier Park sent
photos of him driving back to
a main road, and giving way at
a junction. Other drivers
could use Location History to
Hackers deface British Army’s Twitter
and YouTube pages
T he Ministry of Defence is
investigating how hackers
were able to deface the British
Army’s Twitter and YouTube
accounts.
Its YouTube channel (www.
youtube.com/britisharmy)
was hacked to show videos
about cryptocurrency and
images of tech entrepreneur
Elon Musk, while its Twitter
account (https://twitter.com/
BritishArmy) retweeted a
number of posts appearing
to relate to digital assets
known as NFTs.
The Army’s profile picture
on Twitter was changed
several times during the
fight wrongly issued fines,
he added.
Google’s Location History
saves where you’ve been while
in possession of your phone.
You need to be signed into
your Google Account, and
have both Location History
and Location Reporting
turned on.
To activate Location
History, visit Google’s
‘Activity controls’ at www.
snipca.com/42555 and click
the ‘Turn on’ button (see
screenshot), then ‘Turn on’
again to confirm.
attack, at one point
showing a cartoon
pink head severed
from the rest of the
body (pictured).
The biography
underneath was
replaced with the
message: “We all have a
dark side. What will yours
look like?”
The attack took place on
Sunday 3 July, and seemed to
last just a few hours before
order was restored. Defence
sources haven’t commented
on whether Russian hackers
were responsible.
The Army has more than
To enable Location
Reporting, tap on your
phone’s Settings app, then
Location, followed by
Google Location Reporting.
Now tap Location Reporting,
then turn the slider on.
Back in the ‘Activity
controls’, you can also tell
Google to automatically
delete your location data
after three months, 18
months, or three years.
Visit Google’s ‘Account
Help’ pages for more
information: www.snipca.
com/42554.
364,000 followers on Twitter
and 177,000 subscribers on
YouTube.
It follows another security
scare in March when data
relating to 124 UK military
recruits was found being sold
on the dark web.
The leak forced the Army to
shut down its computerised
recruitment system for over a
month.
Apple fails to block mass
lawsuit for ‘app overcharging’
N early 20 million UK
iPad and iPhone users
are a step closer to winning
compensation from Apple
after the company failed in a
bid to limit a lawsuit that
claims it overcharged people
for apps.
The case, bought by Dr
Rachael Kent – a lecturer in
digital economy at King’s
College London – alleges that
Apple breached competition
law by forcing app developers
to use Apple’s payment
system for in-app purchases,
and taking up to 30 per cent
commission on each
transaction.
This unfairly increased the
prices consumers had to pay
for apps, Dr Kent argues,
while generating “excessive”
profits for Apple.
The company claimed that
Dr Kent’s case should be
dismissed because she used
the wrong legal test when
Doubts over broadband
firms’ ‘cost of living’ plan
M ost of the UK’s
broadband and mobile
providers have agreed a
‘cost of living’ plan with the
Government to help people
pay their bills, though it’s
unclear whether the measures
can be enforced.
BT, Openreach, Virgin
Media O2, Vodafone, Three,
TalkTalk and Sky, along with
several smaller firms, all
signed up to commitments at
a Government-led “summit”
in late June.
The pledges include offering
struggling customers ways to
keep them connected, such as
“allowing them to move to
cheaper packages without
charge or penalty, or agreeing
presenting it, but the
Competition Appeal Tribunal
disagreed and the case is
now expected to go to trial
next year.
If successful, compensation
of £1.5bn could be shared
among everyone who bought
apps, or paid for subscriptions
or in-app purchases, from
Apple’s App Store since
1 October 2015 – around
19.6 million people.
If you’re not sure whether
you’ve bought anything since
then, check by logging into
your App Store account.
Open the Settings app
on your device, then tap
your name, followed by
‘Media & Purchases’. Next, tap
View Account, then sign in (if
prompted) and tap Purchase
History (see screenshot). Tap
‘Last 90 Days’, then select an
older date range (see these
instructions at www.snipca.
com/42526).
manageable payment plans”.
Providers also agreed to
protect vulnerable customers
as a priority, and to raise
awareness of their social-tariff
deals, which are low-cost
packages available to people
claiming Universal Credit.
In February, Ofcom said that
fewer than two per cent of
people eligible for Universal
Credit are signed up to a
social tariff. Across the UK
4.2 million households are
eligible, but only 55,000
homes have taken advantage
of the discounted rates.
It calculates the average
household saving is £144 a
year. Visit www.snipca.
com/42466 to see Ofcom’s list
In addition, you can
check your eligibility on
the lawsuit’s official site:
www.snipca.com/42525.
You don’t need to do anything
to be considered for
compensation. The case is
‘opt out’, which means you’re
automatically included unless
you choose not to be.
Dr Kent applauded the
decision, saying that Apple’s
“almost unlimited resources”
will make the case a
“challenging fight”.
of available social tariffs.
Digital Secretary Nadine
Dorries said the measures
will help families who face
“increased anxiety about
keeping up with bills” (www.
snipca.com/42465).
However, the commitments
don’t appear to have any legal
basis, and are similar to
previous pledges announced
by the firms. The Government
didn’t say whether it would
monitor how the companies
were honouring the
commitments.
Have you switched to a social
tariff? Let us know: letters@
computeractive.co.uk
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 9
IN BRIEF
VIRGIN SWITCHES ON
UK’S FIRST 5G HOSPITAL
Virgin Media O2 has switched
on the first 5G network to
run in an NHS hospital. Trials
are underway at Bethlem
Royal Hospital, part of the
South London and Maudsley
NHS Trust, that will allow
medical staff to make
‘e-observations’ on handheld
devices. 5G will also be
used in AR headsets, and
to monitor the temperature
of fridges storing medicine.
Read more at www.snipca.
com/42537.
CHECK WHETHER
WEBSITES ARE SCAMS
A new scam-checking site
lets you verify the legitimacy
of a website by typing its
web address (URL). Created
by internet safety group
Get Safe Online and fraud-
prevention service Cifas, the
‘Check a website’ tool uses
an algorithm based on more
than 40 security sources to
provide a “trust score”. Visit
www.snipca.com/42536,
type a URL, then click ‘Check
this site’ (pictured below).
NETFLIX CONFIRMS
ADVERTS COMING SOON
Netflix has confirmed that
it’s launching a cheaper
subscription plan that contains
adverts. CEO Ted Sarandos
said it’s for “folks who say
‘hey, I want a lower price and
I’ll watch ads”. He added that
it would be available “sooner
rather than later”, but didn’t
mention pricing. It follows
Netflix losing 200,000
subscribers in the first three
months of 2022, its first fall
in over 10 years.
 Questionof
Question ofthe
theFortnight
Fortnight
How would a BT strike affect
your broadband?
Repairs and installation of new lines could be delayed nationwide
I
n January 1987, 117,000
British Telecom phone
engineers went on strike
over pay and working hours.
Back then the impact was on
phone lines, with banks and
credit-card firms particularly
badly affected. We might see
similar disruption across
broadband networks this
summer if workers proceed
with strike action.
In late June, 30,000
Openreach engineers voted to
strike (equating to 96 per cent
of a turnout of 75 per cent). It
followed BT Group, which
owns Openreach, offering staff
a £1,500 annual pay rise, up
from an initial £1,200.
The company claimed it
would be the biggest pay rise
for frontline workers in more
than 20 years – an average
five-per-cent increase, and up
to eight per cent for those on
the lowest salaries.
During lockdowns, Openreach
postponed any non-essential
planned engineering – that’s likely
to happen again
But the Communications
Workers Union (CWU), which
represents the engineers, said
that because of soaring inflation
the extra money amounted to
a “dramatic real-terms pay
cut”. It pointed out that BT
made £1.3 billion in annual
net profit for the year ending
31 March (though down 13 per
cent from the previous year),
and highlighted that CEO
Philip Jansen’s pay increased
10 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
by 32 per cent to £3.5 million.
As we go to press, BT is
considering the union’s
demand of a 10-per-cent
increase. If it’s rejected and
engineers down tools, you
probably won’t notice any
difference at first. It won’t be
like the ongoing train strikes,
where no drivers means no
trains. You don’t need
engineers for your broadband
to run. But you do need them
to fix faults and install new
services. Both are likely to be
severely delayed by strikes.
It’s important to note that it
won’t just be BT customers
affected. Openreach engineers
Be careful
of pic box width
and blue tag
clashing, reduce
pic box width
slightly, thank u
>>>
maintain the broadband
infrastructure that most
providers use, including EE,
Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk,
Vodafone and Zen Internet –
over 30 million customers
across the UK. Only customers
of providers that use their
own cables, such as Virgin
Media O2 and CityFibre, will
escape disruption.
BT claims its Civil Resilience
team will work to “keep our
customers and the country
connected”. This unit is
dedicated to dealing with
emergencies, such as power
cuts, flooding and – as we’ve
seen – pandemics. However,
it’ll be far from business as
usual. During the Covid
lockdowns, Openreach
operated a “change freeze”,
postponing any non-essential
planned engineering. That’s
likely to happen again.
Even if you’re not switching
service or needing repairs, you
might be hit by the other half
THE FACTS
• Openreach engineers and
BT call-centre workers
have voted to go on strike
• BT has offered a 5-8 per
cent pay rise, but
the Communications
Workers Union has called
for 10 per cent
• More than 30 million
people use broadband
provided on the Openreach
network
of the industrial action, in
which 9,000 call-centre
workers voted to strike. If it
goes ahead, there won’t be
anyone to answer your calls
should you have a problem.
Recent history suggests an
agreement could be made.
Last July, the CWU called off a
vote to strike after BT agreed
to a series of measures,
including pay increases and
steps to avoid compulsory
redundancies.
But the union will surely
have one eye on the outcome
of that strike 35 years ago. Two
weeks into it, as banks
struggled to cope and the
stock exchange’s telecoms
system collapsed, unions
accepted BT’s offer of a 12.75-
per-cent pay rise over two
years, higher than their
original request of 10 per cent.
With broadband now as
essential as phone lines were
then, you wouldn’t blame
union bosses for feeling
confident – and if inflation
continues to rocket you
wouldn’t bet against another
dispute next year.
Protect your tech
Scams and threats to avoid, plus new security tools
WATCH OUT FOR...
‘Link-less’ PayPal email scams
What’s the threat?
Scammers are sending fake
PayPal order confirmations
in emails that claim you’ve
bought around $500 of the
cryptocurrency Dogecoin. The
message comes from ‘Pay-Pal_
Store’ ( 1 in our screenshot)
and says the payment has been
made via Cleverbridge, which
is legitimate software that
companies use to process online
payments. The email also gives a
transaction ID number and a
date 2 , and says the payment method
you used was ‘PayPal Credit’ 3 .
What’s most interesting about the
scam is that it doesn’t ask you to click a
link to investigate the payment. Instead,
it asks you to phone a number – 1(808)
427-5524 – which, according to
researchers at US security firm Avanan,
is listed in Hawaii. If you call it, you’ll be
asked for your credit-card number to
New tools Android shortcut for
Google’s Password Manager
Google has added a
shortcut to the Password
Manager settings for
Android, making it easier
to find your login details
when you need to sign
into a service on another
device, such as a smart TV
or a public computer.
To activate it, you’ll need
to dig into your phone or
tablet’s settings. First,
open Settings, then tap
Privacy followed by
‘Autofill service from
Google’. If you’ve not used
it before, you’ll need to tap
Continue to proceed. Now
tap Passwords then the cog
icon at the top right to enter the
Password Manager’s settings. Now tap
1 sceptical about clicking
2 You can understand their
3 more reassuring than
“cancel” the charge.
Avanan said that the scammers aren’t
actually based in Hawaii. They’ve simply
registered a number there, which
forwards calls to another international
number (visit www.snipca.com/42440
for details).
How can you stay safe?
The lesson to learn here is that scammers
don’t just use links in emails. They realise
‘Add shortcut to your
home screen’, followed by
‘Add to Home screen’.
You’ll now see the
shortcut icon on your
screen (it’s a key in
Google’ colours – see
screenshot). Position it
where you want and
simply tap it the next time
you want fast access to
your password details.
If you don’t see the
options to add the
shortcut, it may be
because your Android
device has yet to update to
version 22.18 (or later) of
Google Play Services. To do
this, follow Google’s ‘Step 1’ instructions
at www.snipca.com/42441.
that many people are
links in unexpected emails,
and that a phone number
can appear more legitimate.
reasoning. Talking to a
person about a strange
payment instinctively feels
clicking a link.
Avanan detected a similar
‘link-less’ scam late last year
that sent fake Amazon
confirmation orders (see www.snipca.
com/42435), suggesting that it’s a tactic
fraudsters are beginning to try more
often. Be aware that scammers try to
impersonate other tech brands like Apple,
eBay, Microsoft and Google, as well as
courier services and Royal Mail. If you
want to talk to PayPal’s customer service,
the real number is 020 3901 7000. For
Amazon it’s 020 7084 7911.
ScamWatch
Readers warn readers
Apple Pay ‘unusual
activity’
I’ve never used Apple Pay, so I was
rather surprised when out of the blue
I received a text telling me it had been
suspended “due to unusual activity”.
But then I realised it was clearly a
scam. The number it came from was
07305 315604, and it said I could
“reactivate” my wallet by tapping a
link which had ‘applepayuk-service’ in
the middle. That sounded like a dodgy
URL to me, and I had my suspicions
confirmed when I searched online and
saw it being reported in several
places (such as at www.snipca.
com/42321). I deleted the text, and
still haven’t used Apple Pay.
Simon Dodds
Warn your fellow readers about scams
at letters@computeractive.co.uk
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 11
 Letters
Tell us what’s on your mind
Get rid of the BBC’s ‘outdated’
licence fee
I fully understand why Ofcom
wants the BBC to get more of its
content online (Issue 635, page 7), but the
much bigger issue is the outdated licence
fee. I haven’t paid
the licence fee for
two years, having
finally realised during the first lockdown
how much rubbish was on the main
channels (not just the BBC, but ITV and
Channels 4 and 5, too).
For drama and films, I now subscribe
to Netflix and Amazon Prime. For news
and information, I watch YouTube. Not
having terrestrial TV felt odd at first, but
now it never even occurs to me to wonder
what’s on the BBC or ITV.
By the way, I don’t fall into the typical
category of people abandoning the BBC.
I’m in my seventies, not my twenties. For
every one of me, there must be a dozen
who are much younger and are baffled
that we still have a TV licence.
Paul Chapman
As someone who doesn’t watch the
BBC and hasn’t got a TV licence,
I’m concerned by Ofcom’s proposal that
the corporation do more online.
I’m worried the BBC will go down that
route, and then argue that the licence fee
should be scrapped and replaced by an
‘internet tax’ levied by internet service
providers. This means everyone will have
to fund them, whether or not they get
anything useful in return.
In my view, a subscription model
would be fairer, and would make the BBC
more accountable to its audience.
Jerry Hynes
Spend £500 on a
smartphone? Mine cost £150!
In reply to Richard Ives, who
says he will have to give up
shopping in his local town because he
can’t justify spending £500 on a
smartphone just so he can park his car
(Letters, Issue 635), there’s simply no
need to pay anything close to £500 for a
phone. I have a Motorola smartphone
that cost me about £150, and I run it on
a SIM-only contract for £5 a month.
There are perfectly adequate
smartphones available for even less than
that. I generally replace mine only every
12 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
four years (sometimes longer). So the
yearly cost for the phone and calls can be
less than £100 if I’m careful. The data
allowance I get as part of my deal is
invaluable when we’re away in our
caravan, and with unlimited call minutes,
I rarely use my landline, which we may
cancel completely next year.
I’m 64 and have been using Android
phones for years. New tech is simply
unavoidable, so just embrace it and get on
with learning how to use it to your
advantage. Maybe Computeractive could
run a feature on cheap smartphones once
a year. Making readers more aware of the
cheap options might even keep the big
brands on their toes.
Karen Woo
CA SAYS Karen’s right that there are
plenty of decent smartphones priced
around £150. In fact, in Issue 610
(page 62) last year we recommended
several models that were even cheaper
- under £100. We picked devices that
could perform four key functions:
show proof of Covid vaccination from
the NHS; scan QR codes; support
two-factor authentication; and let you
chat on WhatsApp.
Our favourite was Motorola’s Moto E6s,
which at the time cost around £90.
However, that was 12 months ago, and
now the only examples of the E6s we can
find online are second-hand - or ‘used’:
www.snipca.com/42485. So we agree
with Karen: it’s time we looked again at
cheap smartphones, and this time we’ll
make sure they all work with parking
apps. Watch this space.
What’s the Issue…?
When did you publish Robert
Irvine’s column on transforming
an old laptop into a Chromebook?
Claire Nutley
CA SAYS It was in Issue 627, page 74.
I’m fed up with the hassle of
two-factor authentication
(2FA). Didn’t you reveal ways to get
around it recently?
Jonathan Scamp
CA SAYS It was actually last year, in
In defence of YouTube adverts
Nobody on the face of the planet
hates TV ads more than I do (I’ve
worn out the mute button on countless
remotes silencing them). But I put
YouTube adverts in a different
category,
even
though
they can be just as annoying.
YouTube is a wonderful resource, and
no TV channel can even come close. As
well as its entertainment value, it also has
a huge educational function. If you want
to repair your computer, sharpen your
chainsaw or tune your banjo, you will
almost certainly find a video tutorial with
the information you need.
We get all this without paying a penny.
If in return we’re expected to put up with
a few ads, is that so unreasonable? After
all, YouTube is a commercial operation,
and if it makes a lot of money from
advertising, what’s wrong with that?
Maurice Moriarty
Why EU shouldn’t make all
chargers USB-C
I don’t agree with the European
Union’s law on making all device
manufacturers use USB-C chargers, for
three reasons. First, I’m not convinced
that all manufacturers produce USB-C
sockets and plugs to the same quality
standards. This can lead to unreliable
connections. Second, ‘male’ USB-C
connections (as found in mobile phones)
tend to accumulate dirt, while Lightning
connections are easily cleaned with an
air dust remover. Third, ‘female’
Issue 617 (page 62).
?
You can read it on
our Back Issue CD
(www.snipca.com/42077).
Please could you tell me
when you printed instructions
on installing Microsoft Money on an
additional device?
Dennis Pritchard
CA SAYS It was back in Issue 593 (page
35), published on 18 November, 2020.

Lightning connectors are very easy to
clean with a soft-wipe tissue or cloth -
though the moulded plug doesn’t always
protect against breaks in the wiring.
In theory, I like the idea of a single
universal connection but I don’t think we
have a thoroughly reliable alternative yet.
The EU’s legislation is a little premature.
Ray Johnson
UK phone boxes are
already listed
I’ve got good news for Larry
Randall (Letters, Issue 635): many
of the UK’s red phone boxes are already
listed, and are therefore preserved for
future generations
who’ll grow up
never having used
one! He can see
where some of
them are by visiting
this Wikimedia
page (www.snipca.
com/42471) and
clicking the links
at the top. I’m
lucky enough to
walk past one
every day on the way to work, in the
Hampshire village of Sherfield-on-
Loddon (pictured).
Charles Littlewood
Give us the phone numbers
of scams
It’s both reassuring and
disconcerting to read the
ScamWatch section of Protect Your Tech
(page 11): reassuring because many
readers are smart enough to evade these
scams, but disconcerting because the
scams just keep coming. One thing
that would help is adding the phone
number of incoming scam calls, so we
can recognise it as a fake number. Can I
ask my fellow readers always to include
this please? If we work together, we can
Views expressed don’t necessarily reflect those of Computeractive
Facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive
STAR LETTER
Google News no substitute for
local papers
Sorry Google, but your
attempt at delivering
local news is too little, too late
(Issue 635, page 6). Where I
live in rural Lincolnshire
we’ve lost three local
newspapers in the past 10
years. It’s true that not every
story made for riveting reading, but the
papers were essential for keeping up
with community information. They
used to have a page where all the local
villages could promote upcoming
events. That was the most important
section for me and my friends. But
since the papers closed, we’ve lost that
hub of information.
Don’t tell me Facebook or WhatsApp
can provide a similar service. Aside
from the fact that not everyone has a
phone, many people don’t want the
hassle of creating accounts for these
sites. Newspapers were much easier
– you didn’t have to sign into anything!
With no shared source of community
information, you can’t be sure everyone
The Star Letter writer wins a Computeractive mug!
help beat the scammers
Jonathan Hargreaves
CA SAYS Jonathan makes a good point.
Typically in Protect Your Tech we give
the addresses from which scam emails
were sent, but less so with phone
numbers of scam calls. If you email us
with a scam for ScamWatch, please
include the number that called you
(assuming you’ve still got a
record of it). Reader Simon
Dodds did this with this
issue’s warning (see page 11).
One way to check who
phoned you is to type the
number into https://who-
called.co.uk (or one of the
many similar sites). For
example, typing the number
Simon gave us (07305 315604,
pictured right) confirmed that
the call was a scam related to
Email: letters@computeractive.co.uk
Twitter: @ComputerActive
www.twitter.com/computeractive
will see an event you want to promote.
Facebook users might not use
WhatsApp, and vice versa, while many
aren’t on either. How else are we
supposed to advertise local events?
Walk the streets with a loudhailer?
The solution certainly isn’t Google’s
new ‘Local news’ section (see
screenshot). Headlines from papers
will catch the eye there, but viewers
will just click, skim-read for 30
seconds, then hop back out again. They
won’t hang around to find information
relating to their area. That’s why
Google can never recreate the sense
of community that local
papers could foster.
Catherine Higson
Apple Pay (see www.snipca.com/42489).
Driven mad by Microsoft’s
account confusion
I’m getting increasingly frustrated
with Microsoft. When I tried to
play Minecraft, it asked me to sign into
my Microsoft account, which resulted in
a demand for me to reset my password.
I did this, but it then told me to log in
again because my email address no
longer belonged to me – despite the fact
that I’ve been using it for over 25 years.
Microsoft then demanded that I set up
another account so it could email me a
code that I could use to sign into my
original account (yes, the same account it
claimed I no longer have). I find
Microsoft’s increasing arrogance and
attempts to control what users can and
can’t do on their own computers at best
offensive and at worst very worrying.
Phil Dale
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 13
 Consumeractive
We stand up for your legal rights
Where’s my model
train from eBay?
I bought a model train from an
Q eBay seller costing £395, paying
via PayPal. However, it hasn’t
arrived, though eBay says I’ve signed
for it using ‘Click & Collect’ (www.
snipca.com/42369), and so is
refusing to help me. PayPal won’t
help either. Royal Mail’s ‘Track
and Trace’ (www.royalmail.com/
track-your-item) says it’s been
delivered and signed for by the shop.
Is there anything I can do?
John East
Yes, John needs to get the seller
A to begin an investigation and if
necessary start a claim with
Royal Mail. With so many different entities
involved in this purchase – eBay, the local
‘Click & Collect’, Royal Mail – we don’t
blame John for not knowing how to
proceed, but one thing’s clear: the
responsibility for ensuring goods safely
reach the recipient lies with the eBay
seller. Further, the seller would be liable
under consumer law if they’re registered
as a trader, not as a private individual.
It’s a confusing case, though. John told
us that he’d actually ordered three
different items. He has picked up two of
these from the ‘Click & Collect’ shop, but
CASE UPDATE
CEO refunds reader within two days of getting email
We often say that going
straight to the top by emailing a
company’s CEO is the quickest
way to get results, and so it
proved with Stanley Canning’s case against
Slovenian firm Chipolo (www.chipolo.net,
see Issue 635).
Stanley wrote to us to complain
that Chipolo’s tracking devices
(pictured) don’t work with his
Android phone, despite the
company assuring him that
14 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
LEAD
CASE
the delivery codes don’t match the
items. EBay’s records appear to show
that he has picked up the missing parcel,
and yet has also sent John reminders
to pick up one of the parcels he has
already collected. Such mixed messages
don’t help.
Thickening the plot, the shop denies
Royal Mail’s claim that the package was
delivered to it. If Royal Mail can prove
this, then the eBay seller might be able to
argue that the train has been successfully
delivered to John because the ‘Click &
Collect’ shop was the address he gave
when ordering. In this instance, John
might have a case not against the seller,
but against the shop for losing the item.
As you can see, it’s all a bit of a mystery,
so we’ve contacted Royal Mail and eBay
to see whether they can shed any light
on the case.
CASE ONGOING
they did. We weren’t confident about his
chances of a refund because while foreign
companies selling in the UK have to follow
our laws, they often ignore emails from
customers.
He could have sought help through the
European Consumer Centres Network (ECC
Net, eccnet-uk@ec.europa.eu), which works
with the UK International Consumer
Centre (www.ukecc.net) to offer advice
when buying from a foreign-based
company. But he took the more direct
Where’s my
‘refer-a-friend’
£50 from Virgin?
I had Virgin broadband installed
Q in September 2021 and referred
a friend who also had it installed.
At the time Virgin was offering rewards
of £50 for referring friends, but despite
many phone calls I’m still waiting for my
money. Can you help?
Eric Potts
We’ll try. Virgin Media’s £50
A refer-a-friend deal is certainly
legitimate and promises to
deliver your money within 60 days, so
Eric should have received his money long
ago. One possibility is that Eric’s friend
may have cancelled the service within the
14-day period allowed by the Consumer
Contract Regulations. This would have
invalidated the offer.
It’s also possible that Eric’s friend
may have made an error when signing up
to Virgin. The offer is activated only if
friends use a specific referral link, or get
a referral code to quote over the phone
(this code doesn’t work online). Visit
www.snipca.com/42425 for details of
the offer.
It seems more likely though that Eric has
just slipped through the net, so we’ve asked
Virgin to investigate.
CASE ONGOING
route of emailing Chipolo co-founder and
CEO Primož Zelenšek, who replied within
two days to offer a full refund, adding that
Stanley didn’t have to go through the hassle
of returning the devices. This is an excellent
result for Stanley given that Chipolo’s
customer service had initially told him to
return the devices to its base in the US.
All that’s left is for Mr Zelenšek to have
a quiet word with his customer service
team so it doesn’t give misleading advice to
customers looking to buy his devices.

Can I get refund for Kaspersky auto-renewal?
I’ve discovered that Kaspersky
Q has automatically renewed my
software subscription for
£79.99. I left them over 15 months ago, so
can you get my money back please?
Michael Darley
It’s possible, because the Consumer
A Contract Regulations let you cancel
a contract for unwanted software
within 14 days of purchase, as long as you
haven’t used it (ie, downloaded it). Michael
told us he bought a new computer last
year and didn’t install Kaspersky on it,
Is Apple or John It depends on what precisely is
A wrong withisthe
Lewis responsible Trueman’scomplaint similar to Sheila
case (see Issue 633), in which
for faulty iPhone? her iPhone SE stopped working after an
My wife’s iPhone 8
Q (pictured), bought from
John Lewis in October
2019, has stopped working after
the iOS 15 update. Apple’s
diagnosis is that there is “a
permanent fault and requires a
whole-unit replacement”. I was
told to take the matter up with
John Lewis. Is that right?
Michael Newton
CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE
Cambridge Audio found me a new grill in Hong Kong
Following a
positive review of
a Cambridge Audio
soundbar in Computeractive
a few years ago, I bought it from Richer
Sounds. It’s an excellent piece of kit and
has enhanced our TV viewing, but following
some redecoration I noticed that the grill bar
was lopsided – three of the plastic pins had
been snapped off!
I contacted Cambridge Audio to see if I
could purchase a replacement grill, but they
Contact us so we can investigate your case
Email: consumeractive@computeractive.co.uk
Please include your name, phone number and address.
which means he hasn’t used the software
and so can claim a refund.
Kaspersky probably didn’t do anything
wrong though. Michael says he may have
had a two- or three-year subscription, and
can’t recall cancelling the auto-renewal.
If not, Kaspersky would have automatically
renewed it.
Michael’s bank said it will prevent
Kaspersky from taking any more payments,
but it only has to refund him if the
transaction was unauthorised. A rolling
subscription counts as unauthorised only
if you can prove you were unaware of it,
phone. Michael’s
iOS update. Apple told her it would cost
£279 to fix.
If the problem was
caused by iOS 15 then
Apple is to blame because
it – not John Lewis –
released the update. Also,
if an update is likely to
harm an older device and
Apple hasn’t informed
users, then it wouldn’t
have carried out due
said there were none in stock and
advised me to try Richer Sounds.
Sadly, Richer Sounds didn’t have
any either, so I went back to Cambridge
Audio, who said they would check whether
their Hong Kong office had any in stock.
Happily, they had one, so customer
support arranged to have one sent to me
from Hong Kong for a very reasonable cost,
Has a company impressed you with its
customer service? Please let us know:
editor@computeractive.co.uk
and that’s hard to do.
He should still ask his bank for a refund
because the Financial Ombudsman has
put pressure on banks to refund customers
when money has been withdrawn
unexpectedly via automatic renewals
(even if legally they don’t have to). He
could alternatively contact Kaspersky
directly to get his money back. We’ll also
speak to the company and try to persuade
it to refund him.
CASE ONGOING
diligence, meaning customers might be
entitled to a refund or replacement.
However, Apple using the word
“permanent” to describe the problem
suggests it thinks the iPhone is inherently
faulty. In such cases, the retailer is always
responsible, so Michael would have to
contact John Lewis. It’s entitled to ask
Michael to prove the fault is inherent, but
he should be able to get this confirmation
from Apple.
So it all comes back to Apple. Until it
definitively rules out the update as the
problem, Michael won’t know who to
chase for help. We’re already pursuing
Apple to help in Sheila’s case – we’ll add
Michael to that too.
CASE ONGOING
and the soundbar is now looking perfect
again. A big thanks to Cambridge Audio for
customer service and tenacity, above and
beyond the call of duty.
Richard Jurd
Contact
Cambridge Audio
• Online support
www.snipca.com/42322
• Phone 020 7940 2200
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 15
 Grow Your
Family Tree
One of the best online resources makes it easy to look for
records at a county level. Chris Paton explains how to…
Explore FamilySearch’s Research Wiki
T
he most famous wiki website is
Wikipedia, but for genealogists
FamilySearch’s Research Wiki is
more useful. Launched by FamilySearch
in 2008, it’s run from the site’s
headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, and
receives contributions from genealogists
around the world. It’s an exceptional
resource, but with 100,000 pages to
search, finding what you need can be
tricky. Here, we’ll explain the best route
for locating useful information.
Choose the county to search
Visit the wiki at www.snipca.com/42364,
where you’ll see a box at the top asking
you to search by place or topic ( 1 in our
screenshot above right). There’s no mention
of searching by people because the wiki
itself doesn’t provide information on
individuals; rather, it gives you links to
resources that may contain details of a
person. So if you know that someone was
born in Surrey, you’d search for that
county rather than for the person.
There’s a list of tips next to the search
box 2 , and you can jump to a specific
country by clicking ‘List of all Localities’ 3 ,
or by clicking on the map. A new addition
to the site is the Guided Research button 4 ,
which lets you search for advice on
Your Genealogy Problems Solved
A medical condition I fortunately survived
can have a genetic basis. Can I find out
the causes of death of my ancestors? It
would help to know whether we need to
monitor the health of my children and
grandchildren.
Cliff Grover
Causes of death have been recorded in
English and Welsh death records since
1837, in Scotland since 1855, and in Ireland
16 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
1
3 2
FamilySearch’s Research Wiki gives you plenty of ways to start your search
records in a suggested order, one step
at a time.
In our experience, however, the most
effective way to explore the site is to
search by British counties (cities would
be too specific and countries too general).
We chose Surrey, then clicked the blue
‘Surrey, England Online Genealogy
Records’ button to see FamilySearch’s
online databases on the county.
Find free and paid-for links
On the next page you’ll see two columns
of links to various records, including
births, marriages and deaths, cemetery
from 1864.
Earlier, listed causes were often vague
(eg, ‘visitation of God’), and the
understanding and names of certain
conditions may have changed throughout
the years. Find records at www.gro.gov.
uk, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and
www.irishgenealogy.ie.
Have a genealogy question for Chris?
Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with
‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.
Next issue: Explore the rebuilt Irish records lost in 1922
4
records and information on occupations.
Some of these are held by FamilySearch
itself, as will be stated next to the link
( 1 in our screenshot below).
The remaining records are stored by
other sites, with a dollar ($) sign 2
indicating that you have to pay for it.
Most of the paid-for records are on
commercial sites such as MyHeritage
and Ancestry, while the free links range
from university archives 3 to local
archaeological societies.
Before paying for content, click the link
in the blue box at the top 4 (or visit
www.snipca.com/42422) to see if there
are any genealogy centres near you
offering free access. There are dozens
dotted throughout Britain.
3
4
2
1
Search for a county and you’ll find links to
FamilySearch’s records, as well as free and
paid-for archives
 Best Free Software
Robert Irvine recommends new programs that won’t cost you a thing
EMAIL CLIENT

Thunderbird 102
www.snipca.com/42560
What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11, macOS or Linux

Ten years after it was temporarily ‘discontinued’ by Mozilla,
Thunderbird is still going strong and remains the most
popular open-source alternative to Microsoft’s Outlook.
Version 102 of the email program is a major release that adds
several useful features and improves existing ones. Currently,
you can’t upgrade directly from the previous version (91), but
will need to download the updated program from the official
website linked to above.
Thunderbird 102 has a refreshed but not revamped
interface that retains its simple tabbed layout and choice
of Classic, Wide and Vertical views. The most notable new
feature is the Spaces Toolbar on the left-hand side of the
main window. This gives you instant access to tools including
your Address Book, Calendar and Tasks, which open in new
tabs when you click their respective buttons. You can hide
and reopen the Spaces Toolbar by clicking the arrow icon in
the bottom-left corner.
Thunderbird’s Address Book has been redesigned to
make it easier to manage and browse your contacts. Details
including names, email addresses,
phone numbers, postal addresses and time
zones are clearly displayed in the main pane
when you click an entry.
Another new feature, which you already find in some
webmail and social-media services, is Link Preview Cards.
This automatically converts links you paste in emails into
previews of their content, so the recipient can see what
they’re clicking through to. To turn this on, go to Settings,
then Composition and select ‘Add link previews when
pasting URLs’.
Setting up an email account in Thunderbird has never
been easier, with the program automatically detecting the
correct settings to use. You can also now import messages
and other data from Outlook and existing Thunderbird
profiles through the new Import option in the Tools menu.
Thunderbird also has a new Chat option, which uses
a service called Matrix (www.snipca.com/42570), to
complement existing options for Google Talk, IRC and XMPP.

2 3

4
1

1 Thunderbird 102 introduces
the Spaces Toolbar, which
gives you one-click access
to the program’s main
features. You can hide
and open the toolbar by
clicking the arrow icon in the
bottom-left corner.
2 The redesigned Address
Book makes it easier to
manage your contacts
in Thunderbird. Click the
Address Book icon on the
Spaces Toolbar or press
Alt+2 to open it in a new tab.
3 It’s now much easier to
set up an email account in
Thunderbird and you can
even open the program
without one. Use the
Import tool to import your
messages and other data
from Outlook.
4 Activate the new Link
Preview Cards feature and
web links that you copy and
paste in messages will be
automatically converted into
previews, so the recipient
knows what they’re clicking.

18 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636

FILE MANAGER
WHAT SHOULD
Files 2.3 I DOWNLOAD?
www.snipca.com/42548
What you need: Windows 10 or 11
We tell you what software & apps to use

This fantastic alternative

to File Explorer was the How can I print all files in
subject of our Workshop
in Issue 631 (page 38)
a folder in one go?
and version 2.3 makes it I’m currently sorting out my accounts and want to
even more useful. New
features include a
Q print hard copies of all my invoices and receipts
from the last year. Some of these are in PDF
‘compact sizing’ option format, while others are Word documents. Is there any
that allows you to see software that can print the contents of my accounts folder
more items without in one go, so I don’t need to open and print each file
resizing the app’s window. To switch this on, click the individually?
Settings cog in the top-right corner and choose ‘Use compact Geoff McBride
styles in the details layout’ on the Appearance tab. Files has
also expanded its tags feature, which lets you assign different The simplest way to print lots of files at once is to
colours to files and folders, so you can easily find all items
with the same tag. To turn on tags, go to Settings, click
A select them by holding down Ctrl as you click
them – or by dragging your mouse cursor around
Experimental and select ‘Enable file tags’. Right-click the them – then right-click and choose Print. This will send all
sidebar and choose Tags (see screenshot) to display the list of the files to your printer but doesn’t let you adjust your print
colours. Other improvements include faster drag-and-drop, settings first.
easier bulk-renaming and the ability to see which process is A better option for printing multiple files in different
locking a file. formats is to download Print Conductor from www.snipca.
com/42559. This print-management software is free for
IMAGING TOOL personal use, with the slight catch that its ‘trial’
(unlicensed) version prints a special report page at the end
Rufus 3.19 of each print session. Otherwise it offers all the same
www.snipca.com/42552 features as the commercial version.
What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 To use Print Conductor, either click Add Documents and
select the files you want to print or choose Add Folder to
In our Workshop in add a whole folder. You can also drag and drop items from
Issue 628 (page 38), we File Explorer or your desktop, including ZIP files – their
explained how to use contents will be extracted and added to the list. Arrange the
Rufus to boot Windows 11 files into the order you want to print them and click the
from a USB stick even if green Start Printing button (see screenshot). You can pause
your PC doesn’t meet the printing at any time and click Export List to save your print
hardware requirements. queue to resume printing later.
The program has now
been updated to work
differently to our original
instructions but in a way
that makes beating
Microsoft’s restrictions
even easier. Once you select a Windows 11 ISO file, you can
now simply click Start in Rufus to open a menu that lets you
remove the requirements for Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 (see
screenshot), and for your PC to have at least 4GB of RAM and
64GB of storage. Previously, you had to select a specific
version of Windows in a dropdown menu. You can also stop
Microsoft collecting your data by skipping the privacy
Do you need our advice on what software to use? Just email us at
questions during the Windows 11 installation process. letters@computeractive.co.uk
Good job, Rufus.

Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 19

 Best Free Software
HOW I USE...
PowerShell
David Ludlow is hoping to win a photography competition.
But before he enters, he needs a fast way of renaming all his files
File Explorer lets you rename multiple
files in one go, adding 1, 2, 3 and so on
to the end of the filename. That’s all
very useful, but I need a tool that adds
text to the beginning of filenames for a
batch of files. I have lots of photos for a
competition I’m entering, and I want to
add ‘Summer Competition 2022’ to the
beginning of each filename. The best
way to do this is to use PowerShell,
Microsoft’s more powerful replacement
for Command Prompt. To open it,
search for it on your PC, or press
Windows key+R then type powershell.
First I type dir to bring up my files
with their original names – shown
at the top of the screenshot 1 . To
rename them, I need to type a longer
command: dir *.jpg | rename-item
-newname { "Summer Competition
2022 - " + $_.Name } 2 (copy this from
our Pastebin account www.snipca.
com/42433). Running this adds
‘Summer Competition 2022’ to the
beginning of filenames 3 .
I admit that this command looks
horrible, but I’ll explain why it’s
necessary. First, dir *.jpg lists all files
with a ‘.jpg’ extension. I could just
use dir to see all files, or change the
extension to dir *.docx for Word files.
Next, there’s the pipe command (|),
which you type by pressing the Shift
key and the key to the left of Z. This
tells PowerShell that the results of
the directory listing should be ‘piped’
(sent) to the next command.
WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE IN POWERSHELL
While PowerShell is very powerful,
I’d rather it used standard syntax.
For example, to compare two
values in PowerShell, you have to
20 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
4
David used PowerShell to add ‘Summer Competition 2022’ to all his photo filenames
Finally, there’s rename-item
-newname { "Summer Competition
2022 - " + $_.Name }. The section before
the opening curly bracket tells Windows
to rename an item (file). The words in
curly brackets tell it how to rename the
file. The text I want to add goes between
quotation marks. I’ve also added a space,
a dash, and another space to make the
filenames look neater, for example:
‘Summer Competition 2022 - A cute
kitten lies on the floor’.
The ‘+’ means add more text. In this
example we’re adding $_.Name. In
PowerShell, $_ is a special variable that
indicates the current item. Here, the
current item is the output of the original
dir command. As you can see in the
type -eq whereas in most programming
languages it's ==. Little differences like this
can make PowerShell fiddly to use and
slow me down.
1
2
3
screenshot 4 , typing dir gives us Mode,
LastWriteTime and Length as well as
Name. Using $_.Name tells PowerShell
to use only the filename, such as
‘A cute kitten lies on the floor.jpg’.
This command works well, but
typing it is a pain, so I write a script
that I can click to run it automatically.
I do this in Windows Terminal by
pressing Windows key+X, clicking
‘Windows Terminal (Admin)’, then
typing notepad c:\windows\system32\
rename.ps1. I select Yes to create the
file and open Notepad, into which I
type another command that you can
copy from our Pastebin account (www.
snipca.com/42432). Save this on your
computer with a .ps1 extension.
Now I can simply type the following
into Windows Terminal to run
the script: rename *.jpg "Summer
competition 2022 - ". Note, to add
words with spaces between them,
you need to enclose the phrase with
double quotes. Now, wish me luck in
that competition.
Next issue: How I use... Google Chrome
Named & Shamed
Barry Collins puts the boot into tech villains, jargon-
spouting companies and software trying to trick you

SOFTWARE WARNING!
TuberVanced’s hypocritical app adverts

U
ntil March this year,
millions of people
used the Android app
YouTube Vanced to block
adverts in YouTube. You won’t be
shocked to hear that this didn’t go
down fabulously well at Google HQ,
so it sent a cease-and-desist letter to
the app’s developers, forcing it to close
(see www.snipca.com/42453).
Predictably, several copycat apps
have appeared online, as well as on
the Google Play Store. TuberVanced
(www.snipca.com/42454) is one of
these, and it’s the very definition of
hiding in plain sight.
In its description TuberVanced
claims it will “limit ads in content”.
And while it’s true that I haven’t seen
any ads in the YouTube videos I
watched, it does instead dump massive,
full-screen, hard-to-close adverts for
other apps in between them – such as
this tacky IQ test (see screenshot right).
It even runs an advert when you
attempt to open the app’s Settings
menu. There is no escape.
TuberVanced may
block YouTube ads, but
it plasters your screen
with countless others
It beats me how Google allows this
app to pollute the Play Store, while at
the same time threatening YouTube
Vanced with lawyers. Once again, it
shows the inconsistency and sloppy
gatekeeping of app stores. In the
meantime, if you want to find better
ways to make YouTube less irritating
– including removing ads – I suggest
you thumb through Issue 634’s
Cover Feature (pictured below).
Read Issue
634’s Cover
Feature for
better ways
to block
YouTube
adverts

WHAT ARE THEY BARRY’S VILLAIN OF THE FORTNIGHT

TALKING ABOUT?

WHAT THEY SAY

Adeel Habib
Microsoft’s ‘responsible AI standard’
www.snipca.com/42398 Talking of YouTube, it
“These goals help break down a broad makes you wonder why
principle like ‘accountability’ into its key the police bother spending
enablers, such as impact assessments, millions on CCTV cameras
data governance, and human oversight. when Britain’s finest
Each goal is then composed of a set of criminal masterminds
requirements, which are steps that are happy to upload
teams must take to ensure that AI footage of themselves
systems meet the goals throughout the breaking the law.
system lifecycle.” Adeel Habib from
Leeds was sentenced to
WHAT THEY MEAN 27 months behind bars after filming
We won’t abuse AI, though jargon like this himself speeding around the city in
is an own goal. high-performance cars, skipping red
lights and racing
other drivers. He attracted
68,000 subscribers on
YouTube, one of which
was West Yorkshire Police,
who duly arrested him.
He’s also serving four
years for his part in
supplying drugs.
Try Bing Videos (www.
bing.com/videos) next
time, Adeel – even the police don’t
watch that. And wipe that stupid
smile off your face.

Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 21

 Reviews
New products tested by our experts New products tested by our experts
LAPTOP-TABLET ❘ £949 from Currys www.snipca.com/42370
Samsung Galaxy Book2 360
Star turn
The latest addition to Samsung’s Galaxy
Book range of laptops is this second-
generation model. It’s an attractive
laptop-tablet, with a touchscreen that
can open like a laptop with the keyboard
in front, be folded further back into a tent
position for watching movies and TV, or
flipped right back on to itself to work in
tablet mode. This is a more affordable
version of the Galaxy Book2 Pro 360 that
we reviewed in Issue 633.
For a while, it was on sale for £849, which
is a great price for such an elegantly
designed and versatile device. Indeed, we
considered naming it our new favourite
laptop, replacing Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7
(see page 30). However, within a few days
it had increased to £949, which makes it
just a little too expensive to oust the Yoga.
It’s a great choice though if you can afford
it, and deserves five stars, with a new
12th-generation Intel i5 processor that
means it will stay faster for longer than
than the Yoga Slim.
Has a striking screen,
with vivid colours and
great clarity
The Book2 360 is lighter and slimmer
than many rival laptops, weighing just
1.16kg and measuring a mere 12.9mm
thick. Compare that to the current
MacBook Air, for example, at 1.29kg and
16.1mm thick. It’s closer in design to the
22 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
Acer TravelMate Spin P4 (reviewed in
Issue 633), though this folds up to a
chunky 18mm.
Its most striking feature is the eye-
catching AMOLED screen. At first glance,
the specs may not sound particularly
impressive, with the 13.3in screen offering
an adequate resolution of 1920x1080 pixels,
but thanks to the AMOLED technology it
provides excellent image quality, with
crisp, vivid colours, and a level of clarity
and detail that looks higher than its
1080p resolution would suggest.
Samsung doesn’t quote a figure for the
brightness level of the screen, but to the
naked eye the screen seems to match
those of more expensive rivals, such as
Apple’s MacBook Air and Samsung’s
own Pro version.
Many lightweight laptops have to
compromise on connectivity to keep
their weight and thickness down, but
the Book2 360 manages to provide two
USB-C ports (one of which is Thunderbolt
4 compatible) and one USB 3.0 port,
along with a microSD card slot,
SPECIFICATIONS
Ten-core Intel Core i5-1235U processor • 8GB
memory • Intel Iris Xe graphics • 256GB SSD • Wi-Fi
6 • Bluetooth 5.1 • 1x HDMI port • 2x USB-C ports • 1x
USB 3 port • 1x audio in/out port • 1x microSD card •
Windows 11 Home • 12.9x304x202mm (HxWxD) •
1.16kg • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/42370
combination audio in/out, and even
HDMI for hooking up an external
monitor. There’s also Wi-Fi 6 and
Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless connectivity.
Our only real complaint is that the 720p
webcam isn’t great – producing a slightly
grainy image that looks washed out in
bright daylight.
The Intel Core i5-1235U processor is
accompanied by 8GB of RAM and a 256GB
hard drive. This produces a respectable
performance score of 5,022, faster than
the Acer TravelMate Spin P4’s 4,497 for
only a few pounds more. It’s not ideal for
gaming with its built-in graphics hardware,
but it’s more than adequate for web
browsing or office software. The battery
life is impressive too, lasting 11 hours 10
minutes in our video-playback test.
VERDICT Versatile, powerful and with
a great screen, this came very close to
becoming our new favourite laptop
★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE Acer TravelMate Spin
P4 £839 If you’d prefer
a bigger screen, this
has a marginally
larger 14in version,
but it isn’t as fast

ALL-IN-ONE PC ❘ £1,799 from Huawei www.snipca.com/42389
Huawei MateStation X
All-in-wonder
If you stopped to look at the price of this
PC before reaching the first few lines of
this review, you may already be in shock.
An £1,800 PC is much more expensive
than our usual review models, but we
know from your emails that many
readers might consider spending this
much on a PC if it’s truly worth it. This
might be that PC.
It’s an all-in-one PC, meaning the
computer is built into the screen. It’s
clearly inspired by the likes of the iMac,
though surprisingly, you could get one of
Apple’s 24in all-in-one’s for much less
– the cheapest iMac comes in at £1,249.
However, the MateStation X has a larger
28in screen and – more significantly –
runs Windows.
A brilliant screen and
impressive performance
all wrapped up in an eye-
catching design
From a design perspective this is a
beautiful device, almost entirely made up
of screen, framed by the narrowest of
bezels. There’s only one cable to plug in,
which goes straight into a wall socket
with no need for a power brick. The
supplied keyboard and mouse are basic,
but attractive and wireless.
Two USB 3.0 ports sit on the right
edge, with two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm
audio jack on the left. It’s all incredibly
neat but there’s no Ethernet port, so
you’re reliant on Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth
for any further connections.
The 28in screen has a resolution of
3840x2560 pixels and is stunning to look
at, managing a remarkable 95 per cent of
the DCI-P3 colour standard in our tests.
For the sake of comparison, a check on
Argos revealed that the retailer’s cheapest
28in monitor costs £400, while 27in
screens are available for as little as £150
if you’re willing to compromise on
resolution. None will be able to come
close to the MateStation X on picture
quality, though, so you need to weigh up
your priorities.
Inside there’s plenty of power, with a
Ryzen 7 5800H processor, alongside 16GB
of RAM and a generous 1TB SSD. We’d
normally expect to see this processor in a
laptop, but Huawei’s decision to use it
helps to keep the rear of the MateStation
so compact. Despite this, it still performs
well, scoring 6,469 in our benchmark
test. If you want the very best Windows
performance without the eye-catching
case, however, we’d still recommend
the Wired2Fire Ultima WS Home Office
Workstation, because it’s 20 per cent
faster (see page 30).
Its main weakness is gaming, because it
relies on the graphics hardware built into
the Ryzen processor rather than a dedicated
card. It’ll cope with more basic games but
not the latest resource-hungry titles.
SPECIFICATIONS
Eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor • 16GB
memory • AMD Radeon graphics • 1TB NVMe SSD •
Wi-Fi 6 • Bluetooth 5.1 • 28.2in 60Hz 3840x2560-
pixel IPS touchscreen • 720p webcam • 2x USB-C
ports • 2x USB 3.0 ports • Windows 11 Home •
530x614x187mm (HxWxD) • 9kg • One-year
warranty www.snipca.com/42389
HOW WE TEST
Computeractive is owned by Future PLC,
which employs a team of specialist
technical reviewers. You’ll often read
references to our benchmark testing,
which is a method of assessing products
using the same criteria. For example, we
test the speed of every PC and the battery
life of every phone and tablet in exactly
the same way. This makes our reviews
authoritative, rigorous and accurate.
Future PLC also owns the magazines
Maximum PC, PC Pro and T3, and the
websites Laptop Mag (www.laptopmag.
com), TechRadar (www.techradar.com)
and Windows Central (www.windows
central.com). This means we can test
thousands of products before choosing
the most relevant for Computeractive.
FAIR AND IMPARTIAL
Our writers follow strict guidelines to
ensure the reviews are fair and impartial.
The manufacturer has no involvement in
our tests.
OUR AWARDS
We award every product
that gets five stars our
Buy It! stamp of approval.
It means we were
extremely impressed by the product, and
we think you will be too.
Every product that gets a
four-star review is given the
Recommended award. We
highly recommend these
products, although they just fail to meet the
high standard of our Buy It! winners.
PRICES
Our reviews contain a link to the best price
we found online at the time of press.
VERDICT A strikingly attractive all-
in-one PC with a brilliant monitor that’s
great for Windows use, but faster –
albeit plainer – PCs are available
★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE HP Pavilion
27-d1007na £1,099
HP’s all-in-one PC
is slightly cheaper
but has a smaller,
lower-resolution
screen
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 23
 Reviews
TABLET ❘ £675 from Lenovo www.snipca.com/42400
Lenovo Tab P12 Pro
Movies on the move
This is the latest model in a long line of
Lenovo Android tablets, following on
from a former Buy It! favourite of ours,
the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (www.snipca.
com/41101). However, this new tablet will
be judged against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab
S8 (www.snipca.com/42240), which –
as you’ll see on page 30 – has been our
favourite Android tablet since we
reviewed it in Issue 634.
A larger AMOLED
screen makes this ideal
for watching movies
and TV shows
Lenovo has upped the ante with the
Tab P12 Pro’s screen, which has increased
in size to 12.6in, 1.6in bigger than the
Galaxy Tab S8. Both use a 2K resolution
(2560x1600 pixels), so the Tab S8 looks
sharper. However, the Tab P12 Pro uses
AMOLED technology, which is superior
to the IPS used by Samsung. It’s brighter,
and provides better contrast, while
supporting HDR10+ and Dolby Vision,
which we’re more used to seeing on
OLED TV screens. If you want a tablet for
watching films and TV series, this is an
excellent choice.
Where Lenovo’s tablet lags behind is in
performance. It’s powered by a Qualcomm
Snapdragon 870 processor, alongside 6GB
of RAM and 128GB of storage. This
immediately seems light on raw power
24 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
compared with the S8’s newer
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and 8GB of
RAM. Our performance benchmark tests
confirm this, with Lenovo’s multi-core
result coming in at 2,918. That’s one of
the best scores we’ve seen on a machine
running the Snapdragon 870, but it’s a
fair way behind the Tab S8’s 3,228 result.
That said, the Tab P12 Pro felt smooth
and fast during testing. We didn’t
experience any noticeable slowdowns,
even when using more demanding apps
and games. Indeed, were it significantly
cheaper than the Tab S8 we might be
prepared to give it the nod over its rival,
but for a similar price we prefer
Samsung’s tablet.
Lenovo’s tablet is bigger than its rivals
(5.6x286x185mm), though it’s very thin
and weighs only 565g. It has a fingerprint
scanner and USB-C port, but no 3.5mm
headphone jack. The bezels around the
screen are wafer thin, with the front-
facing camera positioned in the top border
(when held in landscape orientation).
On the rear, there’s a significant
camera hump and a magnetic strip that
holds (and charges) the supplied stylus.
Unlike with some tablets, which hold the
stylus in a specific spot, you can slap
Lenovo’s on quite a wide holding
area. This does mean you can’t lay
the tablet down flat when the
stylus is attached, which is annoying.
The Tab P12 Pro has also missed
a trick or two when
it comes to software. It
uses the stock Android
operating system (with no
customisation by Lenovo), which isn’t
the best option for tablets. We’re still
waiting for Android 12L, which Google
is designing specifically for tablets and
will hopefully improve things, but it’s
too early for this tablet and it shows.
With most Android apps still configured
for smartphones, it lags well behind
Apple’s iPadOS.
It also lacks intuitive features for the
included stylus. This is in stark contrast
to Samsung, which adds its own tablet-
friendly skin to Android and has an
admirable record of supporting its
excellent stylus with software like its own
note-taking apps. It’s great to have the
stylus included in the price, but a shame
that the optional keyboard (pictured
above) costs an extra £149.
SPECIFICATIONS
Eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor
• Adreno 650 graphics • 6GB RAM • 12.6in 120Hz
2560x1600-pixel resolution touchscreen • 128GB
storage • 13-megapixel rear camera • 8-megapixel
front camera • Wi-Fi 6 • Bluetooth 5.2 • USB-C
connector • Android 11 • 5.6x286x185mm (HxWxD) •
565g • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/42400
VERDICT A great screen if you want
a tablet for watching TV and movies,
but its performance and software lag
behind Samsung’s latest
★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE
Samsung Galaxy
Tab S8 £699
This has a smaller
screen, but is a
better performer in
benchmark tests
PRINTER ❘ £125 from Amazon www.snipca.com/42478
HP Envy Inspire 7920e
That inking feeling
If you cast your mind back to Issue 617
and the last HP multifunction printer we
reviewed, you may recall the appearance
of the HP OfficeJet 8012e. This new Envy
Inspire 7920e looks remarkably similar,
with the one obvious difference being the
beige trim, which makes it look less like
business equipment and more like
something that could blend better into
the background of the average home.
Let’s not pretend this is a compact
device, though. It occupies a space 46cm
wide by 38cm deep, and is 23.3cm tall. It
only offers A4 scanning and printing, but
looks big enough to be able to handle A3.
It’s a tried and tested design, however,
that works well, with two paper storage
areas – a 125-sheet paper-input tray at
the bottom for standard sheets and a
secondary tray just above that for envelopes
or photo paper. Above those trays you’ll
find the slot where printed items pop out.
There’s a 35-sheet document feeder on the
top to help automate the copying of
multiple pages, while a generous 2.7in
colour touchscreen (pictured below)
makes copying and printing tasks easy to
manage. We think HP makes the best
colour touchscreens in the printer market.
During installation there are prompts
to sign up for the company’s HP+ and
Instant Ink services, but you can skip
these if you’d rather avoid a subscription.
If you do decide to opt in, you’ll never run
out of ink, as HP will send you replacement
cartridges as and when you need them.
However, you have to pay for this service,
and it starts at at 99p a month for a
maximum of 10 pages, whether you print
them or not. Visit https://instantink.
hpconnected.com to see all the
subscription options. The more you
commit to printing each month, the
cheaper each page gets. For best-value
running costs, consider an ink-tank
printer, such as our current favourite
Epson EcoTank ET-1810 (£160 from www.
snipca.com/41232, see page 32), which
takes the cost of printing down to 0.2p
per mono page.
Speeds are reasonable – it printed our
mono documents at 12.3 pages per minute
(ppm). Mixed graphics and text pages came
out at 3.5ppm. It supports automatic
double-sided (duplex) printing at 7ppm.
Text quality is excellent while graphics
look crisp and well defined. Photos are
less impressive but still adequate, but if
you’re going to print photos regularly, a
six-colour model such as the Canon Pixma
TS8350 or TS8351 (£190 from www.
snipca.com/42480) are better options.
SPECIFICATIONS
1200x1200dpi maximum print resolution
• 15ppm quoted print speed • Wi-Fi 5 • USB
2.0 port • 233x383x460mm (HxWxD) •
8.12kg • One-year warranty www.snipca.
com/42478
VERDICT An affordable printer,
scanner and copier, which lacks some
advanced features but produces
impressive prints for the price
★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE Canon Pixma TS8351
£190 Canon’s multifunction
printer is more expensive but
uses six ink cartridges
to produce even
better photos
CHOOSE THE RIGHT SPECS
M-Disc DVDs
& Blu-rays
What are they?
Writable DVDs are a cheap and
convenient way to make backups of
important files. Standard DVD-R discs
use a heat-sensitive dye layer below
the surface to store the data. The
problem with this method is that the
dye can deteriorate over time. In theory,
this should have a life of 25 years or
more. If that’s not long enough for your
purposes, you need to move to M-Disc,
which has a projected lifespan of at
least 1,000 years.
How do they work?
Instead of dye, M-Discs use a layer
of carbon in a process that’s more
more akin to etching than dying. This
represents a more permanent process,
the equivalent of carving your data into
stone tablets rather than writing it on
paper. The best thing is that an M-Disc
can be read by any DVD drive.
What are the specs?
To write an M-Disc in the first place,
you need a compatible DVD or Blu-ray
writer, such as the Asus ZenDrive U7M
(pictured), available on Amazon (£29.17
from www.snipca.com/42482). This
comes with two
4.7GB M-Disc DVDs
ready for use.When
buying the discs
separately, make
sure you get ones that
are compatible with
your drive. M-Discs
are available in DVD
and Blu-ray formats, so if your drive
isn’t Blu-ray compatible, don’t buy discs
labelled as Blu-ray or that contain ‘BD’
in the product code.
Can I change it later?
Unfortunately you can’t upgrade an
existing drive to make it capable of
writing to M-Discs. However, once
written, the discs can be read in any
drive, so you don’t need to worry
about your data becoming inaccessible
in the future.
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 25
 Reviews
PHONE ❘ £249 from Realme www.snipca.com/42426
Realme 9 5G
Cheap shots
The Realme GT 2 is our current favourite
Android phone (see page 30), but at
£549 it might be too expensive for many.
For less than half the price, the Chinese
company has now brought out this
new model in its 9 series. But what
compromises have been made to produce
a phone this affordable?
It’ll come as no surprise that there are
trade-offs across the board. The heart of
the phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon
695 processor, assisted by 4GB of RAM.
In our performance tests it scored 693 in
the single-core tasks and 1,876 in the
multi-core (well behind the 3,562 of the
GT 2). However, this is marginally better
than the more expensive OnePlus Nord
CE 2 Lite’s multi-core score (1,737, see
our review, Issue 635). It’s also well ahead
of cheaper phones, such as the £150
Motorola Moto G22 (960 in the multi-core
test, reviewed in Issue 633).
The 6.6in screen is an LCD panel rather
WHAT SHOULD I BUY? We solve your buying dilemmas
Which type of screen is best for colour reproduction?
I have a Lenovo V15 laptop
Q (pictured), which currently
has a poor-quality TN screen.
If I replace it with a new screen, I have
a choice of TN or IPS panels. Which
is likely to give me the best colour?
I’m not so concerned about the angle
of view, but
accuracy of
colour and
brightness are
important.
Ron Hagley
26 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
The camera is
impressive for the price,
producing good shots
despite lacking features
than the AMOLED ones you’d find on
pricier models. It’s a great example of
what can still be done with this older
screen technology, with its 2412x1080-
pixel resolution and 120Hz refresh rate,
but it still lacks the vivid colours and
level of contrast you’d get from an
AMOLED model.
The camera is impressive for the
price, producing good shots despite
lacking advanced features. The main
50-megapixel camera performs well
outdoors, producing vivid, clear images.
Even indoors – in modest light conditions
– it generates a pleasant, natural tone, but
SPECIFICATIONS
Eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G
processor • 4GB RAM • 128GB storage • 6.6in 120Hz
2412x1080-pixel screen • 50-megapixel rear camera
• 16-megapixel front-facing camera • Wi-Fi 5 •
Bluetooth 5.1 • Realme UI 3.0 (based on Android 12) •
8.5x76x164mm (HxWxD) • 191g • One-year warranty
www.snipca.com/42426
We’d recommend an IPS screen.
A TN screens use older technology
and don’t offer the same levels of
brightness, contrast or colour reproduction
you’d find in a decent IPS screen.
The one advantage of TN screens (apart
from their lower price tag) is that their
response time is often quicker. This
means it takes less time to change a pixel
from one colour to another then back
again. This is most important in videos
and gaming, where fast-moving images
can appear to leave traces behind them
don’t expect great photos in low light or
at night. Also, there’s no optical zoom
lens or ultrawide option, which are pretty
standard on many modern smartphones.
There’s a 16-megapixel selfie camera on
the front, which is fine for that purpose,
though we found it struggled to capture
the subtle skin tones we’d hope for.
VERDICT Performs well for its price,
and has a much better camera than
you’d ever expect
★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE
Xiaomi Poco M4 Pro 5G
£199 If you only have
£200 to spend, this
Poco phone has a better
screen and more camera
options
(known as ‘ghosting’), because they
are changing quicker than the screen
can cope. It’s rarely a problem in
general Windows use, however, and
the benefits of an IPS screen far
outweigh this. If you’d prefer an IPS
screen, consider the Microsoft Surface
Laptop Go (www.snipca.com/ 42263,
reviewed in Issue 635, pictured).
We’d recommend the £729 model with
8GB RAM and 256GB storage.
Do you need advice on what you should buy?
Email us at letters@computeractive.co.uk
 Reviews
KEYBOARD ❘ £70 from Amazon www.snipca.com/42414
Logitech G413
True to type
This wired keyboard offers a simple and
straightforward typing experience at a
reasonable price. With most mechanical
keyboards costing upwards of £100, the
G413 seems well worth a look at its
current Amazon price of £70.
As you might expect from a more
affordable model, the G413’s design is
basic and comes in only two colour
options – black or silver. However, the
keys can be set to any colour you like. It
uses a standard layout, so it’s easy and
intuitive to work with.
The aluminium alloy body is very sleek
and excellent quality. It takes up a tad
SPECIFICATIONS
Logitech Romer-G switches • Individually backlit keys
• 0.8m cable • 34x445x132mm (HxWxD) • 1.105kg •
One-year warranty www.snipca.com/42414
EARBUDS ❘ £179 from Amazon www.snipca.com/42415
Grell TWS/1 In-ear Headphones
Hear loud and clear
Grell Audio’s TWS/1 wireless earbuds
are the first product from a new audio
company founded by Axel Grell, who
designed headphones for Sennheiser for
more than 30 years. Expectations run
high and Grell doesn’t disappoint. At
£179 they might appear expensive, but
this is actually very reasonable for
earbuds that sound as good as this.
The sound quality is indeed
exceptional, offering punchy bass sounds
and excellent clarity at the higher
frequencies. Indeed, if you enjoy
distinguishing the sounds of individual
instruments when you listen to music,
you’ll love these earbuds.
The one area where they aren’t as
SPECIFICATIONS
10.1mm high-precision custom dynamic drivers •
30 hours listening time with noise cancellation • 40
hours without • Splash proof (IPX4) • Bluetooth 5.2 •
7.3g • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/42415
28 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
more space than we’d ideally want, mostly keys to perform any task you like. This
down to the USB cable that hangs out of can include simple macros and uses
the back. It also has a USB pass-through profiles so that keys can have different
port, which is handy for plugging in an functions depending on the program.
additional peripheral, such as a mouse,
headset or USB storage device.
Typing on the keys is an absolute VERDICT An affordable mechanical
pleasure, with Logitech’s Romer-G Tactile keyboard, with a comfortable feel
mechanical switches proving their and plenty of options via the included
worth. They make everything feel software
responsive under your fingertips, while
remaining reasonably quiet, without
★★★★★
the noisy clicking you often get with ALTERNATIVE Dierya DK61 £40
mechanical models. A cheaper mechanical keyboard,
Some of the regular function keys but it’s not as
double-up as media-control keys, which versatile nor as
is handy when you’re listening to music configurable as
or watching video. You can also use the G413
Logitech’s software to configure function
strong as some rivals is
noise cancellation.
While they
reduce external sound
considerably, they
aren’t up
to the high quality of
Bose QuietComfort or
Sony WF-1000XM4, for
example, which do cost
a little more.
We were impressed
with the battery life, VERDICT A brilliant set of earbuds
however. The earbuds will last for getting up close and personal to
from six to eight hours between your favourite music, but the noise
charges (depending on whether noise- cancellation isn’t good as on some rivals
cancellation is on or off). On top of this,
the case can hold another four full
★★★★★
charges. This makes a total battery life ALTERNATIVE Bose
of somewhere between 34 and 45 hours, QuietComfort £199 If
which is excellent longevity. noise-cancellation is
The buds are relatively large and – at

VIDEO EDITOR | From £110 from CyberLink www.snipca.com/42459
CyberLink PowerDirector 20
Ultimate
Cutting edge
Of all the video-editing software we’ve
reviewed over the years, CyberLink’s
PowerDirector has the best mix of
simplicity and power. When you first
start, you’ll probably only use a limited
but very handy set of basic tools. Then, as
you get to grips with the software, you’ll
uncover some very dynamic options that
lie deeper in the menus.
New features include
tools to detect people
and objects in videos
This is the first version of the software
to support 4K video, so if your camera
or smartphone records video at that
resolution, it’s well worth the upgrade.
There are plenty of other new features
that existing users will notice.
Some of the best new tools use
algorithms to detect people and objects in
your videos, then apply effects directly to
them. For example, the motion-tracking
tool lets you create text boxes or other
graphics, then assign them to something
or someone on screen. As that object
moves, so will the text or other graphic
you’ve applied. The tool can also be used
for masking, letting you easily isolate an
object or person, so you can either remove
them from the video, or keep the subject
and remove or alter the background, such
as the sky effect in the screenshot below.
PowerDirector can also do clever tricks
with sound, detecting when a person is
speaking and then enhancing it. If there’s
a lot of background noise, it can also help
Reviews
DO I REALLY NEED...
An eargasm?
What is it?
Something you’ll
apparently experience
when you listen to
music through a
pair of Sonic Lamb
headphones (pictured).
According to the marketing, these are
the first headphones that let you feel as
well as hear music.
What do the headphones do?
remove this. There’s even a special Wind They use a regular speaker to deliver
Removal tool, for when you bring your standard high- and mid-range
footage home from a breezy day outdoors frequencies, but use a different
and find that all you can hear is the wind technology to physically transfer bass
howling through the microphone. through the earpads. It aims to replicate
One thing we found particularly the sense of ‘feeling’ deep bass sounds.
useful is its ability to sync audio from
external sources. So if you record your What’s the catch?
sound separately from your video to They will be available only through
guarantee the best quality, the software crowdfunding website Indigogo (www.
can sync your recordings automatically, indiegogo.com) for around £158. At the
as long as you have some sound recorded time of writing, there isn’t even a direct
on the video track that it can use as a link we can provide - you’ll have to find
reference point. that yourself on Indiegogo when the
PowerDirector comes in Standard, fund raising starts on July 19. Then, if all
Ultra and Ultimate editions, but we’d goes well, you’ll get your headphones
recommend the Utlimate as the other two by November.
versions lack many of the smart-editing
tools we’ve mentioned here. Upgrades So can I do without them?
from version 18 or 19 are available for Yes, even if it does make the earth move
£74.99. You can also buy an annual for you.
subscription (for £59.99 a year), which
will upgrade you to a new version when
it becomes available. NEXT ISSUE
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS On Sale Weds 3 Aug
Windows 7 or better • 4GB of RAM • 7GB of storage
space www.snipca.com/42459
Lenovo Yoga 6 Gen 7
The latest version
of Lenovo’s brilliant
VERDICT New detection tools and 4K laptop-tablet
support make this worth upgrading to
★★★★★
Cyberpower
ALTERNATIVE Adobe Premiere Infinity X123 Pro
Elements £87 An affordable gaming PC
Adobe’s software featuring Intel’s latest
is cheaper and as Core-i3 processor
easy to use, but
doesn’t have as These and much more...
many automated Subscribe to Computeractive at
tools www.getcomputeractive.co.uk
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 29
 Buy It
Our pick of products that have won the Buy It award
LAPTOP
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 (256GB)
£599 from www.snipca.com/41099
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. The battery lasts
for 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 £819 from
www.snipca.com/40042
ANDROID TABLET
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8
£649 from www.snipca.com/42211
Tested Issue 634
Samsung has replaced its own Tab S7+
to become our favourite Android tablet.
It’s fast with a stunning 11in screen, and
has a longer battery life than the iPad.
This model gives you 128GB - you’ll
need to pay £655 for 256GB.
ALTERNATIVE Lenovo Tab P11 Pro It’s
slower than the Tab S7 and the screen is
duller, but has a detachable keyboard so
you can use it as a laptop. £551 from
www.snipca.com/41101
30 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
Find out what other products we liked.
Buy our new 2021 Back Issue CD:
£17 from www.snipca.com/42077
DESKTOP PC
Wired2Fire
Ultima WS Home Office
Workstation
£772 from www.snipca.com/41500
Tested Issue 630
With an overclocked eight-core chip
and a 1TB SSD, this PC performs Windows
tasks at a blistering speed. It comes
with Wi-Fi 5, and has plenty of ports,
including five USB 3.0 and three for
monitors (DisplayPort, HDMI and VGA).
ALTERNATIVE Palicomp Intel Mercury
Over two years old and with a slower
processor, but still a mighty PC with a
speedy SSD. £600 from www.snipca.
com/34223
APPLE iPHONE
Apple iPhone 12
£679 from www.snipca.com/36582
Tested Issue 595
Released in 2020, this model has a modest
increase in already exceptional processing
power plus even better photos and videos
from the front and twin rear cameras. It
comes in a redesigned case with aluminium
frame and even tougher glass. Consider
paying the £50 extra for 128GB of storage.
ALTERNATIVE iPhone SE With a single
camera and smaller screen but the
same powerful A13 processor and 64GB
storage as the iPhone 11, it’s great value.
£419 from www.snipca.com/34773
NEW
APPLE iPAD
Apple iPad 10.2in
£319 from www.snipca.com/36178
Tested Issue 566
The basic iPad is great value, especially
now it’s been updated with a powerful
A13 processor and iPadOS 15. It includes
Scribble handwriting recognition with
the £89 Apple Pencil. Storage isn’t
expandable; consider 256GB at £459.
ALTERNATIVE iPad Mini With an even
better, but smaller, screen than the
10.2in iPad, the Mini also supports
the Pencil and has 64GB of storage.
£479 from www.snipca.com/33050
ANDROID PHONE
Realme GT 2
£549 from www.snipca.com/41667
Tested Issue 631
China’s Realme has made a phone with
a powerful processor, excellent battery
life, bright screen and a 50-megapixel
camera that takes great photos. It’s
more expensive than our former
favourite (below), but its superior
performance justifies this extra cost.
ALTERNATIVE Xiaomi Poco F3 This
remains an excellent phone, with 6GB
RAM and 128GB storage. The only phone
under £450 that’s faster is the iPhone
SE. £309 from www.snipca.com/41102
 Buy It
Our pick of products that have won the Buy It award
EBOOK READER
Kobo Libra 2
£160 from www.snipca.com/40645
Tested Issue 624
A fantastic 7in screen, 32GB of storage
and Bluetooth connectivity make this a
rival to Amazon’s Oasis ebook reader,
yet it’s £70 cheaper. Battery life is
superb – we managed 54 hours of use
per charge. It supports OverDrive, so
you can borrow ebooks from libraries.
ALTERNATIVE Amazon Kindle This
low-cost option remains a good choice,
especially now it has 8GB of storage.
£70 from www.snipca.com/41103
PC MONITOR P ROUTER
DRRIC
OP E
Iiyama ProLite
XU2492HSU-B1
£138 from www.snipca.com/39701
Tested Issue 618
This 23.8in screen is superb value,
with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
Colour is good, covering 88 per cent of
the sRGB colour range. Connect your
computer via HDMI, DisplayPort or
VGA, and there’s a USB hub to connect
your mouse and keyboard.
ALTERNATIVE AOC 27P2C
This also has a 1920x1080 resolution but
it’s 27 inches, so pixel density is lower. But
you’ll only notice if you look really closely.
£280 from www.snipca.com/41609
32 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
SECURITY SOFTWARE
Norton 360 Premium
£24.99 from www.snipca.com/33247
Tested Issue 629
Norton has always performed strongly
in our antivirus tests, regularly
making the top three. Owned by US
firm NortonLifeLock, it’s available
at a discount on our Software Store.
Click the link above for a 10-device,
two-year licence. Other versions are
available, including Norton 360 for
Gamers.
ALTERNATIVE Bitdefender Total
Security Another top performer that
we’re offering at a discount. £19.99
from www.snipca.com/41141
Netgear Nighthawk RAX80
£300 from www.snipca.com/39013
Tested Issue 603
This is the fastest Wi-Fi 6 router we’ve
ever tested, transferring data at speeds
of 520Mbps in the same and adjacent
rooms of our test house. Also works
with Wi-Fi 5, and comes with four spare
Ethernet ports and two USB ports.
ALTERNATIVE Asus RT-AX82U
Slower than the Nighthawk on Wi-Fi 6,
but faster on Wi-Fi 5, so a better
choice for older devices. Has four
Gigabit Ethernet ports. £160 from
www.snipca.com/41106
WEBCAM
Logitech C925e Business
Webcam
£69 from www.snipca.com/41104
Tested Issue 608
Despite the name, this webcam is also
great for home users. Its standout
feature is automatically adjusting itself
to keep your picture looking sharp. It
offers a 78-degree field of view, which
is fine for everyday video chats with one
person in front of the camera.
ALTERNATIVE Anker PowerConf C300
Good image quality, crisp audio and lots
of features. £100 from www.snipca.
com/41105
PRINTER
Epson EcoTank ET-1810
£160 from www.snipca.com/41232
Tested Issue 627
An inkjet printer that comes with
enough ink to print 4,500 mono
and 7,500 colour pages, making it
exceptionally cheap to run. It’s not
the fastest printer, but quality is good,
especially on photo paper – we’ve
never seen better on an inkjet.
ALTERNATIVE Brother DCP-J1140DW
Compact multifunction model with rare
features at this price, including
double-sided printing. £135 from
www.snipca.com/41480

COMPETITION
Win 1 of 2
TP-Link Deco X20
Mesh Wi-Fi (2-pack)
TP-Link’s Deco X20
AX1800 is a Whole
Home Mesh Wi-Fi 6
system that can deliver
exceptional speeds
around the home of up
to 1.2Gbps (5GHz) and 574Mbps
(2.4GHz).
It uses OFDMA and MU-MIMO
technology to quadruple capacity,
which allows more of your devices
to connect and benefit from the fast
speeds. It also has Ultra-Low Latency,
MESH ROUTER
BT Whole Home Wi-Fi
£170 from www.snipca.com/26990
Tested Issue 496
BT’s set of three discs, managed
from an Apple or Android app,
connects to your broadband and
spreads high-speed Wi-Fi all around
the house. Reception is far better
than a single router, and the price is
lower than any rival.
ALTERNATIVE Zyxel Multy X
These two pillow-shaped boxes are
powerful enough for most homes and
provide four Ethernet ports apiece.
£271 from www.snipca.com/41109
which enables
smoother gaming and
video chatting.
WPA3 encryption
means it’s very secure,
while TP-Link’s
HomeShield provides personalised
features including Parental Controls,
Antivirus, and Quality of Service (QoS)
to ensure a safer online experience.
In this competition, we’re offering
two prizes each containing two units
(as pictured). To enter, answer the
SOLID-STATE DRIVE
Corsair MP600 Pro LPX
500GB
£84 from www.snipca.com/41547
Tested Issue 630
In our tests, this M.2 SSD hit speeds of
7,364MB/s and 6,870MB/s when
reading and writing data – astonishingly
fast scores. It’s compatible with the
new PCIe 4.0 standard, which is twice
as fast as PCIe 3.0. The 1TB model
costs £140; 2TB costs £280.
ALTERNATIVE Crucial MX500 500GB
As fast as an SSD can get in the
traditional 2.5in SATA format, this
is a great-value upgrade. £58 from
www.snipca.com/37304
Buy It
question at www.snipca.com/42444
and submit your details. It runs until
midnight Tuesday 2 August.
You can buy a two-pack of TP-Link’s
Deco X20 for £180 from www.
snipca.com/42443, and a three-
pack for £210 from www.snipca.
com/42445. For more information
on TP-Link’s products visit www.
tp-link.com.
SMART SPEAKER P
DRRIC
OP E
Google Nest Audio
£65 from www.snipca.com/36475
Tested Issue 593
Produces a rich, clear sound, and better
understands your questions than
Amazon’s Echo devices. You can use
Google’s app to control audio from
other units around your home (pair two
of them for £130). The clever Ambient
IQ tool increases the volume if it detects
external noise, such as a hairdryer.
ALTERNATIVE Amazon Echo (4th
generation) The latest version of the
Echo changes the shape from a cylinder
to a ball, which improves sound quality
– though the Nest’s is still superior.
£65 from www.snipca.com/41111
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 33
Computeractive 2021
Back Issue CD

LE NOW!
ON SA
CON
T
AL AINS
L
ISSU26
FROM ES
2
021

Buy it from us now at

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 Pull Out
& Keep

Workshops & Tips Issue 636

14 pages of easy-to-follow workshops and expert tips

35 A
 ccess your passwords 40 Readers’ Tips PLUS
on any device 44 Phone & Tablet Tips 47 M
 ake Office Better
42 Browser Tips:
38 R
 ecord your PC screen Manage your 46 M
 ake Windows 48 In the Club: Embed an
using PicPick Chrome extensions Better Excel file on your site

HOW TO...
Access all your passwords
on any device by Nik Rawlinson

What you need: Bitwarden Time required: 60 minutes

B
itwarden has taken the world
by storm. The open-source
password manager offers superb
programs for Windows, tablets and
phones, as well as extensions for the
most popular browsers, and we’ve been
recommending it for some time.
We recognise, however, that the
prospect of setting up a new password
manager isn’t something many people
relish. That’s because for years most of us
have been saving passwords in our
browsers. It’s far easier to continue
allowing your browser to fill in all your
login details for you than to start again
with an empty password manager,
which can take months to learn all the
passwords you use.
This is a very inefficient way to store
your passwords, though. What if you
save a password to Edge on your PC, for
example, but you use Chrome on your
Android device, or Safari on your
iPhone? Your phone or tablet wouldn’t
have access to any passwords saved on
your PC, and vice versa. A password
manager such as Bitwarden solves this
problem by synchronising all your login
details between every device, and even
across browsers if you use its extensions.
Thankfully, there are several shortcuts
you can take that simplify the process of
switching to a new password manager.
Here, we’ll explain how to export your
passwords from your browsers, so you
can import them into Bitwarden. Once
you’ve done that, you’ll have access to all
your passwords on every device, no
matter where you happen to be.

Install Bitwarden
1 If you haven’t installed
Bitwarden yet, create a free
account at www.snipca.com/42408,
taking special care when choosing your
master password. This is the password
that will unlock Bitwarden, allowing
it to extract every username and
password for all the sites you log into,
so make sure it’s unique, complex and
impossible to guess. Use a mixture
of upper- and lower-case letters,
numbers and special characters, then
memorise it. That might feel like a
lot of effort, but this is one of the last
passwords you should ever need to
remember, so it’s well worth it.
When you’ve set up your account,
download Bitwarden by clicking the link
for Windows at www.snipca.com/42409.
Launch it, then log in using the details
you specified when creating the account.
Bitwarden extensions are available for every
major browser, including Brave and Tor
Next, install the browser extension
by scrolling down to the Web Browser
section from the same web page, and
clicking the appropriate icon for your
browser (see screenshot below left). This
directs you to the browser’s extensions
store, from which you can install it.
Finally, install the Bitwarden mobile
app and log in using the details you
created earlier. The apps are free for iOS
(www.snipca.com/42410) and Android
(www.snipca.com/42411) devices.
Once you’ve completed these steps,
Bitwarden will synchronise any
passwords you add on any of your
devices, or through your browser,
to all your devices, so you only ever need

Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 35

 to type them once. The next step is to
extract your existing login details from
your browsers and transfer them
to Bitwarden.
Extract passwords from
2 Chromium PC browsers
Chrome, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi
and Microsoft Edge are all based on the
Chromium source code, so the process of
exporting your passwords is the same for
each. Click in the address bar and type
chrome://settings/passwords (if you don’t
use Chrome, replace it with the name
of your browser - such as brave 1 in our
screenshot below), then press return.
This opens your browser’s password
manager, where you’ll find a list of
usernames and passwords 2 , plus the
sites they relate to 3 . Some browsers
warn you if any of your credentials
have been compromised. If a saved
password has a less than perfect score,
this is the ideal opportunity to update
it. You’ll have to do this on the site itself,
so click the website address in the first
column, log in using your existing details,
then use the site menus to access your
account and change your password. Save
the changed password to your browser
to ensure it’s included when you export
your details.
When you’re ready to export, click
the three vertical dots at the top of the
passwords list 4 and select ‘Export
passwords’ from the menu. Your browser
will warn you that your passwords will
be visible to anyone who can access the
exported file. Click ‘Export passwords’,
and if Windows asks you to complete
an additional step, such as entering
3 password again if required.
1 the columns in Calc).
All Chromium browsers have a password manager that provides access to your login details
36 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
How I use Bitwarden
I have Bitwarden installed on computers running Windows, Linux
and macOS, as an extension for each of my browsers, and on
my tablet and phones. All my passwords synchronise through it,
so wherever I am, and whichever device I’m using, I can log into
each of the services I need. I particularly like that, even if I’m not
using my own computer, I can view any of my passwords in the
Bitwarden app on my phone. This allows me to log in to my accounts on someone
else’s PC, using an incognito window of whichever browser they have installed.
Nic Rawlinson
How do you keep all your passwords secure?
Please let us know: letters@computeractive.co.uk
your Windows password or tapping the The simplest solution would be to
fingerprint reader, do so. A File Explorer email the file to yourself, by choosing
window will appear. Navigate to your the mail option on the share screen
Downloads folder, then click Save. that appears when you tap ‘Export
Repeat this process for all your passwords…’. But this is risky because it
browsers. Each one creates a separate file means all your passwords will be sent in
with a .csv extension. unencrypted form through an unknown
number of servers. Saving to an online
Extract passwords service such as Dropbox or Google Drive
3 from Chromium-based
Android browsers
is more secure. You can then log into
the same account on your computer and
To export passwords from Chromium access the exported file from there.
browsers on your Android phone and
tablet, tap the three dots on the browser Export passwords from
toolbar, followed by Settings, then
Passwords. Now tap the three dots at
4 Safari on iOS
If you use Safari on an iPhone
the top of the passwords list, followed or iPad but don’t have a Mac, you
by ‘Export passwords…’, then complete need to make sure your passwords are
any additional security steps that your synchronised to iCloud, then use the
tablet or phone requires. Tap ‘Export iCloud Passwords program in Windows to
passwords…’ again, then choose where copy them to your computer.
to save the password file. This should be To set up iCloud sync, open Settings
somewhere on your computer that you on your iPhone or iPad, tap your name at
can access easily. the top of the menu, then tap iCloud. Tap
‘Keychain’ and make sure the switch on
the following screen is on (it has a green
background when active). You may be
asked for your passcode or Apple ID.
Next, install ‘iCloud for Windows’
(which includes iCloud Passwords)
to your computer from www.snipca.
com/42413, then log in using your Apple
4 ID. Tick the box beside Passwords,
2 then click Apply and enter your Apple
Create a spreadsheet using your
preferred program (Excel, LibreOffice
Calc etc), and type the words name, url,
username and password in cells A1 to D1
(see screenshot above right, which shows
Launch iCloud Passwords from the
Start menu and log in. In the sidebar,
click the first of the logins you want

4 followed by Sort… and, in the box that
1
3 number in the grey column to the left of
Create a spreadsheet then add your details
from iCloud Passwords
to copy, then right-click in the main
part of the window, and click Copy
Username. Paste this below username
in the spreadsheet (cell C2 - 1 in our
screenshot above). Right-click the main
pane in iCloud Passwords again, click
Copy Password, and paste this into the
password column (cell D2 3 ). Right-
click and copy the web address in iCloud
Passwords, and paste it below url (B2 4 ).
Either paste it again in A2, below name,
or type a descriptive name of your choice
into that cell. Repeat this for each of the
records you want to copy, moving down
one row every time.
When you’ve finished, save the file
you’ve just created as a CSV. In Excel,
click File followed by Save As, then type
a file name and make sure ‘CSV (Comma
delimited)(*.csv)’ is selected in the
dropdown menu below the filename box.
In LibreOffice Calc, click File followed
by Save As, then give the file a new
filename and make sure ‘Text CSV (*.csv)’
is selected in the menu beside ‘Save as
type’. Click Save.
Export passwords
5 from Firefox
Firefox isn’t based on
Chromium, so the instructions for
exporting your passwords from Firefox
are different. Open Firefox, type
about:logins in the browser bar, then
press return. Click the three horizontal
dots at the top of the screen and select
‘Export logins…’ from the menu. Click
‘Export’ and complete any additional
security steps requested, such as typing
your Windows password, then choose a
location to save your passwords file. For
simplicity, choose your Downloads folder.
Get rid of duplicates
6 Bitwarden doesn’t remove
duplicate files when importing,
so if you have saved passwords for the
same sites in multiple browsers, it will
create an entry for each in your list. It’s
a good idea to remove any duplicates
Next issue: Wipe all data from your old hard drives
Access all your passwords on any device
Sort your exported password by ‘Column B’
(URL) to make it easier to spot duplicates
before going any further (though it’s not
compulsory). Open a blank spreadsheet,
then open the first of your exported
password files in a separate window,
copy its contents and paste them into the
blank spreadsheet.
Close the first password file, then
open the next one, and copy everything
except the first row, which is just the
headers for each column. These should
already be in your spreadsheet from the
first file you pasted. Switch to the new
spreadsheet and paste in the information
you’ve just copied, below the existing
credentials. Repeat this process until you
have amalgamated all the passwords from
each of your exported files into a single
spreadsheet, but don’t mix Chromium-
based and Firefox password lists, because
the formats are different.
Now sort the entries according to the
site address. To do this, click in cell A2,
then hold Ctrl and Shift while pressing
the down arrow. Keep Ctrl and Shift
held while pressing the right arrow. This
selects everything you’ve just pasted,
apart from the headers.
If you’re using Excel, click Data on the
menu, followed by Sort. In the box that
appears, select Column B on the first
menu, Cell Values on the second menu,
and ‘A to Z’ on the third menu, then
click OK. In LibreOffice Calc, click Data,
You need
to log into
Bitwarden
through your
browser to
import your
passwords
1
2
appears, select ‘Column B’ under ‘Sort
Key 1’ (see screenshot left) and click OK.
You’ll now be able to see any duplicate
addresses more easily. If you find a
duplicate, right-click its row header (the
that row) and select Delete in Excel, or
Delete Rows in LibreOffice Calc.
Now export your combined passwords
file. In Excel, click File followed by Save
As, then type a filename and make
sure ‘CSV (Comma delimited)(*.csv)’ is
selected in the dropdown menu below
the filename box. In LibreOffice Calc,
click File followed by Save As, give the file
a new filename and make sure ‘Text CSV
(*.csv)’ is selected in the menu beside
‘Save as type’. Click Save.
Import your passwords
7 to Bitwarden
Bitwarden stores your passwords
in what it calls the Vault - a secure server
that shares your credentials with any
Bitwarden programs, apps and extensions
that are logged into your account. You
can only import passwords to the vault
directly through the server, so log into
your account at www.bitwarden.com,
then click Tools on the top menu ( 1 in
our screenshot below).
Click ‘Import data’ in the sidebar 2 ,
then choose which type of file you’re
importing – either ‘Chrome (CSV)’ or
‘Firefox (CSV)’ – from the menu under
the heading ‘Select the format of the
import file’ 3 . Click ‘Browse’ and navigate
to the password file you want to import 4 ,
then click ‘Import data’ 5 .
Now that all your passwords are stored
safely in Bitwarden, securely delete
the .csv files you exported from your
browsers. These contain the keys to your
entire online life, so you wouldn’t want
them to fall into anyone else’s hands.
3
4
5
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 37
 Workshop
Record your PC screen
with audio using PicPick
What you need: PicPick
Time required: 30 minutes

M aking a video of what’s

happening on your PC screen is
a great way of showing friends and
family how to accomplish a task – or
of demonstrating exactly what’s going
wrong when you’re asking someone
for help with a problem. Released in
June, version 6.20 of free screen-
capture tool PicPick (www.picpick.
app) adds a built-in screen recorder
that can create videos and animated
GIFs. It also has a useful feature for
capturing web pages and documents
that don’t fit on a single screen. Here,
we explain how to use it to record
activity on your screen with audio.

STEP PicPick is available as both an

1 installable or portable program.

The latter is perfect for running
from a USB stick if you want to carry it
from one computer to another. However,
we’re opting for the installable version
because we want to use it as a
replacement for Windows’ built-in
screenshot tool. Visit www.snipca.
com/42468, then click Download 1 in
the For Home Users box. When it’s
downloaded, run the ‘picpick_inst.exe’
installer file.

STEP PicPick prompts you to reassign your PrtSc (entire

2 screen) and Alt+PrtSc (selected area of screen)

keyboard shortcuts so that they use PicPick rather than
Windows’ screenshot tool. Click Yes or No as you see fit (it’s not
necessary if you only want to use the screen recorder). Even if
you don’t reassign the PrtSc shortcut, we’d recommend setting
up a shortcut for screen recording, so, after choosing Yes or No,
click Options in the sidebar, followed by Hotkeys, then specify a
shortcut combination for Screen Recorder. We’ve chosen
Shift+Ctrl+Alt+F1 1 .
STEP To start the process, click ‘Screen Recorder’ at the top
3 of the Graphic Accessories column, or press your new
shortcut. By default, PicPick selects a 640x360-pixel
area at the centre of your screen to record. You can change this
by clicking the arrow and selecting new dimensions from the
menu 1 . Now, drag the window to cover the area you want to
record. If you want to record your whole screen, click the full
screen button 2 .

38 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636

 1 2 2

3 1

STEP PicPick can record system audio (anything passing STEP Most of the time you’ll want to record a video, but

4 through your sound card, such as Windows alerts), or

audio picked up by your microphone. The latter lets you
narrate what’s happening without recording a separate soundtrack
and editing the two together. Click the speaker icon 1 to select
your audio source. As you can see from our screenshot, we have
two microphone options. One (Realtek 2 ) is built into our
laptop; the other (DroidCam 3 ) is the audio from our phone.
5 PicPick can also create animated GIFs, which are great
for adding to your web pages or sharing online. Switch
between the two by clicking the film-strip button and selecting
MP4 (for video) or GIF 1 . Finally, when you’re ready to start
recording, click REC 2 , and make sure the activity takes place
within the selected area. The REC button becomes a timer while
recording. Click it to stop recording.

STEP The amount of hard-drive space a video

6 takes up is determined by image size and

frame rate. Higher rates result in smoother
videos, but can be more difficult to share. To reduce
the file size, click the cog on the Screen Recorder
toolbar, then Recording 1 in the sidebar, and reduce
the settings next to MP4 FPS and GIF FPS 2 .
Reducing the Quality setting 3 applies compression
to your video, further cutting the file size.
2

1
3

STEP PicPick can capture still images of your

7 entire screen or just an active window, and

has a Scrolling Window option to capture
complete web pages, even if they don’t fit on screen.
1 Scroll to the top of the window you want to capture,
click PicPick in the system tray’s hidden icons (click
2 the small up arrow in your taskbar to reveal these),
then hover over Screen Capture 1 and select
Scrolling Window 2 . It will now automatically scroll
down the contents of the window, capturing several
screenshots that it stitches together and saves.

Next issue: Recover deleted files without restrictions Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 39
 Readers’ Tips
TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT
Use strikethrough to cross out loads of data
Following your tips on using strikethroughs
in Excel (Issue 635, page 47), readers
might like to know you can use
conditional formatting in spreadsheets
to cross out specific data. This is useful
when you have lots of data to cross out.
In this example, we’re crossing out holiday
plans listed as ‘Done’ in column B.
First, highlight the cells you want to
check, then click Conditional
Formatting in the Styles section and
Pauline wins a copy of our 2021 Back Issue CD
HARDWARE
Use rough recycled paper as
mouse mat
In Issue 634 (page 40), Alan Bell
mentioned his preference for softer
and textured mouse mats over hard
‘gaming’ mats. For many years I’ve used a
‘disposable’ mat. Currently, this is a
200-page spiral-bound Pukka Pad of
A4 recycled paper (pictured).
Recycled paper is slightly rougher and
provides the little bit of drag some of us
prefer. As soon as it gets a bit grubby or
sticky, just rip off the top sheet and you’ll
have a clean mat
again. You can
buy the pad
online for £4
from Amazon
(www.snipca.
com/42340),
though I picked
mine up from a
pound shop.
John Craggs
Why I stopped using…
Lexar Professional
SD cards
The rising cost of living has made
me reassess what I pay for. I
wondered why I spend £80 on 64GB
Lexar Professional SD cards (www.
snipca.com/42384) for my digital
camera. Was there a cheaper option?
And what I use instead...
I now use SanDisk Extreme PRO cards,
40 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
select New Rule. Now select ‘Use a
formula to determine which cells
to format’ and type =$B2="Done"
in the ‘Format values where this
formula is true’ box.
Click Format ( 1 in our screenshot),
then tick Strikethrough in the
Effects box 2 , add a colour
(optional, 3 ), then click OK. Finally,
click OK to close the New Formatting
Rule box and all ‘Done’ tasks will now
Buy it from us at www.snipca.com/42077
WINDOWS
Add batch files to ‘Quick access’
I loved the batch files you
recommended in Issue 635 (page
62). I’ve been creating my own batch files
for several years, and find it helpful to
add them to the ‘Quick access’ (previously
called Favourites) section in File Explorer,
so I know where they all are. In Windows
10 you just need to right-click the batch
file in File Explorer, then select ‘Quick
access’ (previously called Favourites).
Once you’ve done this, click ‘Quick
access’ in the File Explorer sidebar, and
the file will appear below.
Brian Goodwin
WINDOWS
Make your software open in
full screen
Your batch file to open several
programs in one go (www.snipca.
com/42341) is one of my favourites.
There’s an extra command you can type
to make one or more of the programs
which give you 64GB for £17
(www.snipca.com/42387,
pictured). The reason they’re
cheaper is because they’re
slower, rated as UHS-I
compared with Lexar’s
UHS-II, but I can live with
the drop in speed to save
£63.
It helps that I use a
relatively old camera – the Nikon D750
3
2
1
have a strikethrough.
Pauline Colston
open in full screen – you just need to add
/max after start for each program you
want to include. So, copy the following
into Notepad – start /max brave.exe (see
screenshot above).
Helen Carew
HARDWARE
Use these top-quality key
stickers
Thanks for the article on fixing PC
keyboards in Issue 634 (page 62).
Concerning replacement stickers for
keyboard letters, I was recently looking
on Amazon for a set for my Windows
keyboard, but was put off by one-star
reviews saying the letters had started to
(www.snipca.com/42388) –
which can handle UHS-I.
If you have a newer camera,
you’ll have to stick with more
expensive UHS-II cards. But just
like I can’t afford £80 SD cards
anymore, nor can I afford a new
digital camera!
Gary Turnbull
Tell us why you stopped using a website, app
or program: letters@computeractive.co.uk

wear away after
only a few
months.
This
prompted me to
search on
Google, where I
found the US
company
4keyboard (www.4keyboard.com), who
say their stickers have a “protective coat
to ensure their durability for years”.
It cost me a bit more to purchase
overseas, including airmail, but I have
more confidence that the stickers will
last. The ‘English UK’ set I chose (www.
snipca.com/42375, pictured) has very
clear letters of a good size. The company
specialises in stickers for all sorts of
keyboards and languages.
The stickers were for a secondhand
mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX
Brown switches (www.snipca.
com/42376). I bought this as an
experiment after two decades of using
membrane keyboards. I have good
memories of the old IBM keyboard that
came with my first Windows PC in 1999.
I’m not a gamer, but I do a lot of typing,
and I find the action of these MX Brown
keys to be crisp, precise and fast.
Perhaps now would be a good time for
a feature on mechanical keyboards?
John Baldry
BROWSERS
Email calendar invitations
through Vivaldi Mail
Thanks for the Workshop on using
the Vivaldi email client (Issue 635,
page 38). I notice also that Vivaldi has a
built-in calendar that lets you email
invitations to any appointments you
3 Alan Hawkins
2 4
Handy hints and tips from your fellow readers
Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk
Reader recommends…
Klipsch T5 Bluetooth Earphones
£212 from www.snipca.com/42381
I’m lucky enough to be able to
wear earphones while I work,
but the office often gets so noisy that
it’s hard to hear what I’m listening to
(which ranges from pop to classical).
I sought out a decent pair of
noise-cancelling earphones, and found
this excellent Klipsch model. Once
you’ve got them in, you can press
them to launch the noise-cancelling
function. Beethoven is no longer being
drowned out by my colleagues
discussing last night’s Love Island!
They charge to 100 per cent within
30 minutes, and last for about three
hours. The charging case is stylish,
create. First, click the calendar button
( 1 in screenshot below), then the cog 2
to open settings, followed by Calendar 3 .
Now scroll to the bottom of the main
pane and select one of the email
addresses you’ve set up in Vivaldi Mail by
clicking ‘Select mail account’ 4 . The
address you choose here will be the
default account used to send invitations,
so if you’ve set up both work and
personal inboxes in Vivaldi Mail, make
sure you choose the right one (I made
that mistake!).
Close ‘Settings’, then double-click the
day on which you want to create a new
event. Give the event a title and a start
and end time, then click the person icon
at the end of the calendar entry box. Type
the address of the person you want to
1 the top-right of the desktop, or another
reminding me of a Zippo lighter. I’ll
admit they’re a bit pricey, but the audio
quality is exceptional and they’re
comfortable. When I last looked,
Amazon was selling one ‘Used – Like
New’ for £99. At that price (even
secondhand), they’d be a bargain.
Barry Sharpe
Want to recommend hardware or software
to fellow readers?
Email letters@computeractive.co.uk
invite and press Return, then click Done.
You can now add a note to go with the
invitation – click Send Messages when
done. The recipient needs to click Accept,
Maybe or Decline to update their status
on your calendar.
Henry Oaten
WINDOWS
Add a shutdown shortcut
to your desktop
In Issue 634’s Make Windows
Better (page 46) you explain how to
use the Alt+F4 keyboard shortcut to open
a box with shutdown options. This is
useful, but I think it’s even better to add a
shortcut to the desktop to close down
your computer.
Right-click a space on your desktop,
then click New, Shortcut. Now type C:\
Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /s /t 0
in the box (see screenshot below) and
click the Next button. Next, enter a name
for the shortcut (eg, ‘Shutdown’) and
click Finish. Now simply drag the icon to
location that’s easy to find. Just click it to
close down your computer.
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 41
 Browser Tips
CHROMIUM
Fake your location when
browsing the web
Websites
automatically
detect your location from your IP address
so they can deliver relevant content, but
they can also use this data to identify and
track you. You can use a VPN (see our
Cover Feature in Issue 631, page 50) to
disguise this information, but a much
simpler (and cheaper) option is to install
Vytal (www.snipca.com/42401). This new
extension lets you spoof your location so
that sites think you are in a different
country in another time zone.
It’s very easy to use – simply click its
onion-shaped toolbar button and select a
location in the Profile dropdown menu.
There are 33 cities to choose from, including
Berlin, Delhi, Los Angeles, Sydney and
Tokyo, and a handy option to switch to a
random one at a frequency of your choice
(see screenshot below). You can switch
WORKSHOP Manage your Chrome extensions using NooBoss
1 1
2
1 In Chrome or any other Chromium
browser, find the NooBoss extension
in the Chrome Web Store (www.snipca.
com/42424) and click ‘Add to Chrome’,
then ‘Add extension’. Click the jigsaw icon
on the toolbar 1 then click the pin icon
next to NooBoss 2 .
42 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
back to your real location by choosing
Match IP.
Unlike other tools that prevent
fingerprinting, Vytal doesn’t stop websites
working properly and conceals that you’re
spoofing your location. Its only flaw is
that it displays an irritating ‘Vytal started
debugging this browser’ message to
indicate that it’s working. You can click
Cancel to close this, but hopefully it will
be removed altogether in a future update.
CHROMIUM
Discover how many people
use your extensions
Another way
that websites
can identify you is from the extensions
you have installed in your browser – rarer
the combination of tools, the more
distinct your browsing ‘fingerprint’.
A new website called Extension
Fingerprints (www.snipca.com/42418)
detects which add-ons you’ve installed
from the Chrome Web Store and tells you
the percentage of users who share the
same selection. The higher the figure, the
less identifiable your browser is to websites.
In our screenshot above right, you can
see that only 0.003 per cent of Chrome
users have installed the same extensions
as us, from a choice of 1,000 popular tools.
This makes our browser comparatively
unique so perhaps we should use some
better-known add-ons to try and blend in
with the crowd. Extension Fingerprints
also works with other Chromium
browsers, which – because they’re much
less popular than Chrome – may make
1 2
2 Click the NooBoss toolbar button then
the Overview tab 1 . Here you’ll see a list
of your installed extensions and details of
whether users find them Useful, Buggy,
Working and other criteria 2 . You can add
your own ratings by clicking the relevant
tiles.
you even more identifiable to sites.
See our Workshop below to find out
how to manage your Chrome extensions
using a tool called NooBoss (www.snipca.
com/42424).
EDGE
Improve the quality
of online games
Microsoft has announced plans to
“bring new gaming experiences”
to its Edge browser (see www.snipca.
com/42403), starting with version 103,
which was released last month. This
introduces a new feature called Clarity
Boost, which uses a technology called
“spatial upscaling enhancement” to make
Xbox Cloud Gaming games you play in
Edge look sharper. Clarity Boost is
applied automatically, so you don’t need
to worry about enabling the option.
Edge 103 also has a new Efficiency
mode, which frees up processing power
and memory on your PC when you start
playing an online game, to improve the
2
3
3 Click the Extensions tab 1 and choose
Manage. Click ‘Enable’ or Disable 2 to
switch all your extensions on or off in one
go. Alternatively, hover your cursor over an
extension’s tile to enable or disable it, or
delete it from your browser 3 .

BEST EXTENSION FOR… Checking bookmarks still work
Bookmarks Checker
Chromium
www.snipca.com/42420
Unless you regularly tidy the bookmarks
stored in your browser, your collection
is likely to be littered with duplicate
entries, empty folders and broken links.
Bookmarks Checker gives you no excuse
for leaving your saved websites in disarray.
It scans your bookmarks for dead entries
that link to pages that no longer exist, and
lets you delete them all in a single click.
You can also look for duplicate bookmarks
to remove, and use the Timeout slider
streaming quality. Once you exit the
game, Efficiency mode switches system-
resource usage back to normal. This is
similar to the Profiles feature in the
gaming browser Opera GX (www.opera.
com/gx), which we wrote about in Issue
630 (page 43).
To turn the option on or off, open Edge’s
Settings, select ‘System and performance’
and look for a new setting called ‘Improve
your PC gaming experience with
efficiency mode’ (see screenshot above).
Additionally, Edge now has a dedicated
Gaming tab on its homepage that includes
game-related news and links to free
online games. If you don’t see this, click
the Personalise button, select Gaming
then choose the type of gaming content
that interests you.
FIREFOX
Remove tracking elements
from web links
Some websites, including Facebook
and Twitter, add unique identifiers
to outgoing web links that can be used to
track you online without implanting
cookies in your browser. Firefox 102,
released on 28 June, includes a new
Secret settings and the best extensions
(see screenshot) to specify how long the
extension should wait before deeming an
entry obsolete. Bookmarks Checker works
quickly and its simple colour-coding system
privacy feature that removes these sneaky
tracking elements from URLs. This uses a
blocklist of known trackers and is enabled
by default when you switch Firefox’s
Enhanced Tracking Protection to Strict.
To do this, click the Firefox menu
button, choose Settings then ‘Privacy &
Security’ and select Strict. However, you
can also activate the setting manually in
Standard mode, if you find that Strict
stops some websites working properly.
Type about:config into Firefox’s address
bar, press Enter and click ‘Accept the Risk
and Continue’. Search for the preference
privacy.query_stripping.enabled, then
click the Toggle icon to change its value to
‘true’. Do the same for the preference
privacy.query_stripping.enabled.pbmode
(see screenshot above) to stop websites
tracking you in private browsing more. A
similar setting is available in Brave
CHROMIUM & FIREFOX
Watch YouTube Shorts like
normal videos
In our In
The Club
section in Issue 634 (page 48), we explained
how to create and upload your own short
and filters make it easy to spot invalid links.
It’s certainly preferable to checking all your
saved sites individually.
If you don’t like that, try…
Bookmarks Clean up
Firefox
www.snipca.com/42421
This add-on works in a similar way to
Bookmarks Checker, but for Firefox. It
identifies and removes duplicate
bookmarks, broken links and empty
folders, so you can keep your collection of
saved sites tidy.
videos using YouTube’s Shorts service.
One drawback to watching these clips in
your desktop browser is that they’re
displayed in a vertical, phone-style
format without the usual playback
controls. A new extension called
‘Youtube-shorts block’ (www.snipca.
com/42423) fixes this problem by
overriding the default YouTube Shorts
settings so that these videos are shown
in the standard YouTube player.
To use the add-on, simply click its
toolbar button and switch on the option
‘Play the YouTube shorts video as if it
were a normal video’ (see screenshot
below), then reload the page or click the
Shorts video to change its format.
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 43
 Phone and Tablet Tips
ANDROID & iOS
Move your WhatsApp data
from Android to iOS
One drawback to switching from
an Android phone to an iPhone
is that you’ll lose all your WhatsApp
chats, photos and videos. To solve this
problem, Apple has updated its ‘Move to
iOS’ app for Android (www.snipca.
com/42517) with the ability to transfer
your WhatsApp data, as well as your text
messages, contacts and other content.
The option is being rolled out gradually,
and only works when setting up a new
iPhone or a factory-reset device, so you
might not see it yet.
To use the new feature, install ‘Move to
iOS’ on your Android phone, then start
the setup process on your new (or reset)
iPhone – make sure both devices are
connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Select ‘Move Data from Android’ on the
‘Apps & Data’ screen, tap Continue and
you should see a six- or 10-digit code.
Enter this code in the ‘Move to iOS’ app,
select WhatsApp on
the Transfer Data
screen (see
screenshot left) -
along with any
other data you want
to copy over, then
tap Continue. The
app will move your
WhatsApp chats
and media files to
your iPhone and,
once the transfer is mobile browser and tap Get Started.
complete, sign you out of Select the number of artists to
WhatsApp on your include in your supergroup and
Android phone. You can decide which ones to include – you
then install WhatsApp can assign a lead singer, lyricist,
from the Apple App Store producer and other roles, or just tap
and sign in using your Randomize to let Spotify choose for
existing phone number. you. Select a name for your
Tap ‘Start’ to finish the supergroup playlist (see screenshot
migration process. left), tap Make My Group and
If you’re moving in the choose ‘Listen to Their Playlist’ to
other direction, from save the result to your Spotify
iPhone to Android, Google library.
has updated its Switch To Android app for
iOS (www.snipca.com/42507) to work ANDROID
with all devices running Android 12 - Sync photos between your
previously it only supported Pixel phones. phone and Chromebook
Google has updated its Phone Hub
ANDROID & iOS tool for Chrome OS so that photos
Create ‘supergroup’ playlists you take using your Android phone’s
in Spotify camera are made instantly available on
Spotify has introduced a new your Chromebook – even when it’s
feature called Supergrouper, offline. This saves you the hassle of
which generates playlists containing emailing pictures to yourself or going
songs by up to five of your through Google Photos. As
favourite artists. It’s based soon as you take a shot on
on the notion that the your phone, it will appear
artists you listen to in Phone Hub under
may span a variety of ‘Recent photos’ (see
musical genres, so aren’t screenshot left) where you
usually grouped by can click to download and
the service’s other share it. Phone Hub also lets
auto-generated playlist you view notifications from
options. your Android phone. It
To use Supergrouper, can be turned on and off
first visit www.snipca. through your Chromebook’s
com/42508 in your Settings screen.

BEST NEW APPS What you should install this fortnight

Virgin Trains Ticketing 999 BSL Forecaster

Free Free Free
Android www.snipca.com/42512 Android www.snipca.com/42520 Android www.snipca.com/42511
iOS www.snipca.com/42513 iOS www.snipca.com/42521 If, like us, you find the BBC Weather app
This new app lets you book cheap train Deaf people can use this new app to get increasingly unreliable, Forecaster is a
tickets across the help via video call great alternative. It
whole National Rail in an emergency. It provides accurate
network – not just connects users with a forecasts, including
Virgin Trains – and British Sign Language cloud coverage
earn points with interpreter who will and temperature,
Virgin Red every time get details of the in a concise, easy-
you travel (you’ll need situation and contact to-understand
an account with that a local emergency manner, with no
rewards scheme). control room, which ads, and has just
You can either buy will then call the been updated to
an eTicket or collect person back. 999 BSL use data from
from the station, with can also share a deaf Apple’s WeatherKit
no booking fee. user’s location. service.

44 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636


iOS
Delete an account
from within an app
Apple has introduced a new policy
for iOS apps stating that if a
developer lets users create an account
from within an app, they must also
provide an in-app option to delete that
account (see the Account Sign-In section
at www.snipca.com/42506). This helps to
protect your privacy, because it means
you can properly cancel your account
with an app before you remove it from
your iPhone, rather than continue to allow
the service access to your personal
information.
One of the first apps to comply with
the new rule is Instagram, which seems
appropriate considering that its parent
company, Meta, is notorious for gathering
your data. Previously, you could only
delete your Instagram account through
your web browser, but you can now do so
directly from within the app
if you no longer use the social network.
Tap the three-line menu button in the
top-right corner of your Instagram profile
and choose Settings. Select ‘Account’,
swipe down and tap the new ‘Delete
account’ option (see screenshot below).
You can then decide whether to
permanently delete your Instagram
account or simply ‘deactivate’ it to hide it
from other people until you log in again.
The deletion process can be cancelled
within 30 days if you change your mind.
Expect more iOS apps to introduce a
similar account-deletion option in their
next updates, in line with Apple’s new
regulation.
Brilliant things to do on your device
iOS data breach, and suggests
Browse more you update your login
securely in Chrome details.
The latest update To activate Enhanced
to the iOS version Safe Browsing, tap the
of Chrome adds a three-dot icon to the
welcome security 1 right of the address bar
feature called Enhanced in the Chrome app on
Safe Browsing. This 2 your iPhone or iPad
protects you against and select Settings –
malware infection and phishing scams by you’ll need to swipe down the menu
warning you about potentially dangerous to see this. Tap ‘Google Services’ and
websites, so you can choose whether or switch on the options Safe Browsing
not to load them. It also tells you when ( 1 in our screenshot above left) and
the username and password you enter on ‘Warn you if passwords are exposed in
a web page have been compromised in a a data breach’ 2 .
BEST APPS FOR... Summer ailments
My Pollen Forecast UK
Free*
iOS
www.snipca.com/42528
Reduce the severity of hay-fever symptoms
using this excellent app, which provides
a pollen forecast for the next five days,
shows a map of areas with high pollen
counts and tracks the pollen types you’re
most allergic to. You can also receive
pollen-level alerts. Android users should
try Klarify (www.snipca.com/42529).
Best For Avoiding hay-fever hotspots
Water Reminder
Free*
Android www.snipca.com/42530
Stay healthy and hydrated on hot summer
days – and throughout the year – by creating
a personal hydration plan in this app. It
ensures you drink enough water by
reminding you when it’s time for your next
glass. For iOS, there’s an app with the same
name from a different developer: www.
snipca.com/42531.
Best For Staying properly hydrated
UVLens
Free
Android www.snipca.com/42523
iOS www.snipca.com/42524
This app helps you avoid sunburn and
reduce your risk of skin cancer by showing
you the UV (ultraviolet) index for today
and tomorrow, so you can plan the safest
times to be outside. Its ‘My Skin’ feature
recommends whether you should apply
sun protection based on your skin colour
and planned activities.
Best For Protection against sunburn
*Contains in-app purchases
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 45
 Make Windows Better
WINDOWS 10 & 11
Make ‘Speech Recognition’
run at startup
If you regularly use the
Speech Recognition tool
in Windows, you might
want it to launch every time you start
your computer. Search for and open
Control Panel, then click Speech
Recognition followed by ‘Advanced
speech options’ at the top left. Now tick
‘Run Speech Recognition at start-up’ in
the User Settings box (see screenshot
below) and click OK to confirm.
WINDOWS 10 & 11
Install GIMP from the
Microsoft Store
GIMP, one of our favourite
free image-editing
programs, is finally
available to install as an app from the
Microsoft Store. Its arrival is especially
welcome because until recently there
were unofficial apps impersonating
GIMP that tried to make you pay to install
(see ‘Named & Shamed’, Issue 621).
Thankfully, these have since been
removed from the Store.
To find the new, official GIMP app, visit
www.snipca.com/42505 and click the
‘Get in Store app’ button. Alternatively,
type Microsoft Store into your PC’s Start
menu, then click Open, and type GIMP
into the top search bar. Next, click the
Install button (see screenshot below), and
run the app once it’s finished installing.
46 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
Expert tips for every version
WINDOWS 10 & 11
Press Tab to move through
Settings quickly
Many of the
instructions we
provide for
Windows involve moving through
pages in Settings until you find what
you need. One quick way of doing
this (avoiding any mouse clicking) is
by pressing the Tab button on your
keyboard, which will highlight the
next clickable option.
This works once you’re inside a
Settings section, but not when
you’re on the Settings home page Tab and you’ll see each subsequent
itself. Press Windows key+I to open option highlighted, ready for you to
Settings, and your cursor appears in open by pressing Enter. In our
the search bar at the top. Press Tab and screenshot, we’re in the Display section
you’ll highlight the System section, of the System settings, and have
then press it again and you’ll return to pressed Tab all the way down to the
the search bar (in Windows 10 at least). option to ‘Show desktop background
To actually go through the sections image’, which is highlighted by a
you’ll need to use the arrow keys. rectangular box. To retrace your steps
Once you’re inside a section, press in Settings, simply press Shift+Tab.
GIMP’s developers say the
app is exactly the same as the
downloadable version (from 1
www.gimp.org/downloads).
However, unlike many Store
apps, it doesn’t update
automatically, so you’ll need to do
that yourself. Read more on GIMP’s
site: www.snipca.com/42504.
WINDOWS 11 2
Make the taskbar
bigger or smaller
With a simple registry
hack you can increase or
decrease the size of your
taskbar in Windows 11. First, search
for and open the Registry Editor, 3
then navigate to Computer\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ on the white space, on the right, then
SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ select New, then ‘DWORD (32-bit) Value’
Windows\CurrentVersion\ to create a new value, and type
Explorer\Advanced. If you TaskbarSi 2 under ‘Value name’. Now
find that tricky, you can copy double-click it and in the ‘Value data’ box
it from our Pastebin account type 0 to shrink your taskbar, or 2 3 to
(www.snipca.com/42527) and increase it. Now click OK, restart your
paste it into the bar at the top computer, and you’ll have a bigger or
of the Registry Editor ( 1 in smaller taskbar. Our choice would be to
our screenshot above right). make it bigger because it makes the icons
Next, right-click anywhere easier to click.
Make Office Better
LIBREOFFICE WRITER & MICROSOFT WORD
Find and replace special characters
As well as searching
for and replacing
normal text, Word lets
you quickly replace special characters
such as tabs, indents and paragraph
marks. With your document open,
press Ctrl+H to open the ‘Find and
Replace’ box, then click ‘More>>’ at the
bottom, followed by the Special
dropdown menu (again at the bottom).
You’ll now see a list of all special
characters ( 1 in our screenshot). Click
the one you want to find and Word’s
ONLYOFFICE
Duplicate slides and change
their order
With version 7.1, released in
May, OnlyOffice added several
key functions to its Presentation
Editor that makes it a more credible
alternative to Microsoft’s PowerPoint or
LibreOffice’s Impress. The two most
useful let you duplicate slides, and
move them to the start and end.
To do the former, click a slide so that a
grey outline appears around it ( 1 in our
screenshot below). To choose multiple
slides, press down Ctrl when selecting
them. Now click the Home tab at the top
left then Add Slide 2 , followed by Duplicate
Slide at the bottom 3 . This option also
appears when right-clicking slides.
To reorder slides, select the slide or
slides as before, then right-click and
choose ‘Move Slide to Beginning’ or ‘Move
Slide to End’. To move slides in between
the start and end, click one and hold
down your mouse button then drag the
slide. You’ll see the normal hand cursor
change to something resembling a fist.
2
3 365 (for one person only) costs
1 Both paid-for versions also give
Top tips for MS Office & LibreOffice
code for this will appear in the ‘Find
what’ box. In our example, we’re
looking for paragraph breaks, which
appears as ^p 2 . Now, in the ‘Replace
with’ box, type what you want to
replace the special character with –
or leave it blank if you just want to
remove the special character. Finally,
click Replace All 3 .
It’s a similar process in LibreOffice
Writer. Press Ctrl+H, then click the
Attributes button for effects like
strikethroughs and tab stops. Click the
2 As Microsoft explains (www.
OUTLOOK
Spell-check your emails
Microsoft recently added its
Editor tool to most versions of
Outlook, letting you check the
spelling and grammar of emails as you
type. However, many of the most
powerful tools require you to pay for a
subscription to Microsoft 365.
If you make a spelling mistake while
typing, the word will be underlined in
red ( 1 in our screenshot above). Click this
and you’ll see suggestions to replace it 2 .
You don’t need a Microsoft 365 subscription
to use this spell-checking function, nor
to see “basic” grammar errors such as
the wrong use of capitalisation and
hyphens.
However, you’ll need to upgrade
to get “advanced grammar” help
with areas like indirect questions
and “commonly confused phrases”.
The ‘Personal’ version of Microsoft
£5.99 a month; the ‘Family’ edition
extends this to six people for £7.99.
help with clarity of writing,
2
1
3
Format button for formatting styles,
categorised in tabs along the top (Font,
Font Effects and so on).
conciseness and more (see
www.snipca.com/42464).
snipca.com/42462), the only
versions of Outlook that Editor
hasn’t been added to are
Outlook.com on mobile
browsers and the Mail app on
Windows 10 and 11. That
means you can use it on all
desktop versions of Outlook,
including Outlook.com (as
shown in our screenshot), as
well as on Android and iOS.
MICROSOFT EXCEL
Turn dates into weekdays
Typing the letter ‘d’ in a
spreadsheet is a quick way of
turning a column of dates into
the weekday each relates to. Select the
column, then click the small arrow in the
Number section ( 1 in our screenshot
below). Next, click Custom on the left 2
and in the Type field type dddd to show
the full weekday (for example, Wednesday)
or ddd to show the first three letters
(Mon, Tue, Wed etc). Click OK and you’ll
see the change take effect in your
spreadsheet.
1
2
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 47
 In The Club
Run a club or society? Here's how your tech can make it easier
Embed an Excel file on your site
W hen you need to share data in an
Excel spreadsheet, you could
choose to extract it and then send it to
members. An easier way is to embed it
on your site for everyone to see. In our
example, our local history club wants to
share details of its yearly income, so that
members and non-members alike can see
where the money is coming from.
Create your code to embed
We already have a spreadsheet with
the main information in it, plus a pie
chart that shows income by category
(membership fees, events and so on).
There are two ways that this data can be
shared: using OneDrive or ‘Excel for the
web’. OneDrive is easier, because all
Windows users with a Microsoft account
will have a free OneDrive account with
5GB of online storage. By contrast, ‘Excel
for the web’ requires a Microsoft 365
subscription.
We’ll therefore show you how to use
OneDrive, although ‘Excel for the web’
has exactly the same sharing options.
First, you need to copy the Excel file to
OneDrive. This is easy, because File
Explorer has a link to OneDrive in the
left-hand panel. Just drag and drop the
file you want to share into a OneDrive
folder and it will upload automatically.
Now, go to your OneDrive account using
your browser (www.snipca.com/42392)
48 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
3 the spreadsheet
2
1
and sign in.
Find the folder where you stored your
Excel file, and select it by putting a tick
at the top right of the file ( 1 in our
screenshot below). Then click Embed 2
followed by Generate 3 to create the code
to paste into your site.
But first, it’s worth customising how
the file will look online. Click ‘Customize
how this embedded workbook will
appear to others’ to bring up options
including a preview of how the
spreadsheet will look when embedded. It
can be a little small, so it’s worth altering
the width and height under Dimensions
( 1 in our screenshot above) to make it
easier to read. Use the Appearance
Tick the
2 file, then
click Embed
followed by
Generate
1 the file will be automatically shown in
3 the online version. In our example, we
Next issue: Promote your events on Eventbrite
Customise how
appears on your
site, and decide
which changes
people can make
4
settings to change how the spreadsheet
looks, such as adding grid lines, headers
and a link to download the file 2 .
By default, the entire workbook will
be shared, but you can use the ‘What to
show’ options to change this to a range of
spreadsheets, or you can just select to
show Charts 3 . That makes more sense
in our case.
Finally, under Interaction, you can set
whether people will be allowed to sort
and filter the data, and enter their own
(changes are not saved). When you’re
happy, select and copy the Embed code 4 .
Enter the code on your site
Now, you need to enter this code on
your website. The process uses JavaScript,
so it will work on all sites, but you need
to be in the HTML or Code view. Paste
the code where you want the sheet to
appear. We’ve used the blogging site
Blogger as an example, using the
HTML View option to enter our code.
You can see how this looks at
www.snipca.com/42393.
As the embedding uses the live
spreadsheet, future updates you make to
could have a page that shows live income
for the year, with new money from events
added as we go. That could be useful for
fundraising events, showing how close to
the target you are.
What’s All the
Fuss About...
Cancelling Amazon Prime
You’ll soon be able to unsubscribe with just two clicks
What is it?
It’s pretty self-explanatory, but that
doesn’t make it easy to do. For years
consumer groups have accused Amazon
of using dark patterns to make it
deliberately difficult to cancel Prime,
keeping subscribers trapped paying
£7.99 a month.
What are dark patterns?
It’s a way of designing a website to
manipulate people into performing an
action they might not want to do, such as
buying an overpriced item, signing up for
a service that automatically renews, or
revealing more personal data than they
had intended. Amazon’s dark patterns,
campaigners say, make it too easy to
accidentally sign up to Prime, and then
make it maddeningly hard to leave. But
not for much longer.
How come? Has Amazon
made it simpler?
Yes, though only because it’s been forced
to. In January 2021, several European
consumer groups jointly published a
30-page report whose title said it all
(while echoing The Eagles’ Hotel
California hit): ‘You can log out, but
you can never leave’ (www.snipca.
com/42519). It said that anyone wanting
to cancel Amazon Prime was “faced with
a large number of hurdles, including
complicated navigation menus, skewed
wording, confusing
choices, and repeated
nudging”. It exposed
several tricks the site used.
Can you give an
example?
Yes – the small ‘Manage
membership’ link you had
to tap (when using Prime
on your phone or tablet)
to start the unsubscribe
process. As the report
noted – and our screenshot
Amazon doesn’t want you
to cancel Prime, so it made
this link tiny and gave it an
ambiguous name
1 2
below shows – this link is much less
prominent than the bright yellow ‘See all
your Prime benefits’ button underneath.
It also used the ambiguous word
‘Manage’, and not ‘Cancel’ – which is
what customers wishing to unsubscribe
would be looking for. Three months after
the report, the European Commission (EC)
urged Amazon to change its practices and
comply with EU rules on consumer
protection and unfair commercial
practices.
And did it?
It made some changes, including
labelling the cancel button more clearly
and reducing the amount of words you
had to read before cancelling. But that
still didn’t go far enough, and following
further pressure from the EC Amazon
has now agreed to allow customers to
unsubscribe in just two clicks
“through an easy and visible
cancellation button” (see
www.snipca.com/42518).
Do we know what
that looks like?
Yes – look at the screenshots
above. On the left is the first
page you’ll see when you
want to cancel 1 . Click
‘Continue to cancel’ and
you’ll then go to the second
page 2 , where you just need
to click ‘End membership
now’. And that’s it – at least
until you get tricked into
signing up again.
It’s too easy to sign up to
Prime, but maddeningly
hard to leave
Does this only apply in the EU?
For now yes, but it’s been reported that
come August Amazon will also make the
changes to its UK site. It would make
sense for Amazon to have the same
cancellation procedure across all its
European sites, regardless of Brexit.
Does Amazon accept it was
using dark patterns?
Not really. It claimed, presumably with a
straight face, that “by design we make it
clear and simple for customers to both
sign up for or cancel their Prime
membership”. For its part, the EC will
“continue to monitor the implementation
of Amazon’s commitments” to make sure
it meets EU law.
So no more Amazon tricks?
Nothing as blatant as before, though
we’re sure it will push the law to its limit
and try new types of dark patterns. If so,
we’ll aim to shed light on them.
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 49
 COVER FEATURE
Best Apps For Your
SMART TV
Don’t just stick to the
same old streaming
services on your smart
TV. Robert Irvine
recommends 30 amazing
apps that let you watch
more and do more than
you thought you could
A
ccording to the latest figures, 67
per cent of households in the UK
now own a smart TV (www.
snipca.com/42490). This means
WHAT THE LOGOS MEAN
To save space and avoid
repetition, we’ve used Bush, as well as Chromecast with Google TV
company logos to indicate
which smart TVs and
streaming devices the apps
are available on. See our key
right to find out which TV
operating system each icon
represents. We’ve provided
links to each app’s website,
but the quickest way to install
them is to search the app
store on your smart TV.
50 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
that two-thirds of us have instant access
to streaming and catch-up services
including Netflix, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub,
Prime Video and Disney+, to watch TV
Android TV or Google TV. This includes TVs
from Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Toshiba and
Apple TV set-top boxes, such as Apple TV
4K
Amazon Fire TV sticks, Cubes and TVs
(such as JVC Fire TV Edition)
LG TVs, which use the company’s WebOS
operating system
Roku streaming sticks and TVs (such as
Hisense Roku TV)
Samsung TVs, which use the company’s
Tizen operating system
shows and films on our big screens
whenever we want.
But just as we tend to use the same
four or five apps every day on our phones,
many of us stick with the apps that
came preinstalled on our TVs and rarely
consider trying anything new. That’s a
shame because there are plenty of great
apps available for smart TVs and streaming
sticks that are easy to install. Admittedly,
there are also a lot of awful tools, while
browsing app stores with your remote
control can be fiddly and frustrating.
In this feature, we save you the hassle
and disappointment of installing rubbish
by recommending 30 of the best apps to
add to your TV. We’ve avoided obvious
examples such as BBC Sounds, Now TV
and BT Sport (which you may have
already) in favour of apps you may not
have heard of. Not only will these expand
and enhance your viewing experience,
but they’ll let you do more with your
smart TV than you thought possible.

FILMS, TV & ENTERTAINMENT
Paramount+
www.snipca.com/42427
This new streaming service finally
launched in the UK last month, priced
at £6.99 a month or £69.90 per year,
following a seven-day free trial.
Paramount+ offers thousands of TV
shows and films, including The Offer, a
new miniseries about the making of The
Godfather, acclaimed Kevin Costner
series Yellowstone and the Mission
Impossible movies. However, its main
attraction is every instalment of the Star
Trek franchise, from the original 1966 TV
series through The Next Generation
(pictured below) to this year’s Strange
New Worlds (which is exclusive to the
service), as well as all 13 films. Paramount+
is also available as a channel in the Prime
Video app, for the same price.
Trekkies and fans of action films will like the
new Paramount+ app
Pluto TV
www.snipca.com/42429
Unlike most streaming services, Pluto TV
is completely free (though it has adverts),
with no need to sign up, which is great if
you’re suffering from subscription
overload. You can watch more than 250
live channels, including 16 devoted to
films and others grouped into categories
Pluto TV is one of the best ways to stream TV
shows and films for free
such as Comedy, Crime, Documentaries
(see screenshot below left), News and
Sport. There’s also loads of on-demand
content to browse and a new Search tool
for finding specific shows.
If you don’t want Pluto TV to show you
personalised ads and recommendations,
go into its Manage Privacy Settings
screen and disable the ‘Marketing and
Advertising’ option.
Discovery+
www.snipca.com/42446
For fans of factual entertainment,
including science and nature series,
cooking and lifestyle shows, and crime
and history documentaries, it’s difficult
to beat Discovery+ (see screenshot
below). The app was updated last year
with a handy Programme Guide that
shows you what’s on the network’s
channels for the next week – including
TLC, Quest, Really and Animal Planet – so
you can save shows for later.
A free Discovery+ account lets you
stream some channels live and watch
catch-up content for 30 days, or you can
subscribe to boost your viewing options.
The £3.99-a-month Entertainment plan
has a seven-day free trial and unlocks
more channels, boxsets and original
content, while the £6.99-a-month
‘Entertainment + Sport’ plan removes ads
and includes Eurosport channels.
The Discovery+ app TV app is a must for fans
of factual entertainment
Freevee
www.snipca.com/42430
Formerly called IMDb TV,
Freevee is available as a
standalone app for Fire TV devices,
Android/Google TV and as a channel in
the Prime Video app on other smart TV
platforms. We’re recommending it
here because not only is Freevee free to
view – albeit randomly interrupted with
ads – but it’s actually rather good, with
Best Apps For Your
SMART TV
Freevee is available on Amazon’s Fire TV
devices and Prime Video app
some films and TV shows you’ll have
heard of and want to watch. At the time
of writing, these included apocalyptic
thriller The Road, John Lennon biopic
Nowhere Boy and every season of
acclaimed US political drama The West
Wing (see screenshot above) as well as
some original shows and interesting
documentaries.
Chili Films & TV Shows
www.snipca.com/42439
Avoid subscribing to yet another
streaming service by renting or buying
films individually from Chili. It offers a
much wider selection of recent movies
than Netflix and Prime Video, including
The Batman (see screenshot below)
Belfast and the Death on the Nile remake,
with current cinema releases available
to pre-order.
Although new films can be expensive,
Chili’s prices vary across the app and
some titles can be rented for as little as
99p. However, the Free section consists
solely of ad-supported animated flicks for
kids. Chili also has lots of popular and
acclaimed TV series, including Succession
and Better Call Saul, which you can rent
by the season or episode.
Chili lets you rent films and TV shows without
paying for a subscription
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 51

Find something good to watch on any
streaming service using JustWatch
JustWatch
www.snipca.com/42431
The more streaming apps you install, the
longer it takes to find something good to
watch. JustWatch saves you a lot of flicking
by letting you search across dozens of free
and paid-for services for films and TV
shows to enjoy on your smart TV – you
can choose which services to include on
the app’s Settings screen. JustWatch
provides a handy Top 10 chart of the most
popular titles in the UK (see screenshot
above), as well as lists of recently added
and highly rated content. You can save
shows and movies to a watchlist, or press
straight through to the relevant app to
play them now.
Plex
www.snipca.com/42434
Plex is such a useful entertainment app it
should come as standard on smart TVs. It
lets you watch more than 250 live TV
channels, and more than 50,000 shows
and films on-demand, for free and without
a subscription. The app recently added a
new Discover feature (see screenshot
below) that finds you content on other
streaming services, too. However, it’s the
ability to stream your own audio and
video files from your PC or NAS drive via
its Media Server software that make Plex
really special, particularly if you have a
Plex lets you
stream free live
TV channels and
your own videos
and music
52 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
large media library you want to enjoy on
your biggest screen. Extra ‘premium’
features – such as recording live TV,
offline playback and syncing across
devices – are available with a Plex Pass,
which costs £3.99 a month.
Amazing Classics
www.snipca.com/42436
Although its name may oversell it
slightly, Amazing Classics offers an
eclectic mix of old TV shows and films to
watch for free. These include dozens of
episodes of Dragnet, Bonanza and The
Beverly Hillbillies (pictured below)
low-budget sci-fi and horror films, and a
few genuine classics such as the original
A Star is Born (1937), Cary Grant in His
Girl Friday (1940) and Frank Sinatra in
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955).
The app is supported by ads.
Rediscover old TV shows and films in the
Amazing Classics app
If you can live with
the adverts, Filmrise
has a quirky mix of
content
Filmrise
www.snipca.com/42442
With The Dick Van Dyke Show (pictured
above) rubbing shoulders with Gordon
Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen and acclaimed
historical drama The Long Walk Home
alongside schlock horror Children of the
Corn 3, Filmrise’s choice of viewing is
undeniably varied. But everything in the
app is free to watch and half the fun is
browsing its broad selection. Inevitably,
you need to sit through ads to stream the
stuff and this can prove a little repetitive
and patience-testing.
VLC
www.snipca.com/42437
Everyone’s favourite desktop media
player is available for Google TV and Fire
TV devices by installing its Android app
from their respective app stores. You can
then browse audio and video files stored
on your computer (see screenshot below)
and stream them to your TV over your
home network, complete with familiar
VLC features such as its equaliser, subtitles
and playlists. The app also lets you enter
the URLs of network streams to play
content directly from the web. It’s basic
compared with Plex, but free to use and
with no ads or need for an account.
VLC makes it easy to stream media files from
your PC to your TV

TuneIn Radio
www.snipca.com/42428
With the TV version of this popular
mobile app, you can go beyond the radio
channels offered by Freeview to listen to
local and national UK stations (see
screenshot below) and podcasts that you
won’t find in the BBC Sounds app.
Following a court ruling three years
ago (see www.snipca.com/42451), TuneIn
was forced to remove international radio
stations, but it still has plenty of great
content and features. It tells you which
songs, presenters and shows are currently
on air and lets you tune in with a single
press of your remote control. We
particularly like that you can continue
listening while browsing other apps on
your TV, and rewind and fast-forward
audio streams, though the ads in the free
version can be annoying.
TuneIn lets you listen to local and national UK
radio on your TV
Vevo
www.snipca.com/42438
Music-video service Vevo took the
unusual step of scrapping its mobile apps
a few years ago to focus on its YouTube
channel and TV app, which launched on
Android and Google TV earlier this year.
This offers two live music channels and a
selection of video playlists themed
around different musical genres, eras and
mood, from classic rock to relaxing
Watch high-quality music videos on Vevo with
fewer adverts than YouTube
Install apps from outside the app stores
On an Android TV or
Google TV, you can
sideload apps from
outside the Google
Play Store by first
downloading their
APK files to an Android
phone or tablet.
In your mobile
browser, visit the
website APKMirror
(www.apkmirror.com) and search for an
app you want to install. Tap the sliders in
the top right to open Advanced Search,
choose Android TV in the Capabilities menu
and tap Apply to view TV-compatible results.
Tap the See Available Downloads button,
select a download and choose Download
APK. If you see a warning, tap ‘Download
anyway’ – APKMirror is safe to use, but be
careful not to press any ads by accident.
Next, visit the Google Play Store page
for the app ‘Send Files to TV’ (www.
snipca.com/42455). Install it on your
Android phone or tablet, then choose
‘Install on more devices’ and select your
Android or Google TV.
Once ‘Send Files to TV’ is installed on
your TV, go to Settings, choose System
then About and select ‘Android TV OS
build’ seven times to unlock ‘Developer
options’. Go back to Settings, choose
Apps, ‘Security and restrictions’ then
‘Unknown sources’ and set ‘Send Files to
TV’ to Allowed. Open the app and select
classical. You can also search Vevo’s
massive catalogue of more than half a
million songs to watch high-quality
music videos from virtually any artist you
can think of, including The Beatles (see
screenshot below left) – without the
amount of ads you see on YouTube
EarthCam TV 2
www.snipca.com/42449
Take a virtual trip around the world
from the comfort of your sofa via this
24-hour global webcam network.
EarthCam TV 2 streams live, high-quality
video from different countries (including
New York, see screenshot above right),
which you can switch between using
your remote and save to a favourites list to
return to later. The app provides data
about each camera including the current
Best Apps For Your
SMART TV
Receive, then launch it
on your phone or tablet
and choose Send. Open
the Download folder
(see screenshot), select
the APK of the app you
installed from APKMirror
and choose your TV in
the list of devices. Once
the transfer completes,
open the APK in ‘Send
Files to TV’ on your TV and install the app.
Another way to install an APK on your
smart TV is to download the file from
APKMirror on your PC and copy it to a USB
stick. You can then insert the stick in a USB
port on your TV – assuming it has one –
and install it from there.
This method also lets you sideload apps
on Samsung TVs, but you’ll first need to
allow installation from unknown sources
and enable ‘Developer mode’. On your
TV’s home screen, select Settings, System
then Add-ons and switch on ‘Unknown
sources’. Next, go to Settings and select
Smart Hub then Apps. Type the code
12345 and switch ‘Developer mode’ to On,
then enter your PC’s IP address. To find
this, open the Settings app in Windows,
click ‘Network & Internet’, select Ethernet
or Wi-Fi and click your current network.
Your IP address will be listed under
Properties next to ‘IPv4 address’. Restart
your TV and you should now be able to
install APK files from a USB stick.
EarthCam streams live webcams from around
the world – including New York – to your TV
time and weather in that location, and
you can also view time-lapse videos.
Some cameras require an All Access Pass,
which costs £4.99 a year, if you want to
see more than a preview, but the
ad-supported free version features an
interesting selection each day. We
recommend turning off the music in the
app’s Audio Settings so you can hear
what a place really sounds like.
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 53
Nasa
www.snipca.com/42452
Mysteriously unavailable for Android or
Google TV, Nasa’s brilliant free app lets
you explore stunning photos and videos
of space and the Earth from above, and
much more. Choose ‘Nasa Live’ on the
home screen to tune into Nasa Television,
which streams live coverage of launches,
spacewalks and other mission events
(see screenshot below), and related
programming when those things aren’t
happening.
You can also watch live camera views
from the International Space Station and
Explore space and learn about the latest
missions in Nasa’s TV app
learn more about every mission,
including its purpose and samples of the
images and videos it’s captured.
TikTok for TV
www.snipca.com/42450
Social-video app TikTok now has lots of
older contributors and viewers, and if
you’re intrigued to see what all the fuss
is about its smart TV app offers a good
entry point.
TikTok has
optimised its
TV app for big
screens and
remote controls
The app is tailored to the big-screen
experience, so you can easily browse
videos using your TV remote control and
press Up to reveal the useful Discover
option in the top-right corner (see
screenshot above). This lets you browse
popular – and “family friendly” – content,
categories and creators, without being
bombarded with loud, annoying clips.
You can watch TikTok videos without
registering for an account, and enjoy
better sound and picture quality than you
would on your phone.

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NEWS & INFORMATION
Haystack News
www.snipca.com/42457
Keep up with what’s happening around
the world using this excellent app (see
screenshot below), which lets you stream
local and global news from more than 300
channels. Specify the topics you want to
see in your daily headlines, grant the app
access to your location and select your
preferred news sources, and Haycast will
create a personalised ‘newscast’ for you.
You can choose between live channels
and on-demand stories and though the
content is undoubtedly US-biased, if an
item doesn’t interest you, simply switch
to a different source.
Haystack News lets you stream hundreds of
news channels in one place
Al Jazeera
www.snipca.com/42463
Al Jazeera’s English-language news service
provides insightful and balanced coverage
of current global events, beyond the UK
and US focus of BBC News and Sky News.
Its smart TV app lets you stream the
channel live (see screenshot above right)
and watch the latest reports on demand.
The app also includes documentaries
Free up space on your smart TV
One problem with adding apps to your
smart TV or streaming stick is that you
may quickly run out of space. These
devices only have limited internal storage,
most of which is taken up by the system
software and pre-installed apps.
This means you’ll need to manually
remove apps you don’t use to make room
for more. On a Samsung TV, select Apps
then Settings, highlight the app you want
to uninstall and choose Delete. On an
Android or Google TV, go to Settings then
Apps, highlight an app and select Uninstall.
Al Jazeera provides insightful news coverage
of events around the world
about issues faced by developing
countries, and web-exclusive series on
subjects such as global warming, new
technology and – more lightheartedly –
why we find certain types of food ‘gross’.
AccuWeather
www.accuweather.com
Weather apps for smart TVs are generally
poor quality, but AccuWeather is our pick
of the bunch. It accurately detects your
location to provide a reliable summary of
current conditions and forecasts for the
next 24 hours (see screenshot below) and
14 days, including actual and ‘real feel’
temperatures; precipitation (rain), humidity
and wind-speed data; and sunrise and
sunset times. You can add extra locations,
and view basic radar and satellite maps.
Less useful is the Videos section, which
contains lots of old news stories.
AccuWeather
detects your
location
to provide
accurate
weather
forecasts
On an LG TV, highlight an app on the
home screen, press the Up button on your
remote, select the X icon that appears
then press Enter. On Apple TV, go to
Settings, select General then Manage
Storage and delete unwanted apps there.
On Fire TV, hold down the Home
button on your remote, choose Apps
then highlight an app, press the three-
line menu button then select Uninstall.
Alternatively, install Uninstaller from
www.snipca.com/42467 and use it to
delete apps in bulk.
Best Apps For Your
SMART TV
Get the latest scores for 25 sports across the
world from SofaScore
SofaScore
www.snipca.com/42461
SofaScore recaptures the spirit of
Teletext by letting you quickly check
the latest scores from sporting events on
your TV. It covers 25 sports including
football, tennis, cricket and darts, across
5,000 leagues and tournaments around
the world. Usefully, each sport has a Live
button (see screenshot above) so you can
instantly see which team or player is
winning and by how much. Unlike its
mobile version, the SofaScore TV app is
very basic, with no graphics or analysis,
but that’s a boon when you just want the
stats. It’s just a shame it’s only available
for Android/Google TV.
TED
www.snipca.com/42460
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design)
is a non-profit organisation devoted to
“ideas worth spreading”. Its fascinating
lessons are delivered by experts in a wide
range of fields and its recently redesigned
TV app makes it easy to browse
thousands of lectures. The latest talks are
featured on the home screen or you can
explore the content by topic, including
science, politics, health, psychology and
art, and save interesting lessons for later.
There are also themed playlists (see
screenshot below) with titles such as
‘Insects are awesome’. All talks are free to
watch and uninterrupted by ads.
Enjoy some cerebral and educational viewing
on the TED smart TV app
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 55
 WEB & SYSTEM TOOLS
TV Bro
www.snipca.com/42469
Browsing the web on your smart TV
can be tricky and some devices –
including those running Google TV –
don’t even include a web browser. TV Bro
makes life easier because it’s been designed
to work with a TV remote control, but
retains many familiar browser features.
These include bookmarks, tabs, a download
manager and browsing history, as well as
a private mode and an ad blocker. Its
simple interface is easy to navigate using
the buttons on the remote control or your
voice, and it includes shortcuts to popular
sites on its homepage. Press the Back
button on your remote to reveal TV Bro’s
address bar, toolbar and other controls
(see screenshot below).
TV Bro makes it easy to browse the web on
your smart TV with your remote control
Speed Test WiFi Analyzer
www.snipca.com/42470
A slow internet connection
can cause streaming problems on your
TV, so this app lets you check that it’s
receiving a sufficiently strong signal. As
soon as you open it, Speed Test WiFi
Analyzer measures your download and
upload speeds and ping (see screenshot
below) and tells you if your Wi-Fi or
Ethernet connection is fast enough for
high-quality streaming and gaming. You
can use the options on the left-hand side
to view further information, including
which devices are connected to your
network and how busy different Wi-Fi
Test your smart
TV’s internet
connection
using Speed
Test WiFi
Analyzer
56 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
channels are, though some features
require the mobile app (www.snipca.
com/42472).
Downloader by AFTVnews
www.snipca.com/42473
This app lets you download
APK files for apps that aren’t available in
Amazon’s store directly to your Fire TV or
Google TV – though the latter requires a
special plug-in, which is why we
recommended a simpler method on page
53. Its built-in browser lets you search for
APKs (make sure you use a trusted source
such as APKMirror), then download, open
and install them (see screenshot below).
However, you’ll first need to enable and
tweak Fire TV’s Developer Options. Go to
Settings, My Fire TV, About and select
your device name seven times to unlock
Developer Options. Press the Back key on
your remote, select Developer Options
and switch on ADB Debugging. Choose
‘Install unknown apps’ and set
Downloader to ‘On’.
Downloader lets you install apps from outside
the Amazon app store
Browse your smart TV’s
internal storage using
X-plore File Manager
X-plore File Manager
www.snipca.com/42475
It’s easy to lose track of files you
download on your smart TV or streaming
stick, such as photos, videos, documents
and APK files, because most devices don’t
have a proper file manager (though
Samsung TVs do). With this free app, you
can easily browse your TV’s internal
storage, move and delete files to free up
space, and open them to view their
contents. Best of all, X-plore File Manager
lets you transfer content such as
screenshots to another device, either over
your home network or by syncing the
app with an online-storage service (see
screenshot above) such as Google Drive.
ExpressVPN
www.snipca.com/42476
Winner of our Gold Award in Issue 631’s
‘Master your VPN’ Cover Feature (page
52), ExpressVPN (see screenshot below)
protects your privacy and lets you access
overseas content on all the main smart
TV and streaming-stick brands. This is
because, unlike many VPNs, it includes a
feature called Smart DNS that allows it to
change your location on devices with
their own operating systems such as
Samsung’s Tizen and LG’s WebOS.
ExpressVPN offers speedy streaming
across its 3,000 servers in 94 countries,
and can be installed on up to five devices.
If you sign up for a year, it currently costs
a reasonable £5.60 a month with an extra
three months thrown in for free.
ExpressVPN lets you pretend to be in other
countries including the US

HOBBIES & INTERESTS
Walks Around Britain
www.snipca.com/42487
This splendid free app features every episode
of the Community Channel (now called
Together TV) series of the same name.
Join amiable presenter Andrew White
and his team as they follow famous and
lesser-known routes around the British
Isles, including the Monsal Trail (see
screenshot below), Daneshill Lakes and
Hartsholme Country Park. You can also
watch interesting video podcasts about
walking.
Walks Around Britain features full-length
episodes of the Together TV series
WildEarth
www.snipca.com/42477
This popular wildlife app streams live
safaris 24 hours a day, so you can watch
elephants, penguins and big cats (pictured
below) in their natural habitats, as if they
were right in front of you, with running
commentary by expert guides. There are
also on-demand videos if the occasional
ads in the live feed start to annoy you.
Watch big cats in their natural habitats with
live safari app WildEarth
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Watch live webcams of trains in the US on
your TV using Railstream
Railstream
www.snipca.com/42479
Railstream lets you watch live webcams
of railways in the US in locations
including Chicago, Atlanta (see
screenshot above) and Delaware. These
offer clear views of the tracks and while
you’re waiting for trains to arrive, you can
enjoy the ambient sounds of the area.
There are 14 free railcams, while others
require a £12.49 monthly subscription.
National Theatre at Home
www.snipca.com/42483
Launched between the second and third
Covid lockdowns, the National Theatre’s
streaming service (see screenshot below)
lets you watch dozens of plays from its
archive on your smart TV, with new
productions regularly added. Subscribe
for £9.99 a month or £99.99 a year to
enjoy unlimited access, or rent plays for
three days for £7.99 each.
Rent plays to watch from the comfort of your
sofa from National Theatre at Home
Best Apps For Your
SMART TV
Whatever happened
to TVPlayer?
One app we considered for inclusion
here but swiftly rejected is TVPlayer
(https://tvplayer.com). This once-great
service used to let you stream all the
main Freeview channels via its website
and mobile and smart TV apps. This was
handy if you couldn’t get good Freeview
reception through your TV aerial,
especially because TVPlayer offered a
free plan. Now the app charges £6.99
a month, and over the last few years it
has removed all BBC, ITV, Channel 4
and Discovery channels, and – as of last
month – Comedy Central and Channel 5.
TVPlayer says that “in order to
enhance and broaden our Premium
service, we made the challenging
choice to remove these channels”
(www.snipca.com/42510). But as the
remaining channels consist of obscure
things like Luxe.tv, Surf World TV and
France 24, we think it’s no longer worth
seven quid a month.
The Relax Channel
www.snipca.com/42481
Tired of flicking through
apps and just want to
unwind? Then install this app, which
features videos that combine soothing
music and nature sounds with shots of
picturesque landscapes, and demonstrations
of relaxation methods and yoga and pilates
exercises. It’s free and ad-free.
Unwind to nature sounds and soothing music
with The Relax Channel
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Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 57
 Should you
ditch these
old devices?
Tech firms can end support
for many reasons, and
often without you even Amazon Galaxy
realising. Daniel Booth iPad Kindle
Tab S4
reveals the devices that Min i 4&5
may soon need replacing

O
ne of the harshest truths
about technology is that
customers think devices
should last much longer than
manufacturers do. You might be happy
using a tablet or ebook reader for up to 10
years, but firms often end support much
sooner, or stop updating the device with
tools while simultaneously urging you to
buy the latest model.
We all realise that no device can last
forever, but what’s often most frustrating
is support ending without any notice. So
here we look at devices that we know are
on borrowed time, and make an educated
guess at others. Forewarned, you’ll be
able to prepare accordingly.
We haven’t included Windows 10
computers because they’re safe for as
long as Microsoft supports the operating
system, which is until 14 October 2025.
However, support for Windows 8.1 ends
on 10 January, 2023, so if you’re still
running that system you should urgently
consider upgrading to 10 (if you can) or
buying a new Windows 11 computer.
iPads and iPhones
Before Apple considers devices to be
obsolete, it brands them ‘vintage’. These
are products that it stopped making more
than five years ago, but less than seven.
Apple continues to support them during
this period, but admits it may be difficult
to find replacement parts. Both the first
and second generations of the iPad Mini
(released 2012, pictured right, and 2013)
and iPad Air (2013 and 2014) fall into this
category, as does the original iPad Pro.
Apple’s ‘Obsolete’ category is more
final. These are devices that Apple
stopped making seven years ago, and has
now ended all hardware support for
(though it does make an exception for
Mac notebooks that are eligible for an
additional battery-only repair). The most
recent version of the iPad to become
obsolete was the fourth generation,
released in late 2012.
You can find out which products are
vintage and obsolete on Apple’s site:
www.snipca.com/42533. Apple also
provides help for identifying your iPad
The first-generation iPad Mini is now in
Apple’s Vintage section
(www.snipca.com/42534) and iPhone
model (www.snipca.com/42535).
It’s a slower death for devices that
Apple still supports but that can’t run
the latest edition of iOS or iPadOS. When
the 16th version is released (probably
September), that fate will befall all
iPhone 7 models and earlier, as well as
the original iPhone SE, which came out
in 2016 (see Apple’s full list at www.
snipca.com/42549). Likewise, iPadOS 16
won’t work on any iPads before the fifth
generation (check Apple’s list at www.
snipca.com/42550).
Amazon Kindles
On 17 August five old
Kindle models will
lose access to
Amazon’s ebook
Store: Kindle 2
International,
Kindle DX
International,
Kindle Keyboard,
Kindle 4 and Kindle
5 (pictured right). Soon you won’t be
The latter two, able to buy ebooks
directly from Amazon’s
released in 2011 and store on the fifth-
2012 respectively, are generation Kindle
the models you’re
most likely to have. You can check your
model number on Amazon’s site: www.
snipca.com/42540. Amazon hasn’t given
a reason for the decision, though you can
read several theories on this Reddit
Kindle forum (www.snipca.com/42541),

60 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636

as well as advice on what you should do in
response.
This restriction isn’t fatal for the
devices because any ebooks you buy
through your computer (or borrow via
Kindle Unlimited) will be automatically
delivered to your device, just as they
usually would be. Also, you’ll still have
access to any titles you’ve already
downloaded directly from the store.
Chromebooks
Until fairly recently, Chromebooks held a
nasty secret: that Google would update
the operating system that runs on them
(Chrome OS) for only five years.
Following severe criticism Google
extended that to eight years, applying it
to machines released from 2020 onwards.
This is different to Windows computers.
If Microsoft ends support for a version of
Windows, you can upgrade your machine
to the next version. You don’t have this
option with Chromebooks: once support
ends, you’ll stop getting updates, and there’s
no newer version you can upgrade to.
Chromebooks automatically receive
updates until they reach their ‘Auto
Update Expiry’ (AUE) date. After this,
Google will cease updating Chrome OS.
To find out your AUE, select the time at
the bottom right, then click the Settings
cog. On the left, at the bottom, select
About Chrome OS, then ‘Additional
details’. Now look at the date in the
‘Update schedule’ section (see these
instructions at www.snipca.com/42538).
When your Chromebook’s life is up,
you’ll receive a ‘Final software update’
notification from Google. It warns you
that existing features may stop working,
as will “certain apps and extensions” that
need to use an up-to-date version of
Chrome OS.
Before buying a new Chromebook,
check how long it has left by visiting
Google’s ‘Auto Update policy’ page (www.
snipca.com/42539), then scrolling
down and clicking the
manufacturer’s name. Look in
the ‘Auto Update Expiration
date’ column and you’ll notice
every model due to die this
decade will do so in June or
August, stretching to 2029.
One final point: the eight
HP’s Chromebook 13 G1 will
only receive Chrome OS
updates until June 2023
Firmware and drivers on Surface laptops
Visit www.snipca.com/42553 and
you’ll see Microsoft’s lifecycle
for firmware and drivers on
its Surface devices. The next
device to stop receiving
these – on 2 August – will
be the original Surface Go
laptop-tablet (pictured),
released in 2018, followed by the LTE
Advanced version of the same device
(20 November) then the Surface Laptop 2
(27 December).
Losing these updates isn’t as serious
as the end of security updates or an
years of support begins when a Chromebook
goes on sale, not from when you bought
it, so you can’t assume that a machine
you buy tomorrow will survive until 2030.
Nearly 30 Chromebooks reached end of
life in June 2022, including popular
models from Acer, Asus, Dell and HP.
Seven will meet their maker in June 2023,
including HP’s Chromebook 13 G1
(pictured below) which didn’t impress us
much when we reviewed it back in 2017
(Issue 497). If you own a machine that’s
doomed, consider re-using it as an
external monitor or personal media
server (see www.snipca.com/42563).
Samsung phones and tablets
Samsung releases security updates for its
phones and tablets on a monthly, quarterly
and twice-yearly basis – check here to see
which schedule your device is on: www.
snipca.com/42547. Looking at that list,
the Galaxy Tab S4 (pictured above right)
and Tab A 10.5, both released in 2018, are
two popular tablets that it seems will
soon be left unsupported. That’s because
Samsung has said it will support “select”
devices launched in 2019 or later for four
operating system, but it
will still mean losing some
functionality, affecting tools
like Bluetooth, video playback
and audio.
Microsoft also has a page
explaining which operating
system runs on its Surface
devices (www.snipca.com/42566),
revealing that several can’t upgrade even
to the latest version of Windows 10, let
alone 11. The original Surface Go, for
example, can’t go beyond version 1709 of
Windows 10, released in late 2019.
years, with newer
devices lasting five
(see www.snipca.
com/42543).
There’s no such
guarantee for
devices sold before
2019. The same
goes for the Galaxy
A7 and A9 phones,
again both
launched in 2018. Samsung’s Galaxy
Samsung also Tab S4 was released
says it will upgrade in 2018, and so may
soon miss out on
its devices with the Android updates
next four versions
of Android. The next version is Android
13, due in autumn, so if you buy a
Samsung device tomorrow running
Android 12, it’ll receive at least four
upgrades to take it up to Android 16
(which will probably arrive in 2026) as
well as five years of security updates.
Your device can easily survive on an
older version of Android, though
gradually your apps will lose some
functionality because developers will
stop updating them, and you won’t
receive any new tools. It’s far riskier to
keep using the device beyond the end of
security support.
Devices on
borrowed time
•• iPad Air 1 and iPad Mini 1
iPhone SE
•• Kindle 4 and Kindle 5
HP Chromebook 13 G1
••
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4
Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5
• Samsung Galaxy A7 and A9
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 61
 A
t Computeractive, we install
hundreds of programs every
year so we can recommend
the best free software in each
issue. This also means we need to
uninstall plenty of programs that aren’t
worth recommending – a task we often
forget. Thankfully, the brilliant
BCUninstaller (www.snipca.com/42542)
– or Bulk Crap Uninstaller to give it its

REMOVE
full and frank name – makes our jobs
easier by providing a fast and reliable way
to purge our PCs of junk.

JUNK with
Unlike some uninstallers, it’s free to
use and doesn’t limit its most powerful
tools to a paid-for version. This wealth of

options can also make BCUninstaller
seem intimidating to new users, so in
this feature we explain its basic, moderate
and advanced removal methods, and
reveal how much junk each one removed.
BASIC REMOVAL
Remove unwanted programs
When you launch BCUninstaller, it scans
your computer for installed programs and
provides you with a comprehensive list of
results. Check the bottom-right corner of
the main window for details of the total
number found and the amount of
hard-drive space they’re taking up. On
our PC, BCUninstaller found 220 tools
that were taking up a whopping 19.53GB
of space ( 1 in our screenshot below).
By default, it lists programs
alphabetically, but it’s more useful to
sort them by size. Click the Size column
twice and you’ll instantly see the biggest
space hogs at the top of the list.
BCUninstaller also provides a visual
representation of storage consumption
along the bottom of its interface 2 . Click
a program’s name to highlight the
rectangular block that represents it – on
our PC, the largest block was for
Microsoft 365 (2.6GB), followed by image
editor GIMP (1.1GB) and PowerToys (619MB).
To remove a program from your PC,
BCUninstaller found
220 programs on
our PC, taking up
nearly 20GB of
space
2 tools from small developers. Either
BCUninstaller
BCUninstaller is our favourite free tool for
removing unwanted software from your PC.
Robert Irvine explains how we use its basic,
moderate and advanced removal options
you have three options: either right-click Uninstall programs quietly
it and choose Uninstall 3 ; left-click it and You can remove programs more quickly
click the Uninstall button on the toolbar; using BCUninstaller’s Quiet mode, which
or select it and press the Delete key on your saves you having to click confirmation
keyboard. You can uninstall multiple prompts in each tool’s own uninstaller.
programs in one go by holding down the Again, you have three options: either
Ctrl key as you select them. BCUninstaller right-click a program in the list and
will prompt you to confirm the removal, choose ‘Uninstall quietly’; left-click it
close windows that may interfere with then click the ‘Uninstall quietly’ button;
the process and check the removal or select it and press Shift+Delete on your
settings. If you’re uninstalling more than keyboard. The ‘Quiet’ option will be
one program, you can choose to do so selected so that the software is removed
concurrently, so that all the uninstallers ‘silently’, without you needing to confirm
run at the same time, or untick that anything aside from BCUninstaller’s own
option to run them one after the other. settings. If a program doesn’t support
Finally, click Begin Uninstallation Quiet uninstallation, the option will be
to remove the unwanted software. greyed out and unclickable.
BCUninstaller will create a system restore After uninstalling all possible
point before proceeding. unwanted programs using
BCUninstaller’s standard and Quiet
methods, we reclaimed an impressive
3 7.8GB of hard-drive space.
MODERATE REMOVAL
Manually remove programs
without uninstallers
Programs with missing uninstallers,
1 which are highlighted in grey, need to be
removed manually rather than using the
standard uninstall options. Examples on
our PC included web browsers such as
Chrome, Brave and Vivaldi and several
right-click one of these tools and click

62 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636

 1
2 Although its ZIP file is actually larger
BCUninstaller lets you manually remove
programs that lack uninstallers
‘Uninstall manually’, or select it and
press Ctrl+Shift+Delete. BCUninstaller
will scan your hard drive for leftover files,
including the software itself, related
settings and registry keys, and display its
findings. Select all the elements to delete
– BCUninstaller tells you how safe these
are to remove in its Confidence column
( 1 in our screenshot above), ranging from
‘Very good’ to ‘Bad’ – then click ‘Delete
selected’  2 .
Uninstall programs using
the Target function
Rather than browse BCUninstaller’s
long list of programs to uninstall tools,
you can use its handy Target function to
remove them instantly. Click the Target
button on the toolbar to open the
‘Target an application’ box, then drag the
crosshairs icon (see screenshot below)
over the open window of an unwanted
program and BCUninstaller will begin its
uninstallation process.
Alternatively, choose ‘Install directory’
or ‘Link or application’s file’ in the
‘Target an application’ box. Browse to a
program’s installation folder and either
select the whole folder or the EXE file to
uninstall the tool. Both methods let you
choose Quiet mode (if available) to bypass
the program’s own uninstaller.
Use BCUninstaller’s Target function to quickly
uninstall open programs
Use the portable version of BCUninstaller
If you want to prevent BCUninstaller itself
from taking up space on your hard drive,
make sure you download the portable
version from www.snipca.com/42544.
than the standard download – 134MB
compared with 74MB – it doesn’t require
installation, so you can either delete it
Tell BCUninstaller to look for leftover traces
after uninstalling software
Always clear up leftover traces
After you’ve uninstalled a program,
BCUninstaller will offer to look for and
delete leftover traces. Although it says
this option is “intended only for power
users”, it’s worth doing to keep your hard
drive tidy. Click ‘Yes’ when prompted –
tick the ‘Remember choice’ box (see
screenshot above) to always look for
leftovers in future – and BCUninstaller
will search for junk such as old data files
and registry keys.
As with manually uninstalling a
program, it will tell you which items are
safe and risky to remove before you click
‘Delete selected’. You may also be prompted
to create a registry backup. After forcibly
removing programs without uninstallers
– except our essential browsers – and
cleaning up their leftover traces, we freed
up another 1.6GB of space.
ADVANCED REMOVAL
Delete empty program folders
Many programs leave behind empty
folders after you uninstall them and,
although these don’t take up any space,
they clutter your hard drive.
To delete them, click the Tools menu
in BCUninstaller and select ‘Clean up
“Program Files” folders’ (see screenshot
above right). The software will then
detect and list empty folders in your
Program Files folder and – as with other
leftovers – indicate how safe they are to
remove. Select those you feel confident
about deleting – you can hide items with
‘Bad confidence’ – then click the ‘Delete
selected’ button.
after uninstalling programs or run it from
a USB stick.
Incidentally, BCUninstaller doesn’t
include itself in its list of installed
programs, so if you want to remove the
non-portable version you’ll need to open
the Settings app in Windows 10 or 11, click
Apps and select Uninstall.
Safely delete empty folders that uninstalled
programs leave behind
Remove junk disguised as
system components
BCUninstaller can optionally include
system components in its list of
programs, so you can remove any you
don’t need. This may sound risky, but it’s
intended to reveal junk tools that disguise
themselves as important components so
standard uninstallers don’t detect them.
Tick the ‘Show system components’
option in the Filtering panel to display
these in BCUninstaller’s list. Many are
‘update helpers’ and – though they’re not
usually large files – often run on startup
and remain on your PC even after you
remove the related programs. For
example, on our computer, the ‘system
components’ included Avast Update
Helper, Google Update Helper and HP
Registration Service. If you’re unsure
what an item is, right-click it and choose
‘Search online’. Never uninstall anything
you’re unsure about.
Uninstalling these unnecessary
components freed up 36MB of space on
our PC. This wasn’t a huge amount, but
was enough to bring our total storage
gain to 9.44GB and reduce our installed
programs’ drive usage to just over
10GB.
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 63
 Problems Solved
Our experts solve all your tech problems

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT

Where’s my CMOS battery?

My Packard Bell OneTwo
Q L5710 all-in-one PC is acting
strangely, making me suspect
a dying CMOS battery. It switches itself
off after a period of use, or restarts
during power up. It runs Windows 10
and has all the latest drivers. I removed
the rear case to look for the CMOS
battery, but there is no sign of one or
even a slot for one. I’m baffled, but
searching online has surfaced virtually
no information about this model. Any
ideas? With the case removed it
appears there is provision for an SSD.
Are you able to confirm this?
Tony Webb

There’s more depth to your

A question than first appears.
Let’s start with the apparent
absence of a CMOS battery on the
motherboard, which is used to The motherboard appears to have a traditional SATA port, but no SSD slot
maintain the BIOS settings when the
power is off. Your PC dates back to appear to lack a battery or slot for one.
2009, so is around 13 years old now. But it’s also clear that this is a custom
That’s certainly beyond the expected all-in-one motherboard, so perhaps
life of a typical CMOS battery, where up Packard Bell integrated a small
to a decade would be expected. rechargeable component somewhere.
We also struggled to find useful However, we don’t think that the
information about this model. The problems you describe are typical of a
Packard Bell brand is long gone as a dead CMOS cell. Rather, they could be
commercial entity, and the support site indicative of a heat fault. As a self-
maintained by Acer – the firm that preservation measure, a computer’s
picked up the remnants – doesn't processor will typically shut down when
include much information. The one it senses it’s getting too hot.
image we could find of what we think Alternatively, a loose power connection
might be the motherboard does indeed or cracked motherboard could cause
intermittent resets.
You’re clearly confident
opening up the computer so, to
mitigate the first problem, use a
can of compressed air to dislodge
as much built-up dust as possible
– focusing on any cooling fans.
As for the other possibilities, a
cracked motherboard is probably
impossible to fix, but failed
soldering around a power socket
If the Packard Bell OneTwo has suitable connectors, could perhaps be repaired, for
this Kingston mSATA SSD could be fitted to it example.
Finally, you observe that you think
there might be provision for an SSD
– but we’re not so sure. We found only
one image purportedly of this model’s
motherboard, at www.snipca.
com/42307, pictured above.
If this is indeed the correct
motherboard then we can see what
looks like a traditional SATA port, at the
top right. The existing hard drive
probably lives here, and you could
replace it with a SATA SSD. But we
think you’re referring to the smaller
connectors at the middle and bottom
left. We can’t say for sure but these
could be mini SATA (mSATA) sockets,
in which case case, yes, you could fit an
mSATA SSD (such as the Kingston
model pictured left, which costs £44 at
www.snipca.com/42310).
But they could also be Mini PCI
Express (mPCIe): these are identical to
mSATA sockets but not compatible.
This latter socket type tends to be used
for devices other than SSDs so, save for
the odd rarity, mPCIe SSDs don’t really
exist in the consumer market.

64 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636

 Email us your problem and we’ll try to help:
noproblem@computeractive.co.uk

Why can’t I use my TV as a PC monitor? To direct your smart

TV to the correct HDMI
input, click the remote's
I have a 4K smart TV that So, assuming that button with this symbol

Q wasn’t being used, so I decided

to try employing it as a
computer monitor. A YouTube video
said all one has to do is link the HDMI
sockets. However, this didn’t work.
I have tried tuning the TV and I have
pressed every button on the remote
control, but to no avail. Can your
boffins help me?
Charlotte Cross
It’s hard to give detailed advice
A without knowing which TV or
PC you have, but we will say
that the advice you received from the
YouTube videos is accurate: there should
be little more to using a modern TV as a
computer monitor than stringing an
HDMI cable between the two.
the HDMI cable
you used is working –
and you should check
that by attaching it
between two devices
that you know work together, like your
PC and current monitor – then the only
thing we can think is that you haven’t
told your TV which input source to to
use. In other words, you need to tell it
which HDMI port it should be looking at
for incoming images.
The way to do this varies, but the
remote control will usually have a
button marked Source, or with a symbol
like the one pictured right. Press this
repeatedly to cycle through the TV’s
available HDMI inputs, and we reckon
your PC’s screen will duly appear.

Where are my Chrome favourites? 1

I’ve been kitted out with a Then, at the bottom right, click the
Q new PC by a local computer
shop. I’m very happy with it,
little Customise Chrome icon (see
screenshot 1 ). Next, in the box that
but, as I wanted to start afresh with appears, on the left, click Shortcuts.
Windows 11 (having previously used Finally, in the right-hand pane, click
Windows 7), lots of things feel a bit ‘Most-visited sites’ 2 and then click Done.
alien. I’m getting there, but I still have
a few things I can’t quite figure out. 2
One thing that annoys me
throughout the day is that my Chrome
web browser no longer shows little
icons for the sites I visit often. On my
old PC, whenever I opened a new tab
there was a little grid of icons – and
one click would take me there. Would
you be able to tell me how to get this
back?
Daniel Preston

Starting with a blank slate can

A be exciting, but also lead to
little annoyances like this one.
Here, all that’s happened is that either
the shop staff or you installed Chrome
without enabling a feature that it’s
evident you have used before.
It’s easily remedied, but, as we so
often say, only when you know how.
So, first, open a new, blank tab in the
usual way. Select Customise Chrome (1), and then click ‘Most-visited sites’ (2)

Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 65

 Problems Solved
Why can’t I get internet radio?
Why doesn’t
my old printer
Years ago I bought a Yamaha NP-
Q S2000 streaming unit to connect

recognise my to a NAS drive and listen to

SD card?
I have a 15-year-old Canon
Q Selphy photo printer, and a
Windows 10 PC. I thought I
could copy photos on to an SD card
and put them into the printer’s slot,
to print that way. However, the
printer doesn’t seem to recognise the
card, though it works fine on the PC.
Can you give me any advice?
Dave Sycamore
This is almost certainly
A because the SD card you’re
using has too high a
capacity. We don’t know the exact
Selphy model, but a printer of such
vintage is unlikely to be able to cope
with today’s Secure Digital eXtended
Capacity (SDXC) cards, meaning a
card over 32GB in capacity. This is
because SDXC technology didn’t exist
when the printer was manufactured.
Indeed, given your printer’s age,
we wouldn’t be confident in saying
that it’d work even with older Secure
Digital High Capacity (SDHC) cards,
which range from
2GB to 32GB in size.
Instead, to be sure, you’d need to
plump for an original Secure Digital
Standard Capacity (SDSC) card, of up
to 2GB maximum, like the pictured
model from Transcend (around £9,
www.snipca.com/42312).
internet radio. All went well until around
2017 when the internet radio function
stopped working, with a message
referring to ‘yradio’. Subsequently, I
bought a Denon DNP-720AE audio player
that again provided internet radio for a
few years, but that also stopped –
referring me to ‘dradio’. Do you know of a
solution? And I wonder if any of the
internet radios you recommended in
Issue 633 (page 62) would have similar
problems in years to come?
Bill Sandland
Your question reveals some
A home truths about business.
Both your units are hi-fi-style
separates and, even though you bought
the Denon model more recently, both are
a tad over a decade old. That’s just a little
background for fellow readers.
To provide internet radio all those years
ago, both manufacturers used a service
called vTuner (www.vtuner.com), which
has nothing to do with either company.
However, at the time, it was completely
free – a fact that we imagine had a
bearing on their choice.
The trouble is, a few years ago, vTuner
decided it could no longer persist as a free
service. So, unless payment was
forthcoming, devices tied to vTuner were
effectively cut off.
To its credit, Yamaha arranged an
alternative free service – and made a
firmware update available for compatible
devices (see www.snipca.com/42311).
You'll need your device's MAC address to
subscribe to vTuner's service
Sadly, because of its age, the NP-S2000 is
not on that list. Denon didn’t offer any
new firmware.
So, does that mean internet radio
functionality on both devices has now
gone? Well, no – but you’d have to pay
vTuner its annual $5 (about £4)
subscription for each device.
For Yamaha, you can do this at https://
yradio.vtuner.com. For Denon, it’s
https://denon.vtuner.com. You’ll need the
MAC address for each device (see
screenshot above): the vTuner website
tells you how to find this on each unit.
Finally, you asked if this problem could
in future affect any products we
recommended in 633? Sadly, yes.
Companies have little interest in
supporting aged devices and, in
theory, any manufacturer or the
back-end services they rely on
could go out of business or
otherwise change access
requirements.

Yamaha's firmware provided free digital radio access on devices such as the NP-S2000

Q: Why does my wired connection

keep dropping?
A: Issue 614, page 69 – find it on
our 2021 Back Issue CD
A 2GB SDSC card should work with a Buy it from
15-year-old Canon Selphy photo printer www.snipca.com/42077

66 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636

 How do I print web-page numbers?
I regularly buy your magazine,
Q and am not anti-modern
technology. Maybe I’m just
getting old, but there’s one change that
leaves me baffled, and that’s the end of
Internet Explorer (IE). That’s because it
prints page numbers at the top right-
hand side. As someone who regularly
prints transcripts for studying, I’ve
taken this system very much for
granted. I have yet to find this facility
on any other system. In one, though I
can’t remember which, I did see the
number at the bottom of the page in
the print preview, but it did not appear
on the printed page. Can you help? Or
persuade whichever infant who
thought that new is always better to So that page numbers don't drop off the page bottom, ensure you have the right paper size
change their mind?
Christine Simkin click the menu button (three dots at the a preview, they should print. Is it
top right) and then click Print. Next, on possible that you were using print
We’re afraid there’ll be no the left, click ‘More settings’ and then settings that didn’t match the paper?
A convincing Microsoft to
resurrect IE! However, the
scroll down a little to find and then tick
the ‘Headers and footers’ box. Now click
In the same Edge settings page, if the
‘Paper size’ option is set to, say, Legal
ability to print page numbers is a Print, and that should be all there is to it. but you’re printing to A4 paper (see
feature of all modern web browsers – We’re not entirely sure in which screenshot above), then this could
including Edge, which is Microsoft’s browser you saw page numbers that cause the footers to be left off the
replacement for IE. So, in Edge, first wouldn’t print, but if you can see them in bottom of the page.

Can I schedule Under the Triggers

tab, select Weekly

Windows
and then choose
a day

Security scans?
I use Windows 10 and have
Q Windows Security as my security
suite, but I have to keep
remembering to run a scan at least once
a fortnight, otherwise I get a message
saying the scan is overdue. Is there a way
to schedule a scan, say once a week, to
save me the hassle of remembering in my
old age? Your magazine’s a fantastic
source of knowledge, incidentally.
Carl Hughes

This is one of those things that’s
A more difficult than it needs to
be. Logically, you’d expect to
find an option to schedule scans in
Windows Security itself – but no. Instead,
to set up regular scans you have to turn to
the Task Scheduler tool, and then delve
deeply into its library structure.
To launch this, click Start then type
task before clicking Task Scheduler.
Next, in Task Scheduler’s left-hand pane,
click Task Scheduler Library, followed by
Microsoft, and then Windows followed
by Windows Defender. Then, in the
top-middle pane, double-click the
Windows Defender Scheduled Scan
option. In the box that appears, click to
select the Triggers tab.
Now, you need to define how and when
you’d like a scan to execute. Click the
New button and then, for example, click
Weekly (see screenshot above). Now use
the options on the right to set the desired
time and day of the week. There are
numerous other options to explore here
but that’s the essentials done. Click OK
and that’s that.

Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 67

 Problems Solved
What’s up with my
SD card reader?
I haven't used my SD card
Q reader for some time, but
now when I try I get an error
code 48 and a suggestion to contact the
hardware vendor for a new driver.
It is a Realtek PCI Express card reader.
Can you help?
Dee Ringrose
It sounds like an update –
A possibly a Windows update – has
has rendered the existing driver
inoperable, and so a new one is required.
Typically, any new driver should arrive
via Windows Update, but sometimes
Windows breaks things before that
happens, and it takes Microsoft a while to
catch on (and catch up).
First, try using Device Manager to force
a manual update. Press Windows key+X
to open the Quick Link menu and then
click Device Manager. Then, click to
expand the ‘Disk drives’ category before
right-clicking the entry for your SD card
Why do you charge for Windows 11?
I usually find answers in
Q Computeractive to solve
technology puzzles, but this
time you’ve presented me with
something of a mystery. You’ve said
many times that Windows 11 is free,
yet you also advertise it in the
magazine for £79.99 (for Pro) –
declaring a £140 saving on Microsoft’s
full price of £219.99. There is obviously
a reason for this, but I can't figure it
out. Is it because there's a difference
for upgrades as against buying it to
install?
Jack Woods
The short answer is that it is
A only an upgrade to Windows
11 that Microsoft gives away
free. If you want to install it on to a
computer that does not have an
existing copy of Windows 10 then, in
theory at least, you would need to pay
for a licence.
We say ‘in theory’ because, while
Windows 10 is a requirement for a free
upgrade to Windows 11, users of PCs
68 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
2 Try updating the
driver using Device
Manager (1). If that
fails, enter your
device's serial
number on the
manufacturer's
website to see if
there's an update (2)
and choosing ‘Update driver’ (see
screenshot 1 ).
1
If that doesn’t do the job then, as the
error message you’re seeing suggests,
it’s time to check in with the
manufacturer. In most cases you won’t
need to contact them, though – just
visit the support area on the relevant
website. It’s a fact, for example, that
many HP laptops have Realtek SD card
readers. So, if your machine is an HP,
visit www.snipca.com/42313, type its
serial number into the box 2 and then
click Submit.
Computeractive’s
Software Store
offers Windows 11
Pro for just £79.99,
a discount of £140
still running Windows 7 and 8.1 can first – then none of these options is
upgrade to Windows 10 – and then to possible. That’s because the machine is
Windows 11. Well, again theoretically.
That’s because Microsoft still allows the
not covered by an existing Windows
licence. In that case, if you want to
Windows 10 upgrade to be downloaded, install Windows 11 then you’ll have to
free, from www.snipca.com/42309. buy a copy. We also find that many
However, the theoretical part here is Apple Mac users buy Windows 11 from
expecting a Windows 7/8.1-vintage PC to our store to run it virtually using the
run Windows 11 – and that’s rather unlikely. built-in Boot Camp tool, or third-party
Finally, to recap, if you’re building a PC software like Parallels (www.parallels.
from scratch – or dual-booting it with com). For more info on our Windows
another operating system, such as Linux offer turn to page 54.
 ?? WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN...
A browser and a search engine?
Please could you explain what
Q the difference is between a
browser and a search engine?
What is the relationship between
them? Who owns them and who
controls the data you enter?
John Beattie
In simple terms, a browser is a
A window that looks out to the
major part of the internet,
known as the worldwide web – or web,
for short. When you want to view
something on the web, a browser is the
tool.
Lots of companies make browsers,
including Google (Chrome), Microsoft
(Edge) and Mozilla (Firefox). As
Microsoft products, Windows 11 (and
10 before it) inevitably have Edge
pre-installed, but it’s easy to download
different browsers, and all the popular
ones are free. Each has its pros and
cons, but they all do the same thing: let
you browse the web.
A search engine, on the other hand,
is how you find stuff on the web. Again,
lots of companies make search engines,
How do I stop Outlook.com’s adverts?
How can I get rid of the adverts
Q that appear in a right-hand
pane on Outlook.com?
Tom Jay
Microsoft lets you object to certain adverts by clicking the blue cross
at the top of the ad
including Google (with the eponymous
Google Search), Microsoft (Bing) and
DuckDuckGo (also eponymously named).
Again, in simple terms, a browser runs
‘locally’, on your computer, but search
engines exist remotely. So, when you
enter a search term, that information is
sent to the provider of the search engine,
and then the results are returned to be
displayed locally, by your browser.
Originally, there was no direct
relationship between a browser and
search engine, but all modern browsers
have a bar that doubles as place to enter
website addresses or search terms. As you
might expect, Chrome uses Google
Microsoft stresses Outlook.com
A is a free service that contains
adverts, and that removing them
requires a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Those start from
£59.99 a year
from www.snipca.
com/42308.
Obviously, we
imagine you’d prefer
not to pay. The
screenshots you sent
us suggest that it
might be the content
of some adverts that
you object to. If so,
click the little blue
cross at the top right
of the ad, then use
the dropdown menu
to inform Microsoft
of your objection (see
screenshot). You
To switch
from Bing to
DuckDuckGo in
Edge go to the
dropdown menu
next to ‘Search
engine used in the
address bar’
Search and Edge
uses Bing, but these
are easily changed.
In Chrome or Edge, open the menu
(three dots, top right) and choose
Settings. Then, in Chrome, click ‘Search
engine’ and use the dropdown menu to
make your choice. In Edge, click
‘Privacy, search, and services’ followed
by ‘Address bar and search’, and then
use the dropdown menu next to
‘Search engine used in the address bar’
to choose (see screenshot).
Want to know the difference between
technical terms? Email noproblem@
computeractive.co.uk
shouldn’t see that particular ad again,
and fewer like it.
If you just want to outright block
them all, then an ad-blocker will do the
job. The AdBlock extension is one option.
It’s available for all popular browsers,
and is a free download from https://
getadblock.com.
ON SALE
Next Issue Weds
3 Aug
• How is a PIN safer than a
password?
•A
 re these malware
warnings a ruse?
•W
 hat’s up with my Canon
printer? ...And many more
Subscribe to Computeractive at
www.getcomputeractive.co.uk
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 69
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Problems Solved
Reader Support
Having a problem with our recommended software or expert tips?
Email editor@computeractive.co.uk and we’ll do our best to help
Why do your uninstall
instructions not work?
In Issue 629 (page 64) you
Q answered my question ‘Why
won’t System Mechanic
uninstall?’. However, despite following
your advice, I’ve not been able to
remove the software. Where am I going
wrong? Also, I carried out a ‘Search
Everything’ sweep on System Mechanic,
which listed associated items. Should I
uninstall these too?
Alan Smith
To answer your second question
A first – the screenshot you sent
us shows files relating to
Malwarebytes, which isn’t connected to
System Mechanic, so you won’t need to
remove these. Your main problem is
harder to solve. The other screenshot you
sent us shows an InstallShield window
with a ‘1628: Failed to complete
installation’ error. This is hard to diagnose
without being in front of your PC, though
there’s one procedure you could try.
Open File Explorer, then double-click
This PC and navigate to C:\Program Files
(x86)\Common Files\InstallShield\
Driver. There should be a numbered
subfolder here, where the number
depends on the version of InstallShield
you’re running. Open this folder, then
open the Intel 32 folder inside it. You
should find three ‘IDriver.exe’ files with
slightly different names.
Right-click each file in turn, then select
Allow
InstallShield
to run as an
administrator
to solve
problems
uninstalling
System
Mechanic
Properties. In the box that opens, click
the Compatibility tab, then click the
‘Change settings for all users’ button.
Now tick the box next to ‘Run this
program as an administrator’ (see
screenshot below left) and click
Apply, then OK. Once you’ve done this
for all three ‘IDriver.exe’ files, reboot
your PC, then try uninstalling System
Mechanic again.
How can I uninstall ‘irritating’
YouTube extension?
I installed the ‘Music Mode for
Q YouTube’ extension (www.
snipca.com/42140), as you
recommended in Issue 634’s Cover
Feature (page 53), but I found it irritating
and now I can’t find a way to remove it.
Can you help?
James Cooper
This is relatively simple to solve.
A Open Chrome, then click the
three-dot menu button at the
top right, followed by ‘More tools’, then
Extensions, where you should see ‘Music
Mode for YouTube’ listed. Click the
Remove button, then Remove again.
Can I change Privacy Eraser’s
dark background?
It looks like Privacy Eraser
Q (www.snipca.com/42127 – see
Issue 634, page 38), will become
one of my top three cleaning programs.
However, I find its black background and
dull-coloured text almost unreadable,
even when wearing glasses or using a
magnifier. Is there a way to change it?
Christopher Clayton
We thought there was. Click the
A
Settings icon at the top of the
program’s window, then User
Interface on the left and look for the Skin
setting. The bad news is that there’s
currently only one skin in the dropdown
menu: the default ‘black’ background
(see screenshot above right). However,
Privacy Eraser has the option to change skins,
but currently only ‘Black’ is available
given there’s a setting for it, we think
Privacy Eraser will add more skins soon.
Why can’t I download MP3s
with YouTube extension?
I tried to install the ‘Easy YouTube
Q Video Downloader Express’
browser extension (Edge www.
snipca.com/42145; Firefox www.snipca.
com/42146), as recommended in Issue
634’s Cover Feature on YouTube, but I’m
unable to download videos as MP3.
Instead, I see a message about YouTube
switching to a separate “audio/video
streaming technology for higher quality
formats” and no longer providing “direct
720p (since 24 September 2018)/1080p/
mp3 streams”. It adds that converting
these streams to downloadable formats
has been limited to “Pro users” (as
explained at www.snipca.com/42407).
However, I am able to download MP4
files, which I then have to convert to
MP3. Am I doing something wrong?
Keith Pearce
While some older videos can be
A
downloaded as MP3s, it seems
the free version of the extension
won’t let you download newer YouTube
streams in MP3 format by default. To do
so, the developers ask users to make a
one-off “donation” to upgrade to the Pro
version. Sorry for not making this clear.
As an alternative, you could try 4K Video
Downloader (www.snipca.com/40998),
which we recommended in Issue 629
(page 19).
Issue 636 • 20 July – 2 August 2022 71
 Jargon Buster
1080p Of the common types of
high-definition video, this is the
best quality: 1920x1080 pixels.
2G/3G/4G/5G Technologies that
deliver faster mobile broadband.
2K A screen with 2048x1080
pixels.
4G calling A service that means a
phone call you make or receive will
stay on 4G, rather than reverting to
the slower 3G or 2G.
4K Video with a resolution of at
least 3840x2160 pixels.
5G The latest generation of mobile
networks.
720p A common resolution of
high-definition video: 1280x720
pixels.
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.
APK Android Package Kit. The
file format Android uses to install
apps.
AR Augmented reality. Lets you
view the real world on a digital
display and add elements from the
digital world.
Benchmarking Comparing
software and products with an
accepted standard.
BIOS Basic Input-Output System.
Software built into every PC that
connects the vital components. It’s
visible for a few seconds when the
PC starts.
Client A program that acts as an
interface between PC and server.
CMOS Complementary metal-
oxide semiconductor. Can refer
to both a type of image sensor
chip used in some digital cameras
and another chip on computer
motherboards that stores the date
and time.
Cookie A small text file stored on
your computer by a website. Used
to store browsing preferences,
website log-in details and so on.
72 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
Core Units on a processor that
carry out program instructions.
Crowdfunding A process where
a company gets the financing
to launch a new product from
prospective customers online.
Cryptocurrency An online
currency not backed by any country.
The most popular is Bitcoin.
Dark web Websites that can
only be accessed using special
software such as the Tor browser.
DCI-P3 A colour space that has a
wider spectrum than sRGB. Used
by US film industry.
DNS Domain Name System.
A technology that associates
computers with their addresses on
the internet.
Driver A file that tells Windows how
to work with an external device.
Dual boot To set up a PC with two
operating systems, so that one
must be chosen each time it starts.
Ethernet A standard used
for almost all wired computer
networks.
EXE A program file designed
to run in Windows. Has the file
extension .exe.
Factory reset Restoring a device to
the manufacturer’s default settings.
Fingerprinting A tracking method
used by websites to identify you from
the device and software you’re using.
Firmware Basic software stored
on hardware, such as a processor,
to control its operation.
Frame rate The number of still
images, or frames, shown per
second to create a moving image.
Higher frame rates make games
appear smoother and more
realistic
Function key The F1 to F12 keys on a
keyboard. They can be programmed
to perform specific tasks.
GIF Graphics Interchange Format.
A type of image file often used
on the web, but now largely
superseded by PNG.
HDMI High-definition media
interface. A type of connection that
transmits high-definition video and
audio signals.
HDR10+ High-dynamic range 10.
Current industry standard for TVs.
InstallShield A tool for installing
software on Windows computers.
IP address Internet Protocol
address. A unique set of numbers
used to identify computers and
websites on the internet.
IPS A screen technology.
Monitors that use it have wider
viewing angles and better, more
accurate-looking colours than
monitors that do not use this
technology.
ISO file A type of image file that
contains all the data from a CD or
DVD.
JavaScript An older programming
language developers use to make
web pages interactive.
LCD Liquid-crystal display. The
technology used to create almost
all flatscreen monitors.
MAC address Media Access
Control. A unique code that
identifies any router. A laptop PC
might have one MAC for its wired
network socket and another for
wireless.
Macro An automated series of
commands or options that can
be run at any time. Handy if you
often need to perform repetitive
actions
Mechanical keyboard Keyboards
that use a spring-loaded
mechanism to press a physical
switch. Produces a more tactile
typing sensation.
Membrane keyboard Keyboards
that use rubber domes that
connect to small electrical
contacts. Have a softer typing feel,
and are quieter and cheaper.
MicroSD card A small type of
memory card. Can be converted to
SD size using an adapter.
MP4 A type of digital movie file
often used for portable players.
mSATA A smaller version of the
SATA interface (see right), used
for connecting SSDs in laptops
and some PCs.
NAS Network-attached storage. A
hard drive attached to a network
that can be shared with other PCs.
NFT Non-fungible token. A way
of recording who owns a digital
asset, such as an artwork or a
meme.
OLED Organic light-emitting
diode. A thin-film organic light-
emitting diode used in computer
displays and television screens.
Open source Software that can
be modified by anyone, rather
than just by the employees of the
company that created it.
Phishing A form of internet
fraud that tries to trick you into
revealing personal details.
Ping A way to measure how
quickly your device gets a
response after sending a request
for information via the internet.
Plug-in A small program that
adds extra features to software or
to your web browser.
QR code Quick Response code.
A barcode that can be read using
smartphones and dedicated QR-
reading devices.
RAM Random-access memory.
The computer’s working area,
used for data storage while the
PC is switched on. Its capacity is
measured in megabytes (MB):
the more memory your PC has,
the more things it can process
simultaneously and the faster it
will seem. Any information in RAM
will be lost when the power is
switched off.
Refresh rate Measured in Hertz
(Hz), the number of times per
second that the image on your
monitor is redrawn. Slight changes
in the image each time it is updated
combine to give the illusion of
movement. For a steady image,
the higher the refresh rate, the less
flicker you will see.
Registry keys The Windows
registry equivalent of a folder.
Response time How fast a
coloured pixel turns to white and
back again.
SATA Serial ATA. An interface for
connecting hard drives and optical
discs to a computer.
Script A short program that is
stored on a web server to
control part of a website. For
example, a script could check that
a date you have entered is valid, or
move words across the screen.
SD card Secure Digital card. A
popular type of memory card.
Separates Components such as
amplifiers, CD players and DAB
tuners that when combined make
a hi-fi system.
Sideload To install apps without
using the official Android or iOS
stores.
SIM-only A phone package in
which you pay only for the data,
calls and texts. You have to buy the
phone yourself.
Six-colour Adds orange and
green inks to the conventional
four CMYK colours (cyan,
magenta, yellow and black).
Widens the colour range to make
printouts look more vibrant.
Skin A different, purely cosmetic
appearance for a program.
Source code Program instructions
written in a high-level language
that are readable by people but not
computers.
Spoofing A technique whereby
hackers pose as legitimate
websites, emails or IP addresses
to gain access to sensitive data.
.srt A file format for video subtitles.
SSD Solid-state drive. Storage
that, unlike a hard drive, uses no
moving parts. Faster but more
expensive than conventional hard
drives.
Switch Mechanism under a
keyboard that determines whether
a key has been pressed.
System restore point The
collection of system files stored
by System Restore on a given date
and time to which Windows can
revert if a problem occurs.
Thunderbolt A very fast port for
connecting external storage to a
computer.
TN Twisted nematic. A common,
cheap type of LCD.
TPM Trusted Platform Module.
A computer chip that allows your
hardware to perform security-
related tasks.
Two-factor authentication
A system that uses two different
means to identify the user. For
example, a code sent to your
phone in addition to a password.
UHS Ultra-high speed SD card,
with a maximum write speed of
30MB/s.
Ultrawide Offering a field of view
that’s wider than traditional digital
cameras.
USB 2.0/3.0/3.1 Faster successors
to USB.
USB-C A new connector that’s
reversible, letting you plug it in
upside down.
VPN Virtual private network.
Keeps all internet communication
safe and private.
Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi standard with
speeds up to 10 times faster than
802.11ac. Also called 802.11ax.
Wi-Fi Calling Lets you make
and receive voice and video calls
over a Wi-Fi connection instead
of using your cellular (mobile)
connection.
Wiki site A collaborative website
that users can easily edit.
Windows Terminal An interface
for running command-line
software such as Command
Prompt and PowerShell.
ZIP file A file that contains
compressed documents or files.
 Easy when you
Know How
With his eyes struggling to focus on online content,
Robert Irvine attempts to…
Read the web bionically
M
y eyesight is pretty terrible –
take away my glasses or tear
out my contact lenses and I
wouldn’t be able to see you to grab
them back. Cursed with myopia from an
early age, I thought my vision couldn’t
get any worse until my optician told me
recently that I’m now long-sighted as
well as short-sighted and will need a
multifocal prescription.
Staring at a computer screen for 10
hours a day certainly doesn’t help,
but is unavoidable with my job, so I fear
my peepers will eventually pack in
altogether. Perhaps I’ll be offered a new
pair in an experiment by a secret
government agency a la Steve Austin in
The Six Million Dollar Man – “We can
rebuild him. We have the technology”.
His bionic left eye allowed him to zoom
in over long distances and see in the dark,
but all I require is the ability to read online
content and write about it afterwards.
Bionic Reading
increased my reading
speed from 250 words
per minute to 443
I found a potential solution in the form
of a new technology called Bionic Reading
(www.snipca.com/42229), which we
mentioned in Issue 635’s Browser Tips
section (page 42). The name naturally
brought to mind Lee Majors in his snazzy
jumpsuit, and the website promised to
make text on web pages quicker and
easier to digest. It’s based on the idea
that your brain reads faster than your
eyes, so it highlights only the first letters
74 20 July – 2 August 2022 • Issue 636
of words and lets your little grey cells fill
in the rest.
To test Bionic Reading, I first opened a
900-word(ish) online article in Chrome
and timed myself reading the content
from start to finish, making sure I read
every single word. This took me three
minutes thirty seven seconds – which
equates to a speed of around 250 words
per minute (wpm). I then installed the
official Bionic Reading extension (www.
snipca.com/42230) and clicked the BR
icon I’d pinned to my toolbar to activate it.
The page reopened in a streamlined
reading mode, with the initial letters of
each word highlighted in bold – the
longer the word, the more letters were
emphasised. I timed myself reading the
article again and made it through the
whole thing in two minutes and two
seconds (over a minute-and-a-half faster
than standard non-bionic reading), with
a speed of 443 wpm. I didn’t even notice
that I wasn’t reading whole words
because my clever old brain was auto-
completing them, then moving swiftly
on to the rest of the sentence.
At the top of its reading mode window,
Bionic Reader offers several options for
tweaking how it works, such as
highlighting more or fewer letters in each
word, changing the text size and font,
and adjusting the line spacing. Tweaking
these settings didn’t make the content
Next issue: Robert tries to create his own map
Bionic Reading (via
Jiffy Reader) didn’t
turn Robert into
Steve Austin, but
almost doubled his
reading speed
noticeably clearer for me, but you might
(literally) see things differently.
For the sake of comparison, I tried
another Bionic Reading extension called
Jiffy Reader (www.snipca.com/42231).
This proved to be better than the official
one because it applies the technology to
the current page without diverting you to
a customised version. Just click its toolbar
button, choose Enable Reading Mode (see
screenshot) and the first letters of words
will be bolded up. I found this method
much more convenient, because it retains
an article’s images and formatting, and
brings words instantly into focus so you
can read the content in a jiffy (hence the
name, I guess).
Jiffy Reader’s settings let you adjust
the ‘saccades interval’, which apparently
has something to do with how fast your
eyes move between two points, and the
‘fixations strength’, which determines
how many letters are highlighted. You
can save your preferences as ‘Global’ to
apply them to all sites.
Although I don’t feel as bionic as
Steve Austin – though I can run almost
as fast when I hear an ice cream van –
I’ll definitely keep Jiffy Reader installed
to help me whizz through long articles
in future.
Need help reading web pages?
Let us know: noproblem@computeractive.
co.uk
9000