Computeractive

Group Editor Daniel Booth Deputy Editor Will Stapley Production Editor Graham Brown Art Editor Katie Peat Contributors Dinah Greek, Robert Irvine, Jonathan Parkyn, Nick Peers, Nik Rawlinson, Andy Shaw Group Advertising Director Andrea Mason Deputy Ad

We can’t imagine many people minding that the next Feature update will arrive a little later than expected. On the contrary, most users will be thankful that they’ll be able to enjoy their current version of Windows for a few more weeks before they h

A leak from Microsoft has suggested that the first Windows 10 Feature update of 2021 (version 21H1) won’t be ready until June, a month or two later than has been the case in previous years. In both 2019 (version 1903) and 2020 (version 2004), the fir

One in six households have found it difficult to afford broadband during the lockdowns, Citizens Advice has said. The charity warned that many of society’s poorest people are being “locked out” of access to key services online, such as applying for j

Microsoft has improved the web version of Excel to make it faster to scroll rows in your spreadsheets. It also claims to have “significantly reduced” the time it takes to load a workbook, and to make it quicker to select the cells you need, so you’ll

Hong Kong firm Hanson Robotics says the pandemic world will need more robots to help people in shops and hotels – and it just so happens to have one in mind. Called Sophia (pictured), she’s modelled on Queen Nefertiti, Audrey Hepburn and the wife of

Mobile network Giffgaff is boosting the data of its standard 4G package from 2GB to 3GB while keeping the price at £8 per month. It’s also adding two new 5G ‘golden goodybag’ deals, priced £15 for 25GB and £20 for 100GB. However, it’s increasing the

Thirty years on from Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s dream that the web would transform the world, we now have people setting up tripods so they can record themselves in cars parked on level crossings. The idiots in this car posted a video on social network Ti

Broadband providers and mobile networks have given £940m worth of support, including free data, calls and texts, during the Covid-19 pandemic. A study by technology analysts Assembly Research examined 50 offers from companies and found that 20 of the

Apple has warned people with pacemakers not to use any iPhone 12 model too close to their chest because it contains magnets that may cause the medical device problems. The company updated its support pages (www.snipca.com/37209) to say that the iPhon

Google has updated Chrome to show smaller and less annoying alerts when you browse the web, though you have to add the setting to turn them on. To do this, type chrome://flags/#permission-chip into Chrome’s browser bar at the top of your screen to sh

Netflix has updated its audio to make programmes sound better when you’re watching on Android phones and tablets. It has upgraded the xHE-AAC codec to make audio clearer in “noisy environments” and work better with mobile connections. It also makes t

In its blog post announcing version 88 of Edge (www.snipca.com/37191), Microsoft says that using a weak password is a terrible idea because “bad actors” can guess them and access your accounts. This doesn’t mean that the cast of EastEnders want to ha

In January I received an email claiming to be from Amazon with the subject line ‘Purchase Receipt (Thank you for your purchase!)’. It told me my delivery of a mini PC was in process and that the order couldn’t be changed. I had ordered no such item,

As a dedicated user of Google’s products, I’m afraid Issue 597’s Cover Feature (‘Stop Using Google’) simply proved the old adage that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. My brilliantly simple Chromebook delivers all the services that the average o

LEAD CASE Q I bought a dinosaur-dragon toy for £44.98 from Magoloft (www.magoloft.com, pictured) for my granddaughter, paying by Mastercard, but it doesn’t work. The site initially offered half my money back, not a full refund. The reason it gave was

In late November I placed an order with LED Hut (https://ledhut.co.uk, pictured) for AA and AAA batteries, and my credit card was charged £30.86. After a week without delivery, I tried to trace the order but the courier did not recognise the tracking

Search World War One records The National Archives (TNA) provides an excellent introductory guide to Prisoner of War (PoW) records available online (www.snipca.com/37146). Once you’ve digested this, it’s time to start searching them. Many records wer

If I perform a search on a website like Ancestry then copy and paste or bookmark the resulting URL, will clicking this address later show any datasets added since the original search was performed? Dave Selway Yes, the web link should trigger a new s

Q I am a former Web User subscriber who, on its closure, was transferred over to Computeractive – and I am delighted with it. Could you tell me the best way to download hour-long recordings of waterfalls on YouTube? I would love to transfer one to a

Most people use the DuckDuckGo search engine (www.duckduckgo.com) to safeguard their privacy. Unlike Google, it doesn’t store your search history then sell it to the highest bidder. Although admirable, this is not the reason I use DuckDuckGo. After a

Junk offender: Auslogics BoostSpeed Some junk offenders lazily trot out the same old tricks time after time. But not Auslogics. I’ve noticed that the Australian software company likes to keep us all on our toes by experimenting with creative new ways

Judson Althoff, Microsoft www.snipca.com/37250 “Well before the pandemic, many of our customers had embraced a modern compute paradigm in the cloud and were increasingly looking to create an economic flywheel or engine to unlock further innovation.”

I’ve heard of scammers pretending to be police officers, Microsoft staff and even Nigerian royalty, but never an ageing Hollywood superstar. A recent spate of online dating scams in Stockton, near Middlesbrough, included one fraudster wooing his matc

PC | £999 from Currys www.snipca.com/37137 Game for most things HP might not be the first brand you think of when looking for a versatile PC that’s as good at gaming as it is at creating spreadsheets, but the Omen 25L range could change that. It come

LAPTOP-TABLET | £979 from Dell www.snipca.com/37157 Flipping marvelous Few of us can afford to fill our boots with every single gadget we want, and we often have to make a choice when it comes to buying the next must-have item. If you’re torn between

LAPTOP | £1,540 from Lenovo www.snipca.com/37179 Back in black Lenovo’s ThinkPad range are workhorse laptops, often found in the bags of office workers. However, they’re just as useful in the home if you want a solid, reliable laptop without frills a

What does it do? The ubiquitous HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) can be used to connect almost any modern device that requires a screen to any TV or monitor made in the last 15 years or so. How does it work? Because all screens now work di

PHONE | £769 from Amazon www.snipca.com/37212 Out of this world Samsung’s Galaxy S21 is the first top-end phone to be launched in 2021, with the South Korean company clearly looking to start the year with a bang. As usual there are three models in th

Q I connect my PC to my monitor using a VGA connection. My PC has a second VGA port on the back. If I connect it to a second VGA monitor, however, it doesn’t work. What do I need to add to my PC to work with both monitors? I don’t have an HDMI port o

WIRELESS EARPHONES | £229 from Amazon www.snipca.com/37195 Some good snooze at last If you count yourself among the unfortunate group of people that struggle to nod off at night, these sleep-inducing earbuds might help. For £229 you get the buds, a p

What is it? Wearing a face mask has become an unfortunate necessity that’s not going to disappear any time soon. However, a number of companies have launched smart masks, adding new functions you never knew you needed. What does it do? All sorts of t

Could this be your next Android smartphone? The best new Windows laptop for under £1000 These and much more… Subscribe to Computeractive at www.getcomputeractive.co.uk ■

Honor MagicBook 14 £600 from www.snipca.com/34688 Tested Issue 580 Using an AMD Ryzen 3500U processor, this lightweight metal laptop beat Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3 with Intel’s i7-1065G7 in our tests. The 14in Full HD screen lacks colour accuracy

D-Link’s DIR-X1560 router brings next-generation Wi-Fi 6 technology into your home, dramatically increasing signal capacity and bandwidth to support more devices simultaneously. Four high-gain external antennas and built-in power amplifiers work toge

What you need: A spare computer; Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 Time required: One hour One way to breathe new life into an old computer is to make it support your current machine. How? By turning it into a backup server to store files for other machines on yo

What you need: Any browser; Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 Time required: 15 minutes Although your browser’s private browsing mode doesn’t protect your anonymity as well as a VPN, it can still be useful. You can enable it when using a shared PC, for example, m

What you need: Kodi; Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 Time required: 30 minutes While Plex (www.plex.tv, see our Cover Feature, Issue 590) streams your PC's media library to other devices, such as your phone and TV, Kodi is designed to let you enjoy your music,

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT I’ve been keeping myself entertained during the latest lockdown by reading World War One unit diaries from The National Archives, as you recommended in Issue 597’s Grow Your Family Tree column. As you rightly say, they’re fascina

Free Android www.snipca.com/37235 Never forget important jobs or errands. This app lets you write them on your phone’s wallpaper so they always appear behind your app icons until you’ve completed them. You can set the size and font of each message, a

iOS iPads and iPhones come with a range of fonts built in, and apps can also install their own to give you even more. But what if the font you want to use isn’t included in any of them? If you’re working on a creative project you might find yourself

Android £7.99 www.snipca.com/37239 iOS £9.99 www.snipca.com/37238 Beloved of crossword setters (not to mention crossword solvers), Chambers includes 300,000 words and phrases. As well as using the standard search tool, you can enter the parts of a wo

MICROSOFT WORD Microsoft Word includes a hidden shortcut that lets you repeat your previous action. To try it, carry out an edit (such as underlining or changing the size of text), then highlight another section of your document and press F4. Word wi

From planning documents for an upcoming event to enrolment information for prospective members, there’s a plenty a club will need to share. Emailing these details on an ad-hoc basis not only takes time, but also risks people working off old document

What is it? An artificially intelligent (AI) chess program with a difference – you might actually be able to beat it. How come? Because it’s been built to mimic the kind of mistakes humans make. This makes it different to other chess computers, which

Computer manufacturers such as HP, Lenovo and Dell are notorious for preinstalling their own software on PCs and laptops. Often referred to as ‘bloatware’, none of these tools are essential for Windows to function, and can safely be ignored or uninst

Windows 10’s built-in email app is very basic and lacks proper mail filters. Despite the name, the calendar isn’t integrated, but opens in a separate app window. Thunderbird www.thunderbird.net This is a full-featured free email client with loads of

There are certain files and folders in Windows that you should never delete, or you’ll risk messing up your PC. Here are five items that look like junk, but are essential to Windows running smoothly. When your computer runs low on memory, it switches

Just when you thought you’d rid yourself of all Windows’ built-in junk, Microsoft announces another unwanted feature. This one is called ‘News and Interests’, and will appear as a large pop-up tile above the taskbar in the right-hand corner of your s

HACK YOUR USB STICKS The best (secret) ways you can use them • Stop making these PDF mistakes• Don’t buy the wrong type of computer memory ON SALE Weds 24 Feb Subscribe to Computeractive at www.getcomputeractive.co.uk ■

If you’ve got a smartphone, there’s a good chance you’ve got WhatsApp (www.whatsapp.com) installed on it. Unlike standard texts (SMS), which are sent using your mobile network, WhatsApp messages are sent via the internet and are completely free. What

• How do I fix my Excel formula?• Can I keep my ISP email address?• How do I install an ELF file? …And many more Subscribe to Computeractive at www.getcomputeractive.co.uk ■

Where are my nearby walking routes? Q I had MapMyWalk on my Android phone, though I’ve never found it helpful. I was therefore intrigued to learn from Issue 596’s Best Apps For Walkers panel, on page 45, that it offered “dozens of new circular and po

One thing I miss about those halcyon days between the lockdowns is checking into venues with my phone. Call me shallow, but I found it strangely satisfying to scan a QR code through the NHS COVID-19 app and be told: “Thank you, you have now checked i