Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2018 i Windows Help & Advice

Windows 10 has evolved considerably since it first made its debut back in 2015. We’re about to receive the fourth major update (likely named the Spring Creators Update) and Windows 10 – or should that be Windows 10.3 going on 10.4? – may not feel as familiar as it did when it first was released. And what if you’ve only just taken the plunge and upgraded from Windows 7 or 8.1? Windows 10 might feel like a whole different operating system entirely. The truth, of course, is that it’s still the Windows you know and love, but whether you’re brand new to Windows 10 or finding yourself increasingly confused by what’s been added, moved or removed since the last feature update, we’ve got you covered. In this essential refresher guide,…

We’ve seen how the desktop can provide you with a means of pinning favourite programs and files within easy reach, but it’s only the start of your journey into navigating Windows 10. Let’s start with File Explorer – the tool you use to browse and manage your computer’s contents. You’ll see its folder icon on the Taskbar, so click this and it’ll open to one of two views: ‘Quick access’ or This PC – you can change the default view by switching to the View tab on File Explorer’s ribbons, clicking the Options button and making your choice from the ‘Open File Explorer to’ drop-down menu. ‘Quick access’ is a special folder that contains shortcuts to both recently opened files and folders you frequently open. It’s also possible to ‘pin’…

Free software drives the PC industry. Paid-for packages might seem to be the better option in general – and if you’re in industry, you’ll need the professional support options that come from paying up – but it’s the no-pounds-down applications that make life as an everyday PC user worth living. We have three things to thank for the delicious software cornucopia that we’ve spread on the table today. Firstly, the dedication and skill of the open-source community. These guys see a problem, they find something they want to do, and just go ahead and make it, offering up the software – and the building blocks that put it together – to the world when they’re done. Thanks, folks. You rock, and you make the next generation of software better. Secondly,…

14 SOFTWARE REMOVAL PC DECRAPIFIER Whether you’re cleansing a new PC of its pre-installed bloatware or trimming down an existing machine to get rid of the stuff you really don’t need, PC Decrapifier does the job fast, and it makes it easy. No other package is quite as informed on the awful software that manufacturers so thoughtfully include, and how safe it is to excise it – while you won’t use it often, this is definitely one of those portable apps you’ll want on your USB flash drive toolkit. www.pcdecrapifier.com 15 SystEm cLEanIng CCLEANER Windows is, among its many other jobs, like a cut-price janitor. Sure, it puts on a good show: It’s packed with tools, and it claims they’ll scrub your OS clean, but it’s lackadaisical. It doesn’t go…

Many people see reinstalling Windows as the ultimate solution to a problem. While a fresh install should – in most cases – fix problems that aren’t caused by underlying hardware issues, they’re often overkill for less serious ones, particularly if your computer appears to be functioning perfectly other than for a few minor glitches. Windows 8.1 provided a handy ‘refresh’ option, that enabled you to reinstall Windows on top of itself – it was the equivalent of a repair install from earlier versions of Windows. Programs, settings and other non-Windows files were left in place, so while Windows replaced its own files with backups from your system, everything else was – technically – unaffected. Windows 10 removed this option, but if you think a quick refresh is all your system…

If there’s data you need to recover from a backup, now is the time to do so. Start with File History – go to Settings > ‘Update & security’ > Backup and click ‘More options’ followed by ‘See advanced settings’ to switch to the File History control panel. Click ‘Select Drive’ to see available drives, then select your existing backup drive and you’ll either see a box marked ‘I want to use a previous back-up on this File History drive’ (tick it if so) or a list of previous backups from the system (select the most recent one to continue using it). Once selected, you’ll be able to recover data from the backup in the usual way: type ‘file history’ into the Search box and click ‘Restore your files with…

Microsoft Outlook SWITCH EMAIL BACKUP Q Do Outlook you know 2010 of data any backup good programs? I used to have a good one whose name I’ve forgotten, but it doesn’t work with Windows 10. Ian McAndrew Cat’s solution Our go-to mail backup tool – KLS Mail Backup (www.kls-soft.com/ klsmailbackup/) – doesn’t sadly support Outlook, but does cover most other providers. We’re also fans of MailStore Home Edition (www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/) for archiving email – this works with Outlook, and is also a good way to back up web-based email such as Google Mail and Hotmail. However, its biggest drawback is the lack of automated features, so you’ll need to set reminders yourself if you want to create email backups on a regular basis. Ian also discovered Safe PST Backup (www.safepstbackup.com),which is free…

“The Coffee Lake silicon romped through the Geekbench single- and multi-core tests” £2,799 | $2,999 www.corsair.com The Corsair One Elite is a stunning PC. It’s not only one of the smallest desktop systems on the market, it’s also one of the most powerful as well. This version of the Corsair One retains the excellent exterior design that was introduced last year, but the internals have been given a huge boost. Corsair reckons they’re perfect for work and play, and you’re about to find out whether this tiny tower can cope with a serious upgrade. Price and availability The One Elite on test is the beefiest and most expensive that Corsair sells, with an Intel Coffee Lake Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics and 32GB of RAM for…

£769 | $799 www.dji.com “In well-lit conditions, the Mavic Air’s videos are crystal clear, with near perfect saturation” DJI’s latest consumer drone, the Mavic Air, is the near-perfect love child of the very successful Mavic Pro and the compact and user-friendly Spark. By taking the tech and foldable rotor arms from the Mavic Pro and the small size and playfulness of the Spark – and then improving on both – DJI has produced its best consumer drone yet. It has just about every bell and whistle you could ask for, from 4K video and 32MP panoramic pictures to a 21-minute battery life. More importantly, the DJI Mavic Air is easy to fly thanks to an improved object avoidance system and gesture controls. Price and availability With a starting price of…

10 000 YEARS! Amount of time that a proposed mechanical clock will run for before it needs rewinding. The 500ft tall, 10,000 Year Clock is currently being built inside a mountain in the Sierra Diablo range in Texas and is partly being funded to the tune of $42 million by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon… 408 MILLION Number of smartphones sold worldwide in the final quarter of 2017, a fall of 5.6 percent over the previous quarter. Research firm Gartner said the fall was likely due to a lack of quality ‘ultra-low cost’ smartphones, and the fact that we’re hanging on to our existing phones for longer. 7  The number of drones which appeared at a recent fashion event held by Dolce & Gabbana. The drones were used in place…

Looking after Windows shouldn’t be a full-time job, but if you don’t keep it well maintained, you might find yourself wrestling with error messages and other strange glitches. These days, one crucial aspect – keeping Windows updated – is pretty much automatic, but that hasn’t necessarily made things easier, with updates being pushed before they’re fully tested. If you’re a Windows 10 Home user, your options for blocking updates are limited – only after an update has been downloaded and partially installed can you tell Windows to delay the restart for up to seven days (Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > ‘Restart options’). Windows 10 Professional users get a much better deal, however. Under Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update, click ‘Advanced options’…

1 Photo EdItIng GIMP About as Photoshop as you can get without actually shelling out a small fortune to use Photoshop itself, Gimp is densely packed with features, and capable of a massive array of photo manipulation and artistic endeavours. It’s also far more refined than it was a few years ago, with the frequent crashes of yesteryear all but gone. Only the slightly janky interface remains to remind you that this is open-source software. www.gimp.org 2 2 naturaL PaIntIng KRITA Now 20 years old, Krita is a natural painting toolbox, perfect for everyone from artists to cartoonists, and beyond. It includes art essentials such as stabilised brushes, a pop-up palette, a wrapping texture mode, as well as a full animation interface. There are nine individual brush engines, each customisable…

Traditionally, we’ve suggested you reinstall Windows once every couple of years or so. It’s tempting to leave things longer, but the fact is your PC accumulates clutter that even the most zealous cleaning regime can’t keep on top of. And as time drags on, your install starts to feel its age, with major updates like the recently released Fall Creators Update unable to fix underlying problems or inject fresh speed into your system. There’s something wonderful about booting up a recently reinstalled PC – no more sluggish performance, erratic behaviour or clutter. But there’s often a downside: you forget those carefully crafted program settings that need re-establishing from scratch – with no memory of how you did it. And what about your data? How can you ensure that doesn’t get…

“There are several different ways to trigger a reinstall” You’re backed up, with everything you need to hand. It’s now time to reinstall Windows. Just to recap: this process is a full, destructive install. Everything on your C drive will be lost, but that’s not a problem because you have it all backed up, and you’ve moved your data to another drive or partition. There are several different ways to trigger a reinstall. Traditionally, if you bought your PC with Windows pre-installed, we’d have advised that you restart your PC and press the key required to access your manufacturer’s boot or recovery options, which would have included an option to restore your PC to its factory settings. These days, you can trigger the same process from within Windows itself –…

You’re now ready to start reinstalling your key apps. Now is a good time to pare back what you had installed before – it’s best to focus on reinstalling essentials like your security software, office suite and image editor for now. Leave non-essential apps until you need them for the first time. Be sure to launch and activate or register any apps before moving on to the next. If you’ve installed any apps from the Microsoft Store, click the Store icon on the Taskbar. Click your user photo next to the Search bar to reveal a drop-down list. Select ‘My Library’ to view your previous app and game purchases and installs – click ‘Show all’ to view a complete list, then click the Download button next to those apps you…

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,…

£709 | $899 www.benq.co.uk While high dynamic range (HDR) – a display technology that offers higher contrast and more vivid colours – is becoming ever more commonplace in TVs it hasn’t really taken off yet in PC monitors. So when a monitor such as the BenQ EX3501R comes along boasting HDR support, you can’t help take notice. And HDR is only one of the exciting features to be found here, thanks to an ultrawide 21:9 aspect radio, AMD FreeSync support, and USB-C connectivity. Price and availability A 35-inch ultrawide curved monitor is never going to be cheap, but at £709 ($899), the BenQ EX3501R isn’t horrendously pricey, and compares well to the AOC Agon AG352UCG and Acer Predator X34, both of which are slightly more expensive, but with similarly impressive…

There’s a war going on right now. At the budget end of the audio market, headphone makers are duking it out, cramming in more tech in their buds and cans than ever, in a bid to one up each other. The result? You can now buy sweet-sounding wireless headphones for a surprisingly small amount of cash. Naturally, we – as stalwarts of high-end gadgetry – would normally recommend splashing out to make sure you get top-tier sound from Bluetooth headphones, but even we can see the benefits of the less is more approach. Spend under £50 on a pair of wireless headphones, and you can take them anywhere without worrying about them getting damaged or lost. 1 Nu Bass ONE £49.99, nu-bass.com Want maximum value for money? Then…

HuaweiMateBook XPro Price €1,499-€1,899, https://consumer.huawei.com Although it’s most famous for making phones, China’s Huawei is now targeting the laptop market in a big way. First there was the MateBook, which we looked at in Issue 138, and now there’s this: the seriously svelte MateBook X Pro – a Windows 10 laptop with an almost bezel-less 13.9-inch touchscreen display, 12-hour battery life and Dolby Atmos stereo sound. Huawei offers a choice of eighth-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, switchable Intel UHD Graphics 620/Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics (depending on configuration) and up to 16GB of RAM, as well as up to 500GB of solid-state storage… all of which is crammed into the MateBook X Pro’s 16.6mm thin, 1.33kg aluminium unibody. Obvious nods to Apple’s MacBook aside, this laptop also has a…

The Windows desktop has undergone some radical changes over the past few years, but after experimenting with Windows 8’s Metro user interface – which was rapidly scaled back in Windows 8.1 – Windows 10 has returned the desktop to something closer to Windows 7. This means the desktop has returned to its original function – as a virtual desk. You can use it as a simple backdrop when switching between application windows, or keep shortcuts, files and folders on it for easy access (right-click on it and choose Personalise to change its look and feel). Adding items to the desktop is simple enough – just drag them from a File Explorer window following the tips on page 16. You can also create desktop shortcuts by right-clicking the file or folder…

11 VALVE STEAM Frequent sales, a massive indie library, and an early access programme that gets you into new games before they’ve been officially released characterise Valve’s store – but it’s the little extras, such as the vibrant community, the Steam game overlay, and the Steam Workshop for mod content, that really make it. Steam has changed what gaming really is on the PC. Keep an eye on the store to find regular free weekends of popular games, which get you unlimited access for a limited time. http://steampowered.com 12 EA ORIGIN Steam’s publisher deals don’t extend to every producer of AAA titles, and if you want in on EA’s library, you need to use Origin. Whatever you might think about the gaming monolith’s practices, Origin is a convenient…

27 PDF READER SUMATRA PDF Adobe needn’t have the monopoly on PDF reading. The format is far more widespread than it once was, and there are smaller, faster, and more versatile readers than, er, Reader – SumatraPDF being the best among them. It has a deliberately simple UI, because you’re meant to be focused on reading, rather than clicking buttons, and also includes full support for rendering most mainstream e-book and comic book formats, as well as XPS and DjVu files. www.sumatrapdfreader.org 28 EmaIL cLIEnt EM CLIENT One of the cleanest email packages around, working with POP3, SMTP, and every other email delivery tech out there, eM Client’s free version only really restricts the number of accounts you can use – every other feature matches up to its pro tier.…

An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of care, which is why you shouldn’t start on the Windows 10 reinstall process without first taking suitable precautions. This involves taking three separate types of backup. The first is to back up your key data folders – typically everything stored inside your personal user folder found under C:\Users. If you’re currently using either of Windows 10’s built-in backup tools (File History or Windows Backup) then you’re already one step ahead of the game; if not, go to Start > Settings > ‘Update & security’ > Backup to configure it now. Click ‘Add a drive’ and select your backup drive from the list provided, then click ‘More options’ to monitor its status and see which folders are being backed up (you can…

This stage of the process is simple enough if you’re using Windows 7: Simply enter your product key when prompted, and follow the prompts to set up a user account and get going. The same is true for Windows 8.1 and pre-Creators Update versions of Windows 10. If you’re using either of these then Microsoft would like you to click ‘Use Express Settings’, which is fine if you’re happy to take liberties with your privacy. We recommend you choose Customise instead and then carefully review which kinds of personal data you’re happy to share (or not), switching off any options that you don’t agree with. Windows 10 first asks you about your location and keyboard, sorts out your network connection (including any Wi-Fi configuration), then asks you whether you’re setting…

Windows is now reinstalled, and everything is just as you like it. But how can you keep it that way? Firstly, get into the habit of looking for portable versions of any applications that you are thinking of adding to your system. Secondly, when you’ve finished with a program, look to clear it out more thoroughly with the help of a third-party program such as IObit Uninstaller (www.iobit.com/en/advanceduninstaller.php), making use of its powerful scanning tools to remove leftover files and Registry entries. For more cleaning tips, check out our lead feature from issue 144. It’s also important you keep your PC safe from harm – make sure you install some form of anti-malware tool (Windows Defender offers only basic protection), and again comb past issues looking for tips to help…

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…

£1,899 | $2,349 www.dell.com Had late Apple CEO Steve Jobs been in charge of designing a Windows PC it probably would have ended up looking a lot like Dell’s latest XPS 13 – a laptop whose use of woven glass fibre looks set to revolutionise the way laptops are made going forward. But there’s more to this laptop than just a sleek design. It also comes with a near bezel-less InfinityEdge display boasting 4K Ultra HD resolution at the top end, and it uses the same cooling system as the Mars Rover – and there aren’t a lot of laptops you can say that about. Price and availability One of the drawbacks of the new design and increased specs is that the Dell XPS 13 is now more expensive than…

£169.99 | $149.99 www.razerzone.com If you’re in the market for a new pair of computer speakers, there’s a very slim chance you’ll find anything as cool as the Razer Nommo Chroma – these stereo speakers with RGB underlighting take the boxy form factor that we’re normally used to seeing and completely flip it on its head. The result is a surprisingly good-sounding pair of speakers that don’t break the bank – the entry-level models, the Razer Nommo and the Razer Nommo Chroma only cost £109.99 ($99.99) and £169.99 ($149.99) respectively. To put that price in perspective, there are plenty of 2.0 speaker systems from companies such as Edifier, JBL and Sony that start at £150 and go up from there. If you’re looking for a little more power, then the…