DON’T LET DUST

KILL YOUR DEVICES

WHY YOU NEED A
PHONE FIREWALL GET FREE
MOBILE
Stay private for FREE p38
How to clean them safely page 35
2024
ISSUE 687 ❘ 3 – 16 JULY

DATA
There’s a
catch – but
we don’t
Learn something new in
every issue mind it p74
, Microsoft? page 7
Recall the whole thing off

BE S T F R E E
TV , M U S IC
& R A DIO
DOW NL O A D S t yo u’ll L O V E !
e p c on te n
Pay NOTHING to ke V intage tr acks p 50
lassic shows Rare rec
ording s 
C
PLUS
WHAT NOT TO SAY STOP USING THESE
TO CHATBOTS p62 WEATHER APPS p60
Everything you type is tracked Get better forecasts (not from the BBC!)
WELCOME
EDITORIAL
Group Editor in Chief Graham Barlow
Group Editor Daniel Booth
Deputy Editor Robert Irvine
From the Editor
Production Editor Graham Brown
Art Editor Katie Peat
I’m writing this a day or so behind schedule, how about The Goon Show, Rising Damp,
Contributors Keumars Afifi-Sabet, Judith Batchelor, Dinah and Robert Irvine is entirely to blame. He Sherlock Holmes, Hill Street Blues,
Greek, Jonathan Parkyn, Nik Rawlinson, Andy Shaw
found so many fantastic things to download, Just a Minute, Thunderbirds and The
ADVERTISING
Advertising Manager Alexandra Thomas
watch and listen to in his Cover Feature World at War?
that while editing I had to keep pausing to Robert recommends many more,
MARKETING AND CIRCULATION
Subscriptions Juber Ahmed fight Daleks with Tom Baker, solve crimes providing links to each. These shortcuts
PRODUCTION with Lieutenant Columbo and hitchhike are essential, because the Archive’s
Head of Production Stephen Catherall through the galaxy with Arthur Dent. confusing design doesn’t make it easy
Senior Production Manager Lawrence Brookes
These are all from the Internet Archive, to find content by searching. Still,
INTERNATIONAL LICENSING AND SYNDICATION
Computeractive is available for licensing and syndication. which forms the bulk of Robert’s feature he does give tips on how to improve this.
To find out more contact us at [email protected] or
view our available content at www.futurecontenthub.com.
and is a true wonder of the web. You won’t Let me know what gems you unearth.
Head of Print Licensing Rachel Shaw find a bigger collection of free content Daniel Booth
ONWARD RESALE anywhere. If none of the above appeal, [email protected]
This publication may not be resold or otherwise
distributed, whether at, below or above face value. Nor
can this publication be advertised for sale, transfer or
distribution.
p38
PERMISSIONS
Material may not be reproduced in any form without the
written consent of the publisher. Please address such
requests to [email protected].
p35
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
it. All judgments are based on equipment available to
Computeractive at the time of review. Computeractive p74
takes no responsibility for the content of external websites
whose addresses are published in the magazine.

SUBSCRIPTIONS
For any enquiries and orders, email
[email protected], go to magazinesdirect.com,
or call 0330 333 1113 (from the UK) or +44 330 333 1113
(from overseas). Lines are open Mon- Fri 8.30am- 7pm
and Sat 10am-3pm UK time.

FULL SUBSCRIPTION PRICES

UK £77.74, Europe €144, USA $163, Rest of the world £125
p50
HOW TO ORDER AND ACCESS BACK ISSUES
If an active subscriber, you have digital entitlement
to access back issues through your iOS or android
device. Your digital magazine entitlement is available
at no additional cost and no further action is required.
PocketMags library may not have access to the full archive
of digital back issues. You will only be able to access the
digital back issues as long as you are an active subscriber.
To purchase single back issues (print format only) visit:
magazinesdirect.com (click on ‘Single issues’ tab) – or
email: [email protected]. For further help call:
+44(0)330 333 1113. Lines are open Mon- Fri 8.30am-
7pm and Sat 10am-3pm UK time. Magazinesdirect.com is
owned and operated by Future Publishing Limited.

© Copyright Future PLC 2024. All rights reserved

p62 p60
Images from Alamy and Getty Images

Computeractive is a registered trademark. Neither the whole

of this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by
any means without the written permission of the publishers THIS ISSUE IN NUMBERS HOW TO USE
Distributed by Marketforce
£5m 90% SNIPCA URLs
Average sales, Jan-Dec 2023 52,670
copies per issue. How much a UK man Proportion of We use snipcas to turn long URLs
is suing Apple for not free Android that are hard to type into ones that
deleting his messages VPNs that leak are short and simple. They aren’t
to prostitutes - p8 your data - p11 websites themselves, which means
they won’t be recognised if you type
18 days them into Google. Instead, you need to
How long it took type them into your browser address
Microsoft to backtrack bar, then press Enter. Doing this will
on launching its controversial Recall tool - p7 take you to the correct website.

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 3

 Contents
3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

6 News Update to Windows 11 24H2 to get

ultra-fast Wi-Fi 7

10 Question of the Fortnight Will the UK

follow the US and ban Kaspersky?

11 Protect Your Tech

Free VPNs that leak your data

12 Letters Microsoft’s ‘Recall’ debacle is a

sign of incompetence and arrogance

14 Consumeractive Can retailers refuse

refund if an item has been opened?
p10
16 Grow Your Family Tree
Find World War 1 Red Cross volunteers Antivirus or Russian roulette?

18 Best Free Software

Any Video Converter 9 Acer Aspire S32-1856
21 Named & Shamed p22
Flashlight Pro’s intrusive data-sharing

Reviews
22 Acer Aspire S32-1856
All-in-one PC has a clear vision

23 Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

Chromebook offers cheap thrills

24 Dell 27 USB-C Hub Monitor

PC monitor makes the right connections

25 HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e

Sturdy printer leaves its mark Dell 27
USB-C Hub
26 Samsung Galaxy A35 Monitor
pxx
Smartphone compromises photos
p24

28 Soundcore Boom 2
Bluetooth speaker returns to bass
1More PistonBuds Pro Q30
ANC earbuds make some noise

29 Kobo Clara BW
E-reader is black, white and read all over

30 Buy It/Competition Win a device-

charging prize pack from Anker

4 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Subscribe now! SAVE
See page 58 for our special subs offer 35%

Workshops & Tips Dust off your devices

p35
35 
How to… Clean your devices
without damaging them

38 
Set up a free firewall on your
Android phone

40 R
 eaders’ Tips Use passkeys to sign
into your NHS account

42 Browser Tips Take screenshots of

web pages more easily

44 Phone and Tablet Tips

Chat with Google’s AI assistant Gemini

46 Make Windows Better See your

entire clipboard history in PowerToys CO

BEST FREE
FEATVER
UR
47 Make Office Better P50 E
Add borders to your spreadsheet tables

48 In the Club
Create an animated online flyer
TV, MUSIC
49 What’s All the Fuss About?
& RADIO
DOWNLOADS
Mouse jigglers

50 COVER FEATURE Best free TV,

music & radio downloads
ntent you’ll LOVE!
Pay NOTHING to keep co s Vintage tracks
How to download classic dramas,
comedies, documentaries, radio shows and
ording
music from the Internet Archive Classic shows Rare rec
60 Stop using these weather apps

What
Get more accurate forecasts that are free,
easy to use and won’t share your data

62 What not to say to chatbots

How to stay in control, maintain anonymity
and avoid scams when interacting with
customer-service and AI chatbots
NOT
64 Problems Solved
Why can’t I connect to 5GHz Wi-Fi?
to say to
71 Reader Support Do privacy extensions
work on banking websites? chatbots
72 Jargon Buster

74 Easy When You Know How Robert p62

Irvine gets free mobile data from an eSIM

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 5

 News The top stories in the world of technology

Update to Windows 11 24H2

to get ultra-fast Wi-Fi 7
Y
ou’ll have to update last month on its support
to Windows 11 24H2 pages (www.snipca.
when it’s released later com/51056), although didn’t
this year to take immediate rule out adding it to older
advantage of the faster speeds machines at some point. It’s
provided by Wi-Fi 7, Microsoft unlikely to add Wi-Fi 7 to
has said. Windows 10 computers
It confirmed the decision though.
Wi-Fi 7, also called 802.11be,
is the latest standard of
WHAT WE THINK
wireless technology, having
Microsoft thinks its chatbot been approved by industry
Copilot is the reason you body Wi-Fi Alliance late
should buy one of the new last year. use this to avoid congested What’s in Windows 11
AI-powered PCs, but we Like Wi-Fi 6E, it transmits channels and switch to a less 24H2?
think Wi-Fi 7 will prove more data on a third frequency crowded one, helping homes Windows 11 24H2 is already
useful. It’s not just faster (6GHz), which is much faster with many devices maintain available on the new range of
than Wi-Fi 6, but thanks to than the existing 2.4GHz and high speeds and reliable ‘Copilot+’ PCs that launched
Multi-Link Operation also 5GHz frequencies. This connections. in June. These are computers
much more reliable. This doubles the maximum It can hit a theoretical with powerful new processors
avoids interference on your channel bandwidth to maximum speed of 46Gbps, capable of using AI to perform
networks, keeping you 320MHz, meaning it can almost five times faster than tasks much faster.
connected across more transmit more data. Wi-Fi 6 (9.6Gbps), meaning Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP,
devices with far fewer Wi-Fi 7 also uses a new it can transfer a 4.7GB DVD Lenovo and Samsung have all
dropouts. Such technology technology called Multi-Link in under one second. released Copilot+ computers,
is urgently needed as the Operation, which lets devices However, speeds inside as well as Microsoft itself with
number of smart devices in simultaneously send and/or homes will be much lower. its new Surface laptops (see
the home continues to rise receive data across different Intel has demonstrated how a www.snipca.com/51057).
sharply. frequency bands and channels. laptop with Wi-Fi 7 support Microsoft is expected to
Routers with Wi-Fi 7 can can reach speeds of 5.8Gbps, release Windows 11 24H2
which is more than twice to existing compatible
faster than Wi-Fi 6. computers from September.
CHECK IF YOUR PC HAS Wi-Fi 7 All Wi-Fi 7 routers and Other new features in the
Type cmd into Windows then screenshot), then press Enter. computers that can work with update include live captions
press Enter to open Command You’ll see the list of drivers the technology now carry the for audio and video, and
Prompt. Now type netsh installed for your wireless official logo (pictured above). the ability to create 7z and
wlan show drivers ( 1 in our adapter. Look to the right of Wi-Fi 7 is backwards- TAR file archives in File
‘Radio types supported’ to compatible, which means it Explorer.
1 see all the Wi-Fi versions works with Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi It might also contain the
you can use. If you see 5 devices. However, to use its company’s controversial
2 802.11be 2 , it means new features your router and Recall tool, which Microsoft
you have Wi-Fi 7-ready device will both need to had planned to release with
hardware. If you see support it. the Copilot+ PCs, but has now
3 802.11ax 3 , you have See our box left to find out been delayed following a
Wi-Fi 6/6E. whether your computer has backlash by security experts
Wi-Fi 7. (see page 7).

You’ll like this… but not this…

Moving files in File Explorer is about to Microsoft is using a 3D banner pop-up to
get easier (www.snipca.com/51052) advertise Edge (www.snipca.com/51045)

6 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

Microsoft delays Recall tool IN BRIEF

after massive security backlash COMBINE VIDEO CLIPS

WITH BLINK CAMS
Blink cameras

M icrosoft has delayed

launching its
controversial Recall tool,
chance it could be
accessed by hackers. It’s
also being investigated
can now combine
clips into a single
longer video. The
which takes screenshots of by the Information feature, called
your Windows 11 desktop Commissioners’ Office, Blink Moments
every five seconds to give which is the UK’s (pictured), works
you a recent history of what data-privacy watchdog. across different cameras, and
you’ve done (pictured). Microsoft initially can be shared with others via
It had planned to include visited and files opened, feels responded by turning Blink’s app. However, it’s only
Recall in its new range of like “having photographic Recall off by default and available to customers on a
Copilot+ PCs, which went memory”. requiring you to sign in with Blink Plus Plan subscription,
on sale on 18 June. These The tool saves screenshots your face, fingerprint or a which costs £8 a month or
machines are designed to locally – ie, on your computer PIN to use it. £80 a year. For details visit
perform advanced AI tasks, – not online, and Microsoft However a few days later www.snipca.com/51022.
with Microsoft’s Copilot can’t access them. it said it would first make
chatbot at their core. But security experts still Recall available to Windows THREE ADDS 92
Microsoft said Recall, which warned that the tool stored Insiders in a preview build of COUNTRIES TO ROAMING
shows a timeline of your latest information in a database in Windows 11, rather than Mobile network Three has
PC activity such as sites you’ve plain text, increasing the launch it on new computers. added 92 countries to its
It added that testing Recall roaming scheme, including
with Insiders will ensure it Barbados, Canada, Egypt,
WINDOWS UPDATE BREAKS TASKBAR India, Jamaica, South Africa
“meets our high standards for
Microsoft is working to fix a flaw that stops the right-click option quality and security” (see and Turkey. The package is
working on some apps pinned to Windows 10’s taskbar. It said the www.snipca.com/51030). called ‘Go Roam Around the
problem was caused by updates to the operating system in the
past three months. It’s likely to be fixed in updates this summer.
• ‘Microsoft’s Recall debacle
is a sign of incompetence and
World Extra’, and costs £7 a
day. It already offers roaming
arrogance’ – Letters, page 13 plans for other countries
and Europe. However, it’s
not available to people who
Beware fake errors asking you to run signed up before 1 October,
2021, and a fair-usage policy
PowerShell applies – see www.snipca.
com/51043 for more details.

S cammers are tricking

people into running 1
TOMORROW’S
malicious PowerShell WORLD
commands to fix ‘errors’ in
Chrome, OneDrive and Word. This is a robot chauffeur
The attacks, spotted by called Musashi, created by
US security firm Proofpoint, the University of Tokyo. It
begin with a fake error has a human-like skeleton,
message, such as one that cameras for eyes and
appears on hacked websites sensors in its hands and feet,
visited using the Chrome 2 meaning it can indicate, pull
browser. the handbrake and adjust
It says that “Something mirrors. But it won’t be on
went wrong while displaying the roads for at least 50
this webpage” ( 1 in our clicking buttons on a user while a third appears in years. Watch at www.snipca.
screenshot), and asks you to interface. OneDrive saying you failed to com/51019.
click the ‘Copy fix’ button 2 to Typing the command then connect to the service and
copy a command, then open pressing Enter downloads you need to “update the DNS
PowerShell and paste it. malware on to your computer cache manually”.
PowerShell is a more that can steal personal details. Both messages ask you to
advanced version of Another fake error message click a ‘How to fix’ button –
Command Prompt, letting you appears in Word telling you see them on Proofpoint’s
perform tasks by typing to install the Word Online website: www.snipca.
commands rather than extension to read a document, com/51044.

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 7

 News
IN BRIEF UK man sues Apple for not
SECURITY FLAWS IN
NETGEAR ROUTER
Security experts have found
wiping messages to prostitutes
several security
flaws affecting
Netgear’s
A UK man is suing Apple
for £5m because it
didn’t delete messages he
divorce and legal costs.
He claims the company
doesn’t make it clear
WNR614 sent from his iPhone to that when you delete
N300 router prostitutes that were later messages on your
(pictured), which seen by his wife, leading to iPhone they can still
the company an expensive divorce. be found on other
stopped He wiped the messages Apple devices.
supporting over three from his iPhone, but they “If you are told a
years ago. Canadian firm weren’t deleted from the message is deleted, you
RedFox Security said the family’s iMac computer, are entitled to believe
vulnerabilities included where his wife discovered it’s deleted,” he said.
passwords stored in them. Simon Walton,
plain text. Netgear has Apple automatically syncs from London law firm
discontinued the router, so messages you send from your Rosenblatt, which is
it’s unlikely to update it with iPhone with your Mac, if representing the
a security fix. For details visit you’re signed in with the businessman, told the
www.snipca.com/50930. same Apple ID. This means Telegraph: “In many
messages stay on a Mac even if cases, the iPhone
APPLE TO UPDATE they’re erased from an iPhone. informs the user that men who don’t know how to
iPHONES FOR FIVE YEARS The unnamed man told The messages have been deleted work their phones.
Apple says it will update Times: “My thoughts are if I but, as we have seen, that You can stop Apple sharing
iPhones for “a minimum had been able to talk to her isn’t true and is misleading messages across other devices
of five years” to comply rationally and she had not had because they are still found within iPhone settings. Open
with new UK law. The such a brutal realisation of it, on other linked devices — Settings, then tap your name,
Product Security and I might still be married.” something Apple doesn’t tell followed by iCloud, Show All,
Telecommunications He’s now pursuing legal its users.” ‘Messages in iCloud’ and turn
Infrastructure (PSTI) Act aims action against Apple for the The man wants to establish on ‘Use on this iPhone’ (see
to give consumers more £5m-plus he lost in his a class-action lawsuit for other www.snipca.com/50976).
protection against hackers
and scammers. It’s the first
time Apple has committed to
a period of time for updates –
Men arrested for using illegal phone
see the company’s statement mast to send spam
at www.snipca.com/50932.

THE WORLD’S T wo men have been

arrested for using an
and other official
organisations.
GONE MAD! illegal phone mast to send Officers worked with
spam to people nearby. telecoms regulator Ofcom
This is Aiyana Illegal masts are called and the National Cyber
Rainbow, ‘SMS blasters’ because they Security Centre to investigate
Romania’s entry send text messages that the attacks. Huayong Xu, 32,
in the world’s bypass spam blocks put in of Croydon was charged on
first Miss AI place by mobile networks. 23 May with possession of
contest. She’s They can have a range of up articles for use in fraud and
up against nine other digitally to two miles. was remanded in custody.
generated beauties from It’s thought to be the first He was due to appear at
across the globe (but not time that a homemade mast Inner London Crown Court
the UK). Organisers say it of this kind has been used in on 26 June. The other committing these types of
represents a “shift in how the UK. arrested person was bailed. crimes are only getting
we perceive beauty and These kinds of attack are Temporary Detective Chief smarter, working in more
creativity”. We say it’s a load called ‘SMS phishing’, or Inspector David Vint, head complex ways to trick
of tosh. Judge for yourself at ‘smishing’. Police said of the Dedicated Card and unknowing members of the
www.snipca.com/50941. thousands of messages were Payment Crime Unit public and steal whatever they
sent, impersonating banks (DCPCU), said: “The criminals can get their hands on.”

8 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

YouTube ‘injects’ adverts to make IN BRIEF
it impossible to block them VODAFONE LAUNCHES
‘GOOD GRADE’ PHONES

G oogle is planning to show

adverts on YouTube that
could be impossible to block.
developers to build
software to block them.
SponsorBlock, which
Vodafone has launched a
new range of refurbished
phones which are in
Ad-blocking tool blocks sponsored “excellent working order”,
SponsorBlock (www.snipca. segments inside but have some “visible signs
com/51017, pictured) claimed videos, said Google’s of use”, including small
the tech giant is working on a change “breaks” the scratches, dents or marks
technique to “inject” videos tool (see www.snipca. on the case and screen. It’s
with adverts from its own com/50946), and won’t calling these phones ‘Good
server, before they’re shown work in the “short term”. hard”. Grade’, and says you can
on your device. It could also mean you’ll lose It’s not known whether make savings of up to £216
It said this means ads will the option to skip ads. Google’s move affects all on devices such as iPhone
be “added directly into the However, it said that it YouTube videos. SponsorBlock 12, 13 and 14 and Samsung
video stream”. Currently, should still be able to find a called it an “experiment”, Galaxy S23. For more
adverts are added to your way to detect and block suggesting it’s not been information visit www.snipca.
device from a separate server, clickable links in adverts, applied throughout the site. com/50977.
making it possible for though it “might be kind of SponsorBlock added
that this isn’t the end of BLOCK SPAM WITH
WHAT WE THINK ad-blockers, but it “makes NEW O2 SYSTEM
things harder”. O2 customers can use a new
As Google’s crackdown even get on to your home Google has been cracking caller-identification system
intensifies, you’re going to network. You can do this down on ad-blockers since designed to block more spam
find it much harder to watch using a Raspberry Pi Zero W last year, when it started calls. Called Brand ID, it will
YouTube without being mini computer and the free forcing users to disable the show details of organisations
constantly interrupted by software Pi-hole. We’ll tools in order to watch phoning from an unknown
adverts. One solution is explain how in our next issue – videos. In June, it started to number. O2 says around 150
to block them before they out Wednesday 17 July. mute and skip videos if you UK businesses have joined,
blocked ads. including major banks and
insurers. The service is free
to use – for details visit www.
Man jailed for selling hacked TV boxes snipca.com/51011.

A 40–year-old man has following an NOW LAUNCHES

Credit: Greater Manchester Police

been jailed for four years investigation by the 75MBPS BROADBAND

and six months for selling Federation Against Now Broadband, owned by
illegally hacked TV set-top Copyright Theft (FACT) Sky, has launched a 75Mbps
boxes that let viewers watch and the National Crime FTTP package, costing £24
paid-for shows for free. Agency (NCA), and a month on an 18-month
Michael Hornung was extradited back contract. Now claims it would
(pictured), of Hyde, Greater to the UK. take two minutes and 37
Manchester, sold devices that Hornung had been seconds to download an HD
gave access to Sky, BT and under suspicion since movie on the service. It’s
Virgin Media without a 2014, when officers resulting in a potential loss of available on the Openreach
subscription, as well as bought a device from his £2m to broadcasters. broadband network and is
thousands of paid-for films online store. They found it He also received a 12-week available only through Sky’s
and pay-per-view sporting provided access to many jail sentence for violating the website – click the link at
events. premium channels, including Bail Act, bringing his total www.nowtv.com/broadband
Hornung had originally Sky Movies, Sky Sports and sentence to four years and (pictured below).
been sentenced in June 2022, hundreds from Virgin Media’s nine months, and was ordered
but he had already jumped TV-subscription service. to pay £258,642 under the
bail and fled to Northern FACT identified Hornung as Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
Cyprus, where he hoped to the seller ‘NoHatsNoTrainers’ (PoCA).
evade extradition to the UK.
But on 2 June he was
on the website CS World.
Hornung earned an estimated
• ‘Using illegal Fire TV Sticks
is like smoking cannabis’ –
arrested by Cypriot authorities £350,000 from his crimes, Letters, page 12

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 9

 Questionof
Question ofthe
theFortnight
Fortnight
Will the UK follow the US
and ban Kaspersky?
President Biden has prohibited sales due to a “national security risk”

C
oncerns over Kaspersky’s
connections with the THE FACTS
Russian state date
back to before the war in • The US will ban the sale of
Ukraine. In 2017, the Kaspersky software from
Department of Homeland 29 September, claiming that
Security in the US banned the Russia’s influence over the
company’s antivirus software company poses a security
from government systems, risk
claiming it had ties to Russian • Kaspersky dismissed the
intelligence. threat, saying it believed the
Later the same year, the decision was based on “the
UK’s National Cyber Security present geopolitical climate
Centre (NCSC) wrote to all and theoretical concerns”,
government departments and capacity to influence or Government to restrict the rather than the “integrity”
warning them not to use the direct Kaspersky’s operations” sale of the company’s software, of its products
company’s software in (www.snipca.com/51049). but some politicians and • The UK Government
systems related to national From 20 July new customers security experts are likely to stopped using Kaspersky
security because it could be – businesses and individuals call for a total ban – particularly in 2017, but cybersecurity
exploited by Russia. Around – won’t be able to buy after the Russian gang Qilin experts have said the threat
the same time Barclays took Kaspersky, while from 29 hacked two London NHS trusts, to individuals using the
the “precautionary decision” September existing customers leading to the cancellation of antivirus remains low
to stop offering Kaspersky as a will no longer be able to thousands of appointments.
free download to customers. download updates for the To be clear, there’s no
However, the public has software. They’ll still be able connection between Kaspersky think the possibility of a ban
never been officially advised to run it, but without updates and any Russian gang. The is high enough that Kaspersky
to stop using Kaspersky. In it will be extremely risky. company, whose global customers should consider
2017, the NCSC said it saw US Commerce Secretary headquarters are in Moscow, switching now. You can cancel
“no compelling case” to warn Gina Raimondo said Russia has always denied it can be your subscription following
people against running the “has shown it has the capacity influenced by the Kremlin, the instructions at www.
software. It repeated this in – and even more than that, the and vowed to explore “all snipca.com/51050.
March 2022, a month after intent – to exploit Russian legally available options” to You then have two choices:
Russia invaded Ukraine, companies like Kaspersky to fight the US ban. It said it stick with the decent but basic
saying that Kaspersky collect and weaponize the believed the decision was (and free) security provided
software on your computer is personal information of based on “the present by Microsoft Defender, or pay
“unlikely to be directly Americans”. geopolitical climate and for a more advanced suite of
targeted” and is “safe to turn Given the theoretical tools. Of the latter, Norton has
on and use at the moment”. closeness of US and concerns”, rather been our top choice for several
But the NCSC may have to UK security than the years, following Kaspersky’s
update its advice following the intelligence, we “integrity” of its dominance in the 2010s.
US government’s recent decision expect the NCSC to products. You can buy a two-year
to ban sales of Kaspersky. An publish an update As it stands, we subscription for £19.99 on our
investigation by the Bureau of soon on Kaspersky still think there’s Software Store (www.snipca.
Industry and Security found – though it’s likely minimal risk in com/33247, see page 70 –
that “the company’s to wait until after running pictured left). Norton is
continued operations in the the General Election Kaspersky on owned by California firm
United States presented a on 4 July. It hasn’t your home Symantec, so there’s hardly
national security risk – due to given any indication Norton, made by US computer. But any chance of it posing a
firm Symantec, is the
the Russian government’s that it will advise best replacement for soon you may not security risk. It’s as safe as you
offensive cyber capabilities the forthcoming Kaspersky have a choice. We can currently get.

10 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

Protect your tech
Scams and threats to avoid, plus new security tools
WATCH OUT FOR...

Free VPNs that leak your data

What’s the threat? summary on this spreadsheet listing
Almost 90 per cent of free VPN apps on every app tested: www.snipca.com/50871.
the Google Play Store leak your data, You’ll see that VPNs from many big
according to a new study. The research, names perform poorly, including
from VPN-testing site Top10VPN, also Bitdefender, F-Secure and Kaspersky.
found that over two-thirds share your Migliano says the problem is that free
data with third parties – usually VPNs rely on advertising to cover their
advertisers – while almost one-fifth costs, and that this is “fundamentally
are flagged as suspected malware by at odds with the whole purpose of a
antivirus scanners. VPN”. He added that to guarantee
Worse still, almost one-third of VPNs privacy you need to use paid-for apps,
actually collect your data and sell it for which are unlikely to seek money
profit, defeating the purpose of using a through advertising.
VPN to stay private. If you’re determined to stick with a
The site spent months analysing the free VPN, he recommends Proton VPN
top 100 free VPN apps on the Play Store, (https://protonvpn.com, pictured) –
which have been installed over 2.5 billion which is also our favourite (see Issue
times worldwide. 669, page 24). However, it has one key
drawback: you can’t use it for streaming.
How can you stay safe? There’s no such restriction on
This is a phenomenal study from Simon NordVPN, which is our favourite paid-for
Migliano, head of research at Top10VPN. VPN. Its cheapest package is the Basic
It’s a lengthy read at www.snipca. plan, priced £2.69 a month if you sign up
com/50860, so you may prefer the for two years (www.snipca.com/50874).

New tools Share by email

in Proton Drive
ScamWatch
Readers warn readers

As well as making our ‘Amazon’ scammer

favourite free VPN (see texted code
above), Swiss company I was on the end of a worrying scam
Proton offers one of the most attempt by a caller purporting to be
secure ways to store files from Amazon. They said they’d received
online. All files are encrypted a fraudulent order from my account
before being uploaded to for an iPhone, and that they’d sent me
Proton Drive, and the keys to a text with a verification code, which
decrypt them are stored on they required me to read back to
your computer, so Proton can them so they could cancel the order.
never access them. Share. Now type your recipient’s email I had indeed received a code, apparently
Previously, you had to share files and address, then choose whether they’re from Amazon. I asked how reading
folders with others by sending them an editor or viewer (see screenshot). the code would cancel the order, and
links they could click. But Proton Finally, click Share (see these instructions why they couldn’t cancel it. Eventually,
updated this in June to let you share at www.snipca.com/50975). they put the phone down on me. I
by email. You can select whether a You get 2GB for free in Proton Drive, was sufficiently worried to call Amazon
recipient is a viewer (letting them but can increase this to 5GB by who confirmed there was nothing
only read a file) or editor (letting performing three easy actions: adding fraudulent going on with my account.
them make changes). a file or folder; creating a shareable Les Robertson
Choose the file or folder to share link; and setting up a recovery method Warn your fellow readers about scams
from your Proton Drive, then click – see www.snipca.com/50955. at [email protected]

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 11

 Letters
Tell us what’s on your mind

Will my Freely TV prove it’s replacing: Freeview (still watched in by a few pennies, but these were still
to be a terrible purchase? 16 million households) and Freesat (two double-digit increases. I’ve just spent
I’ve read your reservations about million). Freely offers very little that some time researching prices from that
Freely (in recent issues, but I’ve those viewers can’t already get, so there’s terrible decade, and the price of a pint of
experienced lots of hardly any reason to switch. milk in 1975 was 7p. By 1980, it was 15p.
reception problems But that might not stop the That’s a rise of ‘only’ eight pence, but a
with Freeview and tech elites forcing it on to the percentage increase of more than 100!
wanted the flexibility public before they’re ready. I can assure you that my wages didn’t go
of being able to receive We’ll keep an eye on its up by more than 100 per cent during
shows through progress and tell you when those five years.
streaming as well as more channels are added. Les makes a stronger case when
broadcast over the air. I praising Ring as a “well-supported,
bought one of the Bush TVs you wrote Using illegal Fire TV Sticks mature product with a slick, highly
about in Issue 686 (page 6) – the 43in is like ‘smoking cannabis’ configurable app”. I use Ring and like it a
model priced £230 (www.snipca. In Issue 686 (page 7) you asked lot. But unlike Les I’m on the plan that
com/50784, pictured). readers whether they know will increase by 43 per cent. I can afford
After one week’s use, I’m worried it’ll anyone who uses an illegally hacked to pay an extra 31p a week, but that
turn out to be a terrible purchase. It has a Amazon Fire TV Stick. I know several, doesn’t stop it feeling extortionate. The
decent screen and the sound is good, but and none of them think it’s a serious decision I now have to make is whether
navigating Freely’s channel guide is a crime. One person compared it to people to swallow this rise because the service
pain. Switching channels takes ages smoking cannabis. If a critical mass of is so good, or jump to another, cheaper
and turning it on seems to affect our people do it, and it doesn’t lead to mass service as a matter of principle.
household Wi-Fi. The remote control is social disorder, there’s little the police Daniel Taylor
poorly made, and looks like it could can do. It’s a worrying analysis of the
easily break. Now I wish I had stuck problem, but he’s probably right. Passwords don’t need
with Freeview. Russell Nightingale to be complex
Sam Todd I’m fascinated by the analysis that
Always judge price rises suggests passwords need to be
I have no strong opinion about by percentage not money complex. For example, in Issue 685 (page
Freely. I stopped using Freeview In his defence of Ring’s recent 3) Daniel Booth said that an eight-letter
many years ago and I’m happy getting all price rise (Letters, Issue 686), Les password could be hacked in just eight
my channels streamed through my Hornby started one of his arguments hours. But if a hacker has gathered your
excellent Sony TV, so won’t need to with “Ignoring the 43-per-cent increase password from a site that they’ve hacked,
switch to Freely. Computeractive sounds for a moment…”. But you should never then its complexity is neither here nor
sceptical about it, so my question is why ignore the percentage when considering there. It’s irrelevant because it’s just a
you’ve devoted so much space to it in increases of any kind – or decreases for copy and paste job.
recent months. If it’s so unappealing, that matter. In the same issue’s Cover Feature you
why bother covering it in such depth? When inflation was rampant in the late produced four pages related to passwords
Nigel Cavendish 1970s, prices of everyday items often rose that will resist a brute-force attack. Yet

CA SAYS Nigel asks a good question. He’s

What’s the Issue…?
?
right to say we’ve been underwhelmed
by Freely’s launch. It’s not going to set
the world alight with only 31 channels, I know you can share some TV and the feature
and it’s disappointing that it won’t be passwords for free, despite above on our Back
added to existing TVs or made available recent crackdowns. When did you Issue CD: www.
on a set-top box. Our interest in it stems explain this? snipca.com/48860.
more from the popularity of the services Eddie Vaughan
I’m trying to convince a friend
Computeractive is a member of CA SAYS In Issue 660, page 60. that putting a wet phone in
the Independent Press Standards
Organisation (which regulates the uncooked rice is a bad idea. Didn’t you
UK’s magazine and newspaper
industry). We abide by the Editors’ When was your Cover Feature on write about this recently?
Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the finding free software to replace Henry Monroe
highest standards of journalism.
built-in Windows tools?
If you think that we have not met those standards
and want to make a complaint please contact editor@ Roy Bridges CA SAYS Yes, in Issue 679, page 49.
computeractive.co.uk. If we are unable to resolve your
complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO
Buy a back issue at www.snipca.
or the Editors’ Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or CA SAYS That was Issue 656 – read it com/50842.
visit www.ipso.co.uk.

12 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive
(formerly Twitter): @ComputerActive
www.twitter.com/computeractive

there’s one simple action that would

make such an attack unfeasible. If a STAR LETTER
website were to log you out for a short
period of time, say just 10 minutes, after
as few as 10 attempts, the whole hacking Microsoft’s ‘Recall’ debacle is a sign
attack would be futile. Even a quantum
computer would take years to find an
of incompetence and arrogance
eight-letter/symbol password. Reading Issue 686’s ‘Question
Edward Baines of the Fortnight’ (page 10,
pictured) brought to mind my previous
Travellers with AirTags can career working for a big multinational
‘stalk’ each other company. I was one of the ‘drones’
In Issue 685’s Protect Your Tech stuck in middle management often
(page 11) you mentioned that given the task of implementing crazy
Google now alerts you if someone adds ideas that the board had voted on. Most
a tracker to stalk you by Bluetooth. of these ideas were ditched when they
However, you failed to say that these may collided with reality.
also occur when travelling on a group More often than not the board was their constituents once a week, and
holiday. I work as a tour manager for just out of touch with what consumers can be voted out every four or five
Great Rail Journeys and on a tour last wanted. The same thing has happened years. But tech bosses seem to be even
year two clients approached me after with Microsoft. I suspect their highly more detached from how ordinary
getting “stalking” alerts on their iPhones. paid executives are so enthralled by the people think.
It turned out they both had AirTags money-making potential of AI that We can’t vote them out, but we can
in their bags which were of course they’ve become blind to the security vote with our feet by choosing
travelling together for several days. I have risks. products made by rival companies.
a Samsung SmartTag and subsequently All it took was a few days for one Mick Shields
got a similar alert on my phone. I now cyber-security expert to spot the huge
have to mention this to my groups to dangers in letting an AI tool take CA SAYS Like Mick, we find it hard
ignore any stalking alerts. constant screenshots of your PC. It to believe Microsoft didn’t see this
You might want to alert your readers astonishes me that nobody at Microsoft controversy coming. It does feel like
to this unintended consequence. could foresee this. Could this be down a terrible case of groupthink, with
Chris Read to a combination of incompetence nobody at the company having the
(because they didn’t organise public guts to point out Recall’s glaring
Plenty of decent 5G routers testing of the tool) and arrogance security risks. Microsoft has now
to choose from (because they thought everyone would been forced to perform an
I’m sorry to hear Simon Jones has be as excited as they were about it)? embarrassing U-turn and
had so much trouble with 5G Politicians are often accused of being postponed Recall’s release
mobile (Letters, Issue 685), but my out of touch, but they have to meet – see page 7.
experience is totally the opposite. Is he
perhaps in an area with a very weak 5G The Star Letter writer wins a Computeractive mug!
signal? Either that or he’s unlucky with
his router. But pay more than £400 for a
router? No way. There’s plenty on offer What should we do when any bells and whistles.
for much less than that. Windows 10 ends? It would surely be interesting for
On Amazon alone at the time of When Microsoft ends support readers who don’t want the expense of
writing there’s a Zyxel NR/LTE model for Windows 10 in October 2025, buying new computers, or yearly
for £329 (www.snipca.com/50896) and leaving thousands of useless computers, subscriptions to Microsoft.
a ZTE MC888 for £199 (www.snipca. what choices do we have? I’ve been Geof French
com/50897, pictured). All reliable brands weighing up my options for a while and
with good reviews. reading articles about Google Chrome OS CA SAYS Geof’s right that switching to
Or you can look Flex (www.snipca.com/50883), Tiny Linux is one option for people who want
on eBay, where 10/11 (www.snipca.com/50884) and of to move on from Windows 10 when
I bought my course Linux. Microsoft ends support. However, we
(used but in mint I wondered if you’ll be covering the believe that upgrading to Windows 11
condition) Zyxel topic at some point, particularly Linux. It – assuming your computer meets the
NR5101 for £215. looks very complicated, but if you drill required specifications – is a better
It works a treat down and dismiss much of the info about choice for most people. Much will
and there’s been many of the distros and don’t require depend on whether Microsoft launches
no downtime gaming capabilities, it eventually becomes Windows 12 before axing support for 10.
at all. clearer to even oldies like me, who just We’ll explore all your options in detail
Tony Allaway want to complete everyday tasks without over the next year.

Views expressed don’t necessarily reflect those of Computeractive Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 13
 Consumeractive
We stand up for your legal rights

Can retailers refuse LEAD Why won’t EDF

refund if an item CASE replace my
broken energy
has been opened? monitor?
Following Francis McDermott’s Recently, after four years of
Q case in Issue 684 about a laptop
lost by Royal Mail, am I right
Q using it, the monitor on my EDF
energy smart meter stopped
in thinking that if the packaging shows a showing any information. I’ve contacted
picture or photo of the item inside, the EDF three times about it, but they say it’s
retailer can refuse a refund if you’ve out of warranty and won’t be replaced.
opened it to check the product? Can EDF refuse to take responsibility?
M Archer Terry Bower

This is a very good question, and This is a tricky one to answer

A some retailers will do their best
to say this is the case. However,
A because the law isn’t clear. Terry
was given the monitor when the
it’s a bit more complicated than that. 12, which states that a customer is smart meter was installed, and he’s not
The Consumer Contract Regulations allowed fair examination “to establish out of pocket because he didn’t pay for it.
let you return most goods bought at a the nature, characteristics and Also, while the monitor is broken, he can
distance – ie online, over the phone or functioning of the goods”. However, the still go online and check his usage. While
from a catalogue – for any reason for up law adds that this examination can’t go this isn’t as convenient, it does probably
to 14 days. Usually, you’re entitled to a full beyond “the sort of handling that might mean that EDF is fulfilling its contract
refund, including original postage costs. reasonably be allowed in a shop”. with Terry.
Some retailers point to the part of the All this means that each case is EDF’s website does suggest fixes for
law that says they can refuse or reduce different. We think opening a box the problems (www.snipca.com/50805),
a refund if “the value of the goods is carefully to turn on a phone or laptop but Terry said he’d tried these and none
diminished” (chapter 2, part 3, section 34, should be allowed without affecting had worked. The company probably
paragraph 9: www.snipca.com/50846). your refund. But we can understand wants Terry to buy a new upgraded
One way an item’s value can be considered why a retailer would want to refuse or monitor for £49.99. However, we’ll ask
diminished is if the customer opens the reduce a refund if you open a box of the company to provide a new monitor
packaging. lego, say, which is clearly photographed for free, or failing that a more acceptable
But retailers often overlook paragraph on the packaging. compromise.
CASE CLOSED CASE ONGOING

CASE UPDATE

O2 cancels phone contract after direct-debit mix up

O2 has agreed to cancel a happened because no payments were being data for the other phones and a £16 refund.
phone contract it set up for taken for airtime and data usage. All in all, it’s a positive resolution.
reader Simon Curtis’ son, and This was worrying for Simon because his Although there’s been a successful
returned it to his family account son is studying in Germany for a year, and resolution in this case, O2’s previous
(see Issue 686). This is a good outcome for needs a way to stay in touch. Also, Simon actions didn’t meet Ofcom’s standards.
Simon, who now has four phones on his faced a potentially large unpaid bill from O2. If you can’t resolve a case within eight
account once again. O2 didn’t tell us what caused the problem, weeks, don’t wait and worry about future
The company had told him that a change but after we spoke to the company it agreed repercussions. Instead, always make a
to its direct-debit system meant his son’s to move the contract back to Simon’s family formal complaint with the Ombudsman your
phone would no longer be part of his family account. In addition, O2 cut the subscription communications provider’s linked to. Legally
account. It wasn’t actually cut off, and could price for the phone for the remainder of the they must belong to either CISAS or the
still be used. But this would eventually have contract. It also gave Simon 10GB of free Commumications Ombudsman.

14 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 678

 Contact us so we can investigate your case
Email: [email protected]
Please include your name, phone number and address.

Can TalkTalk ignore Ofcom’s

compensation rules?
On 17 December 2023, our No it’s not. TalkTalk is signed up appointment (up from £29.15).
Q broadband and landline
connection was lost, which
A to Ofcom’s compensation scheme
(www.snipca.com/50843), so it
Ofcom increases these amounts in
April every year based on the Consumer
we reported to TalkTalk. A few days later, should have automatically compensated Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation on 31
an Openreach engineer reported an Michael. October of the previous year. This was
underground fault which took around The problems occurred before Ofcom 4.6 per cent in 2023.
three weeks to fix. TalkTalk has tentatively increased the amount providers must pay We’ll contact TalkTalk to ask why this
offered me £195.95 in compensation, to customers, so TalkTalk owes Michael compensation hasn’t been paid. It does
but this has never been confirmed despite £9.33 a day for delayed repairs, not the place restrictions on customers who are
numerous emails to the company. It says new figure of £9.76. not on the Openreach network, but we
it doesn’t automatically compensate for The scheme also now pays £6.10 a day don’t think that affects Michael because
loss of broadband. Is that right? for delays to the start of a new service (up he said an Openreach engineer fixed
Michael Armstrong from £5.83) and £30.49 for a missed the fault.
CASE ONGOING

Can my insurance A Itaredepends what the deductions

for and whether they are
Amine refused to cover him.
U Drive Cover, which is based in
broker charge me customer’sreasonable, fair and apply in the
case. It would have been fair
Sunbury, Surrey, should then have let
him look for another insurer. Instead, it
£77 for no cover? had Amine cancelled the coverage after a cancelled his application and charged
few days. But what actually happened is him £77. It told us this was for any cover
I needed to renew my car that the insurer U Drive Cover found for he had received (which was none) plus a
Q insurance and went online
to broker U Drive Cover
cancellation fee (which shouldn’t have
been applied). When we said this was
(www.udrivecover.com). I paid unfair, it agreed that it had made a
£889 for one year’s cover, but a mistake and has now refunded Amine
couple of days later I was told I the full £77.
didn’t have the credit. The cover If you have a similar problem with an
was cancelled, but a deduction insurance company, report them to the
of £77 was made. Is this legal? Financial Ombudsman Service: www.
Amine Hibi snipca.com/50856.
CASE ONGOING

CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE

Bitwarden fixed my problems quickly and without jargon

You often praise That wasn’t the only time answer every day.
Bitwarden’s Bitwarden has helped me. They Simon Rowley
password manager also told me about a problem Has a company impressed you with its
for having advanced they were trying to fix with their customer service? Please let us know:
tools that are easy to use. I Firefox extension, and more [email protected]
can vouch that this is matched by the recently sorted out a query I had with my
company’s customer support. We were payments. On every occasion their response Contact
having problems working out who controls
our family plan with Bitwarden, so I emailed
was prompt, courteous and knowledgeable.
The world of password managers is
Bitwarden
them for assistance. They replied quickly with rife with jargon, but they speak in plain • Email [email protected]
instructions, explaining that I can find this out English. This is impressive given how many • Online www.snipca.com/50838
by clicking the nine dots at the top right. different questions they must have to

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 15

 Grow Your
Family Tree
Over 90,000 people (mostly women) gave time to support
soldiers during WW1 Follow Judith Batchelor’s advice to…
Find World War 1 Red Cross volunteers
M
any women played a significant We found Agatha Christie’s
role in World War 1 by working Red Cross records for her time
volunteering in Torquay
for voluntary organisations such 1
as the Red Cross. By the end of the war 2
more than 90,000 had joined Volunteer
Aid Detachments (VADs). These were
attached to military hospitals and
convalescent homes that had been set
up all over the country to look after the
sick and wounded. As well as nursing, documenting the volunteers’ work. You and Findmypast will benefit from more
volunteers drove ambulances, sewed can right-click these to save copies, but advanced search options. At Ancestry,
clothes, cooked meals and undertook you can’t download them in any other for example, visit the ‘United Kingdom,
administrative work. A photograph of a format. In the case of Christie, we can see Red Cross Volunteers During WWI,
relative, perhaps in a nurse’s uniform, she joined the Red Cross in October 1914 1914-1918’ collection (www.snipca.
may be a clue to their involvement. ( 1 in screenshot above) and worked at com/50627) and add any information you
Town Hall Hospital in Torquay until know about the person, such as their
Browse the free September 1918. rank when they joined (Engagement
Red Cross website From June 1916 she began dispensing Rank, 1 in our screenshot below) and
Ancestry and Findmypast have records medicine 2 , and qualified as an when they left (Termination Rank, 2 ).
on Red Cross volunteers, but they’re apothecary’s assistant in June 1917. It’s It contains more than 90,000 records.
available only to subscribers. Thankfully, known that she later incorporated her The same details are available for
they’re all searchable for free on the knowledge of poisons into her writing. Findmypast subscribers at www.snipca.
official British Red Cross website: The site has plenty of information com/50629, though there are fewer
www.snipca.com/50623. about the role of volunteers, including search boxes – only name, year, rank and
Use the filter on the right to search by where the local branches were and how county. However, unlike Ancestry, it does
name, location or hospital. We searched they raised funds: www.snipca.com/50625. contain a collection of 17,000 overseas
for Agatha Christie, who we knew volunteers (www.snipca.com/50630),
volunteered as a nurse at a hospital in Search Ancestry and where you may be able to discover where
Torquay. Hercule Poirot was based in part Findmypast’s records your ancestor worked, their passport
on the Belgian soldiers she treated there. While the Red Cross records are number and their department.
The results show photos of index cards comprehensive, subscribers to Ancestry This overseas collection doesn’t contain
volunteers’ cards, though. For those,

Your Genealogy Problems Solved

you’ll have to search for the volunteer’s
name in the bigger collection.

I’m researching the life of my great-uncle Soldiers were given a paybook containing
Charles Edward Catlin, who was serjeant a form in which they could complete
1384 in the 11th Battalion Royal Fusiliers their will and name beneficiaries. You can
and was killed in the Battle of the search for these at Gov.UK (www.snipca. 2
Somme. I read that soldiers in World com/50621). However, some soldiers
War 1 had to write a will, which was kept never made a will, and other wills didn’t
in their paybooks. If this is true, what survive, particularly if the body was
happened if the paybook was destroyed never found. 1
or lost? I’m trying to find out whether Have a genealogy question for Judith?
he was married. Email [email protected] with
Richard Palmer ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line. Ancestry lets you add details you may know,
such as a person’s rank on joining and leaving

16 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687 Next issue: Find ancestors who emigrated to South Africa
 Best Free Software
Robert Irvine recommends new programs that won’t cost you a thing
VIDEO CONVERTER

Any Video Converter Free 9

www.snipca.com/51033
What you need: Windows 10 or 11 or macOS

Any Video Converter (AVC) is an incredibly versatile program clearly labelled to explain what it does.
that does much more than just convert video files. Its many Click the Filter menu in the top-right
tools include useful options for downloading videos, burning corner to show only video tools such as Merge,
them on to DVDs and recording what’s on your screen (for Crop, Compress, Speed Change and Add Watermark.
up to three minutes in the free edition). Alternatively, display only AVC’s audio tools, which let you
However, it’s AVC’s editing tools that we really love, and add background music to videos, extract their audio tracks
version 9 makes them easier to find and use. In previous and experiment with sound effects. There’s also an AI tool
versions, they were spread across several screens, which that lets you convert speech from videos into subtitles.
meant you needed to click back and forth to access specific The Merge Video feature has been expanded with seven
options – or manually add your favourite features to the new transition effects that you can insert between clips, as
home screen. well as the ability to preview transitions before you apply
The interface has been redesigned so that everything is in them. Other improvements let you save your preferred
one place, which means you can now open each of the tools conversion format and quality in the Format Convert tool,
with a single click. Prominent buttons at the top of the layout and assign separate output folders to individual tools, so AVC
let you convert video files to formats including MP4, MOV won’t just save all your videos in the same place.
and AVI, download videos (or just the audio) from YouTube One thing that hasn’t changed is the annoying audio that
and hundreds of other sites, and trim files by splitting them plays automatically on Any Video Converter’s website – you’ll
into segments. Below these are AVC’s 14 other options, each need to right-click its browser tab to mute this.
3

4
2

1 Any Video Converter Free 2 The program now lets you 3 When using the Format 4 AVC 9 lets you switch
9 simplifies the useful assign separate output Convert tool, you can between viewing video, audio
Workflow option, which folders to different tools. now save your preferred and AI tools using the Filter
compiles several tools into Click the Settings button settings as presets. In menu in the top-right. You
a single plan to save you then the ‘General settings’ the Output Options box, can also ‘bookmark’ your
switching between them. tab, followed by File Save select a Custom option favourite tools by clicking
Click the Workflow button Location. Select a tool, then from the Format menu the bookmark icons in their
then Create New Workflow choose a folder into which and specify your preferred corners, then choosing
to choose the tools you you’d like AVC to save your resolution and quality Collections to display only
want to use. edited or converted videos. for videos. those options.

18 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

SOFTWARE UNINSTALLER
SHOULD I PAY FOR…?
O&O AppBuster 1.4.1344 Choose the right version of software
www.snipca.com/51031
What you need: Windows 10 or 11
Speccy Pro
O&O AppBuster is www.snipca.com/51034
one of the best Price: £19.95 Free trial: N/A
free tools for What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11
ridding your PC of
unwanted Like its fellow Piriform stablemates CCleaner and Recuva,
programs and system-information tool Speccy was once a Computeractive
apps, so we’re favourite. After Avast bought the company, the program was
always pleased to neglected, but in June both the free and paid-for versions
see a new version. received surprise updates – Speccy’s first in six years.
This one makes The main change is to the program’s hardware library,
several changes to AppBuster’s layout, such as enabling making it better at detecting the latest components in your
dark mode by default – switch back to light mode by PC, and giving detailed information about your CPU (see
clicking the View menu and selecting ‘View mode’ then screenshot), motherboard, RAM, graphics card and more.
Light. More significantly, it abandons the separate tabs for This update was long overdue, considering the last version
desktop software and Windows apps, and instead presents all of Speccy predated Windows 11. Sadly, the only other
those items in one list. This new design makes it easier to improvements are minor interface tweaks and bug fixes.
scroll through everything you have installed, so you can This makes paying nearly £20 for Speccy Pro even more
choose what to remove. Click the new Properties button pointless – especially as automatic updates are one of only
on the toolbar (see screenshot) to view useful information two advantages it offers over the free version. That’s hardly
about each entry, such as its file size, install date, version an incentive to buy if you have to wait six years for the next
number and publisher. update to arrive.
The second benefit of the paid-for version is ‘priority
DEVICE MANAGER support’, but because Speccy is designed to provide
information about your PC, rather than make changes to it,
USB Device Tree Viewer 4.3 we’re not sure why you’d need urgent technical advice.
www.snipca.com/51038 Interestingly, Speccy Pro’s features are all included
What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 in CCleaner Professional Plus, which costs £49.95. This
may explain why Avast doesn’t pay much attention to the
This tiny free tool program any more.
lets you monitor all
the devices that are OUR VERDICT: Don’t pay for it
plugged into USB Speccy still works well, but it’s hardly changed in years
ports on your PC, and its Pro version has nothing worth paying for. For a free
and any devices system-analysis tool that’s regularly updated with new
that are connected features, install Glow (www.snipca.com/50749) instead –
to them, such as look out for a Workshop in our next issue.
those that use a
USB Bluetooth
adapter. The latest update to USB Device Tree Viewer adds
the useful ability to rename devices in its ‘tree’. This means
you can give them less technical and more recognisable
labels, such as ‘My webcam’ (see screenshot). To do this, first
click the File menu and choose ‘Restart As Administrator’.
Select a device and press F2 to enter a new name. This
will only apply within the program itself. If you want the
name to show up in Windows Device Manager, click the
Options menu and choose ‘Device Names in Tree’ then
Device Manager. The program triggers a Microsoft Defender
SmartScreen warning, but it’s safe to use, so just click ‘More
info’ then ‘Run anyway’.

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 19

 Best Free Software

What should I download?

We advise you which software and apps to use

Can I merge song tags?

Can I edit docs on All my
my Samsung tablet? Q Salvation
Army MP3s
1

I use LibreOffice on my laptops and sync documents have a composer-

Q through OneDrive. I can read documents on my
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE tablet, but I can’t edit
named ID3 tag,
alongside artist,
2
without subscribing to Microsoft Office. I don’t want to album and genre.
subscribe, so is there a free program you can recommend I now want to merge
instead? two fields so its title tag reads ‘Amazing Grace (Jones)’, which I
Peter Shergold can then use to rename the file later. Can I do this with Mp3tag
(www.mp3tag.de)?
Yes, try the free Collabora (www.snipca.com/50542), Morvyn Finch
A available for both Android and iOS. It offers cut-
down mobile versions of LibreOffice Writer, Calc, Yes you can. You can also rename files using a
Impress and Draw, and can handle both LibreOffice and
Microsoft Office files.
A combination of tags, so there’s no need to merge them
first if your sole aim is to rename the file. Open Mp3tag
After installing, open OneDrive, locate the file you plan and select File, then Change Directory. Select the first folder
to edit, then tap the three vertical dots next to it. Now slide containing your MP3 files. Press Ctrl+A to select the files, then
‘Make available offline’ so it’s switched on. This step is click Convert, followed by ‘Tag – Filename’( 1 in our screenshot).
important – it ensures the file isn’t corrupted after it’s Type %title% (%composer%) into the ‘Format string:’ field 2 .
been edited in Collabora. You’ll see what the new file name looks like below. Click OK if
Next, open Collabora and tap the folder icon. You should you’re happy. To add the composer tag without renaming the
see shortcuts to your online-storage apps alongside any file, click Convert again, followed by ‘Tag – Tag’. Select ‘Title’
recently opened files. Tap OneDrive, then browse to the under Field and type the same as before, then click OK.
folder containing your documents and tap the file you
downloaded. This will open it in Collabora.
Tap the blue pencil
How can I rotate photos by
icon in the bottom-
right corner to edit
just a few degrees?
the document. Drag I need
3 the large cursor ( 1 in Q to rotate
our screenshot) to some 2 3
where you want to photos by a few
make your changes. degrees, but all the
When you start free programs I’ve 1
editing the document seen only rotate
you’ll see a row of by 90 degrees.
formatting options 2 , Is there one that
plus more at the top rotates by smaller
including for comments amounts?
3 . Tap the three Colin Roberts
1
horizontal lines top
2 right to reveal even Paint.NET does what you need – download from
more tools, including
printing. When
A www.snipca.com/50543. Open your photo, then
choose Layers, followed by Rotate, then Zoom. Drag
you’ve finished, tap the top slider ( 1 in our screenshot) and the picture will rotate.
the top-left tick to Alternatively, use the up and down arrows 2 to rotate in one-
save your changes. degree increments. As you rotate, you’ll see empty space appear
in the corners 3 – use the Zoom slider to eliminate these.

20 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 387 Email us your questions at [email protected]

Named & Shamed
Keumars Afifi-Sabet puts the boot into tech villains,
jargon-spouting companies and misbehaving software

SOFTWARE WARNING!
Flashlight Pro’s intrusive data-sharing

M
y heart sinks when 1 No, 2 And Keumars
Flashlight would rather
I see some apps
Pro, you you didn’t use
surging in popularity. don’t have his personal
These include free VPNs (see permission data to
page 11), battery ‘savers’ and memory to “make bombard him
and with adverts
‘optimisers’. Few of these are worth manage”
installing on your phone or tablet, but the Keumars’
most useless of all are flashlights. These phone calls
apps promise to replace your built-in
torch with something more powerful,
but I’ve never found one that delivers.
I’m happy to be corrected should I ever
discover a flashlight more powerful
than Portland Bill lighthouse. Perhaps
Flashlight Pro: Super LED (www.snipca.
com/51002) would be the one? The app
had shot into the top 10 free tools as torch need to do that? more full-screen video ads at every turn.
suggested by Google on the Play Store, It then seeks permission to share your I tried to skip one by tapping ‘Continue
possibly boosted by an update in June. details with third parties. Digging deeper to app’, only to find I was redirected to
Made by LightRain Global (no, me into its settings, I counted an outrageous the Play Store to download a digital
neither), it claims to “unlock the power 679 “vendors” looking for a slice of my currency trading app.
of your phone’s rear camera flashlight” personal data. As for LightRain Global, there’s no trace
with features that include a Morse code Finally, you can’t actually touch of them online. No address, no country of
for emergencies. But it fails to mention anything in the app without agreeing to origin – nothing. I uninstalled the app
the unskippable full-screen adverts you ‘Personalised advertising and content, almost faster than the speed of torchlight.
have to endure, or its absurd request to advertising and content measurement, With apologies to the late, great Dennis
“make and manage phone calls” (see audience research and services Norden, the built-in torch on my phone
screenshot 1 ). Why on earth would a development’ 2 . The app also threw up will remain all bright on the night.

WHAT ARE THEY

TALKING ABOUT? KEUMARS’ VILLAIN OF THE FORTNIGHT
WHAT THEY SAY
ASUS www.snipca.com/51001 “ASUS
Edward McDonagh
leverages MGX-powered and Grace Hopper
Supership-enabled servers for maximum Between October 2022 and a £9,500 Rolex. He
throughput for all Gen-AI tasks – plus December 2023 Edward tried it on, then showed the
ASUS AI Foundry Service, which leverages McDonagh went on a seller the bank app on his
the power of large language models to shopping spree on Facebook phone to ‘prove’ the money
assist in the development of generative AI Marketplace. He looked for had been transferred. A few
solutions for enterprise – sets the scene expensive items like iPads, months later he pulled off
for the comprehensive, coherent and Rolex watches and designer clothes, the same trick with a £12,400 Rolex.
Credit: North Wales Police

commanding ASUS AI ecosystem, ready to then arranged to meet the sellers. Later, McDonagh, 21, then living in
empower the generative AI revolution.” Each time he duped them into Blackburn, stole goods worth over
thinking he had transferred the £27,000, but was eventually caught
WHAT THEY MEAN money, then made off with the goods. and is now serving three years
We also leverage large jargon models to On one occasion McDonagh travelled behind bars. Shame he can’t check
make AI sound more baffling than ever. from Wrexham to Newcastle to inspect the Rolexes to watch the time tick by.

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 21

 Reviews
New products tested by our experts New products tested by our experts

ALL-IN-ONE PC | £1,499 from Currys www.snipca.com/50768

Acer Aspire S32-1856

Every inch a star

If the price of this machine looks a little

steep, it’s worth remembering that it’s a
PC and monitor in one handy package.
The screen is a large one, too, measuring
32in across the diagonal. Most Windows
all-in-one PCs come with 27in screens,
such as the HP 27-cr0014na Full-HD
All-in-One (£799 from www.snipca.
com/49728, reviewed in Issue 681) or
24in, such as the Dell Inspiron 24
All-in-One (£549 from www.snipca.
com/50769).

Good screen quality

and performance, but
they come at a price
That large screen has a resolution of quite bulky, but that’s partly because it include Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3.
2560x1440 pixels, which works out to a accommodates a detachable 210x110mm Inside there’s an Intel Core i7-1360P
pixel density of 93dpi. That’s not as high touchpad and fingerprint scanner. The processor, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB
as you’d see on a laptop screen, but package also includes a wireless mouse SSD. In benchmark tests its Windows
because you’ll be sitting further away and full-size keyboard with number pad. performance was similar to the HP
from it, it shouldn’t be too much of a The stand’s support pillar houses 27-cr0014na All-in-One, and its
problem. all the ports and controls. On its right performance in our graphics benchmarks
The good news is that the display is edge there are two USB 3.0 ports above wouldn’t lead us to recommend it as a
certainly bright enough, with a peak the power button, while on the left is an gaming PC. However, the large, bright,
level of 340cd/m2, and is impressively SD card reader, a USB-C port (which colourful screen is unlike anything
accurate, reproducing 132.9 per cent of supports DisplayPort video output and we’ve reviewed recently and is a pleasure
the sRGB colour standard and 100W charging) and an input selector so to work on.
94.1 per cent of DCI-P3 range you can connect other devices to the
in our tests. That’s better than the screen.
screen on the HP 27-cr0014na, On the back are two USB 3.1 ports and VERDICT An All-in-One PC with
which had a maximum two HDMI sockets (one to connect a huge screen, a stylish design and
brightness of 327cd/m2 and another device – such as a TV streamer decent Windows performance
covered 76 per cent of DCI-P3. or games console – and the other to
The overall design is pleasant attach a second screen). On the rear of
★★★★★
on the eye – the monitor is only the pillar is the power socket and a ALTERNATIVE HP 27-cr0014na
10mm thick (as pictured left), Gigabit Ethernet port. Wireless connections Full-HD All-in-One £799 Similar
because unlike many All-in-One performance but you can save money
PCs, the components are packed if you’re
SPECIFICATIONS
into the stand rather than Twelve-core Intel Core i7-1360P processor • 32in willing to
hidden behind the screen. The 2560x1440-pixel IPS screen • 16GB RAM • Intel compromise
bezel around the display is also Iris Xe graphics • 1TB SSD • Wi-Fi 6 • Bluetooth 5.3 on its
pleasingly thin: 8mm on the top • 1080p webcam • 2x HDMI ports • 1x USB-C port • smaller, less
4x USB 3.0 ports • 1x Gigabit Ethernet port • 1x SD
and sides and just 10mm card reader • Windows 11 Home • 553x713x200mm
colourful
along the bottom. (HxWxD) • 11kg • One-year warranty www.snipca. screen
The stand’s base is com/50768

22 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 HOW WE TEST
Computeractive is owned by Future PLC,
LAPTOP | £499 from Currys www.snipca.com/50781 which employs a team of specialist
technical reviewers. You’ll often read

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 references to our benchmark testing,

which is a method of assessing products

Chromebook Plus using the same criteria. For example, we

test the speed of every PC and the battery
life of every phone and tablet in exactly
Hinges on price 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
There are very few Chromebooks being websites Laptop Mag (www.laptopmag.
launched now that don’t have ‘Plus’ in com), TechRadar (www.techradar.com)
their name, which is Google’s initiative to and Windows Central (www.windows
ensure that the specification of a laptop is central.com). This means we can test
powerful enough to run its ChromeOS thousands of products before choosing
smoothly. Its prevalence is probably the most relevant for Computeractive.
partly because it’s quite a low bar – a
12th-generation Intel processor or brightness and colour accuracy. The FAIR AND IMPARTIAL
equivalent, along with 8GB of RAM smaller screen also means the Flex 5 is Our writers follow strict guidelines to
and 128GB of storage. less bulky and lighter, which might ensure the reviews are fair and impartial.
appeal to anyone looking for a portable The manufacturer has no involvement in
option. But with a similar performance in our tests.
A decent screen and our benchmark tests, Acer is otherwise
offering a very similar model for £100 less. OUR AWARDS
impressive keyboard, The Flex 5’s 14in screen has a squarer We award every product
that gets five stars our
but similar-priced rivals 16:10 aspect ratio, giving you a little more
vertical space to play with at the cost of Buy It! stamp of approval.
It means we were
outshine it some horizontal space. The aluminum lid
is the only part of the case that isn’t extremely impressed by the product, and
plastic, but the build feels robust and we think you will be too.
The IdeaPad Flex 5 sticks closely to this there’s barely any flex in the base or lid.
Every product that gets a
minimum requirement, with an Intel In fact, the Flex in the name actually
four-star review is given the
Core i3-1215U processor, 8GB of RAM and refers to the flexibility of the design. This
Recommended award. We
a slightly more generous 256GB SSD. enables you to use it in the standard
highly recommend these
Its main problem is that, by effectively laptop mode; with the lid folded back
products, although they just fail to meet the
aiming low, it’s up against some stiff 360 degrees against the bottom of the
high standard of our Buy It! winners.
competition. This includes the Acer keyboard as a kind of thicker tablet; or
Chromebook Plus 515 (£399 from www. with the lid acting as a prop for the PRICES
snipca.com/48421, reviewed in Issue screen in a tent mode (as pictured below Our reviews contain a link to the best price
673), which cost £429 when we tested it, left), which works well for presentations we found online at the time of press.
but is now £100 less than the Flex 5. The or watching video streams.
515 has the same processor, as well as the The keyboard is light to the touch and
same amount of RAM and storage, but it allows for speedy typing, with all the
comes with a slightly larger 15.6in screen. keys where you’d expect them to be. VERDICT A decent basic Chromebook
Admittedly, the screen on the 515 has a The touchpad is also impressive and at if you’re looking for portability and a
slightly lower resolution, so isn’t as sharp, 120x75mm larger than average for a 14in tablet mode option, but rival models
and the Flex 5 also wins in our tests for laptop. It’s also surprisingly smooth and offer similar for less
responsive for a laptop at this price.
As for battery life, the Flex 5 managed
★★★★★
just under 10 hours in our video- ALTERNATIVE Acer Chromebook
playback test, which is a decent result. Plus 515 £399 A similar specification
with a larger
SPECIFICATIONS screen for a
Six-core Intel Core i3-1215U processor • 8GB of lower price,
RAM • Intel UHD graphics • 14in 1920x1200-pixel IPS though the
screen • 256GB SSD • 2x USB-C ports • x USB 3.0
port • 1x microSD card slot • Wi-Fi 6E • Bluetooth 5.1
screen isn’t
• ChromeOS • 19.8x316x229mm (HxWxD) • 1.58kg • as bright
One-year warranty www.snipca.com/50781

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 23

 Reviews
PC MONITOR | £241 from Dell www.snipca.com/50820

Dell 27 USB-C Hub Monitor

Have some inputs

Because its already-reasonable price

has been spiralling downwards in the
past few weeks, the BenQ XBL2970QT
(£183 from www.snipca.com/50454,
reviewed in Issue 685 – see page 32)
remains our favourite monitor. However,
this monitor from Dell came close to
stealing its crown.
The Dell 27 USB-C Hub Monitor
costs almost £60 more, but adds a wide
range of features that justify that price
difference, particularly if you want a
second screen to connect to a laptop via
USB-C. Its biggest downside is its lower
resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. At this
size, that works out at a pixel density of keyboard (meaning they can easily be settings, with physical buttons to
82ppi, which is some way short of the used by any PC that connects to it); select the options. It also comes with
BenQ model’s 109ppi. added a storage drive for backups; its own software, which you can
connected a charging cable for our download and run on your PC. This
smartphone; and even powered a makes changing the settings even easier
Has a useful USB-C USB-connected lamp for some lighting. because you can use your mouse and
If you were thinking of buying a cheaper keyboard instead.
hub built in, but falls monitor and a hub, this would probably We aren’t big fans of how it manages
be a simpler and tidier option. cables, with a simple hole in the stand
short of our favourite Twenty-seven inch screens are that cables can be passed through.
monitor something. They’re small enough to
fit on to a typical desk, but have enough
This means there’ll be a section of
each cable showing before it disappears
screen space to let you work on several down behind your desk, which looks a
We tested it by plugging a laptop into things (documents, software etc) at the bit untidy.
its USB-C port and it started working same time. It doesn’t offer 4K resolution
immediately. It has two USB-C ports – or an ultra-wide aspect ratio, but it’s ideal SPECIFICATIONS
one can supply up to 90W of power to a for just plugging into a PC and getting 27in IPS screen • 1920x1080-pixel resolution • 16:9
laptop and can also transfer a video work done. aspect ratio • 100Hz refresh rate • 5ms response time
• 1,500:1 contrast • 1x HDMI port • 2x DisplayPorts
signal. The other manages data only and Dell has also thrown in the company’s (1x in, 1x out) • 2x USB-C port • 3x USB 3.2 ports •
supplies 15W of power, which is still ComfortView technology (which reduces 385x611x192mm (HxWxD) • 8.4kg • Three-year
enough to charge your phone or tablet. blue light and eye strain), a 1500:1 warranty www.snipca.com/50820
It also has three USB 3.2 ports, two contrast ratio, a built-in display manager
DisplayPort sockets, one HDMI input and to help with multi-tasking and an option
an Ethernet port (which can be used to to daisy-chain to another monitor. VERDICT A 27in monitor with a handy
share your network with any PC that’s In our tests it achieved a brightness USB-C hub built in, but cheaper rivals
attached to the USB-C port). level of 300cd/m2, which makes it good offer sharper screens
We found this selection of ports to be enough to use in a bright room, and it
absolutely ideal for our purposes. Aside reproduced 99 per cent of the sRGB
★★★★★
from attaching our laptop, we used the colour standard. ALTERNATIVE BenQ XBL2970QT
other ports to connect to the network; It comes with the usual OSD £183 Our favourite PC monitor, which
plug in a dongle for our mouse and (on-screen display) for changing their lacks the
USB-C hub,
but offers
a higher
resolution for a
lower price

24 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

PRINTER | £124 from Printerland www.snipca.com/50947
CHOOSE THE RIGHT SPECS
HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e HDMI
Fit for a print ARC/eARC
What is it?
This multi-function model can print, If you buy a new TV today, you might
copy, scan and fax. It’s a little more find it has more than one HDMI port, so
expensive than the most basic you can connect a range of devices. One
all-in-one printers, but for that you get of these may be labelled HDMI ARC or
double-sided printing. Handily, you HDMI eARC, as on the rear of the Sony
can connect to it via Wi-Fi, Ethernet or Bravia XR A95K OLED TV (pictured
USB. If it’s connected to your home below). ARC stands for Audio Return
network you can use the HP Smart Channel, and it marks the HDMI port
software and app to print wirelessly from Print speeds are one of the printer’s that should be used to connect external
your PC, laptop, phone or tablet. strong points. In our tests, we easily audio equipment.
achieved the quoted print speeds of 20
pages per minute (ppm) when printing
A versatile printer single-sided in black and white. The
drying time required before printing the
with great features, second side (in duplex print jobs) slows
this to around 10ppm.
but its colour prints are While black-and-white output looks
disappointing great, full-colour prints left a little to be
desired. They lack vibrancy and look
fairly muted compared with how the
Setting up the OfficeJet Pro took us original documents looked on our screen.
about 10 minutes, from opening the Ink is pricey compared with ink-tank How does it work?
box to our first print, using the easy-to- models. Mono prints work out at about The ARC port takes the sound that
follow instructions displayed on the 5p per page, while colour prints are 9p a would otherwise be output by the TV’s
printer’s screen. Alternatively, you can page. If you tend to print a lot you’ll get speaker and sends it to your soundbar
scan a QR code in the manual for more lower running costs from an ink-tank or other speaker system. It can still
detailed step-by-step instructions if model, which can work out at as little work as a standard HDMI port if you
you need them. as 0.2p for a mono print. prefer.
The printer has a straightforward However, if you print only occasionally
design with a black-and-white plastic you’re unlikely to save enough on What are the specs?
case that won’t look out of place in any running costs to make it worth your ARC was introduced back in 2009
home or office. Its paper tray can hold while paying extra for an ink-tank model. when HDMI 1.4 arrived. The current
up to 225 sheets, which is generous In which case, the OfficeJet Pro is worth version, HDMI 2.1, launched in 2017 and
compared with many printers at this serious consideration. added eARC (Enhanced Audio Return
price, and the output tray holds up to 60. Channel). This is essentially the same
The input tray can handle a range of system, except that the cables have
paper sizes and types up to A4, and VERDICT A sturdy office printer with faster transfer speeds and a greater
can also print on envelopes, cards and all the features you might need and bandwidth, so can provide superior
photo paper. impressive mono printing, but colour sound quality across more channels.
The 2.7in touchscreen’s location on print quality and relatively high running
the front left makes it convenient for costs hold it back Can I change it later?
controlling the copying function. The HDMI ports can’t be upgraded so you’ll
high quality of the screen – bright,
★★★★★ need to buy devices that already have
colourful and responsive – is also ALTERNATIVE Epson EcoTank ET- eARC sockets to use them. The audio
impressive. 2830 £249 A similar set of functions element of HDMI ARC ports will only
but this ink- tank printer costs significantly work when connected to other HDMI
SPECIFICATIONS more, though it ARC ports. eARC ports can work with
2.7in colour touchscreen • Print, scan, copy and can print eARC and ARC devices, but you won’t
fax • Three colour and one black toner cartridge thousands of get the full benefit of the ‘enhanced’
included • 225-sheet paper capacity • 1200x1200dpi
print quality • Auto-duplex • USB, Ethernet or Wi-Fi
pages with its element unless both ends are attached
connection • 233x460x338mm • 8kg • One-year initial ink supply to eARC ports.
warranty www.snipca.com/50947

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 25

 Reviews
PHONE ❘ £279 from Laptops Direct www.snipca.com/50899

Samsung Galaxy A35

Snap judgment

Samsung may save its headline features The main compromise comes
for its premium S series phones, but with the cameras. First, the good news –
it’s quietly maintaining its excellent there’s a 50-megapixel main lens,
mid-range A series too. The last of these 8-megapixel ultrawide lens and a
models we reviewed was the Galaxy 5-megapixel macro lens. And in
A04s, though this has since been replaced well-lit conditions, the main camera
by the A05s (£99 from Samsung at www. takes bright and vibrant pictures,
snipca.com/50901). As you’ll see from with flowers and food looking
the difference in price, the A35 is particularly bold.
intended to be a step up from the This is partly due to Samsung’s
budget A05s. scene-optimisation software, which
The front and back of the A35 are made ratchets up the contrast and saturation,
from sturdy Gorilla Glass, which gives it a and also makes images sharper. It’s great
luxury feel. At 209g and 8.2mm thick it’s for social-media posts and selfies, less so
fairly hefty, but in return you benefit from for seasoned photographers hoping to
a large 6.6in AMOLED screen with a capture a realistic representation.
120Hz refresh rate and sharp 1080x2340- However, we weren’t impressed by its
pixel resolution. wider shots, where quality and detail
As you’d expect from an AMOLED suffered, and the camera struggled in
panel, the display is dazzling – with a low light. Switching to the ultrawide lens
maximum brightness of 1,000cd/m2 – made images look even duller. The VERDICT This is a good phone for the
and the colours absolutely pop. 13-megapixel selfie camera is better, but price, but it could have been excellent
While its Exynos 1380 processor and we’d prefer to see higher quality in the with a better camera
Mali-G68 graphics are both distinctly more useful rear cameras.
mid-table components, the A35
★★★★★
performed impressively. It blitzed SPECIFICATIONS ALTERNATIVE Google
through high-intensity 3D games, and Eight-core Samsung Exynos 1380 processor • 6GB Pixel 7a £299 With a newer
while it tends to get warm after a while, RAM • 128GB storage • 6.6in 120Hz 2340x1080- model available, our current
pixel AMOLED screen • 50-megapixel rear camera • favourite Android phone is at
gaming enthusiasts will be delighted with
8-megapixel ultrawide camera • 13-megapixel front-
it. It also handled non-gaming apps in a facing camera • Wi-Fi 6 • Bluetooth 5.3 • Android 14
its best price yet and takes
snappy and smooth fashion. It has 6GB of with OneUI 6.1 • 62x78x8.2mm (HxWxD) • 209g • better photos
RAM and 128GB storage. One-year warranty www.snipca.com/50899

WHAT SHOULD I BUY? We solve your buying dilemmas

Can you recommend a duplex ink-tank printer?

I have an HP OfficeJet Pro Two-sided printing is becoming Canon’s ink-tank range. Canon sells
Q 6970, which in one way is
excellent because it has auto-
A a rarity on consumer printers,
leaving aside duplex scanning
ink-tanks aimed at businesses that
aren’t as good at reproducing photos,
duplex printing, scanning and copying and copying. We found only one Epson but are great for letters and colour
from its document feeder. The problem ink- tank model that does what you want office documents.
is the very high cost of – the EcoTank ET-5800 In this range we found the Canon
the ink. I want to replace (£670 from www.snipca. Maxify GX6550 (£500 from www.
it with an ink-tank com/50909). It’s not a snipca.com/50911, pictured). This is a
printer with the same cheap option, but we smaller and more compact all-in-one
auto-duplex feature, but think it’s worth the printer, but it also has all the features
I can’t find one. Do you money. you’re looking for.
know of any? Hoping that we could Do you need advice on what you should buy?
John Edge do better, we scoured Email us at [email protected]

26 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Reviews
SPEAKER | £120 from Amazon www.snipca.com/50844

Soundcore Boom 2
Never hear the end

If you have a smartphone you have the able to boost this further. That said, it
ability to play music, podcasts or radio isn’t great with the volume turned all
wherever you go, but it won’t sound the way up, but this shouldn’t be a
great. The Soundcore Boom 2 Bluetooth problem unless you’re trying to use it as it all the time. It takes about four hours to
speaker solves this problem, providing the main speaker at a party. fully recharge from empty.
good-quality audio in a portable case. It doesn’t have built-in radio like the
It’s also waterproof, so will survive a Pure Woodland (£140 from www.snipca.
rain shower or even immersion in a fish com/49294, reviewed in Issue 678), VERDICT A waterproof Bluetooth
pond, where it will happily float until you but you can stream radio stations from speaker with long battery life that
hook it out again. your smartphone, including catch-up would make a great companion on
As you might expect for the price, services. holidays or around the garden
sound quality isn’t going to satisfy serious The Boom 2 has flashing LED lights on
audiophiles, but it’s good enough for both ends, with seven settings that sync
★★★★★
music and spoken word at reasonable with the bass audio. The Soundcore app ALTERNATIVE
volumes. Its main draw is its impactful enables you to alter the colours used in Pure Woodland
deep bass tones, with its BassUp feature each light show, adjust brightness levels, £140 A similar
or turn the lights off entirely. option for outdoor
SPECIFICATIONS The biggest plus point here, however, is listening that also
1x 50W subwoofer • 2x 15W tweeters • Bluetooth
5.3 • IPX7 • 24-hour battery life • 185x296x101mm
battery life. The Boom 2 can last for up to has a built-in DAB
(HxWxD) • 1.67kg • 18-month warranty www.snipca. 24 hours if it’s not being played too loud, and FM radio
com/50844 so should last for days if you’re not using

EARBUDS | £50 from Amazon www.snipca.com/50845

1More PistonBuds Pro Q30

Cheap and earful

The 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 earbuds the end of the world if you don’t intend to
pack in an impressive number of features use them for hours at a time, if you enjoy
for a reasonable price, including active listening to music all day or if you want
noise cancelling (ANC) – something that ANC on, these may not have the longevity
doesn’t often feature in £50 earbuds. It you need. 684) is significantly better, though it’s
isn’t the most effective noise cancelling The touch controls work fine, although still worth considering the PistonBuds if
we’ve ever tested, but it does a decent job it took us a while to perfect the your budget can’t stretch that far.
of blocking sound from the outside world, adjustment technique due to the small
particularly low constant noises such as touch-sensitive area on the earbud’s stalk
the hum of an air-conditioning unit. that’s tricky to locate when they’re sitting VERDICT Decent noise-cancelling
Battery life is reasonable for the price, in your ears. The 1More Music app is earbuds at a reasonable price, but
with the individual buds lasting for seven more straightforward to use and includes battery life is pretty average
hours of continuous play during our tests. a range of useful features, including 12
This was reduced to just over five hours equaliser presets and the option to tweak
★★★★★
when ANC was enabled. While this isn’t these to your liking. ALTERNATIVE Nothing Ear (a) £80
Compared with slightly more expensive Nothing’s earbuds are
SPECIFICATIONS sets, however, these buds pale in more expensive, but
10mm DLC dynamic driver • Active noise cancellation
• 7.5-hour battery life (buds) • 30-hour battery life
comparison. Noise cancelling on the are better at blocking
with case • Bluetooth 5.3 • IPX5 • 4.6g (per earbud) • Nothing Ear (a) earbuds (£80 from www. background noise
One-year warranty www.snipca.com/50845 snipca.com/50286, reviewed in Issue

28 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Reviews
EBOOK READER | £120 from Kobo www.snipca.com/50981
DO I REALLY NEED...
Kobo Clara BW A mini PC with a
A new chapter desktop PC
processor?
We’ve recently taken a close look
at Kobo’s new colour ebook What is it?
readers, the Libra Colour (£200 Mini Maker is a new
from www.snipca.com/50192 Taiwanese manufacturer,
– see page 32) and the Clara offering a mini PC – the
Colour (£140 from www.snipca. Turbo Mini X (pictured) – that’s bigger
com/50515, reviewed in Issue 685). than average so it can fit a desktop PC
Now Kobo has launched a new processor. It also has a port designed
monochrome ebook reader, called the to create ultra-fast connections to an
Kobo Clara BW – a follow-up to the Clara Amazon’s Kindles do, though it does lock external graphics card.
2E. This has the same-sized case and you into its own audiobook store.
screen as the Clara Colour and the raised Unfortunately, there’s no support What does it do?
bezels that provide just enough room to for online file transfers via either Google It runs everything faster than a standard
hold the tablet without accidentally Drive or Dropbox, as is available on the mini PC, with performance levels that
touching the screen while reading. Kobo Libra Colour. You can, however, rival desktop PCs. Most mini PCs use
easily sideload ebooks via a USB-C cable laptop processors, which aren’t as
that’s connected to a laptop or PC. You powerful and waste resources on battery
It has a new screen also get OverDrive support so you can management. This isn’t necessary in a
borrow digital content from any public PC that’s always plugged in.
that offers excellent library that supports it.
It’s also a shame that Kobo hasn’t What’s the catch?
contrast and responds improved the battery life (around 53 days) That larger case. It’s 215x180x36mm
or increased the storage from the Clara (HxWxD), so takes up more desk space
better to your touch 2E’s 16GB. While none of these factors are than most mini PCs. Also, we don’t
necessarily a dealbreaker, it means the know how much it costs.
The Clara BW is the first device to come Clara Colour represents much better
fitted with E Ink’s new grayscale screen value. With similar specs but a colour So can I do without it?
– the Carta 1300. While the resolution display, the colour ebook reader – at just Yes. If you need high levels of
remains the same as the previous Carta £20 more – remains a more attractive performance it’s still better to opt for a
1200 generation, with a pixel density of option. full-size desktop PC.
300ppi, this boasts a 25-per-cent increase
in screen responsiveness and superior SPECIFICATIONS
contrast – and we could really tell the 6in 300ppi E Ink Carta 1300 touchscreen • NEXT ISSUE
1448x1072-pixel resolution • 16GB storage • Wi-Fi 5
difference. • Bluetooth • USB-C charging port • 1500mAh Li-ion
Text appears sharper and clearer, no rechargeable battery • 160x112x9.2mm (HxDxW) • On Sale Weds 17 July
matter how small or large you like your 174g • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/50981
fonts, or how bright you set its front light.
All of this makes reading an absolute Acer TravelMate P2
joy, although some VERDICT This ebook reader has A reasonably priced
laptop with a large
users may prefer a the latest mono touchscreen offering
15.6in screen
slightly larger excellent navigation and contrast, but
screen than the 6in it’s only a little cheaper than the colour
panel on offer here. alternative Minisforum
AtomMan X7 Ti
The Kobo
interface – as
★★★★★ Powered by Intel’s new
Core Ultra 9 processor,
always – is easy to ALTERNATIVE Kobo is this the fastest mini
use and a pleasure Libra Colour £200 A PC we’ve ever tested?
to navigate. Also, colour ebook reader
Kobo’s book- with a larger screen These and much more...
purchasing system that also lets you Subscribe to Computeractive at
doesn’t keep you take notes www.getcomputeractive.co.uk
as locked in as

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 29

 Buy It Find out which other products we liked.
Buy our 2023 Back Issue CD:
£18 from www.snipca.com/48860

Our pick of products that have won the Buy It award

LAPTOP DESKTOP PC APPLE iPAD

Dell Inspiron 14 Plus Palicomp AMD Cobra Apple iPad 10.2in

£1,199 from www.snipca.com/50079 £400 from www.snipca.com/43515 £319 from www.snipca.com/48634
Tested Issue 683 Tested Issue 643 Tested Issue 623

Has the same processor (Intel Core

Ultra 7 155H) as our previous favourite The 9th-generation of the basic iPad,
(Acer Swift Go 4), but manages to This fast PC is a mouth-watering released in 2021, is now the best-value
squeeze more speed out of it. Has bargain, with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD Apple tablet. The 2022 version looks
16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and a 14in and a six-core processor – though it better and has a faster processor, but
2240x1400-pixel screen. Excellent lacks USB-C ports and built-in Wi-Fi. it’s not worth paying £130 extra for.
value overall.
ALTERNATIVE Wired2Fire Ultima WS ALTERNATIVE iPad Mini With an even
ALTERNATIVE Acer Swift Go 14 Still a Home Office Workstation Blisteringly better, but smaller, screen than the
fast and powerful laptop, with a great fast PC, powered by an overclocked 10.2in iPad, the Mini also supports
14in screen. £849 from www.snipca. eight-core processor and 1TB SSD. the Pencil and has 64GB of storage.
com/49733 £656 from www.snipca.com/41500 £499 from www.snipca.com/33050

ANDROID TABLET APPLE iPHONE ANDROID PHONE P

DRRIC
OP E
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Apple iPhone 13 Google Pixel 7a
£799 from www.snipca.com/50039 £599 from www.snipca.com/43498 £299 from www.snipca.com/46332
Tested Issue 667 Tested Issue 627 Tested Issue 660

With a much brighter screen than our

previous favourite – the Galaxy Tab S8 Now £200 cheaper than its 2021 launch
– this is perfect for watching TV. It also price, the iPhone 13 has a superb screen,
has a faster processor, so tasks feel long battery life and an excellent camera – A cheaper version of Google’s flagship
smoother, even with several windows particularly for taking quick snaps without phone, this uses AI to add clarity to
open. £799 will get you the 128GB blurring. You could pay £799 for the newer photos, and lasts an impressive 10
version. If you want 256GB you’ll need iPhone 15, but we’re not convinced it’s hours. Has a fast processor and 8GB
to spend around £100 more. worth the extra money. RAM to supercharge performance.

ALTERNATIVE Lenovo Tab P11 Pro It’s ALTERNATIVE iPhone SE With a single ALTERNATIVE Nothing Phone 2a Don’t
slower than the Tab S9 and the screen camera and smaller screen but the be put off by the odd name. This has a
is duller, but has a detachable keyboard same powerful A15 processor and 64GB distinctive design, superb camera and
so you can use it as a laptop. £400 from storage as the iPhone 14, it’s great value. decent battery life. From a UK company
www.snipca.com/45244 £429 from www.snipca.com/34773 too. £349 from www.snipca.com/49930.

30 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Buy It
Our pick of products that have won the Buy It award
MINI PC EBOOK READER SECURITY SOFTWARE

Minisforum UM780XTX Kobo Libra Colour Norton 360 Premium

£649 from www.snipca.com/48917 £200 from www.snipca.com/50192 £19.99 from www.snipca.com/33247
Tested Issue 676 Tested Issue 683 Tested Issue 629

Norton has always performed

This powerful machine costs only strongly in our antivirus tests,
£80 more than the Beelink SER6 Kobo’s first colour e-reader, with an regularly making the top three.
Pro, but has twice the memory, twice E-Ink Kaleido 3 screen that supports Owned by US firm NortonLifeLock,
the storage and a superior processor. 4,096 tones, making illustrations and it’s available at a discount on our
These help it run PC tasks faster photos leap out at you. You can also Software Store. Use the link above
and handle graphics more smoothly. make notes using a stylus, though that for a 10-device, two-year licence.
Ports include USB-C, USB 3.0, HDMI, costs £70 extra. Has 32GB storage and Other versions are available, including
DisplayPort and Gigabit Ethernet. Bluetooth for playing audiobooks. Norton 360 for Gamers.

ALTERNATIVE Beelink SER6 Pro ALTERNATIVE Amazon Kindle This low- ALTERNATIVE Bitdefender Total
7753HS Has 32GB RAM and a 500GB cost option is a good choice, especially Security Another top performer that
SSD for slick Windows performance. now it has 16GB of storage. £85 from we’re offering at a discount. £29.99
£659 from www.snipca.com/46416 www.snipca.com/44221 from www.snipca.com/41141

WEBCAM PC MONITOR P SOLID-STATE DRIVE

DRRIC
OP E
Logitech C925e Business BenQ BL2790QT Corsair MP600 Pro LPX
Webcam £173 from www.snipca.com/51025 500GB
£55 from www.snipca.com/50751 Tested Issue 685 £67 from www.snipca.com/41547
Tested Issue 608 Tested Issue 630

Despite the name, this webcam is also With a 1440p resolution on a 27in In our tests, this M.2 SSD hit speeds
great for home users. Its standout screen, this has a pixel density of 109 of 7,364MB/s and 6,870MB/s when
feature is automatically adjusting itself pixels per inch, making it extremely reading and writing data – astonishingly
to keep your picture looking sharp. It sharp. Also has great speakers, lots fast scores. It’s compatible with the
offers a 78-degree field of view, which of controls and plenty of ports. It’s the new PCIe 4.0 standard, which is twice
is fine for everyday video chats with one best balance between size, resolution, as fast as PCIe 3.0. The 1TB model
person in front of the camera. quality and price. costs £86; 2TB costs £137.

ALTERNATIVE Creative Live Cam Sync 4K ALTERNATIVE Asus ROG Strix XG27ACS ALTERNATIVE Crucial MX500 500GB
Affordable 4K webcam with high- Another excellent 27in monitor with As fast as an SSD can get in the
quality video and captures voice from 1440p resolution, with a fast refresh traditional 2.5in SATA format, this
a distance. £55 from www.snipca. rate aimed at gamers. £269 from is a great-value upgrade. £72 from
com/48944 www.snipca.com/49898 www.snipca.com/37304

32 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Buy It

COMPETITION

Win a... Summer device-

charging prize pack
In this competition we’re offering a your your iPhone, Apple Watch,
prize pack from Anker, the world’s and AirPods. •Power
Anker 10,000mAh Portable
leading mobile charging brand, to keep
all your devices charged throughout
• Anker 67W 3-Port Compact &
Foldable Charger (£49.99 from
Bank (£39.99 from www.
snipca.com/50812). Will keep your
the summer. If you win, you’ll receive www.snipca.com/50809). Ideal for devices powered, even when you’re
a pack containing the following seven weekend breaks and staycations. It far from a wall socket.
devices. For more information on the
chargers visit www.anker.com/uk.
charges multiple devices quickly with
67W of fast-charging power.
• Rufy SmartTrack Link (£19.99
from www.snipca.com/50813).
• Anker MagGo 10K Power Bank
(£89.99 from www.snipca.
• Anker USB-C-to-USB-C 100W
Cable (£9.99 from www.snipca.
Working with Apple Find My, this
uses Bluetooth to locate lost items
com/50807). Perfect for iPhone com/50810). This cable supports like luggage, passports and keys.
users, it’s got 15W ultra-fast wireless high-speed charging up to 100W
charging that will get your iPhone 15 when used with a compatible charger. To enter this competition, answer
to 50-per-cent in just 40 minutes. • Anker 67W 3 Port Compact Fast Car the question at www.snipca.
• Anker MagGo 3-in-1 Wireless
Charging Station (£99.99 from
Charger (£24.99 from www.snipca.
com/50811). Keep your phone charged
com/50806 and submit your
details by midnight Tuesday 16 July.
www.snipca.com/50808). Charges as you drive with this multi-port charger. Good luck!

PRINTER P SMART TV ROUTER

DRRIC
OP E
Epson EcoTank ET-2830 Samsung Q60B Asus RT-AXE7800
£200 from www.snipca.com/50202 £490 from www.snipca.com/51020 £230 from www.snipca.com/47586
Tested Issue 676 Tested Issue 652 Tested Issue 665

This replaces the ET-1810 as our With our former favourite – the TCL This router has Wi-Fi 6E, so will be
favourite printer because it adds 55RP620K – out of stock, Samsung’s capable of the fastest possible speeds
copying and scanning to its functions 43in set is our new pick. It has excellent on the 6GHz network over the next
for only £60 more. Print quality is colour reproduction in well-lit scenes, few years. It has five Ethernet ports and
great, especially for photos, which have and the picture is wonderfully sharp, also a USB 3.0 port to connect a hard
crisp details, vivid colours and realistic especially in 4K. drive or NAS drive.
skin tones.
ALTERNATIVE LG OLED42C3 ALTERNATIVE Synology WRX560
ALTERNATIVE Epson EcoTank ET-1810 LG’s 42in TV is more than double Our previous favourite remains an
Not the fastest printer, but comes with the price, but unlike TCL’s model it excellent choice, delivering speeds of
enough ink for 4,500 mono and 7,500 has an OLED screen, boosting up to 791.5Mbps. Add more units to
colour pages. £170 from www.snipca. picture quality considerably. £762 from set up mesh Wi-Fi. £216 from
com/49863 www.snipca.com/47271 www.snipca.com/49161

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 33

Computeractive 2023
Back Issue CD & USB Stick
Both the CD and Stick contain all 26 issues from 2023

LE NOW!
ON SA

SOLD
OUT!

Buy the CD from us at Buy the Stick from us at

www.snipca.com/48860 www.snipca.com/48861
 Pull Out
& Keep

Workshops & Tips Issue 687

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

35 C
 lean your devices 40 Readers’ Tips PLUS
without damaging them 44 Phone & Tablet Tips 47 M
 ake Office Better
42 Browser Tips:
38 S
 et up a free firewall on Take screenshots of 46 M
 ake Windows 48 In the Club: Create an
your Android phone web pages more easily Better animated online flyer

HOW TO...
Clean your devices without
damaging them
by Nik Rawlinson

What you need: Isopropanol alcohol; canned air; cotton buds; interdental sticks; soft cloth
Time required: 30 minutes

O
ver recent years manufacturers the time being, but the reliance on Wi-Fi received or transmitted.
have reduced the number of ports and online-storage services have put There are, therefore, plenty of reasons
and openings in our tech devices. their future further in doubt. to keep your devices clean. Here, we’ll
Headphone jacks have disappeared as Many will welcome this development. explain the safest ways to do that.
Bluetooth earbuds have become more Ports and sockets trap dirt and dust, which Before you do anything, fully turn off
common, while phones, tablets and even can cause problems when you plug in a your device and approach every step
some ebook readers can now be charged cable – reducing the stability of your with care – connections can be fragile
by lining up a pair of coils – one in the connection, introducing crackles in and may easily be broken. Never force
device and one on a dock – to transfer audio and reducing charging speeds. an item, bend a component or roughly
power without cables. For computers, dirt in a network or scrape any contacts.
How long will it be before charging USB socket can also reduce transfer We will also be using a few cleaning
ports disappear completely? If they were speeds because the machine needs to chemicals, so you may want to buy some
still used to transfer all data on to and off apply error correction by reloading files protective gloves to avoid any adverse
the device, we’d say they were safe for or filling in the gaps with the data skin reactions.

Clean the body from Amazon (www.snipca.com/50815, pack of 600 bamboo cotton buds
1 of your devices
Let’s start with the surface. We
pictured below right), where it cost us
£7.75 for a litre. We also bought a £3.99
(www.snipca.com/50816) for applying
the isopropanol.
have a Google Nexus 4 phone that has If you’re using the same
rubberised edges to make it easy to grip, products, pour a small
but over the years these have become a amount of isopropanol
little sticky and started to pick up a lot of alcohol into a bottle cap
of dust and fluff (pictured right). or other small container,
You may have experienced something and dilute it slightly (avoid
similar with rubberised buttons on your using the lid from the
car radio or alarm clock. Rubber can be alcohol bottle, which you
cleaned using isopropanol alcohol (also should screw back on to
called isopropyl). Fortunately, we already
had a bottle for cleaning ash from a Our phone’s rubberised edges have picked up We cleaned our devices using
laser-cutting machine. We bought this a lot of dust and fluff that we need to remove isopropanol alcohol

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 35

 reduce the likelihood of spills and to
stop the remaining alcohol within from
evaporating).
Now, dip one end of a cotton bud into
How I clean my devices
the liquid and use it to gently wipe away The only part of any device that I routinely clean is the screen. As
the dirt. We found that the dust and hair a specs wearer, I have several cleaning cloths around the house
was easily removed this way, as it stuck to that I use for this purpose, and I also (occasionally) use a squirt of
the bud. Whoosh! on the cloth that came with the fluid. I used to regularly
If possible, use long, sweeping open up and remove the dust from the insides of my desktop PCs,
movements to remove as much of the but because I now mostly use laptops that’s less of an issue.
dirt as you can in a single pass. This Nik Rawlinson
will reduce the likelihood of you doing How do you safely clean your tech devices?
what we did and slightly marking the Please let us know: [email protected]
rubber itself. Don’t panic too much if
it initially looks like you’ve done this,
however. Once the alcohol had fully It warns against using any products only increase the amount of smearing
evaporated from the rubber the effect containing bleach or hydrogen peroxide. over time.
was far less noticeable on our phone than We would suggest following this advice We’ve been using a product called
it had initially appeared. In our photo whatever phone or tablet (Android or Whoosh! (pictured below) for several
below, you can clearly see the difference Apple) you’re using. years to clean our phone, tablet and
between uncleaned and cleaned areas. laptop screens. It comes in a small pump,
As you’ll also notice below, our phone Clean your around the size of an asthma inhaler,
has a large headphone jack. If yours does,
too, avoid getting any liquid into the jack
2 device’s screen
Phone and tablet screens have
accompanied by an anti-microbial cloth.
You can pick up a 100ml bottle for £12 on
as this could seep into the electronics what’s known as an oleophobic coating. Amazon (www.snipca.com/50831).
within. Don’t pass the cotton bud directly This helps to repel the oil in your skin To use it, pump one squirt of the liquid
over it and, if possible, sweep away from and, although you might not think it’s on to the cloth, then polish the screen to
it in all directions. We’ll explain how you making much difference, it helps to remove any marks. Don’t spray the liquid
can clean this later. keep the screen clean and smear-free directly on to the screen in case it gets
If your device doesn’t have a rubberised for longer than plain glass would. Some inside the case via a port.
exterior, you may be able to clean it devices, like the iPhone 8 and later,
without using isoproponal alcohol. Apple also have a glass back with the same Clean your
recommends using a “soft, slightly damp,
lint-free cloth”, such as a lens-cleaning
oleophobic coating that will need to be
treated in the same way as the screen.
3 headphone ports
Dust inside a headphone socket
cloth. These often come free with a pair You need to be very careful when can partially block the connection to
of glasses or can be bought cheaply from cleaning any phone or tablet screen your headphone jack, which can result in
an optician or chemist. because the coating can wear away over crackles when listening, or the complete
If you do want to use isopropanol time. So start by using a soft, slightly drop-out of the left, right or both stereo
alcohol, make sure you dilute it. Apple damp, lint-free cloth and only use any channels.
recommends using “a 70 percent cleaning products if this proves to be There are several everyday items at your
isopropyl alcohol wipe, 75 percent ethyl ineffective. Make sure you dilute these disposal for this cleaning task, including
alcohol wipe, or Clorox Disinfecting as appropriate to reduce their strength – cocktail sticks, toothpicks and unfolded
Wipes, [with which] you may gently wipe otherwise they can accelerate the rate at paperclips, all of which could be used
the exterior surfaces of your iPhone”. which the coating deteriorates. This will to pick out debris close to the opening.

The rubber edge on the right-hand side has been cleaned using Clean your screens using Whoosh! and the anti-microbial cloth that
isopropanol alcohol comes with it, which costs £12 for a 100ml bottle

36 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Clean your devices without damaging them

Remove some of the cotton from a bud to make

it easier to get it inside a headphone socket

However, avoid sticking them deep into

the socket and wriggling them around: if
you can’t see what you’re pressing against
you should use something softer. Use canned air to clean your device’s Ethernet port
You can also try pulling away some of
the cotton to reduce its bulk (as pictured wiping around them in a circular motion. even if the technology behind them has
above) so that what remains fits more We found that the red TePe we used (size significantly advanced. That means they
easily in the port. While this worked, 2) was long enough to reach the bottom have a large number of exposed wires,
we found that the cotton that was still of the jack in our Nexus. Given that the which you need to avoid bending.
attached to the stick started to fray inside socket is also an international standard, Rather than poking anything into any
the socket. in common use since 1964, it would of these ports, consider blowing out
So, we turned to another common suggest that a similar interdental stick any dust and debris using compressed
home gadget: an interdental brush. You from rival manufacturers would do a air. You can buy cans of pressurised air
can pick up a pack of eight TePe brushes similar job. at pretty high prices (we’ve seen single
that range in size from 0.5mm to 3mm 400ml cans for £50), but we’re using
for £6.97 (www.snipca.com/50832) and Clean your USB, HDMI these Sprayduster cans (£8 for two
use them many times over. These sizes
are an international standard (ISO 16409,
4 and Ethernet ports
Designed to withstand having
400ml cans from www.snipca.
com/50818, pictured left).
www.snipca.com/50833), and are more plugs pushed into and pulled out of them However, while this is
commonly known as size zero to eight. over and over again, common advice online,
This means that when you find the one USB and HDMI ports some tech companies
that suits your device, when you need are fairly robust. However, it’s including Apple (www.
to order replacements, you can buy a important not to damage the snipca.com/50804) don’t
multi-pack of just one size, rather than contacts inside them, which are recommend it. The danger
further mixed packs. aligned with those in their is that you can cause a lot of
Use the brush to gently clean the inner respective plug types. condensation when spraying,
walls of the port (as pictured below) by Over the years, which can dampen the delicate
these connections have components within.
become more compact To help avoid this, turn
– plugs and sockets for the Buy two 400ml your device and the can upside
Sprayduster cans
latest USB standard (USB-C) for £8 down when spraying (pictured
aren’t much larger than a above). Make sure it’s also turned
grain of rice. This is made more awkward off and disconnected, and don’t get too
still by the fact that the connectors are close to the port to start with. Avoid
mounted on a tongue that sits at the getting it on your skin if possible as it
centre of the aperture. can cause frostbite.
HDMI has, likewise, been miniaturised You can use cans such as these to
by the Mini HDMI and Micro HDMI clean between the keys on a keyboard.
standards for smaller devices, like single- We did this with ours just before writing
board computers (Raspberry Pis) and the previous paragraph. However, we
some smartphones. Micro HDMI, also didn’t follow our advice to turn it upside
known as Type-D, is just 5.8x2.2mm. down, and condensation seeped between
We cleaned our Nexus phone’s headphone Externally, wired network (Ethernet) the keys. The fact you’re reading this
port using an interdental brush connections haven’t changed in decades, sentence means we got away with it.

Next issue: Block adverts on every device connected to your home network Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 37
 Workshop
Set up a free firewall on
your Android phone
What you need: GlassWire, Android phone or tablet, or Chromebook
Time required: 15 minutes

W e’re huge fans of the firewall

GlassWire (www.glasswire.
com), so when we learned it’s made
identify apps that may be sharing
more data online than they should,
then block them using the built-in
its mobile app for Android firewall. GlassWire doesn’t have a
completely free to use, we had to take version for iPhones, so try the free
a closer look. In this Workshop, we’ll Lockdown Privacy app (https://
show you how to use GlassWire to lockdownprivacy.com) instead.

STEP Visit www.snipca.com/50903 on your Android device, or open

1 the Google Play Store and search for ‘Glasswire’. Tap the Install
button and once that’s complete, tap Open. Tap ‘Get Started’
followed by ‘Go to Settings’ to open the Settings app. Find Glasswire in
the ‘Usage access’ list
and tap it, then turn the 4
‘Permit usage access’
slider on 1 . Once that’s
done, tap the back
button at the top of the 1
screen twice to return
to the ‘Grant access’
page, then tap Next.
When prompted, tap
‘Allow’ to give Glasswire
1 2 permission to send
notifications as well as
make and manage phone
calls 2 . 2

STEP You’ll now be on the main

2 Glasswire screen where a

summary of your data usage is
presented as a bar chart 1 . You’ll see it
1 2
also highlights data transfers in real
time, highlighting apps by their icons 2 3
and using colour to indicate whether
data has been downloaded (blue) or
uploaded (green). Below the graph
you’ll see a list revealing which apps
have consumed the most data, with the
heaviest users listed first 3 – scroll STEP The app’s summary offers the same graph
down to access the full list. Tap an app
to move to its own summary screen.
3 and statistics as the main summary screen,
but it’s filtered to show only that app’s
consumption 1 . Below this you’ll find a slider that
lets you disable network access for that app 2 .
Tapping this will throw up a warning that the slider
won’t work while the Firewall is disabled 3 . Return
3
to the main page by tapping the back button 4 in the
top left corner. Tap the shield icon at the bottom of
the main page to go to the Firewall screen, where
you’ll see the firewall is switched off by default.

38 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 4 4
1

3
2

3 1

STEP Next, you’ll see that the main switch shows ‘Off’ 1 . Tap it
2
4 so it turns on and you’ll see a message explaining how it
works – essentially, the firewall creates an encrypted local
VPN, which can prevent blocked apps from sending or receiving
data over the internet. Tap Accept 2 to bring up a ‘Connection
request’ screen – tap OK 3 to switch on the firewall. The Firewall STEP Block individual apps by tapping the circle next
will then turn green, ready to be configured. By default, all newly
installed apps are automatically granted access to the internet. To
5 to their name in the app list followed by Apply.
Glasswire also supports profiles, which lets you
block new apps by default, turn on the ‘Allow or deny new app create groups of apps you can block with a single tap
connections’ slider 4 . when needed. First, block the apps you want to include
in the profile, then tap Firewall Profiles 1 followed by
Create Profile 2 . Give your profile a name, leave Use
Current Firewall Rules enabled 3 and finally tap the tick
button 4 . The new profile is selected by default. To create
1 more profiles, set up your apps as before, then tap the
current profile name and choose Create Profile in the
dropdown menu. Going forward, use the same
dropdown menu to switch between profiles.

STEP If your

2
7 broadband or
mobile internet 1
has a data cap, configure
Glasswire to track your
usage and warn you
when you reach your
limit. Tap the Alarm
Clock button at the
bottom of the screen to
switch to Data Plans, 2
then tap the + button.
Name your plan and set a
3
data limit 1 . Choose what
connection to monitor by
tapping Mobile, Wi-Fi or
STEP One tell-tale sign that an app might need blocking is if it’s both 2 , then fill in the

6 transferring data in the background when not being used.

Return to the main screen and tap the icon in the top right-
rest of the information as
prompted, including
hand corner to access a real-time graph, which shows you what data what period (such as
has been transferred over the past minute. First, tap ‘Switch On’ to monthly or weekly) to
enable the feature, then monitor the graph. It’ll show any data being monitor 3 . Tap Done and a summary of your usage will be
transmitted 1 , and which apps are transmitting it 2 . Ideally, nothing shown on the main screen, and Glasswire will monitor it
will show, but if you see an app unexpectedly transferring lots of going forward. If you exceed the limit, a notification will
data, you can block it using the firewall. appear on your lock screen.

Next issue: Master Glow’s essential new tools Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 39
 Readers’ Tips
TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT

Use passkeys to sign into your NHS account

Issue 685’s Cover Feature on updating settings’. On the next page click the
old passwords was interesting, especially Passkeys tab followed by ‘Set up a
the advice about using passkeys. I was passkey’ (see screenshot).
sceptical at first about the need for You now need to enter your NHS
passkeys, but having used them since password, after which you’ll be asked
late last year through Windows I’ve how you want to create a passkey. If
been converted. You mentioned lots of you’re using a Windows PC you should
services that now support passkeys, select Windows Hello and sign in with
but one you omitted was the NHS. your face or fingerprint. Once done,
First, log into your account then click follow the rest of the instructions. The
‘Account and settings’ at the top, followed NHS has instructions for phones and
by Settings below. Now click ‘Manage tablets at www.snipca.com/50587.
NHS account’ then ‘Login and security Terry Gould

Terry wins a copy of our 2023 Back Issue CD Buy it from us at www.snipca.com/48860

ONLINE STORAGE KEYBOARDS so had to buy some fluorescent ‘stick-on’

Use single-letter shortcuts to Stick fluorescent letters fonts to make it easier to see the letters
jump to documents on your PC keyboard and numbers. This pack costs £10.79
Google Drive has added new Like Bob Vickery in Issue 685 (page from Amazon (www.snipca.com/50752,
keyboard shortcuts that let you 40), I found the separation between pictured below left).
hop straight to documents simply by the Caps Lock and the A key a cause for Professor MMR Williams
pressing the first letter of its title. So, concern on my Cherry Stream keyboard.
if your document is titled ‘Holiday I also found the font on each key unusual, MAPS
itinerary’, you just need to press H, Find the most energy-efficient
without needing to press a modifier key route for your vehicle type
like Shift or Ctrl. I respect your criticisms of Google
Google says these shortcuts are being Maps in Issue 684’s feature (page
rolled out on 1 August to everyone – 62), and I’ll certainly try the alternatives
both free and paid-for accounts. But you you suggest, particularly Here WeGo
can turn them on earlier by clicking the (www.snipca.com/50387), which sounds
update button that should have appeared promising. But to defend Google Maps,
at the top of your Drive. To see all the there’s a useful setting when you’re
shortcuts in Google Drive just press Ctrl+/ driving that tells you the most energy-
(forward slash). efficient route for your type of vehicle.
Rose McIntosh Open the app on your phone then

Why I stopped using…

Adblock Plus You mentioned that uBlock Origin
I can’t remember when I (https://ublockorigin.com, pictured)
installed Adblock Plus, but I was much better, and that’s been my
must have been using it for over 10 experience too since switching to it a
years. I’d been generally happy with it, few months ago.
but I’ve noticed in the past few months In Issue 686 you also mentioned
that more ads were sneaking through, that uBlock Origin wasn’t affected by
especially on YouTube. YouTube’s sneaky trick of muting and
skipping videos if you had an ad-blocker
And what I use instead... installed. Again, that’s also my should rename itself to make it clearer
I was reminded of this when I read experience. I can’t say for certain that it what it does.
about Adblock Plus not being one of blocks every advert on YouTube, but I Colin Rossiter
the best ad-blockers at making web can’t remember the last time I had to Tell us why you stopped using a website, app
pages load faster (Issue 685, page 10). watch one. It’s a great tool, though it or program: [email protected]

40 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Handy hints and tips from your fellow readers
Email us your tips: [email protected]

search for
directions. Now Reader recommends…
tap the three dots
at the top of the Fideco USB 3.0 Dual Bay HDD Docking Station
screen, followed £36 from Amazon www.snipca.com/49541
by Settings. Scroll
down to route A few months ago I found two
options, then turn old hard drives – one 2.5in,
on ‘Prefer Fuel- the other 3.5in – at the bottom of a
efficient routes’ and wardrobe. I had no idea what was on
tap ‘Your vehicle’. them. Some weeks later I read Issue
Now select your 680’s How To on retrieving data from
Engine type – the options are Petrol, discarded drives, and was persuaded to
Diesel, Hybrid and Electric (see buy the Fideco docking station you used.
screenshot above). It turned out to be a wise choice.
Nick Stride It has two slots for drives, which you
can slot in easily and securely, and
PHONES accommodates both 2.5in and 3.5in than I expected at 70x104x113mm
Lose Plusnet landline and drives. What really impressed me was (HxWxD). My only word of warning is
save money every month how fast it transferred the rescued data. to check it doesn’t get too hot while
I’ve been with Plusnet for a long It supports high-speed data transmission, running. If you have a desktop fan,
time, using both their internet as indicated by the blue socket for the use that to keep it cool.
and phone service. When my contract cable. To benefit, though, your computer Jonathan Price
came up for renewal in January, I wasn’t will also need to support this. Want to recommend hardware or software
offered the ability to retain my phone I didn’t check the dimensions before to fellow readers?
line. I could have kept the original buying, but it turned out to be smaller Email [email protected]
internet package (30Mbps), but I chose
to upgrade to full-fibre (145Mbps). I also
saved £14 a month! (www.snipca.com/50728,
For phones, we already had a Tesco pictured below left).
mobile (served by O2) with a patchy My box is similar to the one
signal, so we bought a second mobile Robert bought (www.snipca.
phone from Lebara (served by Vodafone). com/50349). It arrived the
This also has a patchy signal, but if we next day and to my surprise
can’t use one we use the other. The the BFI app works well on it.
Lebara phone has a rolling monthly I decided to plug in my hard
contract under £5, including Wi-Fi, and drive, which has my favourite
should pay for itself within a year. films and music on it. This
Don Palmer works much better through
the box than when plugged
HARDWARE into the TV.
Buy Android box to watch BFI app I also like the large capacity is too expensive for WinOptimizer
I was interested in Robert Irvine’s of the box (132GB). The only real (www.snipca.com/50401).
experience of buying a £50 Android downside is the poor-quality remote However, if you join Ashampoo’s
TV box from Amazon (Issue 684, page 57). control, which is really fiddly to use. mailing list (www.snipca.com/50726),
My wife bought me a subscription to the Chris Portman you’ll soon find that the company runs a
BFI (British Film Institute), but its app virtually never-ending sale. I bought the
wouldn’t work on my Sony TV or my SOFTWARE latest version of WinOptimizer a year or
Amazon Fire TV Stick. BFI told me my Buy Ashampoo WinOptimizer two back and it only cost a one-off
options were to run it from my laptop as a special offer payment of £9.
or use an Android box. I chose the I’d like to put in a good word for This is a typical price for most (though
latter, buying one for £39.99 from eBay Ashampoo WinOptimizer (pictured not quite all) of the company’s software.
above right) – and indeed Ashampoo in All one needs to do is wait until a suitable
general – after your recommendation ‘flash sale’ or offer comes up. I use
that people shouldn’t pay £44 to buy WinOptimizer almost daily. It’s extremely
the program (Issue 684, page 19). simple to use and does a good job. The
I’ve been a fan of quite a few of company have so far offered good service,
Ashampoo’s programs over many years, and have promptly refunded money for a
and have paid for several of them. I’ve couple of programs I’ve had over the
never once paid anything like the full years which didn’t work well.
price, and would agree with you that £44 Chris Lazenby

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 41

 Browser Tips
CHROME Find the entry #memory-saver-
Reduce memory usage aggressiveness, select Enabled
more aggressively in its dropdown menu and
Chrome’s ‘Memory saver’ feature relaunch Chrome. 2
reduces the amount of RAM the Click the three-dot menu in
browser uses, by freeing up memory the top-right corner and choose
from inactive tabs. Located in the Settings, then Performance. 1
Performance section of Chrome’s Settings In the ‘Memory saver’ section,
(type chrome://settings/performance in you’ll see three new options (see
the address bar and press Enter), ‘Memory screenshot below left): Moderate
saver’ can currently be switched on or off judges your tabs to be inactive
but Google could soon give you more after a longer period of time;
control over how it works. ‘Balanced (recommended)’ is
Chrome 126, released in June, based on an ‘optimal’ period of time; and copy the image to your clipboard or
introduces a new experiment that lets Maximum saves the most memory by download it to your PC. Alternatively,
you “configure how aggressive Memory putting tabs to sleep earlier. Choose the click the ‘Save full page’ button in the
Saver is”. This means you can shorten – option that best suits your needs. top-right corner ( 1 in our screenshot
or extend – the length of time after which above) to take a ‘scrolling’ screenshot
the browser deems your tabs inactive and FIREFOX of the whole web page, and download
releases RAM from them. Take screenshots of it as a single image. Press Esc to exit
To activate the experiment, type web pages more easily screenshot mode.
chrome://flags in the address bar and Firefox 127, released 11 June, improves The updated screenshot tool is faster
press Enter to load the Experiments page. the browser’s built-in tool for at capturing large sections of content,
capturing screenshots of and lets you take screen grabs of Firefox’s
web pages – a feature ‘about’ pages, such as ‘about:config’
that many users are and ‘about:addons’. It also now supports
unaware of. You can High Contrast Mode – a Windows
access the option by accessibility feature that makes text
right-clicking a page and easier to read.
choosing Take Screenshot, To add a permanent Screenshot button
or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+S to Firefox, right-click the browser’s
on your keyboard. toolbar and select Customise Toolbar.
This opens a screenshot Drag the Screenshot option to the toolbar
overlay that lets you to create a button – this looks like a pair
highlight the area of the of scissors cutting along a dotted line 2 .
page you want to capture. Click this button whenever you want to
Click to select it and either take a screenshot of the current page.

WORKSHOP Display live captions for any video in Chrome

Not all online videos include a subtitles/closed captions option, but Chrome has a secret built-in feature that lets you display them
anyway. Here’s how to turn it on so you can read what’s being said.

1
2 1

2 2

1 Click the three-dot menu button in

Chrome’s top-right corner and select
Settings, followed by Accessibility. Switch
2 Start playing a video and a Live Caption
box will appear below 1 , transcribing the
words as they’re spoken. You can drag the
3 To change the size and font of the
captions, click ‘Caption preferences’ 1
on the Accessibility page. This will open the
on the option Live Caption 1 and the box around your screen, and click its Pin Windows Settings app, where you can set
browser will automatically download button 2 to keep it displayed when you your preferred caption colour, background
English speech-recognition files 2 . switch tabs or minimise Chrome. style and size 2 .

42 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Secret settings and the best extensions

BEST EXTENSION FOR… Blocking ads in webmail services

Webmail Ad Blocker are most bothered by the ads in and around gaps where the adverts were, but adjusts
Chromium our webmail inboxes. Webmail Ad Blocker the page layout so you’d never know
www.snipca.com/50802 automatically hides these nuisances on they were there (see Before and After
Firefox services including Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo screenshots).
www.snipca.com/50803 Mail, so you don’t accidentally click them Webmail Ad Blocker removes ads
Although the best ad blockers get rid of when you’re reading and replying to emails. and sponsored links from the side, top
nearly all ads on all websites, many of us Unlike most ad blockers, it doesn’t leave big and bottom of your screen, from within
your inbox and from anywhere else they
BEFORE AFTER appear – such as Outlook’s ‘Upgrade to
Premium’ promotions.

If you don’t like that, try…

uBlock Origin
Chromium & Firefox
www.snipca.com/50113
For web-wide ad blocking, including email
services, you can’t beat uBlock Origin. It’s
reliable, customisable and its filter lists are
constantly updated.

plus sign. Emojis remain through, and whether their search query
attached to a tab after you should be rephrased to narrow the focus.
load a new page in it, but The result count hasn’t been dropped
you can change them at altogether – click the Tools option
any time, or deselect them below the search box and it will appear
to remove them. in the top-right corner of the page.
To get the new Tab Emojis But you can restore it to its rightful
feature, you’ll need to be place by installing the new extension
running the latest version of ‘Show number of results and indexed
the browser (110.0.5130.66 pages on Google SERP’ (www.snipca.
at the time of writing). com/50799) – SERP stands for search-
Annoyingly, although Opera engine results pages.
OPERA says Tab Emojis can be This shows the number of matches
Personalise your tabs disabled in Settings if you don’t want for your query in a pill-shaped box
using emojis them, there’s currently no option to do so. above your search results (see screenshot
Opera has introduced a “fun and Keep an eye on this discussion on the below). The estimate is labelled ‘by
functional” feature for distinguishing Opera subreddit: www.snipca.com/50796. INDEXED.pro’, which is the name of
between the tabs you have open in the the add-on’s developer, and tallies with
browser. It now lets you personalise tabs CHROMIUM Google’s own count. When you install
using emojis, so you can see at a glance Restore the number of the extension in Chrome, you may see
the different types of content they results to Google searches a warning that it’s “not trusted by
contain. Opera says Tab Emojis help you Enhanced Safe Browsing”, but it’s safe
“stay organised while browsing” in a to use so just click Continue.
“playful, interactive way” (see www. Of all the changes Google
snipca.com/50791). has made in recent years,
Hover your cursor over an Opera tab one of the most pointless is
and you’ll now see a choice of five emojis: its decision to remove the
a heart, flame, palm tree, pair of eyes and number of matches from its
‘pile of poop’. Click the one that best search results. The change
reflects the page content or your feelings occurred in May, apparently
about it to apply the emoji to that tab. because the figure was no
If none of those are suitable, click the longer a reliable estimate of
plus sign in the emoji pop-up (see matching pages. But it at least
screenshot above) to browse over a gave Google users a rough
thousand additional emojis. The one you idea of how many results
choose will then take the place of the they could expect to scroll

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 43

 Phone and Tablet Tips
ANDROID related topics or press The latest update to
Chat with Google’s the three-dot button 3 to Lookout introduces a useful
AI assistant Gemini export the information to feature called Find, which
Several months after it was Google Docs or Gmail. helps visually impaired users
launched in the US, the Android Currently, Gemini can’t locate specific objects in
version of Google’s AI assistant Gemini is open other apps, though their vicinity. These include
finally available in the UK (www.snipca. it can look up and seating and tables, doors and
com/50814). Originally called Bard, the embed maps from Google windows, as well as utensils
chatbot is still at the ‘experimental’ stage Maps and videos from and tableware.
and pretty basic compared with Microsoft YouTube. You can also To try this new mode, tap
Copilot, but it benefits from integration rate the helpfulness of its the three-line menu button
with other Google tools. responses by tapping the in the top-left corner of the
When you install the Gemini app, it thumbs-up and thumbs- Lookout app and choose
replaces Google Assistant as the default down icons. ‘Find (Beta)’. Press the object
assistant on your Android phone, though Note that the Gemini icon on the toolbar – this
it relies on the latter for certain tasks. You app is only available on shows a chair by default (see
can tap ‘Not now’ to stop this happening, Android phones with at screenshot left) – to choose
but you won’t be able to use Gemini least 2GB of RAM, the type of items to look for,
without agreeing. running Android 10 or later. See our then hold up your phone and slowly
To interact with the bot, either type a feature on page 62 to learn how to use move it around.
command or query, press the microphone chatbots more privately. Lookout will use the camera and AI to
button to speak one, or tap the camera detect relevant items and tell you how
icon ( 1 in our screenshot ANDROID near they are, which direction you should
right) to use an image Use Lookout to find objects walk in and how many of those objects it
– this can be a photo you can’t clearly see can see. Find mode isn’t always accurate
you take or one from Google’s free accessibility – it told us a seat right in front of us was
your library. Like other app Lookout (www.snipca. four metres away – but it’s a welcome
chatbots, Gemini can 2 com/50819) helps people with addition to this versatile app.
generate text based on 3 poor vision or who are blind get
prompts, including information about the world iOS
stories, jokes and around them using the camera on Remove location data
emails. 1 their phones. It can detect and from photos you share
Once Gemini read out text in signs, documents, All photos you take using the Camera
responds, you can enter menus, magazines and more; app on your iPhone or iPad contain
follow-up queries, tap identify and describe objects in metadata about where they were shot.
the Google logo 2 to images; and scan barcodes and This lets you search for pictures by
search the web for labels on food products. location in the iOS Photos app, and keep

BEST NEW APPS What you should install this fortnight

AntennaPod Leica Lux Sky Sports

Free Free* Free
Android www.snipca.com/50827 iOS www.snipca.com/50828 Android www.snipca.com/50829
Our favourite free podcast app has been Leica’s new Lux app transforms your iPhone iOS www.snipca.com/50830
updated to improve its performance – it into one of the camera company’s high-end The redesigned Sky Sports app makes
now refreshes your subscriptions three models. Its ‘Aperture it easier to follow your favourite sports
times faster and Mode’ simulates and teams (though
deletes them the specifications you still need a
10 times faster. of classic Leica Sky account), and
New features lenses, while the access the latest
include automatic Leica Looks filters news, scores and
database backups, let you experiment highlights. Just tap
rearrangeable with different colour the plus button (top
sections on the grading and film left) to select your
Home screen and presets. To unlock all preferences. It’s also
the option to skip the app’s tools, you now compatible with
silences in specific need to pay £6.99 a the dark mode on
podcasts. month for Lux Pro. your phone or tablet.

*Contains in-app purchases

44 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Brilliant things to do on your device

screenshot right), which 1 privacy’. Select

makes it easier to decide ‘Specific contacts’,
who can see your updates. then ‘1 selected’ and
1 Additionally, before you tap the circles next to
post the status update, all the people you
you’ll now be reminded of want to share your
your privacy settings, so status updates with.
you don’t inadvertently Press the green-tick icon
share personal photos and to confirm.
videos with everyone. When you create a
To adjust these settings, status update, WhatsApp
press the Updates tab in will remind you of your
WhatsApp’s bottom preference before you tap
toolbar, then press the 2 the ‘Share status’ button 2 ,
three-dot icon next to and let you change it if
2 Status and choose ‘Status required.

BEST APPS FOR... Creating household inventories

Libib
them organised in the Places album, but Free*
it can compromise your privacy when Android www.snipca.com/50834
you share those files. iOS www.snipca.com/50835
Anyone who checks the location data Libib offers an easy way to catalogue all your
of a photo you send them will be able to books, CDs, DVDs and games, simply by
see where it was captured and potentially scanning their barcodes with your phone’s
identify your home address or private camera. It then finds matches in its massive
holiday residence. Thankfully, it’s easy database and fills in the rest of the details for
to remove this sensitive information you. The free plan lets you catalogue up to
before sharing photos – whether by 5,000 items across 100 collections, which you
email, AirDrop or through an online- can sync between devices.
storage service. Best For Cataloguing your entertainment
When you press the Share option in the
Photos app, before you choose a sharing Kitche
method tap the Options button above the Free
image preview. Switch off the Location Android www.snipca.com/50837
setting at the top of the screen ( 1 in our iOS www.snipca.com/50836
screenshot above) and also ensure the All Kitche is designed to reduce food waste
Photos Data option is disabled 2 . Press and save you money, but it’s also useful for
‘Done’ to confirm, and you’ll be able to tracking the provisions you buy. Scan barcodes
share the photo without revealing where and receipts, or enter details manually, to
it was taken. add items to your ‘virtual kitchen’. The app
will then categorise them and remind you when
ANDROID & iOS to eat them by. You can also create shopping
Control who sees your lists and get recipes.
WhatsApp status updates Best For Cataloguing your food shopping
WhatsApp has introduced
another layer of privacy for its ByeBye
Status feature, which lets you post photos Free*
and videos that show people what you’re Android www.snipca.com/50839
currently up to. This content disappears iOS www.snipca.com/50840
automatically after 24 hours, but by ByeBye lets you create an inventory of your old
default your status updates can be seen clothes, gadgets, furniture and other household
by all your contacts. items, complete with photos and (optionally) the
Previously, you could exclude certain purchase dates and prices. Add labels such as
contacts from seeing your status updates, ‘barely used’, ‘essential’ and ‘sentimental’, and
or set them to only be visible to specific mark items as ‘favourites’ or ‘regrets’, to help
people. WhatsApp’s new ‘Status privacy’ you decide what to bin, sell or keep.
options give you the choice between ‘All Best For Cataloguing your old junk
contacts’ or ‘Specific contacts’( 1 in our
*Contains in-app purchases

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 45

 Make Windows Better Expert tips for every version

WINDOWS 11
WINDOWS 10 & 11
Draw shapes in screenshots
Microsoft has updated Windows
11’s Snipping Tool to let you
annotate your screenshots with
See your entire clipboard history
shapes that have different opacity levels in PowerToys
and colours – features previously available
only to Windows Insiders. Search for and In version 0.81 of First, open PowerToys and navigate
open Snipping Tool, then click New – or PowerToys, Microsoft to Advanced Paste. Make sure both
press Windows key+Shift+S. added an Advanced ‘Enable Advanced Paste’ ( 1 in our
Now click the Shapes button 1 then Paste tool that lets you paste as plain text screenshot) and ‘Clipboard history’ 2
choose a shape in the bar that appears, (ie, without any formatting) across any are set to On. Once they’re both
and a colour in the Outline menu. You Windows system tool or program you’re activated, you just need to press the
can also choose to fill the shape with a working on (see Issue 686). Advanced Windows key+Shift+V shortcut to open
solid colour, which would be an effective Paste also has a ‘Clipboard History’ the Advanced Paste window, then click
way of redacting sensitive information. In feature that lets you access what you’ve ‘Clipboard history’ 3 to access anything
our example, we drew a teal circle with recently copied to your clipboard. that you’ve previously copied.
no fill to annotate our screenshot 2 .
Note that you’ll need to be using
Windows 11 23H2, updated to build
22631.3737. Check your version by typing
About in Windows then pressing Enter. 1
Now look next to ‘OS build’ under
‘Windows specifications’.

3
2
1

2
WINDOWS 11
Bypass Microsoft’s block ANNO AS BELOW - USE BOTH
on local user accounts ‘INSIDER’ GRABS
Microsoft has removed a 3
workaround that allowed you to WINDOWS 11 INSIDER
set up a Windows 11 PC without Share files directly from
a Microsoft account. Previously, you the Start menu 1
could type [email protected] or
[email protected] as the username to create a
local account (ie, stored entirely on your
computer, not online), but Microsoft
has now blocked this.
Thankfully there’s another method Type OOBE\BYPASSNRO (see screenshot
that still works. When you’re setting up below left) and press Enter. Your
your new PC, or resetting your current computer will now restart, letting you Microsoft Edge. But a more recent build
one, first make sure you are offline and create a local, offline account. (22635.3720) available to Insiders on the
then press Shift+F10 when prompted Beta Channel lets you share a file directly
to create an account. WINDOWS 11 INSIDER from the Start menu.
This will open Command Prompt. Share files directly First, search for a file by typing its
from the Start menu name into the Search bar ( 1 in our
One of the most promising new screenshot above left) and it should
Windows features is Windows appear at the top of the list 2 . Now click
Share, which makes it easier to Share 3 in the panel on the right. When
share web links and files. In previous the Windows Share box appears (see
preview builds of Windows 11 you could screenshot above), choose how to share
use Windows Share to share URLs in - such as by email, Skype or WhatsApp.

46 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

Make Office Better Top tips for the best office programs

LIBREOFFICE CALC & MICROSOFT EXCEL

Add borders to your spreadsheet tables

You can make your
spreadsheet tables look
much more appealing
by adding borders. In Excel, highlight 1
your table, then click the arrow next to
the Borders icon ( 1 in our screenshot)
to open the menu. Click ‘More 3 2
Borders…’ at the bottom. Now, in the
Format Cells window, you can choose
how you would like your table’s
borders to appear by choosing from
different line styles and colours, and
select which lines they will apply to.
2
In our example, we chose to outline
the table in orange (Orange, Accent 2)
2 and colour the lines inside in blue
(Blue, Accent 1) 3 . We clicked OK and In LibreOffice Calc, highlight your Cells. In the box, click the Borders tab
the changes took effect. table, then right-click and select Format and begin making your changes.

MICROSOFT WORD LIBREOFFICE WRITER you are on (to the right of ‘Page 1 of 1’ in
Add a gutter margin to & MICROSOFT WORD our example). A small box will appear
your document View and jump to bookmarks showing all the bookmarks in your
A gutter margin is a space outside You can create bookmarks document 3 – click one to jump to it.
the regular page margin – usually throughout your You can create a bookmark in Word by
to the left or top of your document document in LibreOffice clicking the Insert tab on the toolbar then
– that provides extra space for binding Writer to pick out important headings or clicking the Insert Bookmark icon, but
documents when printing, like manuscripts, passages in the text you’re working with. you can’t see a list by right-clicking on
books or manuals. This is useful if you’re You can also right-click the status bar to the status bar.
printing your document and you want to see all your bookmarks in one view and
make sure it will appear as you intended, jump to them. To create a bookmark, first ONLYOFFICE
meaning no text will be lost to binding. highlight the text, then click the Insert Set the final colour in your
Add a gutter margin by clicking Layout Bookmark button ( 1 in our screenshot animation
on the toolbar ( 1 in our screenshot below) on the top line of the toolbar. OnlyOffice 8.0, released in
below) then clicking the arrow below Label your bookmark by typing into January, added the option to
the Margins button 2 . Click ‘Custom the ‘Name:’ field in the box that appears let you set the final colour for
Margins…’ at the bottom to open the and press Insert. Your new bookmark animations. These include animations
Page Setup box. Here, in the text field will be added to your list, and you can such as Object Color, Fill Color or Line
next to ‘Gutter:’ add the size of your now click Close. Text that is bookmarked Color – you can see more by clicking
gutter margin. We chose 1.5cm in our will be encased in your document by Animation ( 1 in our screenshot below)
example 3 , and kept ‘Gutter position:’ to square brackets 2 . on the toolbar then clicking the
its default position Left 4 . We clicked OK To see all your bookmarks and jump dropdown arrow 2 on the animations
and our text shifted to the right. to one of them, right-click on the status menu and browsing through the
bar next to where it indicates which page selection. Once you have chosen an
animation, click Parameters 3 then
choose a final colour 4 . The selection of
1
colours available depends on the theme
3 colour of your slideshow.
2 1 3

2
3
1
4 4
2

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 47

 In The Club
Run a club or society? Here's how your tech can make it easier

Create an animated online flyer

Y ou’ve probably found plenty of ways
to promote club events online, but
one method you might not have tried is
3
to create an animated flyer. This is much
more eye-catching than a static graphic,
and it’s no more complicated to create.
We’ll explain how to do it using the
superb PosterMyWall. Visit www.
postermywall.com then click the Login
button in the top-right, followed by ‘Sign
up for free’. You can sign up using your
Apple, Facebook or Google account, or
provide your email address. The site
offers paid-for subscriptions that give you 1
unlimited high-resolution downloads, 4 2
but the free version should be enough
for most clubs. Edit your animated flyer and click the Play button for a preview

Choose a template and edit it to move it, resize it or edit the

Sign in, then click the blue Create button text. Use the menu on the left
next to your profile icon, followed by ( 1 in our screenshot above) to
‘Browse templates’ under the Designs add elements such as pictures,
heading. In the left-hand column you’ll backgrounds, text and a QR code, 1
see a list of publicity materials you can and the right menu 2 to change
create. Select Flyers from the top, then the design, including the style
narrow down the selection by typing the and speed of the animation.
event you want to publicise, such as a You can also add your own
meeting, music event, barbecue or elements using My Uploads 3 .
summer fete. You’ll also find plenty of Make sure all the important
2
templates for pub quizzes, which is information appears in the top
what we’ll design here. three-quarters of the flyer
Click the Filters button on the right because the free version adds
( 1 in our screenshot below), then select a watermark at the bottom
Motion on the left followed by Animation saying ‘Free video created on
Only 2 . This will narrow your results to postermywall.com’. When you’ve
include only those that have animations. finished your design, click Play 4
Hover your cursor over each to see what to preview the animation. Choose a free or paid-for download and select the size
the animation does.
Next, hover over a template you like, Download and publish your flyer window and go to your downloads folder
then click the top-right pencil icon. Now Once you’re happy with your flyer, you where your flyer will be waiting.
you can click any element in the design can export it ready to send to club You can share it by email, or post it to
members. Click the top-right Download whichever social-media sites you use.
button and choose a Basic (free) or HD Alternatively, PosterMyWall can publish it
1 (£12.99) video ( 1 in our screenshot above straight to your social-media account.
right). As well as a watermark, free flyers Click the top-right Publish button, then
have a lower resolution, but these are choose Social Media followed by the site,
minor drawbacks. Click the Details menu such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter
2 2 to choose a size (the options vary (now called X). Make sure you’re logged
depending on the design) and click into the appropriate social-media account
Download. As PosterMyWall prepares in your web browser, then click Connect.
Select ‘Animation Only’ to narrow your search your download it will try to sell you an Now just follow the instructions and your
of templates upgrade one last time. Just close this flyer will be posted online.

48 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687 Next issue: Let people buy and sell in your Facebook group
What’s All the
Fuss About...
Mouse jigglers
Over a dozen US workers have been fired for faking their PC activity

What are they?

Programs that move your cursor without
you having to touch your mouse. They
can also be mechanical devices that sit
under your mouse and physically ‘jiggle’
it to make your cursor move.

Er, OK, sounds clever. But why

would you need to do that? ‘I’m working (honest!)’
To trick your boss into thinking you’re
working when you’re not. Moving your
cursor prevents your computer falling
into sleep or standby mode, or the
screensaver from activating – which
could all be taken as signs that you’re
enjoying your fifth tea break of the
morning rather than finishing an overdue
project. Also, during online meetings,
they can keep your profile’s status as
active, rather than idle or away. can control the software and devices but not the law. Apart from creating the
workers use. Besides that, companies are false impression that you’re working,
Do they actually work? allowed to monitor much of what you do you can use them to keep your PC awake,
Yes, but you can also be caught out. on a work computer. such as while running automated software
In June, US banking giant Wells Fargo for tasks that take a long time or
sacked more than a dozen remote Such as? downloading or uploading large files.
employees following claims they were Laws vary across the world, but generally
using mouse jigglers. firms can take screenshots of workers’ What are the best
computers and log which websites they mouse jigglers?
How did Wells Fargo find out? visit. They can also track activity like For software, try Move Mouse, which is
It didn’t go into detail, except to say it keystrokes and eye movements. These are free from the Microsoft Store (www.
was after a review of “allegations legal in the UK as long as there’s a snipca.com/51008). By default it moves
involving simulation of keyboard activity legitimate case for it, your boss tells you your mouse every 30 seconds – as
creating impression of active work”. It it’s happening, and it doesn’t collect signified by a green ring running
may have simply checked whether the “excessive” amounts of personal data around the mouse logo (pictured
workers had downloaded any mouse- (see www.snipca.com/51003). But until bottom left) – but you can make this
jiggling software to their computers, or Wells Fargo explains what happened – longer or shorter, and also change
connected any new, unknown devices and that’s unlikely – we won’t know how far the mouse moves, and in what
to their USB ports. precisely how it caught the shirkers. shape or direction.
For hardware, consider the £21
Is it allowed to do that? Are mouse jigglers legal? Undetectable Mouse Mover, from Chinese
Yes, because they own the computers and Yes. They may break a company’s policy, firm Vaydeer, which is a bestseller on
Amazon (www.snipca.com/51007,
Move Mouse
can jiggle pictured left). Place your mouse on the
your cursor turntable and it will move it by reading
every few the infrared signal. Vaydeer claims it
seconds won’t be detected by an IT department.

Do you believe that?

Hard to know, but we certainly wouldn’t
recommend risking your livelihood on it.
This mouse-jiggler claims to be undetectable, Not sure it’s a good idea to play cat and
but can you be sure? mouse with your suspicious boss.

Issue 687 • 3 –16 July 2024 49

 COVER FEATURE

BE ST F RE E
TV, M U S I C
& R ADIO
DO W NL O A D S
The Internet Archive offers an enormous choice of free
entertainment, but browsing its collections can
be a chore. Robert Irvine reveals the best video and audio
you can download to your PC

E
arlier this year, the BBC discontinued download TV series and films in an That’s a real shame if you like to save
its iPlayer Downloads app for PCs, update to its Windows app. shows to play later at your leisure.
which means you can no longer Both services still let you download Thankfully, there is one service that
download your favourite shows to programmes on your mobile device, but treats downloading and streaming
watch offline. on your larger computer screen, you’ll equally, and it’s the biggest source of free
Netflix has also removed the option to now need to rely solely on streaming. content on the web. Launched in 1996,
the Internet Archive (www.archive.org)
features millions of videos, audio
Is it legal to download from the recordings, software programs, books
Internet Archive? and much more, which it preserves in
digital format for everyone to enjoy.
The Internet Archive is a non-profit and that you download files from its It’s a brilliant, endlessly fascinating
organisation that doesn’t make any collections at your own risk. It emphasises site, with one major problem – it’s a
money from the files it hosts. Some of that it provides content for “non- sprawling mess to browse. The sheer
this content comes from official sources, commercial” purposes, and cites the volume of files, which are spread across
including the US Library of Congress, doctrine of ‘fair use/fair dealing’ to justify hundreds of collections and sub-
and is out of copyright – or in the hosting of copies of copyrighted material collections, makes exploring the massive
‘public domain’ – and therefore legal to that is unavailable elsewhere. archive rather laborious.
redistribute. As with saving videos from YouTube, In this feature, we save you time and
But there’s also lots of stuff that’s been you’re unlikely to get in legal trouble for hassle by picking the best stuff you can
uploaded by users, which may still be downloading TV, music and radio files download from the Internet Archive –
protected by copyright law. from the Internet Archive, provided they’re and other sites of interest – for free.
On its help page about Rights (www. kept strictly for personal use. However, We’ve focused on TV, music and radio to
snipca.com/51006), the Internet Archive if you’re concerned about copyright give you a taste of the quantity and
states that it “does not make guarantees infringement, you can simply stream the quality of entertainment available –
as to the copyright status of items”, content on the website instead. please let us know what other treasures
you discover.

50 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 BEST FREE
TV, MUSIC & RADIO
DOWNLOADS

DOWNLOAD THE BEST FREE TV SHOWS

Watch classic British sci-fi shows The Internet
Last November, the BBC put every Archive has
thousands of
episode of Doctor Who on its iPlayer classic TV shows
streaming service. As we reported in our including episodes
‘Best Free Downloads for 2024’ Cover of British sci-fi
Feature in Issue 672 (page 56): “All these series such as
Doctor Who
episodes can be downloaded for free to
watch offline”.
Sadly, since the Beeb has now
scrapped iPlayer downloads on PCs,
that’s no longer the case, but ‘Whovians’
can still get many classic instalments
from the Internet Archive. Its Classic TV
section (www.snipca.com/50847) has
stories from series two (1964-65, pictured
right), including ‘The Dalek Invasion
of Earth’; Series five (1967-68); and
series 12 (1974-75) when Tom Baker
took over the lead role.
Helpfully, Internet Archive user
DeftestHawk has posted links to every
Doctor Who season available on the
site, at the top of the Reviews section for
each entry, as well as the 1996 TV movie
starring Paul McGann (www.snipca. the original Thames versions, which
com/50849). might disappoint Hill purists.
Other British sci-fi delights include all
six episodes of Quatermass and the Pit Watch 70s and 80s British
(1958-59, www.snipca.com/50851); detective series
series 2 of cult favourite Blake’s 7 (1979, Scattered across the Internet Archive’s
www.snipca.com/50850); and the Classic TV and Unsorted Television
complete run of Patrick McGoohan’s sections are several classic British
groundbreaking The Prisoner (1967, detective series from the 1970s and 1980s.
www.snipca.com/50853) – in pretty Some are available to stream on ITVX,
good quality, too. but to download them you’ll need to
Most American sci-fi shows have been pay £5.99 a month for a Premium
removed for copyright reasons, including subscription. Even with one, you can only
episodes of the original Twilight Zone. save files to your mobile device and watch
However, you can download the complete The Unsorted Television collection includes them for seven days before they expire.
series of time-travelling fantasy adventure classic British comedies such as Rising Damp Highlights include the complete
The Time Tunnel (1966-67) – “in color” series of Granada’s Sherlock Holmes
(www.snipca.com/50859). com/50869), all four series of Rising (1984-94, www.snipca.com/50881),
Damp (1974-78, www.snipca.com/50870, starring Jeremy Brett in what’s widely
Download vintage British pictured above) and ‘uncut’ episodes of regarded as the definitive portrayal of the
comedy shows Are You Being Served? (1972-85, www. iconic sleuth. The quality isn’t as good as
Browsing for comedy shows in the snipca.com/50872). the versions on ITVX, but at least there
Internet Archive’s Television section The site even has the whole series aren’t any adverts. If you prefer a more
(www.snipca.com/50868) inevitably of Fawlty Towers (www.snipca. modern take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
means wading through lots of American com/50873), but unfortunately this has character, the BBC’s Sherlock (2010-17)
series of variable quality. These include been converted at the wrong aspect ratio, is also on the Archive (www.snipca.
The Beverly Hillbillies (www.snipca. which stretches the picture and makes com/50882).
com/50865), The Dick Van Dyke Show it almost unwatchable. For further mystery stories, you can
(www.snipca.com/50866) and talking- Surprising comedy content includes watch every episode of Poirot (www.
horse comedy Mister Ed (www.snipca. rarely repeated BBC sketch show Not snipca.com/50885), with David Suchet as
com/50867). the Nine O’Clock News (1979-82, www. Agatha Christie’s eponymous detective,
But dig deep into its Unsorted snipca.com/50875), the complete Yes, right up to ‘Curtain – Poirot’s Last Case’
Television category and you’ll find some Minister (1980-1984, www.snipca. from 2003. You’ll also find “some
amusing British sitcoms to download, com/50878) and The Benny Hill Show episodes” of Inspector Morse (www.
such as the first six episodes of Steptoe (1969-89, www.snipca.com/50877) – the snipca.com/50887), Miss Marple – the
and Son from 1962 (www.snipca. 78 episodes are apparently US edits, not BBC version with Joan Hickson (www.

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 51

 snipca.com/50888) and Midsomer Other vintage TV shows
Murders (www.snipca.com/50889). include episodes of
Gerry Anderson’s various
‘Supermarionation’
Download American puppet series
detective shows
In the 1970s and 1980s, the TV
schedules were filled with imported US
shows about maverick detectives and
police offers. A surprising number remain
available to download for free from the
Internet Archive, if you fancy getting
nostalgic with a classic procedural drama.
Perhaps the biggest treat is the
complete collection of Columbo
(www.snipca.com/50879), from the
1968 pilot episode (‘Prescription:
Murder’) to the 2003 special finale
(‘Columbo Likes the Nightlife’). These
videos are excellent quality, showing
every crease in Peter Falk’s rain coat, but www.snipca.com/50906) are all present Rediscover more
they’re also hefty downloads (around and correct, as are episodes of Timewatch, vintage TV programmes
500MB in size). World in Action and Panorama. One of the joys – and frustrations – of the
Elsewhere on the site, a user called Particularly impressive is the BBC Internet Archive is the random choice of
TVStar has uploaded full seasons of Horizon Collection (www.snipca. TV content that’s been uploaded by users.
other popular US detective and police- com/50907), which contains 512 episodes, There are loads of interesting curios to
procedural series, including Ironside, from ‘The Case of the Ancient Astronauts’ download and enjoy at your leisure, though
Cagney and Lacey, Hill Street Blues and (1977) to ‘The £10 Million Challenge’ (2014). admittedly there’s lots of rubbish too.
Quincy – yes, he was a medical examiner, Wildlife documentaries often suffer For example, last year someone
but he still solved crimes. Browse and from low-resolution video conversion, uploaded every Eurovision Song Contest
download their uploads at www.snipca. but it’s still worth checking out the from 1958 to 2023 – except 1991, as one
com/50880. collection of David Attenborough series ungrateful reviewer points out. These
(www.snipca.com/50908). videos have been upscaled using AI, so
Watch documentaries and even the oldest footage looks good.
factual TV shows Likewise, nearly all existing episodes of
Nobody makes better documentaries Top of the Pops from the 1970s are available
than British TV companies (sorry Netflix, to download for free (www.snipca.
but it’s true) and happily many of the com/50902), including those skipped in
best are available to download from the BBC Four’s repeat run due to the inclusion
Internet Archive. These include epic ITV of disgraced presenters and artists.
series The World at War (1973, www. You can also watch the first month of
snipca.com/50904, pictured right), Coronation Street from December 1960
which encompasses all 26 original (www.snipca.com/50890), dubbed
episodes plus extra ‘making of’ Japanese fantasy series Monkey (1978-80,
documentaries. www.snipca.com/50891) and more than
Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation (1969, 150 episodes of the BBC’s anthology
www.snipca.com/50905), Jacob drama series Play for Today (1970-84).
Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man (1973) Watch complete British documentary series These include Mike Leigh’s hilarious
and John Berger’s Ways of Seeing (1974, including the epic The World at War ‘Nuts in May’, Dennis Potter’s ‘Blue
Remembered Hills’ (also currently on
iPlayer) and the original ‘Rumpole of the
Find content faster on the Internet Archive Bailey’ – the subsequent series is also on
the site: www.snipca.com/50892.
The messy way the Internet Archive The simplest way to focus your search However, our favourite discoveries on
presents content can make browsing its is to use the filters on the left-hand side – the Archive are the complete series of
collections a bit of a chore. By default, it especially the Year, Collection and Creator Thunderbirds (www.snipca.com/50893),
lists the most viewed items first, which options. The ‘Subject’ filter is potentially Stingray (www.snipca.com/50894) and
means you may have to scroll for ages to helpful, but sometimes lists hundreds other ‘Supermarionation’ shows from the
find older and more obscure videos and of choices, most of which are usually 1960s. Look in the description on the
audio files. Sorting content alphabetically irrelevant. For example, the top filters for page for Captain Scarlet and the
can help, but not when there are thousands the Unsorted Television collection include Mysterons (www.snipca.com/50895,
of items in a section, and the search tool is ‘Vietnamese dub’, ‘VHS’ and ‘n’ – not much pictured above) and you’ll see links to all
hampered by users mislabelling uploads. help for finding classic British TV! of them, plus the two full-length
Thunderbirds films.

52 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 BEST FREE
TV, MUSIC & RADIO
DOWNLOADS

WORKSHOP: How to download content from the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive provides several When the video starts playing in a small If you want to download a whole TV
download options for TV shows in a box media player window, click the three-dot series or album, it’s better to use the
on the right of each page. The simplest ‘More options’ button and choose Download Torrent option (if available). This lets you
method is to click the arrow next to H.264 to save it to your PC. Similarly, to download save all available episodes in one file,
(which offers the best quality) or MPEG4 audio files, select either FLAC, OGG or VBR and speeds up the download by using
and select an episode. MP3 in the Download Options box. several sources. Here’s how it works.

2 1

1
2

1 First, download, install and run a free

torrenting tool – our favourite is
Transmission (www.snipca.com/50912).
2 Click the File menu in Transmission,
choose Open and select the torrent
file. Click Open in the box that opens 1 to
3 Once the download is complete, right-
click the torrent and choose Open
Folder 1 . This will show all the files it
Click Torrent 1 on the right-hand side of download the contents of the torrent 2 . If contains, including thumbnail images and
an Internet Archive page to download the no other users are currently sharing the file, metadata. Double-click an MP4 file 2 to
tiny torrent file for the TV show. it will be queued for download. play the video in your default media player.

DOWNLOAD THE BEST FREE MUSIC

Download music from can only be streamed and downloaded in
old 78rpm records 30-second excerpts. To play the whole
The Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project tracks you’ll need to click through to
(www.snipca.com/50914) is an enormous Spotify or YouTube.
collection of more than 570,000 digitised One exception is the Folksoundomy:
and restored versions of 78rpm records Unsorted Music Collection (www.snipca.
and cylinder recordings, made between com/50920), which contains nearly
1898 and 1959. The majority were 100,000 songs and albums uploaded by
converted from shellac with the help of users and yet to be sorted into proper
archival audio company George Blood categories. These include full-length tracks
LP, and are free to listen to online or save The Great 78 Project features free recordings by well-known and obscure artists; as
to your PC. by artists including Frank Sinatra well as compilations, film soundtracks
The Archive is currently being sued and CDs that came free with magazines.
over the collection by a group of US snipca.com/50916); and Vera Lynn, with The music can be streamed or downloaded,
record labels, who claim that thousands 554 (www.snipca.com/50917). There are but some is likely to be removed once
of the recordings are still in copyright, even songs by Frank Sinatra (www. someone gets round to checking it.
and dismiss its defence of ‘fair use’. snipca.com/50918, pictured above), Elvis You’re on safer legal ground in the
Thankfully, the lawsuit hasn’t led to the Presley and the Everly Brothers, which Unlocked Recordings section (www.
site suspending the project, and there’s have apparently evaded the lawyers’ snipca.com/50921), which lets you
still a massive amount of crackly old attention. The collection is regularly download music made before 1972 that
music to download for free. updated, so there’s always something isn’t commercially available or protected
With so many songs to browse, the new – albeit old – to download. by US copyright law. Examples include a
site’s filters (see page 52) are a godsend, recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by the
letting you narrow your search by Discover unsorted and New York Philharmonic Orchestra (www.
musical genre (including jazz, blues, uncopyrighted music snipca.com/50922); A Legend, the 1970
waltz, country and comedy), year and Outside of its Great 78 Project, the debut album by Shakin’ Stevens and the
creator. Notable artists include Bing Internet Archive’s ‘Music, Arts & Culture’ Sunsets (www.snipca.com/50950); and
Crosby, with more than 700 recordings section (www.snipca.com/50925) is the soundtrack to The Singing Nun
(www.snipca.com/50915); Glenn generally careful not to breach music – featuring global smash Dominique
Miller and his Orchestra, with 559 (www. copyright. Songs from the last 70 years (www.snipca.com/50924).

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 53

 READER OFFER! ADD A
DISC FOR
£5.95

Upgrade to Windows 11
Pro for just £49.99!
Your PC almost certainly came with Windows 11 Home. But did
you know it’s easy to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro to get advanced
features like BitLocker drive encryption?
There’s no need to install a new version of Windows – just take
your new Professional key, go to System, Activate, then select
‘Change Product Key’.
To upgrade, visit www.snipca.com/50563
and click the red Buy Now button on the right.

JUST SO YOU KNOW…

This offer can be used by one person only, and
expires at midnight on 16 July, 2024.
It’s a lifetime licence for one computer.
 BEST FREE
TV, MUSIC & RADIO
DOWNLOADS
You should also check out the section The FM Radio
Phil’s Vinyl Addiction (www.snipca. Archive
Collection
com/50927) – a “thoughtfully curated
features live
collection of downloadable recordings”. concerts
These copyright-free albums include recorded
Billie Holiday’s Giants from radio
broadcasts
of Jazz (www.snipca.
com/50926), The
Genius of Louis
Armstrong (www.
snipca.com/50928),
Miles Ahead by Miles
Download Davis (www.snipca.
copyright-free com/50940, pictured
jazz and blues left) and blues records
from the Phil’s
Vinyl Addiction by Leadbelly, Muddy
section Waters and Robert
Johnson.

Listen to free live music concerts

The Internet Archive’s Live Music
Archive (www.snipca.com/50933) highlights in bold the names of acts you Download classical music
provides “the highest quality live concerts may have heard of among the thousands to play offline
in a lossless, downloadable format”, so you won’t. These include American singer- You can find nearly 70,000 classical
you can enjoy entire sets from different songwriters Jack Johnson and Ryan recordings on the Internet Archive by
artists, without resorting to dodgy Adams, and 1970s rock band Little Feat. applying the ‘classical’ Subject filter
bootlegs. A huge chunk of these (more If that selection is too niche when browsing its ‘Music, Arts & Culture’
than 17,000 of the 270,000 total) are and US-biased for you, the section. Use the site’s
provided by Californian hippies the FM Radio Archive Collection Creator filters to search
Grateful Dead (www.snipca.com/50936), (www.snipca.com/50937) for works by specific
who were as renowned for making their may yield greater audio composers
gigs available for free as they were for rewards. This features over a Popular albums include
their lengthy jams. thousand live concerts and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
The rest of the collection comprises sessions that were broadcast (www.snipca.com/50943),
downloads from other artists who have on the radio, including Mozart’s Violin Concertos
‘opted in’ to giving away recordings of well-known names such as (www.snipca.com/50944)
their concerts. The best way to browse Pink Floyd (see screenshot Get all your favourite and the amusingly titled
hits by Ludwig van
these is to visit the directory at www. above), the Rolling Stones Beethoven in one Beethoven’s Greatest Hits (www.
snipca.com/50935, which helpfully and Fleetwood Mac. handy download snipca.com/50923, pictured above
left). If copyright still applies to
the recording, you’ll only be able to
Download free music from new artists download samples, but most pieces are
available for free in their entirety.
Now that most music lovers prefer Listen to tracks in the embedded audio Another good source of free classical
streaming, there are fewer places to legally player then click the Download button (see music, which takes special care not to
download songs to keep. One of the best screenshot) to save them to your PC in breach performers’ rights, is Musopen’s
remaining sources is Free Music Archive MP3 format. You need to sign up for a free collection of Royalty Free Music (www.
(www.snipca.com/50948), which offers account and agree to the Creative Commons snipca.com/50945). This offers more
more than 100,000 free tracks from new licensing terms for each song you save. than 100,000 copyright-free recordings
and emerging artists. Contrary to what you might expect of concertos, symphonies, sonatas and
You can browse the site by genre, such from unknown acts who are giving away other classical pieces, many
as Pop, Rock, Folk, Blues and Instrumental; their songs free, the quality and variety of commissioned by the site itself.
view charts of the most listened-to songs; music is very impressive. The Free Music Musopen includes works by all major
and check out featured and random artists. Archive also has a section on the Internet composers, from Bach to Verdi, and lets
Archive (www.snipca.com/50949), but you browse by instrument, period,
it’s much easier to explore its collection of duration and mood – such as relaxing,
‘legal audio downloads’ on its own site. romantic or dramatic. Sign up for a free
For more free music from new and account to download up to five tracks a
independent artists, Jamendo (www. day in standard quality MP3 format. To
snipca.com/50951) has a huge selection remove that limit and save higher-quality
of tracks to stream and download in MP3 lossless recordings (labelled with a yellow
format. download button), you need to pay $55
(£43) a year for a subscription.

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 55

 DOWNLOAD THE BEST FREE RADIO SHOWS
Download thousands
of BBC radio shows
The Internet Archive’s ‘Radio Show
and Programs Archive’ (www.snipca.
com/50953) is one of its largest and most
fascinating sections, with more than
4.3 million files to stream and download.
Because radio is more ephemeral than TV
and music, it’s also less encumbered by
copyright restrictions – broadcasters are
unlikely to order the takedown of, for
example, a Tuesday afternoon show
from 30 years ago.
For British listeners, the highlight
of the archive is certain to be the BBC
Radio Shows collection (www.snipca.
com/50954). This features more than
3,000 uploads of BBC radio programmes
from the last 90 years – the oldest we
found was a 1934 talk by spiritualist
leader Ernest Oaten (www.snipca. The BBC Radio Shows collection includes plenty of classic comedies and dramas
com/50956).
Particularly welcome are the Century. Alongside US series such as in the site’s ‘News & Public Affairs’
downloads of BBC Radio 4 literary Dragnet, The Lone Ranger and CBS Radio section (www.snipca.com/50988).
adaptations and dramas. These include Mystery Theater (all 1,399 episodes) are
an audio anthology of George Orwell some audio gems with historical interest Download every surviving
novels and memoirs from 2013 (www. as well as entertainment value. episode of The Goon Show
snipca.com/50957); an Alan Bennett The most infamous radio broadcast Tucked away in the Old Time Radio
Drama Omnibus that contains The Lady of all time, Orson Welles’ adaptation of collection is the most influential comedy
in the Van plus 14 other stories (www. War of the Worlds, is available to stream programme in the history of British radio:
snipca.com/50959); and a collection of JB and download for free (www.snipca. The Goon Show (www.snipca.com/50972).
Priestley plays, including An Inspector com/50967). The programme has been All 151 surviving episodes of the series
Calls (www.snipca.com/50958). remastered to improve the sound quality starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and
You can also download loads of classic and remove most crackles and pops, to Harry Secombe are available to stream
comedy shows, including every existing give you a clearer idea of why it caused and download for free – the copyright
episode of Hancock’s Half Hour (1954-61) such a scare back in 1938. The original having expired in 2010. These are
(www.snipca.com/50960); the complete version and more of Orson Welles’ presented in alphabetical order rather
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (www. Mercury Theatre productions can be than chronologically, and include
snipca.com/50961, pictured above right); found at www.snipca.com/50970 ‘The Last Goon Show of All’, a reunion
and news satire On the Hour (www. (pictured below). special from 1972.
snipca.com/50962). Other interesting content includes a You can also download Goon Show
There are panel shows, too, including live US radio broadcast from 6 June 1944, episodes and ‘skits’ from the excellent
Just a Minute episodes featuring the providing hour-by-hour coverage of the radio-archive site RadioEchoes.com
irrepressible Kenneth Williams (www. D-Day landings (www.snipca.com/50968), (www.snipca.com/50978), while BBC
snipca.com/50964), and even comic and an extensive collection of Winston Sounds lets you stream 103 episodes at
opera courtesy of Gilbert and Sullivan Churchill’s wartime speeches and radio www.snipca.com/50979 (pictured
(www.snipca.com/50965). addresses (www.snipca.com/50969). below), and download them to your
Narrow your searches by year, subject More historical recordings can be found phone or tablet through its mobile app.
and creator (BBC radio station) using the
filters on the left, and use the Torrent
option to download entire collections in
one go (see Workshop on page 53).

Listen to broadcasts
of historical interest
To discover even more vintage radio,
delve into the Old Time Radio collection
(www.snipca.com/50966), which offers
more than 8,700 shows from the ‘golden Listen to Orson Welles’ panic-inducing radio There are several places where you can
age of radio’ in the first half of the 20th adaptation of War of the Worlds download The Goon Show for free

56 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 BEST FREE
TV, MUSIC & RADIO
DOWNLOADS

Download audio files to your phone

As we explained on page quickly search the Archive for
53, it’s relatively easy to text and audio files – it labels
download content from the the latter with a headphones
Internet Archive to your symbol.
PC, once you know which Tap ‘Play’ to stream songs,
options to click. But what radio recordings and other
about files you want to play audio files directly in the app,
Listen to old Radio 2 shows hosted by the on your phone or tablet? The or press the Download button
late, much-missed DJ Steve Wright Internet Archive doesn’t have (see screenshot) to save
a mobile app, and browsing them to your phone or tablet
Listen to radio shows its packed collections on a in MP3, OGG or FLAC format.
from your favourite DJs small screen can prove fiddly Sign up for a free Kafka
Before BBC iPlayer Radio and BBC Sounds and frustrating. account to view your
allowed us to catch up with radio shows To make things easier, install the downloads on its Library tab and share
on-demand, lots of listeners regularly superb new app ‘Kafka for Internet them with other people (subject to
taped their favourite programmes to play Archive’ on your Android device (www. licensing restrictions). There are no
back later. Thousands of these recordings snipca.com/51000) – an iOS version adverts or limits on how many files you
have been uploaded to the Internet is currently in the works. This lets you can download.
Archive’s ‘Radio Show and Programs
Archive’, across sections such as
‘Airchecks (Recordings of Radio)’ (www. Android (www.snipca.com/50992)
snipca.com/50982) and Miscellaneous iOS (www.snipca.com/50993) and
Airchecks (www.snipca.com/50983). Amazon Fire devices (www.snipca.
Because these files are inconsistently com/50994) – but not for Windows
labelled and organised, the best way to or macOS. This is for “rights
find them is to search for the name of a reasons”, to prevent music and other
DJ or show title, then use appropriate copyrighted material from being
filters – such as year and radio station – to redistributed without permission.
narrow the results. We found broadcasts However, you can download
by Kenny Everett (www.snipca.com/50984) podcasts of many popular BBC radio
and John Peel (www.snipca.com/50987) programmes, which have been
from the 1960s; and a big collection of specially edited from the broadcast
Steve Wright’s Radio 2 shows (www. versions to comply with rights Download edited versions of Desert Island Discs
snipca.com/50986, pictured above). legislation. episodes to play offline
Also interesting is the Pirate Radio For example, BBC Radio 4’s
Airchecks section (www.snipca. Desert Island Discs archive (www.snipca. Similarly, you can download episodes
com/50990), which features rare com/50996) lets you download nearly of The Archers for up to 30 days after
recordings from Radio Caroline and other every surviving episode dating back to broadcast (www.snipca.com/50997).
offshore radio stations. The website DX 1951 – when actress Margaret Lockwood Older instalments (2016-20) are available
Archives (www.snipca.com/50991) is was Roy Plomley’s castaway. Click the on the Internet Archive (www.snipca.
another good source of these, letting you ‘Download’ button to save an MP3 of the com/50998), but most are ‘stream only’.
download pirate-radio shows in MP3 episode to your PC, and choose between The BBC offers a selection of other
format. lower (64kbps) or higher (128kbps) Radio 4 shows to download for free at
quality (see screenshot above right). www.snipca.com/50999. These include
Download BBC radio shows You don’t even need to sign into your episodes of In Our Time, Book Club and
to your PC BBC account, as you do to stream the Letter from America by Alistair Cooke.
To download BBC radio shows from the audio in your browser, and there’s no Click through to a programme’s website
Beeb itself, you’re now supposed to use time limit on how long you have to to browse and download further episodes
its Sounds app, which is available for listen to shows. of that series.

NEXT ISSUE On sale Wednesday 17 July

ON SALE
Weds
17
PLUS July

Why You Must Use AI • Why we stopped using Windows Search

And switched to something much better

How it can improve everything you •S top scammers stealing your
do on your PC and on the web phone number
It’s a fast-growing threat – act now

Subscribe to Computeractive at www.getcomputeractive.co.uk

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 57

 Stop using these
Weather
Apps
Get more accurate forecasts by switching
to a more reliable weather service. Robert
Irvine suggests which apps to ditch – and
what you should use instead

WHY YOU SHOULD DITCH high temperatures that To protect your privacy, stop
CERTAIN WEATHER APPS never arrive. Apple’s weather apps accessing your
precise location
They don’t provide accurate Weather app has also been
information criticised for failing to
With more than 10 million downloads on understand the ‘nuances’ They collect and share
Android alone, BBC Weather is the most of British weather, such as your personal data
popular weather app in the UK. Its simple by mistaking drizzle for All weather apps require
design, clear information and speedy downpours. access to your location, so
switching between locations make it ideal The differences between they can provide you with
for at-a-glance information wherever you weather apps can be accurate forecasts, but some
go. But since 2018, when the BBC switched attributed to the data– go further than is necessary
its weather-data supplier from the UK modelling systems they when collecting your data.
Met Office to the European MeteoGroup use to predict how current Many have embedded
– now owned by US company DTN – its conditions will develop. trackers, which share
forecasts have been noticeably less The Met Office uses information about your
accurate. ‘ensemble modelling’ to activities with advertisers,
In a year-long study of 22 global run a range of simulations and require you to grant
weather providers by meteorological- and determine the most likely weather dubious permissions, such as access to
analytics service ForecastWatch, BBC outcomes, and combines automated your phone’s camera and contacts.
Weather ranked second-last for accuracy, analysis with observations by its Popular apps such as AccuWeather,
while the Met Office came eighth (see meteorological experts (www.snipca. WeatherBug and The Weather Channel
Table 7 in the report at com/51015). have been found to compromise their
www.snipca.com/51012). The BBC is more vague, users’ privacy by sharing their location
The BBC has even been stating only that MeteoGroup’s data (all three have now improved their
accused of making its data-modelling “tends more policies), while even the Met Office app
forecasts ‘too pessimistic’ towards trends in the weather, includes Amazon and Google trackers for
by choosing the gloomiest rather than a single advertising and analytics purposes.
symbols – such as dark ‘deterministic’ output” Before you install a weather app on
clouds (see screenshot (www.snipca.com/51014), your phone or tablet, check the privacy
right) – to represent the which is why long-term information on its app-store page. The
day’s outlook (www.snipca. forecasts are constantly Google Play Store now includes ‘Data
com/51013). Conversely, changing. BBC Weather still safety’ details that tell you what data an
some users complain it’s shows local weather warnings app collects and shares (and why); while
too optimistic, predicting from the Met Office, apps in the Apple App Store have an App
presumably because Privacy section that provides similar info.
BBC Weather has been
criticised for being too MeteoGroup doesn’t have Even more illuminating is the website
pessimistic with its symbols access to that level of UK data. Exodus (www.snipca.com/51016), which

60 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

lists all the trackers and permissions in
specific Android apps. Access Google’s secret weather app
To stop weather apps spying on you,
give them access to your approximate If you have an Android Tap ‘Show sunrise, sunset
location rather than your precise one. In phone or tablet, you can use and more’ to open an app
Android 12 or later, go to Settings then Google’s secret free weather displaying more detailed
Location, select your weather app and app without needing to install information. The layout
switch off ‘Use precise location’ (see anything. This sources data was recently redesigned
screenshot below left). In iOS, select from The Weather Channel, to present everything on
‘Privacy & Security’ in Settings, tap Location which was ranked second in one screen, including the
Services then your weather app, and ForecastWatch’s study, but hourly and 10-day forecast,
switch off Precise Location. This shouldn’t whose own app has lots of and a summary of current
affect the accuracy of your local weather ads and trackers. conditions.
forecasts, but it will stop apps and Open the Google app To create a shortcut to the
advertisers pinpointing where you are. and search for weather to view an app, tap the three-dot icon in the top-right
overview of the forecast, as well as tabs corner of its Google widget, and select
They charge you for for Precipitation, Wind and Humidity. ‘Add to home screen’ (see screenshot).
essential features
BBC Weather may not always be accurate,
but it’s free and doesn’t have ads or in-app dedicated meteorological Rain provides simple and
purchases. Aside from charging £2.99 to service, but the weather data friendly weather forecasts
for the next 12 days
remove its ads, the Met Office app is also offered by Microsoft Start.
free, but rival weather services aren’t as This uses AI to bring services, and displays them
generous. For example, AccuWeather – together “massive weather in an easily digestible way
the third most downloaded weather app datasets, large-scale that doesn’t bamboozle you
in the UK – restricts features such as computation models, with irrelevant info.
customisable widgets, severe weather mapping and topography When you install Rain, use
alerts and in-depth hourly forecasts to its data plus real-time reports the geolocation option to
Premium+ version, which costs £3.79 a from users”. This ensures identify your latitude and
month or £23.49 a year – the basic you get accurate, up-to-the- longitude, then enter the
Premium plan merely removes ads. minute predictions and name of your town or city
Similarly, the once great Weather forecasts for the next 30 (you can change this on its
Underground now prompts you to ‘upgrade days. In the ForecastWatch Cities tab). Unlike most other
now’, for £18.49 a year, to unlock options report, Microsoft scored Android weather apps (it’s
such as 15-day forecasts. We don’t begrudge highly for temperature, not yet available for iOS), it
app developers for trying to make money, cloud-cover, rain and wind-speed has no ads or trackers, so it doesn’t
but you can get all the weather info you predictions, and satisfied all 13 of the test collect or share your data.
need for free. criteria (BBC Weather only covered 10).
You can access Start’s weather data in Best for features
WHICH WEATHER SERVICE its free app for Android and iOS (www. Weather & Widget – Weawow
SHOULD YOU USE INSTEAD? snipca.com/50685, on its website (www. On the other hand, if you like exploring
Best for accuracy snipca.com/51023), on the Bing and Edge detailed breakdowns of weather data,
Microsoft Start homepages, and by typing weather into ‘Weather & Widget – Weawow’ is the best
As mentioned opposite, the Met Office the Windows Start menu. We particularly free choice. Available for Android (www.
(www.snipca.com/51018) ranked highly like its tips for what to wear today and snipca.com/51027) and iOS (www.snipca.
in ForecastWatch’s comparison of whether you’ll need an umbrella (see com/51028), it also has no ads or trackers,
weather-forecast providers, and is the screenshot below left). but packs a huge amount of useful
most reliable UK-based app. But the information into one screen.
top-rated for accuracy globally isn’t a Best for simplicity Its hourly and daily forecasts include
Rain actual and ‘feels-like’ temperatures,
If you’d prefer an independent app that precipitation, wind speed, pressure,
focuses solely on weather, Rain (www. humidity and air quality, plus sun and
snipca.com/51024) adopts a no-nonsense moon times, weather maps and graphs,
approach that puts all the information and even photos that reflect current
you need upfront. Despite its name, it conditions. Unlike rival apps, it lets you
doesn’t just tell you when it’s going to switch between weather providers such
pour down, but provides a 12-day forecast as AerisWeather, Weatherbit and Open
including temperatures; wind speed and Weather Map, so you can choose the one
direction; sunrise and sunset times; and you find most accurate for your detected
amount of rain (see screenshot above). location. It also offers a huge choice of
The app uses data from Open-Meteo widgets to add to your home or lock
Microsoft Start provides the most accurate (https://open-meteo.com) to deliver screen, to give you as much at-a-glance
weather forecasts across the world accurate forecasts from national weather information as you require.

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 61

 What not
to say to
chatbots
Chatbots are everywhere these days, but
that doesn’t mean you should trust them
unreservedly. Daniel Booth explains how
you can preserve your privacy

I
t’s becoming increasingly hard to running it. They say this is to help improve complies with our policies and safety
talk to a real person online. Chatbots the tools to provide better answers in requirements” (see www.snipca.com/51041).
are taking over. These are programs future, but companies could also use it The bottom line is that you should be very
that can simulate human for targeted advertising. Last year, careful about what you say to a chatbot.
conversation to make it feel as if you’re Microsoft said it was exploring how to
talking to a real person. The two types show adverts in Bing Chat (since renamed Don’t reveal more
you’re most likely to encounter are Copilot), and it has also admitted that its than you have to
customer-service chatbots, which aim to staff can read what you type. Most customer-service chatbots will ask
answer your queries without you having ChatGPT’s privacy policy appears to for some account information to check
to speak to anyone, and AI-powered tools forbid it from sharing what you type with your identity, such as your email address
like ChatGPT (www.snipca.com/51042), other companies, but there’s nothing to or a customer reference number. But it
which can generate text and answer stop it from changing this in future shouldn’t need your username, password,
questions like a more direct version of a should it need to make more money. Also, payment-card details or medical history,
search engine. We’ll explain how to stay legal experts say its reassurances about so never enter those.
private while chatting to both. keeping your data private are worryingly It also doesn’t need to know anything
vague. Indeed, OpenAI (ChatGPT’s about you – how you’re feeling, for
How unsafe are chatbots? developer) admits that it can’t delete example, or what you had for breakfast.
What you must remember about a specific prompts from your history, and Keep your conversation factual and to the
chatbot is that everything you type can be that it reviews “conversations to improve point, and don’t overshare – such as by
tracked and analysed by the company our systems and to ensure the content typing your whole address if it only asks
for your postcode.
The safest chatbots protect your
Are you talking to a chatbot or human? conversation with end-to-end encryption
(E2EE), meaning no one in the company
Most chatbots should tell the truth if you these, but at least by refusing they’ve can see what you’ve typed. But checking
ask whether they’re automated or human. shown themselves to be real. Third, keep whether a chatbot uses E2EE means
But if you’re not sure, there are certain repeating the same question. If it gives reading the terms and conditions –
conversational tricks you could try. First, you the same generic reply each time, it’s assuming you even know where they are.
check how empathetic it is. Say you’re probably a chatbot.
angry, sad or confused and see whether Finally, if you see a message in a clickable Bypass a customer service chatbot
the chatbot responds with a thoughtful button (for example, ‘I want to learn more’), We all dream of phoning a company’s
reply, or just repeats a formulaic ‘How are type it rather than click it. This can confuse customer service and being put straight
you?’ message. chatbots, but humans will understand what through to a helpful assistant, without
Second, ask a personal question that you mean. The problem with these ploys, waiting on hold for ages or pressing every
only humans can answer, such as ‘What of course, is that AI chatbots can learn button on our keypad. That might have
colour is your hair?’ or ‘How old are them and adapt accordingly, so they’ll happened decades ago, when companies
you?’. A human may not want to answer probably become less effective over time. placed more value on customer service,
but not any more.

62 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 LLOYDS EBAY without exposing your details. It does this
by using its own IP address. The chatbot
might still store your chats temporarily
(up to 30 days), but it’ll think it’s talking
to DuckDuckGo, not you. There’s no way
for the AI tools to know it’s you typing,
because DuckDuckGo removes all
metadata. Even if you were to enter all
your personal information – name,
address, date of birth, shoe size and so on
– it wouldn’t know it was you who typed
it (for more details visit www.snipca.
com/50876).
Search for something at https://
Both Lloyds and eBay eventually gave up trying to understand us and asked whether we’d duckduckgo.com then click the Chat
rather speak to a real person instead button followed by Get Started. Now click
Next, then I Agree. Alternatively, go straight
These days you’re more likely tried to appear to the chat at www.snipca.com/50973, or
to be fobbed off with a chatbot genuine by telling type !ai or !chat into DuckDuckGo’s
that tries to answer your typed you to click a browser (these are called ‘bang’ shortcuts).
questions. They can sometimes Captcha and even You don’t need to create an account.
deal with simple queries, but showed a photo of a Once you’re on the chat page, click the
often they’re less use than a damaged package. It ‘Change default model’ icon on the left to
waterproof sponge. then asked for your choose one of four AI models. The default
Their aim is to give you a email, home address is GPT-3.5 Turbo ( 1 in our screenshot
link to click as soon as possible, and password. below), created by AI research body
so they can get rid of you. But if Another scam OpenAI, and is the model we’ve found
you type something random targeted Facebook most useful.
that they’re not expecting – users by sending an Type a question or request at the
something that disrupts their email claiming their bottom, then press Enter. What you type
algorithms – they might give up page was “scheduled appears at the top 2 . Click the ‘Copy to
and transfer you to a real person. for deletion” for clipboard’ icon to the right of the chat to
This scam impersonated a
It’s similar to how, when you’re Facebook chatbot to steal your violating the site’s copy it, ready to paste elsewhere. You can
given loads of options after details community remove the conversation and start a new
phoning a company, you can standards. Clicking one by clicking the fire icon 3 .
sometimes bypass the automated menu the link took victims to a chat within The only catch is that there’s a daily
by pressing the right combination of Facebook Messenger (see screenshot limit to how many things you can ask.
numbers, or repeatedly saying ‘talk to an above) that asked for their username and DuckDuckGo hasn’t said what it is, but it
advisor’. password. seems fairly high – we made nearly a
We tried this approach with two hundred requests without hitting the
chatbots: one on a Lloyds Bank site, and Use AI chatbots anonymously wall. A forthcoming paid-for version will
the other on eBay. Both times we repeated Most AI chatbots require you to sign up remove the limit, DuckDuckGo says.
the famous pangram ‘The quick brown for an account. They can also track your It also warned that if you hit the limit
fox jumps over the lazy dog’, rather than IP address and store your chats to train as soon as you start a conversation, it
asking for help or giving our account the software to deliver more accurate might be because you’re using a VPN or
details. Lloyds’ chatbot responded by results, while human moderators are able you’re connected to a mobile network. To
placing us in a queue (see screenshot to read what you write. get around this, switch to a different VPN
above), which resulted in us speaking This infuriates the privacy-obsessed location or move to Wi-Fi. And if you’re
to a real person within 10 minutes. EBay DuckDuckGo, so it has launched AI Chat not interested in AI Chat, simply turn it
took a bit longer to give in, but eventually as a way to talk to chatbots anonymously, off at www.snipca.com/50974.
admitted it couldn’t understand us and
Select your AI model, type a
asked whether we’d like to “connect to an request, then copy it or wipe it
agent who can better help?” (see and start again
screenshot above right).

Beware chatbot scams 1

Several recent scams have directed
victims to chatbots that then ask for their
account details. In recent years,
fraudsters impersonated courier firm
2
DHL, sending emails saying that packages 3
couldn’t be delivered. Clicking a button
in the message took you to a chatbot that

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 63

 Problems Solved
Our experts solve all your tech problems

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT

Why can’t I connect to 5GHz Wi-Fi?

I have an Amazon Fire TV 1
Q Cube that will not connect to
my 5GHz Wi-Fi network,
although it does connect via 2.4GHz
without any problems. If I go into the
Network section of the Cube’s settings,
it says the 5GHz network is out of
range, despite the fact that the Cube is
no more than 10 metres from my
router and there is a clear line of sight
between them. I’m the only person in
the house so the 5GHz band is
certainly not overloaded, and there’s
nothing close to the router that could
cause any interference. I’ve done all the
obvious things – such as unplugging
both the router and Cube from the In your router settings, look for the section relating to the wireless bands
mains and plugging them back in
again – but to no avail. Do you have 2.4GHz band, consumer products that channels. This is most likely to avoid
any ideas? Or is the Fire TV Cube just might use some of these 5GHz channels unexpected disconnections during
not compatible with 5GHz? are required by law to employ a streaming, as could happen if using a
Steve Emmerton technology called Dynamic Frequency DFS channel. However, it does mean
Selection, or DFS. In essence, this means that if your router is set up to broadcast
There have been three the router can and will disable a DFS DFS channels and is using one, then
A ‘generations’ of the Fire TV
Cube to date, but all are
channel – or change to a different one – if
certain ‘priority services’ are detected to
your Fire TV Cube simply won’t ‘see’ it.
So, we think that’s the cause of your
compatible with both 2.4 and 5GHz be active nearby, such as military radar. problem. You can either put up with
networks. So, assuming your device is Most of the time this knotty, negotiated the fact that your Fire TV Cube will
not actually faulty in this particular compromise is invisible to the user and connect only to the 2.4GHz band or
regard, some other factor must be at rarely, if ever, causes major problems modify your router settings to disable
play – and that’s almost certainly the during everyday use. use of DFS channels on the 5GHz
way the 5GHz network is configured on So what does all this have to do with frequency, which could limit
your router. your problem? Or rather, why won’t your performance of other devices that use
The way Wi-Fi works is incredibly Fire TV Cube see the 5GHz part of your your network – albeit to a very minor
complex. As with the 2.4GHz band, the Wi-Fi network? Well, it seems Amazon’s degree, if at all.
5GHz radio spectrum is divided into engineers decided that Fire TV devices How to do this depends on your
multiple channels. However, unlike the should not be able to make use of DFS router, but you can start by using a
web browser to log into its admin page,
Look for an option 2 typically by typing 192.168.0.1 or
to choose a
specific, non-DFS 192.168.1.1. Next, look for a settings
channel below 60 section that covers the wireless bands
(see screenshot 1 ) and search for an
option to disable the use of DFS
channels. Alternatively, look for a
setting to choose a specific, non-DFS
channel. In the UK, that currently
means so-called Band A channels, from
36 to 48 inclusive 2 – though down the
line Ofcom might designate more 5GHz
channels as non-DFS.

64 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Email us your problem and we’ll try to help:
[email protected]

How can I search for old scanned photos on my PC?

Like many people these days, I In the Scan Type menu
Q have thousands of photos stored
on my PC. Some are purely
choose Contents and
then click the More
Options button
digital, but many are scans of original
prints from years ago. I display quite
few in frames on walls in our house,
but some are faded quite badly due to 1 2
sunlight. I’d like to reprint some of these,
but I’m not sure if they’re already stored
digitally on my PC or whether I’ll have
to scan the faded images and try to certainly will do – and very well. Then, move the File Harder slider to the
restore them in a photo-editing program. However, by tweaking some settings it’s left, toward More Results. How far will
Is there a way of identifying whether the possible to get dupeGuru to perform a determine the ‘fuzziness’ of dupeGuru’s
image I want to restore is already stored ‘fuzzy’ search of the contents of your search, which will result in more matches
on my PC? photo files’ to find images that are close overall, but fewer good ones – and vice
Dave Lee if not exact matches. versa. In other words, it’s a balance, and
To do this, first add your photos folder one with which you might need to
Various tools can perform by clicking the plus (‘+’) button at the experiment. When you’ve made your
A ‘reverse’ image searches like this,
with varying degrees of success.
bottom of the dupeGuru window. Then,
next to Application Mode, choose Picture.
choices, click Scan.
For your particular needs, the results
One of the easiest to use is dupeGuru, In the Scan Type dropdown menu choose list might be enough to identify the
which is a free download from www. Contents ( 1 in our screenshot) and then photos you need, from the filenames
snipca.com/50764. You’d be forgiven for click the More Options button 2 . In the alone. But, if not, to view the original and
thinking that this program searches for Options box that appears, tick the ‘Match ‘dupe’ side by side, first open the View
duplicates only by filename, which it pictures of different dimensions’ box. menu and then choose Details.

Can I clone just my programs to my new SSD?

I’m updating my computer
Q with a new SSD and plan on
doing a clean install of
Windows 10. However, I have lots of
programs for which I don’t fancy
having to perform fresh installs. So, I
wonder whether I can clone just those
to the new drive? If so, which cloning
software would I need?
Gail Ralph

While cloning a whole system

A from an old drive to a new one
can often work quite well,
migrating just programs is incredibly
difficult. This is because modern
software is embedded so deeply into Laplink admits PCmover’s application-migration may be affected by 'incompatibilities'
the fabric of Windows that trying to
unpick everything is a huge challenge – However, be warned that even Laplink, We’d go further and say don’t
and it’s just as hard trying to weave it the developer of this suite, is honest enough bother. Yes, reinstalling lots of apps
back into a different copy of the to admit that PCmover’s program-migration from scratch on to a clean install of
operating system. elements aren’t too reliable. You can Windows is a pain, but it’s likely to be
One well-established tool that will expect errors relating to missing files and less hassle than the countless problems
attempt the task is PCmover Home broken dependencies, with any number that might arise from attempting to
(£28 from www.snipca.com/50639). of incompatibilities (see screenshot). migrate them.

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 65

 Problems Solved
How can I restore my Recycle Bin?
Why did 1
my iPhone
lock me out?
I have an iPhone 8, which
Q is obviously quite old now,
but it does everything I
need. Recently, however, it did
something strange. I’d been driving
for a couple of hours and when
I got to my destination I pulled it out
from my pocket to let my wife know
I’d arrived, but I was met with a
message that said the iPhone was
unavailable and that I should try
again in a minute (as pictured
below). I couldn’t shift that message, To restore your Recycle Bin icon, click this ‘Desktop icon settings’ link…
so I just waited for a minute and
then – sure enough – it let me in. I have a Windows 10 PC but its We’re not sure whether you
I’ve never seen this before. Do you
have any idea what happened?
Q Recycle Bin has disappeared.
Please tell me how to reinstate
A mean the Recycle Bin icon has
disappeared from your Windows
Patrick Sullivan this so I can check and restore deleted desktop, or your Recycle Bin is no longer
items. holding deleted files.
Yes, iOS has a security John Knox If the icon has vanished, then first click
A feature that’ll lock an
iPhone after six
Start followed by the Settings cog, and
then Personalisation followed by Themes.
unsuccessful login attempts. The Next, under Related Settings, click
time you have to wait increases after
2 the ‘Desktop icon settings’ link (see
each failed attempt, so a minute screenshot 1 ). Finally, in the Desktop
suggests just a handful of failed Icon Settings box that appears, tick the
logins. Most likely, with the phone in Recycle Bin box 2 then click OK. That
your pocket and the movements of will restore the icon to your Windows
your car, the screen activated and desktop.
then your thigh effectively ‘typed in’ If the Recycle Bin is not archiving
various wrong passcodes. So, nothing deleted items, then first right-click its
to worry about – and you can avoid it icon and choose Properties. Then, if
in future by removing your iPhone you have more than one drive, under
from your pocket, especially on the Recycle Bin Location heading click
bumpier journeys! the relevant one. Next, look under
‘Settings for selected location’, where
An iPhone will we suspect that the ‘Don’t move files to
temporarily the Recycle Bin’ option will be selected.
lock after six
unsuccessful Change this by clicking ‘Custom size’
login attempts then set a custom size in megabytes
…then tick the Recycle Bin box in the window that (MB), or just accept the default
opens suggestion by clicking OK.

Q: How do I fix my weak Wi-Fi?

A: Issue 663, page 66 – find it on
our 2023 Back Issue CD

Buy it from
www.snipca.com/48860

66 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 Can I remove write-protection from memory card?
My dashcam’s 32GB memory Right-click
Q card is now full, but I can’t
delete the old videos stored on
WriteProtect and
choose Modify
to remove write
it. I’m just seeing a message that it’s 1 protection from a
write-protected and I can’t see any way memory card (below)
of removing this protection. I have
tried to format the card, but with no
2
luck. Suggestions welcome!
Andrew Edwards

Some cards have tiny physical

A write-protect switches, so check
for one of those and flip it with
a thumbnail if you find one. Otherwise, WriteProtect. If it’s not there, right-click diskpart and press Enter, then type list
you can remove write protection using within this pane, hover over New, then disk and press Enter. Take note of the
a registry tweak on a Windows PC. click ‘DWORD (32-bit) Value’. Type number assigned to your memory card,
Click Start, type regedit and press WriteProtect and press Enter. Now right- then type select disk X (where X is the
Enter. In the left-hand pane navigate click WriteProtect ( 1 in our screenshot), disk number you noted down – such as
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ choose Modify 2 , then set the value to 0. select disk 1). Be sure you have the
CurrentControlSet\Control\ Close Registry Editor. Ensure your memory correct number here, as the next step
StorageDevicePolicies. If the card isn’t inserted in the PC’s card slot, will instantly wipe the disk. Now type
StorageDevicePolicies registry key then restart your computer, before attributes disk clear readonly (with
doesn’t exist, right-click Control, then inserting the card. Now try formatting it. spaces) then press Enter, type clean
hover your cursor over New and click If this hasn’t worked then you’ll need then Enter. Finally, type create partition
Key. Type StorageDevicePolicies and to use PowerShell. To do so, press primary (with spaces) and press Enter,
press Enter. Windows key+X, then click ‘Windows then type format fs=fat32 and press
Next, in the right-hand pane look for PowerShell (Admin)’. At the prompt, type Enter.

Why are my Firefox bookmarks going in the wrong folder?

I’ve not had a problem Firefox, by clicking the little 1
Q with Firefox for decades,
until now – no doubt as a
star icon in the address bar, the
‘Edit bookmark’ box usually
result of some ‘improvement’. appears. Clearly, this isn’t
I have numerous folders being displayed on your PC,
residing under Bookmarks. Time but this box contains the fix
was, when I bookmarked a page it for your problem: a little tick
would ask in which folder I’d like box labelled ‘Show editor
to put the new bookmark. Now, when saving’. Untick this,
everything I bookmark goes into intentionally or otherwise, and
my Law folder, even if it’s nothing you’ll no longer see the ‘Edit
to do with the law. bookmark’ box until it’s
2
Do you know if this is a feature re-enabled. Until you do
we are supposed to enjoy? And do re-enable it, all new bookmarks
you know how to get it back to will be saved in the last selected
working the way it used to? folder (Law, in your case).
Steve Axtell So how do you bring back
the box so you can tick the box
Actually, on this occasion that keeps it there? Well, first
A your problem isn’t the
result of some random
visit any bookmark. Then,
counter-intuitively, click the
update, but is probably an option star icon (see screenshot 1 )
in Firefox that you’ve accidentally as you do when adding a new
enabled. It’s very easily done, but bookmark. Now simply tick
far less obvious to undo. the ‘Show editor when saving’ Restore the ‘Edit bookmark’ box (1) by clicking Firefox’s star icon
When you add a bookmark to box 2 . and ticking the ‘Show editor when saving’ box (2)

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 67

 Problems Solved
How do I preserve my printed documents and photos?
I’m busy scanning a Google’s Inactive Account Manager 1
Q lifetime of paper
documents and photos
lets you set a reminder to sign in
every few months (1) and share your
account with someone you trust (2)
to Google Drive. The plan is that I
and my children can access these being realistic – we receive
both now and in the future, countless emails from readers
whenever we want. Is this asking how to access personal
approach future-proofed or files from decades-old storage
would you recommend other technologies. Sometimes it’s easy,
options? but often it’s hard or practically
Colin Melhuish impossible.
So, you do have to place a
Predicting the future is a certain amount of trust in the
A fool’s game. However, we
are confident that
likes of Google to keep your
digital archive accessible to you
entrusting your data to an online- and your family. You should take
storage service run by a tech giant some precautions – such as by 2
like Google is as safe a bet as any visiting Google’s Inactive Account
– and likely to outlast any Manager (www.snipca.
physical media you might choose com/50771) and telling it to
instead. remind you to sign into your
If you choose to create your account every 3, 6, 12 or 18
own archive at home, you’’ll have months (see screenshot 1 ).
to hope that future generations This should help ensure your
and technology can access the data is passed on after your
drives or media you choose now, passing. You also need to tell it
and that nothing destroys them in which email addresses to contact
the meantime. should your account become
These concerns are simply inactive (see screenshot 2 ).

How do I remove this Chrome bookmark bar?

I don’t really make
Q bookmarks, as I tend to use
Chrome only for the same
1
few tabs, which open when I launch
the browser.
However, recently I did something
to make a strip appear under the
address bar, showing a handful of 2
bookmarks that I have made over the
years – such as Gmail and BBC News.
I have no idea what I did to make it
appear, but I don’t need it and I’d like
to make it disappear.
I really have no idea where to look in
the settings, so I’m hoping you can you
tell me where to go.
Brian White

You probably hit a keyboard

A shortcut to bring up Chrome’s
bookmark bar – which is
In Chrome’s menu, hover over Bookmarks and click the ‘Show bookmarks bar’ option

Control (Ctrl)+Shift+B. It’s easy to do same shortcut will once more make the then hover over Bookmarks ( 1 in our
this inadvertently when trying to carry bar disappear. Alternatively, open the screenshot) before clicking ‘Show
out some intended shortcut. So, that Chrome menu (three dots, top right), bookmarks bar’ 2 .

68 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

 ?? WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN...
The various Samsung Tab S9 tablets?
I bought a Samsung Tab S9 FE all preferences and budgets – and it’s that
Q tablet at Christmas. Can you
tell me how it differs from
latter aspect that’s the most relevant here.
The Tab S9 is one of Samsung’s flagship
your Buy It recommendation on page products. However, its £799 starting
30 – the Tab S9? Mine seems to be just price will simply be too much for many
the same to me – although I don’t people, who either can’t afford it or
know what the FE stands for. Mine was simply refuse to pay that much for a
also much cheaper than your tablet. The wide range of SKUs, curious
recommended model. branding and vague explanations are all
Chris Coleman intended to allow the likes of Samsung to
put together cut-down versions of The Galaxy TAB S9 FE (Fan Edition) has a
The FE question is easy to products that – on the surface at least – lower spec than the pricier TAB S9
A answer. As Samsung explains
at www.snipca.com/50637, FE
sound much the same as their top-end
counterparts. USB port and a few other downgrades
stands for ‘Fan Edition’ though there’s And so it is with your Tab S9 FE. As you (use Samsung’s own comparison tool
very little other explanation of say, it looks, feels and sounds much like to explore all the differences at www.
substance. In fact, Samsung’s outline is the full-price Tab S9. However, dig a little snipca.com/50638).
a masterclass in saying an awful lot deeper and you’ll find numerous aspects Does any one of these make it a poor
without really saying anything at all. have been stripped back. The screen, for tablet? No. It’s simply a lower-
But that’s entirely intentional. example, is a standard LCD, rather than specification version of the original
Big firms like Samsung maintain an expensive AMOLED panel – and your – which is why Samsung is able to sell
extraordinarily complex product model’s display is a fraction smaller. it at a lower price.
ranges, known as stock-keeping units, Similarly, the FE has a less powerful Want to know the difference between
or SKUs. This huge variety of SKUs processor, a lower-resolution rear technical terms? Email noproblem@
allows companies to appeal to buyers of camera, reduced memory, a slower computeractive.co.uk

Why doesn’t Outlook’s Block option stop junk emails?

I regularly receive emails in my sent from a series of randomly generated click the Add button 2 and, in the
Q inbox that I identify as junk
using Outlook’s Block option.
addresses, but with the same display
name. So, if you block one message from
‘Add address or domain’ box, type just
the domain of the offending spam –
While this moves offending messages to John Smith, say, you’re really just blocking @domainyouwishtoblock.com, for
the Junk folder, it doesn’t appear to stop [email protected]. example – then click OK. Now, messages
further emails being received from the However, on the next spam shot, originating from this domain will go to
same sender. What’s going on here? the address of ‘John Smith’ will likely be your Junk folder.
Peter Heilbrunn changed incrementally to, for example, If you make a mistake or later want to
[email protected] – edit your block list, return to the Blocked
Junk email is a perennial so messages from Mr Smith will keep Senders tab and use the Edit or Remove
A problem, and spammers are
forever trying to find new ways
entering your inbox.
One workaround for that in Outlook
buttons as appropriate.

around the various is to block the whole ON SALE

blocking tools available
in email software like
domain, rather than
messages from specific Next Issue Weds
17 July
Outlook. As such, there’s 1 ‘senders’.
no single cause, and no To do that, in the Delete • Why is Windows obscuring
single cure. However, in group of the ribbon my thumbnails?
this case we’d guess that menu at the top of •D
 o I need three security
what appear to be 2 Outlook, first click programs running?
messages from the same Junk followed by • I s BT Wi-Fi dangerous?
sender are actually being ‘Junk E-mail options’. ...And many more
Next, click to select
In Outlook’s ‘Junk E-mail the Blocked Senders
options’, click Add to Subscribe to Computeractive at
type the name of a tab ( 1 in our www.getcomputeractive.co.uk
spammer's domain screenshot) . Then,

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 69

 READER OFFER! LOWE
S
EVER T-
PRICE
!

Norton 360 Premium

10 devices, 2 years
We’re delighted to announce our lowest-ever price for
Norton 360 Premium. For just £19.99, you’ll protect
10 devices for two years. Available both for new customers
and existing Norton users wanting to renew.

WHAT YOU GET

 eal-time malware protection
R
 ecure VPN
S
 5GB PC Cloud Backup
7
PLUS Monitors the dark web for
your personal information

Norton is made by NortonLifeLock Inc – a standalone

company dedicated to consumer cyber safety.
It has always performed strongly in Computeractive antivirus
tests, so we highly recommend it.

10 devices for two years NOW ONLY £19.99

*

Normally £179.99
Buy it from our Software Store at www.snipca.com/33247
*while stocks last
Problems Solved
Reader Support
Having a problem with our recommended software or expert tips?
Email [email protected] and we’ll do our best to help

Do privacy extensions work your banking session. Unfortunately,

on banking websites? you’ll need to repeat this process every 1 2
When I installed the ClearURLs time you access your bank’s website,
Q extension (www.snipca.com/
50120) as you recommended in
because the extension doesn’t currently
offer a whitelist option.
Issue 683’s Cover Feature on staying
private online, I found that I could no Will I need two new phones
longer log into my Lloyds bank account. with new VoIP provider?
I’ve now had to remove this extension. Your article on mastering
Shouldn’t you have mentioned that
some privacy-focused extensions can
Q BT’s Digital Voice phones was
enlightening (Issue 682, page
restrict access to sensitive sites? 62). However, I was alarmed by the
Trevor Watkin caption ‘BT’s Digital Home Phones
only work with its Digital Voice service’.
While ClearURLs is great at I’m planning to switch to Voneus
A removing tracking elements
from URLs, it’s true that it can
(https://voneus.com) for broadband
and want to use its VoIP services.
affect the way some websites work, such Will I need two new phones and the
BT’s two Digital Home phones work only with
as those that don’t allow ad blockers. equivalent of BT’s Digital Voice Adapter? BT’s Digital Voice service
That’s why we recommended clicking the Jim Sleight
Settings cog and switching off ‘Allow number. So far, I’ve only updated drivers
domain blocking’ when you encounter We were referring specifically that appear to be ‘newer’ according to
web pages that don’t load properly. But
you’re right, we should have mentioned
A to the company’s two Digital
Home-branded handsets:
both the date and the version number.
Should I be also be updating drivers
that extensions of this type can affect the BT Essential Digital Home Phone that have more recent dates but earlier
your ability to log into some online (pictured above right 1 ) and Advanced version numbers? If not, why does SDIO
accounts, such as banks. Digital Home Phone 2 . Other BT phones, apparently recommend I should?
Thankfully, ClearURLs offers a simple and indeed many non-BT handsets, Adrian Dodd
fix. If you’re having trouble logging may work with Digital Voice and other
into a specific site, you can disable the VoIP services. You might assume it’s
extension temporarily by clicking its bin
icon ( 1 in our screenshot below) then
As for Voneus, its FAQ page states that
“you can continue to use your current
A always best to install the
very latest drivers for your
turning off Filter 2 . This should let you home phone when you switch to VoIP hardware, but there’s a definite ‘if it
access your Lloyds bank account without – simply plug it into the back of your ain’t broke’ element to this area of PC
having to remove ClearURLs. broadband router” (www.voneus.com/ maintenance. In general, our advice
You’ll need to reverse the process to faqs). This suggests that as long as your is to stick with the drivers you currently
re-enable ClearURLs once you’ve finished current landline phone isn’t one of the have unless you encounter a specific
two BT Digital Home-branded models problem. In that case, updating the
mentioned above, it should work fine driver for any related hardware may
1
with Voneus’s VoIP. provide the fix you need.
Windows usually installs essential
Should I update drivers driver updates automatically through
2 by date or version number? Update. But you can also use tools
Following advice from previous such as SDIO to update or roll back
Q issues, I use Snappy Dragon
Installer Origin (SDIO, www.
drivers for any hardware that’s
misbehaving, to see if that solves your
snipca.com/49901), to identify drivers problem. Even SDIO’s developer Glenn
that may need updating. However, most Delahoy recommends against updating
Temporarily disable ClearURLs by clicking its of the drivers SDIO identifies have a drivers unnecessarily – see the tool’s
icon then switching off the Filter option more recent date but an earlier version FAQ page (www.snipca.com/50604).

Issue 687 • 3 – 16 July 2024 71

 Jargon Buster
5G The latest generation of mobile Clean install An operating system FLAC Free Lossless Audio Codec. Lossless Music file formats that
networks. installation that overwrites all A type of digital audio file that can take up more space but provide
other content on the hard drive. be created from CD with no loss of higher sound quality.
7z A format for compressing files audio quality.
into an archive format. Contrast ratio A measure of the Macro lens Lets you take sharp,
difference between the darkest FTTP Fibre-to-the premises. Fibre detailed, close-up photos of small
AAC Advanced Audio Coding. A and lightest possible shades broadband that goes straight to the objects.
type of music file. shown by a screen. doorstep. Faster than FTTC (fibre-
to-the-cabinet). Metadata A set of data that gives
Active noise cancelling Method CPU Central Processing Unit. information about a file.
for reducing unwanted sound by Another term for a computer GHz Gigahertz. A measure of
adding a second sound specifically processor. how many instructions a chip can Micro HDMI An HDMI connector
designed to cancel the first. process per second. 1GHz is equal measuring 6.4x2.8mm.
Daisy-chained A wiring system to 1,000MHz.
AI Artificial intelligence. Intelligence in which multiple devices are Mini HDMI An HDMI connector
demonstrated by a machine rather connected together in sequence. Gigabit Ethernet A very fast measuring 10.42x2.42 mm. Mini
than a human being. networking standard that can HDMI ports are often used by
Dark mode Showing white text transfer data at up to 1,000Mbps. digital cameras, as well as some
AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic on a black background. tablets and laptops.
Light-Emitting Diode. An Gorilla glass Scratch-resistant
alternative technology to LCD for DCI-P3 A colour space that has a glass that’s used to protect the Modifier key A special key (or
creating flat-panel displays. Most wider spectrum than sRGB. screens of tablets and phones. combination) on a computer
commonly used in smartphones, keyboard that temporarily changes
tablets and smartwatches. DisplayPort A socket for Graphics card A component in a the normal action of another key
connecting monitors. computer that produces the image when pressed together.
Aspect ratio A measurement of shown on the monitor.
the shape of a screen. Traditional Distro A version of the Linux OS MOV A type of video file that can
PC screens are 4:3. Widescreen and the programs that go with it. Grayscale The range of grey be played using Apple’s QuickTime
displays are 16:9 or 16:10. shades from white to black, used software.
Domain These are used to on both black and white displays
AVI Audio Video Interleave. A identify one or more IP addresses. and monochrome printouts. MP4 A type of digital movie file
type of video file. AVI is known as often used for portable players.
a container format, as it can hold dpi Dots per inch. A measure of H.264 A type of MPEG4 video
many types of audio and video. printed image quality, or the size that is used on Blu-ray discs and MPEG4 A standard for
an object will be shown on screen. recorded by many cameras and compressing digital content that
Bandwidth A measure of how camcorders. maintains very high quality.
much data can be transferred Driver A file that tells Windows how
through a connection at one time. to work with an external device. HDMI High-definition media MVNO Mobile virtual network
interface. A type of connection that operator. A mobile provider that
Benchmarking Comparing E Ink Electrophoretic ink. A transmits high-definition video and piggybacks on another network
software and products with an special type of ink used to display audio signals. rather than its own.
accepted standard. content in electronic devices.
Hz Hertz. Measures the frequency MHz Megahertz. A measure of
Blue light Light given off by PC E2EE End-to-end encryption. A something happens: 1Hz equals speed used for memory and some
and phone screens. way of encrypting messages so once a second. older processors.
that the only people who can read
Brute-force attack A method them are the sender and recipient. ID3 tag A method used for OGG A free alternative to the MP3
of breaking encryption by simply They can’t be intercepted and read storing information about an MP3 standard for compressing digital
guessing all possible passwords by a third party. music file, such as the album, artist audio.
until the right one is found. and track number, inside the file
Emoji A small graphic that can be itself. OLED Organic light-emitting
Buffering Downloading a certain inserted into a text message or diode. A thin-film organic light-
amount of data before starting to email. IP address Internet Protocol emitting diode used in computer
play a video. Can cause delays to address. A unique set of numbers displays and television screens.
your streaming. Error correction The automatic used to identify computers and
correction of errors that arise websites on the internet. Passkey A method for signing into
CAPTCHA Distorted text you have from the incorrect transmission of accounts by typing a one-off code,
to type to prove you’re a human. digital data. LCD Liquid-crystal display. The fingerprint or facial recognition
technology used to create almost rather than a password.
cd/m2 Candela per square metre. eSIM A non-removable SIM card all flatscreen monitors.
Standard unit of brightness. that’s built into a phone, making it Plain text Text in a document that
easier to change network. LED Light-emitting diode. An doesn’t contain any formatting,
Chatbot A computer program electronic device that emits light. such as bold characters and italics.
designed to recreate conversation Ethernet A standard used Used on almost all electronic
with human users, especially over for almost all wired computer devices, and to provide the ppi Pixels per inch. Measure of
the internet. networks. backlight for some LCDs. screen resolution.

72 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687

QR code Quick Response code. SD card Secure Digital card. A Ultrawide Offering a field of view VPN Virtual private network.
A barcode that can be read using popular type of memory card. that’s wider than traditional digital Keeps all internet communication
smartphones. cameras. safe and private.
Sideload To install apps without
RAM Random-access memory. using the official Android store. Upscale Creating a larger version Whitelist A list of allowed
The computer’s working area, of a photo without sacrificing websites, email addresses and
used for data storage while the PC SIM Subscriber Identity Module. clarity and detail. applications used by security
is switched on. The smart card used by mobile software to ensure you only visit
phones. USB-C A new connector that’s safe websites and download safe
Read To access data saved on a reversible. programs.
computer. SMS Short Message Service. More
commonly called text messaging. USB 2.0/3.0/3.1 Faster successors Widget A small program such
Refresh rate Measured in Hertz to USB. as a calendar that runs on the
(Hz), the number of times per sRGB A standard RGB colour Windows desktop.
second that the image on your space for use on monitors. VA Vertical Alignment. A form of
monitor is redrawn. LCDs in which the liquid crystals Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi standard with
SSD Solid-state drive. Storage naturally align vertically between speeds up to 10 times faster than
Refurbished A second-hand that, unlike a hard drive, uses no the panes of glass. 802.11ac. Also called 802.11ax.
device that has been repaired by moving parts.
its manufacturer so that it can be VBR Variable bitrate. Media files Write protected Prevents data
resold and reused. Subreddit A forum dedicated to that vary the amount of data output. on a storage device being written
a specific topic on the website over or changed.
Registry keys The Windows Reddit. VGA Video Graphics Array.
Registry equivalent of a folder. An older standard socket for Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi standard with
TAR Short for Tape Archive. connecting a monitor to a PC. speeds up to 10 times faster than
Roaming charge Fee incurred A format for archiving files and 802.11ac. Also called 802.11ax.
for using your phone to receive directories. They preserve the VoIP Voice over IP. The routing
data through overseas mobile file and directory structure of the of voice conversations over the Wi-Fi 6E Wi-Fi 6 extended to
networks. original files, including metadata. interne. include the 6GHz band.
 Easy when you
Know How
Hoping to avoid paying roaming charges on his next
holiday, Robert Irvine tries to…

Get free mobile data from an eSIM

W
hen I went to the US two years 1 2 In return for watching an
ago, I took the precaution of ad, Firsty gave Robert 60
minutes of slow but free
setting up data roaming with mobile data
my mobile network. This allowed me to
look up directions, check my emails and
freely browse the web, without fearing
the dreaded warning: ‘Roaming charges
may apply’.

Monitoring how much

mobile data you use is To activate my Firsty eSIM, I was enough, though I was able to access
is hardly conducive to a instructed to go into my phone’s Settings,
tap Connections then SIM Manager and
Spotify, YouTube and BBC iPlayer,
they were painfully slow to load, with
relaxing holiday choose Add SIM. My Motorola phone frequent buffering, while many
websites timed out before loading in
didn’t have those options, but it does
support eSIMs, so I instead tapped Chrome. Running a speed test revealed
‘Network & Internet’ followed by ‘SIM my download speed to be a mere
preferences’ and selected eSIM. Pressing 0.05Mbps, but I’ve had equally
this directed me to a SIM Settings screen, frustrating experiences trying to browse
Since then, however, I’ve switched to a where I tapped ‘Set up an eSIM’. the web on a train without Wi-Fi.
mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) As per Firsty’s instructions, this All the while, Firsty’s timer was
that doesn’t offer roaming outside the EU, prompted me to scan a QR code, but as counting down from 60 minutes to the
Instead it requires you to buy an ‘out-of- there was no code to scan I chose ‘Need point where I’d have to watch an ad.
plan add-on’ that charges 10p for every help’ then ‘Enter it manually’ and pasted To remove the suspense, I tapped the
megabyte you use. As monitoring data the activation code provided. I then option to play the ad now (see
usage is hardly conducive to a relaxing followed the rest of the instructions to screenshot 1 ), hoping it would add
holiday, I wondered if there was a better enable my Firsty eSIM. another hour to my remaining 38
solution. Finally, I switched on Roaming for minutes. Sadly, it just reset the timer to
The answer came from a company Firsty in my phone’s ‘Mobile network’ 60 minutes (see screenshot 2 ), but the
called Firsty (www.firsty.app), which settings and returned to the Firsty app. 30-second advert was no more irritating
offers a “basic global data connection for Here I tapped ‘I’m all set’ and was than in other ad-supported apps.
free”. It uses an eSIM rather than a instantly rewarded with 100MB of free I was actually very impressed with
standard SIM, so I wouldn’t need to wait data. This was slightly confusing – wasn’t Firsty – it’s easy to set up, its data is
for a card to arrive. The only catch is that, it supposed to be unlimited? – but genuinely unlimited and it’s honest
after enjoying my first hour of “unlimited reading the small print confirmed that about the slow speed to expect on its
free data”, I’d have to watch a 30-second the 100MB was for the paid-for plan, free plan. It saves you buying add-ons
advert to unlock more. Firsty Fast. Once it was used up, I could and paying roaming charges when
To test this intriguing idea before embarking either pay for Firsty Fast, which charges Wi-Fi isn’t available, and reportedly
on – or even booking – my holiday, I €2.50 (£2.12) a day for 2GB of high-speed works in over 70 (coming soon to 50
installed the Firsty app on my Android data, or move to the slower free plan. more) countries (www.snipca.
phone (www.snipca.com/50766). It’s also After I’d burned through my 100MB, com/50770). If Computeractive’s
available on iOS (www.snipca.com/50767). I opted to downgrade to Firsty Free. budget will stretch, I’m happy to verify
I signed up for an account, granted Firsty Because this has only a ‘basic connection’, at least three, even if it does mean
access to my location data and turned on Firsty says it’s designed for checking watching ads.
notifications, which are “required for WhatsApp messages, booking Uber taxis Need help using an eSIM? Let us know:
updates on data usage”. and other quick, low-data tasks. And sure [email protected]

74 3 – 16 July 2024 • Issue 687 Next issue: Robert tries to fake PC activity by mouse jiggling
9000