Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Windows Help & Advice

If you’re having a few problems with your PC – startup issues, badly behaving apps or worse – you may be tempted to take the nuclear option and wipe the whole lot and start afresh with a complete Windows reinstall. While we explore that option in our lead feature, starting on page 11, we’ll also show you some tips, tricks and techniques that can help you solve your issues without resorting to such drastic measures – follow each one and your PC will truly be reborn. Once your PC has been revived and refreshed, turn to page 25 and our Explore section, which is packed with step-by-step guides on everything from creating amazing photo slideshows to protecting your privacy online. Finally, turn to page 56 and you’ll discover 25 brilliant…

Frustrated by your PC’s lethargic performance? Worried by persistent niggles, from minor glitches to major crashes? Unless your PC’s problem is hardware-related, the obvious solution is to blow things up and start from scratch with a brand new reinstall. But reinstalling Windows in this way isn’t always the logical solution. Sure, it wipes things clean and gives you a completely fresh slate, but there’s a lot of effort involved, and – despite our tips and techniques – it isn’t always possible to recreate things exactly the way you want. Rather than reach for the nuclear button every time you sense something is wrong, why not see if you can regenerate your existing Windows installation instead? We’re going to help you do exactly that. We’ll kick things off by giving your…

You’ll notice we recommend de-selecting PrivaZer’s Registry cleaning component – and for good reason. Cleaning Registry entries has zero effect on your computer’s performance, but one false misstep and you can cause major problems that could ultimately bring your PC’s installation crashing down. Don’t believe us? Support Squad is littered with emails from people who’ve relied on Registry cleaning tools only to find that their systems have been crippled as a result. The only exception to this rule is when you use IOBit Uninstaller to remove programs from your PC. It’s specifically looking for entries related to the program you’re uninstalling, which means you can make a measured judgement about whether they’re safe to remove or not. If you’re not convinced, then at least take a System Restore point before…

Beneath the surface of Windows lies a seething mass of programs, services and other system files all competing for a share of finite resources. It doesn’t matter how many cores your processor has, how much RAM you stuff into your PC or whether you switch to an uber-fast solid-state drive (SSD), your PC finds a way of gobbling up everything you throw at it. In this section, we’re going to show you how to rein it in. Tame startup The problems begin the moment Windows appears to have finished loading. If your computer had a stomach it would be doubled over with indigestion the way start-up programs and services start demanding attention even before you have managed to log into your user account. In the October 2017 issue we took…

Reinstalling Windows from scratch – namely, wiping your system drive completely clean to install a brand, spanking new (and fresh) version of Windows on to it – is the ultimate choice for anyone looking to revive a slow-running PC or resolve a major, non-hardware issue, such as those caused by malware or a clogged up computer, In this final section we’ll step you through the entire process. Ideally you should have a recent and full backup of your PC, created using either File History or the Windows Backup and Restore tool before you begin, that way you’ll lose the minimum of content. A full reinstall really is destructive – nothing left on your C drive will exist once you’ve finished. You should ensure you have the latest installation media for…

Every year, or so it seems, graphics software giant Adobe releases another version of its Elements suite – consumer versions of its professional image and video editing applications Photoshop and Premiere. They’re quite good. Good enough that you might never use all of their capabilities, and will keep discovering new tricks and features for a long time. The only problem with them is the price – £99 each, or £150 for a bundle, is a lot to pay if you’re not sure whether or not you’ll get a lot of use out of a program. Happily, there’s a 30-day free trial available to help you make up your mind. The latest editions are the first to have a year – 2018 – in their name rather than a version number,…

INTERFACE The new ‘Photon’ design includes much more sharply defined tabs. Switching tabs and scrolling’s also faster. BOOKMARKS Keep favourite sites at your fingertips by enabling the Bookmarks Toolbar and adding your chosen sites. FIREFOX THEMES Add new themes from the ‘Add-ons’ menu. You can preview themes just by hovering your mouse over them. ADDRESS MENU You can use this new feature in Firefox to bookmark and copy links, send pages to a device and easily take screenshots. EXTENSIONS Firefox now uses web extensions just like Google Chrome. These add new features such as ad-blocking. At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 TOOLBAR OPTIONS You can customise the toolbar so your most frequently used tools –…

EDIT ITEMS Need to make changes or add extra information? Navigate to the item using the left-hand pane, then right-click it. ITEM DETAILS The selected item appears in the right-hand pane complete with any additional information that has been assigned to it. ONLINE SERVICES You can add items using online services, such as Amazon, to quickly and easily attach key information and even artwork to it. At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 ITEM MANAGEMENT These buttons enable you to manage your catalogue by adding, deleting and even visualising (through charts) your items. DATA TYPE Use these to select your collection type: books, contacts, containers, images, general media, movies, music and software. NAVIGATION STRUCTURE Items are…

Depending on your motivation for coaxing an old game back into operation, simply getting it up and running on your current machine might not satisfy. A 4K HDR display might do wonders for your Steam library, but it only serves to highlight the shortcomings of a game designed to run at 640x480. And there’s something a bit strange about playing Quake with an RGB mechanical keyboard and a wireless mouse, when all’s said and done. When you feel that the modern technology ensconcing your old software is detracting from the experience, there’s only one thing for it: a retro gaming PC build. A word of warning: This can be costly if you’re not smart about it. Perhaps it’s not a big surprise that giant beige boxes with Pentium IIs and…

Plan your next trip Whether you need help with travel, days out, hotels or things to do while on holiday, the TripAdvisor app (free, Microsoft Store) has you covered. Not only can you find what you’re looking for, but you can book directly through the app too, comparing prices to get the best possible deal. Look out for the areas of interest section, giving you ideas for your next break. Faster, easier web browsing All web browsers are pretty much the same, aren’t they? Not really.Opera ( www.opera.com ) has made a striking bid for uniqueness with a sleek, simple interface and the ability to sync your settings between multiple devices. Also, recent updates have introduced native ad-blocking, VPN for secure browsing and power-saving for laptops and tablets.…

GO FASTER FOR FREE Tips, tricks and killer utilities that will make any PC run leaner and meaner WINDOWS 10 SECRETS REVEALED Everything you need to make the most of your PC HOW TO ● Extend your wireless range ● Maximise Windows security ● Mine bitcoins on your PC ● Easily edit home videos * Contents subject to change Catch up with us on… www.facebook.com/windowsmag www.twitter.com/windowsmag www.facebook.com/windowsmag ON SALE Friday 2 February 2018…

HP has recently come under fire for its use of an app called Touchpoint Analytics. Silently installed into Windows 10 on its new laptops, the app stands accused of sending vast amounts of data back to HP’s labs. HP’s defence is that Touchpoint Analytics is an app that’s been around for some years under a different name, and the company claims it merely collects anonymised information about hardware performance, perfect for support. Innocent or not, the app negatively affects PC performance while it does its thing, which has many users up in arms, though it’s easily scrubbed away through Windows 10’s standard uninstall procedure. Not all pre-installed software is quite so benign. Lenovo’s 2015 decision to ship laptops with a package named VisualDiscovery – which inserted ads into Google searches…

£100,000,000,000 Estimated net worth of Jeff Bezos, CEO of online retailer and tech company Amazon. The $100 billion dollar fortune makes him the world’s richest man, having overtaken the previous title holder – Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates – in 2016. 600 MILLION Number of devices worldwide which now have Windows 10 installed, including PCs, games consoles, tablets and phones. Microsoft’s original plan was to have Windows 10 on one billion devices by 2018. It’s not yet known if – or when – it will hit this ambitious target. 100 Number of megawatts of power that’s capable of being stored in the world’s largest lithium ion battery. The Tesla Powerpack stores electricity generated by a massive windfarm near Adelaide, South Australia. The Powerpack was installed and working within 100 days at a…

Looking for ways to tweak your PC hardware? Start by making sure you have the latest drivers for key components, such as your graphics card. If you’ve been relying on Windows Update to deliver these, try visiting the manufacturer’s site directly to see if a newer driver is available. Alternatively, try a driver-sourcing tool such as IObit’s Driver Booster (www.iobit.com – look under Performance), which can do all the grunt work for you. One of the biggest bottlenecks in your PC is its hard drive. Type ‘defrag’ into the Search box and open the ‘Defragment and Optimise Drives’ tool. This will enable you to see if your SSD drives are optimised and your non-SSD drives defragged. Ultimately, if you have an SSD drive, there’s little you can do to improve…

Once Windows is reinstalled, open Windows Update to bring Windows fully up to date – don’t be surprised if there are hundreds of updates still to apply in the case of Windows 7 and 8.1. Once it’s fully up to date, consider reinstalling Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/reflectfree) and taking your first drive image – a vanilla backup you can restore in future instead of reinstalling Windows itself. If you followed the advice in our ‘Reinstall Windows’ feature from issue 143, you should now be able to reinstall your core apps using CloneApp (www.mirinsoft.com) from your data drive. If you click the Restore button, every single program setting you backed up will be restored – if there are any backup settings you don’t want to restore, select Options to locate the…

Before even beginning to wrestle it into working, the act of acquiring an old Windows PC game can be tricky in itself. Physical media drives are an increasingly rare sight on modern machines, and there’s every chance you threw all your old games out years ago. It might be tempting to hunt for a disc ISO file of some forgotten treasure on an abandonware site, but before you do, it’s worth knowing the legality of those actions, and what the term ‘abandonware’ actually means. Essentially, the term defines a legal no-man’sland in which a product’s copyright might not have expired, but since its owner no longer supplies it for legal purchase or supports it, it ‘abandons’ copyright enforcement. It’s safe to assume Activision doesn’t have a legal team pursuing all…

Windows FOLDER WINDOWS APPEAR ON STARTUP Q Some with no weeks apparent ago – reason and – Windows started opening folder windows on startup. It doesn’t happen every single time Windows loads, but I consulted some online experts who copied and pasted some code to make changes to the Registry. I’m a little wary of this as the instructions were rather vague. Can you assist please? Ian McAndrew Mayank’s solution We instructed Ian to first verify the problem wasn’t linked to any start-up programs. To this end he installed BootRacer (www.greatis.com/bootracer/) and enabled Startup Control. This not only lists start-up programs as they’re being loaded, it implements a 10-second delay before starting them to give Windows time to finish setting itself up. The windows all appeared during this initial delay,…

When not actually using applications, the Windows desktop is where you’ll spend much of your time, moving files about, hunting for that obscure application you installed six months ago and suddenly need, or lining up your windows so that they fill the space perfectly (a time-wasting pastime that’s all but dead now thanks to window snapping). In Windows 10, the desktop and the Taskbar get a few new tricks that make working with files and folders even easier, and the new search bar means pulling up an application you don’t use often is a breeze. Follow these tips to a happy start… 1 Show desktop/peek The Show Desktop button isn’t marked, and some people don’t even know it exists. Press this anonymous section at the extreme right of the Taskbar,…

£849 | $899.95 (body only) www.fujifilm.com The X-E3 is the latest X Series mirrorless camera from Fujifilm to get its 24.3MP X-Trans CMOS III APS-C sensor, which delivers a decent boost in resolution over the 16.3MP sensor founds in its X-E2S predecessor. It also gets a moderate increase in ISO range over the X-E2S, with a native sensitivity range of ISO200-12,800, and an expanded range of ISO100-51,200. And unlike the X-E2S, the X-E3 supports raw too. Features The X-E3 is a classic rangefinderstyle camera with a compact, streamlined design. It features a high-resolution 2.36 million dot OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) with a 0.62x magnification, while the rear of the camera houses a 7.62mm, 1,040K dot touchscreen. You can tap the display to acquire focus and trigger the shutter, as well…

With flagship smartphones continuing to rise in price – the near-£1,000 iPhone X and Galaxy Note 8 being a case in point – the trend is at least offset by improvements that filter down the product ranges to low- to mid-range devices. It wasn’t so long ago that buying a cheaper phone meant almost unbearable compromise – slow processors, poor screens, limited memory and shoddy cameras – but this no longer has to be the case. You see this not only in great-value phones from traditional device manufacturers, but also in new entrants who are doing a top job of challenging the bigger boys. Let’s see what you can buy from less than £80, and stretching up to a more mid-range £270. 1 Honor 6A £140, www.hihonor.com The…

NvidiaTitanV Price £2,700, www.nvidia.com Yes, you read that right. Nvidia wants £2,700 for a PC graphics card. But this is no ordinary graphics card. It’s the most powerful graphics card you’ve ever seen. Designed to meet the exacting demands of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies, the Titan V is capable of delivering 110 teraflops of computational grunt. That’s nine times the power of its predecessor, the Titan Xp; and 110 times the power of the most powerful desktop PC processor you can buy today – Intel’s one teraflop Core i9 Extreme Edition. Powered by Nvidia’s Volta technology, the Titan V packs 21.1 billion transistors on to an 815mm chip, and has 12GB of HBM2 memory. So powerful is the Titan V that there’s only other one card that…

Why take a feather duster to clean out your PC when our supercharged vacuum cleaning toolkit can do a much better job? Let’s start by making sure your PC is malware-free. Open your existing security tool and make sure it’s updated, then run a full system scan. If malware is found, let the tool clean it, then reboot and scan again. If the malware’s proving tricky to budge, try rebooting your PC in Safe mode and then running your antimalware tool from there. Never rely on a single security tool – we recommend that you install Malwarebytes (www.malwarebytes.com)alongside your existing security package. It’ll often find threats ignored by traditional tools. For an in-depth guide to checking and removing malware from your PC, check out our November 2017 issue. Remove junk…

“One of the most important actions when consolidating your files is to weed out unecessary duplicates” Over time, your machine’s drive becomes cluttered up with data files of all shapes, sizes and types. Compounding things are the way in which duplicates can quickly swallow up more storage space thanks to disorganised backups or the fact you have five near-identical copies for every snap you take on your phone or digital camera. The longer this process goes on, the harder it can be to face up to the problem, but today’s the day you finally take steps to not only consolidate your files properly, but free up space too. First steps For this process to work, you need to work out where you are going to store everything. You also need…

Most of your computing life is spent using applications rather than Windows itself. If your PC is struggling under the weight of all the programs you use on it, consider trying to source more lightweight alternatives. First, see if you can source a portable version of your favourite program using www.portableapps.comas a starting point as well as the app’s own website. Portable versions are self-contained, so only consume resources when they run and don’t clog up the Registry or other system folders. An added benefit is they can be stored on another drive to Windows, ensuring that they – and your precious settings – survive your next reinstall or major system crash. Second, see if a faster, less bloated alternative is available for those programs you can easily swap out…

You place a treasured CD-ROM into the disc tray, wistful about the good old days, and excited to see the familiar pixels of an old favourite game. Your PC reacts like a dog watching a magic trick. Autorun doesn’t work. Setup.exe doesn’t work. InstallShield is looking for a long-forgotten Windows 98 library file in perpetuity. In a very real and upsetting way, your childhood is no longer compatible with the modern world, and you know that the only way to rekindle it involves hours of compatibility box-checking, Googling, and fiddling. A traumatic moment. But it doesn’t have to be. Getting software that was designed for much older operating systems and hardware to run on modern machines offers its own intrinsic satisfaction. It’s like breaking the rules, somehow, raising dead software…

Creating an artificial software environment in which a program’s tricked into running successfully is one way to describe the resurrection of old PC games. It’s also one way to describe console emulation on PC, which has a history as long as it is illegal. Its origins date back to 1990, when programs such as Family Computer Emulator v0.35 allowed a handful of NES games to run on PC. Since then, almost every console has been emulated on PC, and even Nintendo’s DS, with its unique control options, joined the ranks. As technical accomplishments, they’re impressive, and there’s a subversive thrill in seeing another platform holder’s ident appearing on a PC monitor. The key difference between using old PC games on a new PC and using old console games on a…

The Start menu’s return was big news when Windows 10 launched, and it has evolved as the operating system has been updated. It’s become a fast, and efficient way to access apps and settings – Windows 8’s full-screen monstrosity is now a distant memory, thankfully! However, if you don’t like how the Start menu looks when you first pop it up on your fresh install of Windows 10, it doesn’t have to stay that way. It’s fully customisable in ways that were never possible in earlier versions of the operating system, and can be made to work in just about any way you want, standing out from its background for ease of reading, or automatically blending in with the colour scheme of whatever theme you have currently set on your…

£2,503 | $3,299 www.microsoft.com Two years have passed since Microsoft launched the original Surface Book – a 2-in-1 laptop with an innovative design and class-leading features. It’s now been replaced by two new models: an updated version of the original 13.5-inch Surface Book. Plus a new 15-inch model, which we are looking at here. Price and availability The 15-inch Surface Book 2 (already on sale in the US and coming to the UK in 2018) is an expensive laptop, with the top-end model, on test here, costing around £2,503 ($3,299), although even the entry-level version comes in at a still steep £1,847 ($2,499), the only difference being a much smaller 256GB solid-state drive inside. The 13.5-inch version starts at £1,499 ($1,499) for a 7th-generation Intel Kaby Lake Core i5 processor…

£629.99 | $699.99 www.garmin.com Garmin has been working for a long time to perfect the GPS sports watch and with the Fenix range it took a big step towards doing exactly that. Now the Fenix 5X is here to bring that range to its pinnacle with onboard mapping, multi-sport tracking, smartphone notifications and much more. Has Garmin created that perfect watch it’s been working towards all these years? Price and availability Garmin has separated the Fenix 5 range into three different models: the 5S is small, light and ideal for daily activity tracking at £499.99 ($599.99); the Fenix 5 takes the middle-ground is slightly bigger and has a slightly longer battery life and also costs £499.99 ($599.99); and there’s the Fenix 5X, which is the premium model, and is ideal…