Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i Windows Help & Advice

There’s no excuse for catastrophic data loss these days. In an ideal world you’ll already have a comprehensive backup plan in place, with a minimum of one backup (and preferably two or three, each one isolated from the other). One of these should ideally be stored online, taking advantage of cheap, plentiful and easily accessible cloud-based storage to house your data in a physically separate location to your PC. If you’ve not yet explored the benefits of backing up your critical documents, photos and other data to the cloud, this is the feature for you, helping you choose the right cloud provider for your needs. But there’s also plenty here if you’re already backing up to the cloud: you’ll find out how to trim your data to maximise the available…

1 Remove duplicate files Duplicate Cleaner Free (www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/duplicatecleaner.html ) will help you track down identical copies of files based on their content as well as their filenames. Simply add the parent drive or folder containing the files you wish to backup and then run a full scan. 2 Review and remove Matching files are conveniently colour-coded for easy identification. You can manually choose to remove the duplicates or make use of the filters on the left to choose files based on a specific setting, such as a particular folder. Once done, you can remove your unwanted files. 3 Remove similar images If you’re the kind of person who takes multiple photos on your camera or smartphone in search of the perfect one, the chances are that dozens of similar –…

Once your cloud folder is up and running, it’s tempting to adopt the ‘set it and forget it’ approach, but there are plenty of little tweaks you can – and should perform – to help improve your experience. The first tip is particularly pertinent if you’re limiting yourself to free backup plans – and that’s be selective about what you back up. Focus on your critical, irreplaceable files – documents, photos and home videos (but not other digital media you can recreate from elsewhere). This is in addition to restricting your use of shared folders as explained previously. During your initial backup, you may find your Internet connection slows to a crawl or even occasionally falls over, prompting a reboot of the router. This is often down to your cloud…

Unlike the cloud, your NAS drive doesn’t provide multiple redundant backups, so you need to take extra steps. While RAID mirroring on two-bay drives is one touted option, it only protects against drive failure, nothing else – including accidental data loss. Hooking up a USB external drive (either solid-state or hard disk based) provides more redundancy, but neither options will protect against fire or theft. Ideally, you’ll set up a backup in a different physical location. You could trust the cloud with a subset of your most critical data, syncing certain files and folders to a Cryptomator vault for extra security. Or you could purchase a second identical model and store that off-site at a trusted friend’s or family member’s home. Alternatively, persuade them to invest in their own network…

SECURITY AND LOGIN This pane is an important one, but there are others you can choose, including Privacy. CHANGE PASSWORD You’ll be asked to supply your current password, then your new password twice, in order to change it. TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION One of the strongest security measures you can take, which also alerts you to password theft. LOGIN LOCATIONS A list of devices, and their geographical locations, that are logged in to your account. Log out any you don’t recognise. SETTINGS Can be accessed by dropping down the small arrow next to the Help icon. You also log out from this menu. ALERTS Facebook notes which devices and browsers you use. If a login appears from an unknown source, it sends an email. IAN’S BEST TIP! Turn off ad tracking under…

1 Prepare to record To get the best quality recording, set the input volume by right-clicking the speaker icon in the System Tray, selecting ‘Recording devices’ > Microphone > ‘Set up microphone’ and following the instructions. If you’re going to record frequently, it’s worth investing in an inexpensive pop filter, which will reduce the ‘popping’ noise that happens when you pronounce the letter ‘P’. 2 Set up Audacity Download Audacity from www.audacityteam.org, run the installer and launch the software. Look at the microphone and speaker settings just above the main empty window and make sure these are set correctly. If you’re not sure your mic is selected, click the area marked ‘Click to start monitoring’ and blow gently into it. The noise should be shown as a moving green bar.…

1 Quick resizing The easiest way to make a website easier to read is to increase the size of the fonts used on the site. Thankfully, it’s easy to increase (or decrease) the text size without additional tools. When on a website, hold the [Ctrl] button on your keyboard, then use the scroll wheel of your mouse to increase and decrease the size. You can also press the [Ctrl] + [+] or [-] keys to alter the sizes. 2 Smarter resizing The first step is an easy way to increase text and images on websites, but if you want a method that gives you greater control, you’ll need some add-ons. For Microsoft Edge, open up the Microsoft Store and search for ‘Zoom for Microsoft Edge’. Click on Get and it…

If you haven t found an answer to your problem here, that doesn’t mean it’s completely insurmountable. You can always ask our friendly Support team – just email your problems to windows.helpline@futurenet.com  – for help. And, of course, a subscription to Windows Help & Advice is highly recommended, since we’ll give you guides to fixes and tweaks every issue. See page 20 for more details. Once you’ve done that, check these sources to find out more about your problem. answers.microsoft.com Microsoft’s forums may not always have the answer you’re looking for – sometimes the response to your problem may be ‘there’s nothing we can do’ – but since it’s staffed by actual experts and a huge number of other users, it’s a great place to look. support.microsoft.com Microsoft’s…

We like open source; it might not always produce the most polished-looking software – [cough] GIMP [cough] – but for security software, its publicly scrutinisable code tends to provide peace of mind, while largely ensuring a project can continue even if the original organisation or developer packs up their bags, as the source code stays open to be picked up by someone else. We’re going to highlight two strong open-source candidates. The first is the well-known KeePass.info. Don’t confuse this with the largely defunct KeePassX.org  that hasn’t been updated for two years. There is a fork called KeePassXC.org, which is up to date, but we’ll stick with KeePass as it has many unofficial respins for Android and other devices that make it easier to use. KeePass isn’t as…

Start by stress-testing your desktop to verify that everything works as it should – sometimes the repair can introduce more problems than it solves, in which case if you’re running Windows 8.1 or 10 you can undo the changes. Go to Start > Settings > ‘Update & recovery’ > Recovery and look for an option to go back to your previous version – click ‘Get started’ and then follow the prompts. If the repair doesn’t appear to fix your underlying problem, Windows 8.1 and 10 users can take one more intermediate step – the reset or repair. It will see you waving goodbye to all those desktop programs you’ve installed (including MS Office and your third-party security software), but it will preserve your Microsoft Store apps, files and Windows settings.…

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 and taking your first drive image – a vanilla backup you can restore in future instead of reinstalling Windows itself. Next, it’s a case of reinstalling your core apps. Once in place, open CloneApp 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 backup folder, then open it and move any program folders you want to…

The Next Unit of Computing (NUC) platform from Intel has always showcased some of the chipmakers most interesting silicon concepts. This year, the Hades Canyon NUC represents a partnership between Intel and AMD we would have never expected – or even fathomed. It’s easily the smallest VR-capable PC that conjoins an Intel quad-core processor with an integrated, ‘discrete-class’ AMD Radeon RX Vega graphics in a single chip. With all that power under its belt, this gaming-focused PC easily smashes through Full HD gaming with most modern titles and it’s also a productivity champ. Despite all the caveats that come with a barebones computer such as this, the Intel Hades Canyon NUC earns top marks for packing so much performance into a small package. It’s easily one of the best mini…

Your online backup space is likely to be limited – particularly if you’re relying on free storage – so it obviously makes sense to go through the files and folders you want to back up before you start uploading. Some judicious pruning now won’t simply give you more room to work with, it’ll also speed up the initial backup process as less data will have to be uploaded. A complete spring-clean of your PC isn’t required here – instead, you want to focus all your attention on the folders you plan to back up to the cloud. Typically, these will be your user folders – Documents, Photos and so on. Remove duplicates One obvious way you can reclaim space is through the removal of duplicate and similar files. The step-by-step…

When it comes to storing your files in the cloud, you’re presented with a bewildering array of options. There are literally dozens of providers out there, offering a mixture of free and paid-for storage. In the table on the page opposite, we’ve summed up some of the best-known services. Of these, Microsoft’s OneDrive is integrated into both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. Free storage plans If your data storage needs are modest – basically, all your documents, a relatively large collection of photos, perhaps a portable applications collection and little or no video or music – then there’s no real need to pay for online storage at all. All the major providers offer free storage – these top out at 15GB per provider, although you can, of course, sign up…

1 Get Cryptomator Go to www.cryptomator.org/downloads and click ‘Download 64 Bit’ or ’32 Bit’ depending on your Windows system type (press [Win] + [Pause/Break] if you’re not sure). Once saved, double-click the setup file and follow the install prompts. Leave ‘Launch Cryptomator’ and click Finish. 2 Add vault Click ‘+’ as directed by Cryptomator and then choose ‘Create New Vault’ to create your first encrypted vault. Navigate to your cloud folder, give your vault a suitable name – this will become a folder on the drive, so don’t make the name too obvious – and click Save. 3 Set password You’ll be prompted to enter a password – you’ll need this whenever you link to the vault from a new computer or device, so make it a strong one: a…

1 Disable Platform The nuclear option. Turning off Platform prevents the integration of Facebook with apps and games, disables the ability to log into websites using your Facebook ID, and stops friends’ Facebook apps accessing your personal information. Turning Platform off might be inconvenient, but its security benefits are undeniable. Find it in Settings, under ‘Apps and Websites’. 2 Increase privacy Facebook is finally clamping down on access to your data, but there’s more you can do to hide things. Under Settings > Privacy you can change who sees your posts, with several levels of control. Public posts are just that – public. Anyone can see them. Friends means only Facebook friends can see your posts, and you can control this further by excluding certain people. 3 Limit access Still…

1 Import your files There’s an Import button at the top right of Photos’ interface, which drops down to give you the option of importing from a folder already on your PC, or from a connected USB device. The button that appears if you choose a folder isn’t Open or Import but ‘Add to Pictures’ – what you’re doing is linking the folder to Photos so it knows it’s somewhere your files might be. 2 Create a project Open ‘Folders’ and select a folder containing video clips you want to use. Then, from the Create menu, choose ‘Custom video with music’. The app will automatically assemble a video for you if you choose that option, but you’re better off doing it manually, since Photos’ algorithms don’t know what’s important to…

1 Stay focused Focus Assist is designed to remove the distractions in our lives – it’s especially good if you use the Windows Mail client or another email client like Outlook and get bombarded with numerous messages while you’re at work or while you’re focusing on a specific task. 2 Focus Assist settings Focus Assist is controlled through Windows 10’s Action Centre, much like other features such as Battery Saver, Settings and Bluetooth. There are three settings you can cycle through if you click the Focus Assist tile: Priority Only, Alarms Only, or Off. 3 Set it up Within Settings > System > Focus Assist, you can fine-tune the options around Focus Assist. As you can see, we’ve set it to Priority Only here – that means you can customise…

In any system, humans will find a way to subvert the rules for their own gain. It’s a recurring theme: from skipping class, cheating in games, fixing the banking system, and exploiting welfare, down to stealing from work, and gambling in Las Vegas. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that most humans choose the lazy option when it comes to password security. It’s too easy just to say humans are lazy, and pin terrible password security on that. Humans will always attempt to game systems at both ends, which is why passwords are being hacked and people want to avoid memorising them in the first place. It’s not good enough to just use a strong password; we now live in a world where so much is tied up with our…

The Asus VivoBook line of laptops spans the entire spectrum of users. From the slim and affordable VivoBook S to the VivoBook Flip that’s even smaller and built for all sorts of contortions and use cases, to the VivoBook Pro, designed to combine portability with power. Despite the ‘Pro’ name tag, Asus has managed to build a robust laptop (albeit on the heavy side of portability) and price it somewhere more in line with what most users pay for a 2-in-1 laptop. Oh, and did we mention it has Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics inside? Just in case, you know, you want to distract yourself from work with a few matches of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). Price and availability The VivoBook Pro 15 is currently priced at $1,169 on Amazon, mirroring…

AmpliFi HD is a new addition to the growing number of mesh Wi-Fi routers, which use additional Wi-Fi repeaters to help spread a wireless network throughout your home. This type of router is becoming increasingly popular, as it’s an easy to set up and effective method for ensuring that all the devices in your home can access the Internet. Well-known names such as Google (with Google Wifi), and Netgear (with the Netgear Orbi) have released mesh routers to critical acclaim, so how does a relatively unknown brand stack up against these stalwarts? We plugged the AmpliFi HD in to our home network to see how it did. Price and availability The AmpliFi Mesh Wi-Fi System can be bought as a bundle, and includes an HD Mesh Router base station and…

The first thing to note about the Fujifilm X-A5 is that this is another beginner-friendly mirrorless camera with no electronic viewfinder, just a rear LCD screen for composing photos. Inside, the X-A5 has a regular CMOS sensor, not one of Fujifilm’s more advanced X-Trans sensors. We’ve seen this before on Fujifilm’s entry-level models, but it’s hard to spot the difference in image quality. The X-A5 comes with a retracting 15-45mm power zoom kit lens, which is equivalent to around 23-68mm in full-frame terms. The extra angle of view makes it handy for cramped interiors and narrow city streets, and you can always get the Fujinon XC 50-230mm f/4.5-6.7 OIS II telephoto zoom for when you need something a little longer. The X-A5 also has a rear screen that flips up…

Philips 436M6VBPAB Price £699, https://philips.co.uk If you’re in the market for a new PC monitor, then this gorgeous 43-incher should be on your shopping list. The pinnacle of Philips’ Momentum line, it’s equipped with 4K Ultra HD resolution (3,840x2,160 pixels), Quantum Dot technology that’s capable of displaying 1.07 billion colours, and is the first monitor in the world to be DisplayHDR1000 compliant – the result is incredible image quality with rich, vibrant and accurate colours. Oh, and if you’re into gaming, it has a GtG response time of just 4ms and supports Adaptive Sync. Since this is a Philips display, it also offers Ambiglow technology which creates a halo of light around the monitor to help movies, games and other content feel even more immersive. Plus, the 436M6VBPAB is equipped…

When is a backup not a backup? When it’s the only copy of a file you have. Archiving data usually means transferring it to a new medium for long-term storage – an old external hard drive or DVD or Blu-ray disc, for example. Make sure you remember to back up your archive, too – burn another disc and then store it somewhere separate to the original archive to protect against fire or theft. If you’re compressing files to save space, make sure you keep a back-up copy of the file in its original format, in case the ZIP archive becomes corrupt.…

Why pay for one backup service when you can spread your files across multiple providers using their free accounts? You might find one account – OneDrive – is particularly suited to collaboration, while Google Drive or Box’s more generous free plans provide enough space for housing your digital music online, for example. You can sign up with as many providers as you like, but each desktop sync app consumes that bit more system resources along with Internet bandwidth. How many you can run side-by-side will depend on the speed of and spec of your PC. If you’re running less than 4GB RAM on a non-SSD drive, for example, you may struggle running more than a couple together at once. It’s a good idea to set each provider up separately and…

There are numerous worries about trusting your backups to the cloud. Who can see or access your data? What happens if your cloud provider ceases trading? Several have over the years, and while they usually give you notice, you’re still left with the task of retrieving your files and transferring them elsewhere. There’s also the ongoing cost, particularly if you’re storing hundreds of gigabytes of data online. If you’ve the money for a one-off purchase you can invest in a ‘cloud’ network hard drive instead, with the capacity for terabytes rather than gigabytes of data. These are like regular Network-Attached Storage (NAS) devices, so accessible to any locally connected computer, but go further by providing cloud-like functionality in the form of a desktop sync tool, remote access (enabling you to…

1 Clear your workspace Left-click and hold on the title bar of the window you want to work in, then shake the mouse left and right while holding the button down. Every other window on your screen will minimise neatly to the Taskbar, giving you some space to think. To minimise everything, click the unlabelled button at the far right of the Taskbar, or hover your mouse over it for a temporary effect. 2 Use keyboard shortcuts One of the fastest ways to navigate Windows is with the keyboard. A shortcut can open a window or setting that would take three or more clicks of the mouse. Some of the best include [Win] + [E], which opens a new File Explorer window, [Win] + [I] to open Settings, [Alt] +…

1 Open your images Open your first image, then the second. They will open as separate tabs, so use the Move tool to drag the second image on top of the first – it appears as a new layer in the Layers palette on top of the first image. Save this as a new PSD file, ensuring you don’t overwrite either of your source images. Hide the top layer by clicking the eye icon to the left of its entry in the Layers palette. 2 Mask off part of your image Make sure you’re working on the Background layer by clicking it in the Layers palette. We’re going to use one of the selection tools to mask off part of the image so it’s not affected by the double exposure…

FIND ON PAGE Press [Ctrl] + [F] to bring up the ‘Find on Page’ search box. Then type in the word or phrase that you are looking for. FIND ON PAGE Type a word or phrase in the ‘Find on Page’ search box, and any matches will be highlighted on the page like this. MAGNIFIER Use Windows 10’s Magnifier tool to enlarge parts of the screen. You’ll find it under Settings > ‘Ease of Access.’ HIGHLIGHT Microsoft Edge’s ‘Make a Web Note’ feature includes a virtual highlighter, so you can pick out key items on page. WRITE NOTES ‘Make a Web Note’ also enables you to write notes and draw annotations as if you were writing on a piece of paper. OPTIONS Click here to bring up Edge’s options. From…

1 Download WinX DVD Ripper Free Edition Since Windows doesn’t come with a DVD ripping tool, you’ll need to download one, and the software we recommend is WinX DVD Ripper Free Edition. To download it, head to www.winxdvd.com/dvd-ripper and click on the link that says ‘Download Free DVD Ripper’. This will download the winx-dvd-ripper.exe file. Once downloaded, double-click the file to install it. 2 Install and launch Now install the WinX DVD Ripper software. Once done, a window will appear that says ‘Launch WinX DVD Ripper Platinum’. Make sure this is checked, then click Finish. WinX DVD Ripper Free will open. You’ll notice it’s actually the Platinum Edition in trial mode. Don’t worry – once the trial ends you’ll lose some of its features but you’ll still have a powerful…

When it comes to tech, a little knowledge goes a long way. Windows 10, especially as it becomes more mature, is growing in stability, and it’s a long way ahead of its predecessors but – and it’s a big but – it is still beset by little niggles and gripes that can make it difficult to use. But you’re the master of your own domain, and you can be the master of your own PC. Those problems can be banished by a little knowledge, either of the right thing to do or the right place to look. And, while we here at Windows Help & Advice endeavour to bring you the best fixes and tweaks on a regular basis – and our Support team solves very specific issues – we…

We’re going to suggest three other commercial password managers – the ones that crop up most often, and generally offer similar features at similar costs. So, it’s down to you which you feel works the best. The first is 1Password.com ; prices start at $2.99 per month for a single user, and $4.99 for a family account for four people. DashLane ( www.dashlane.com ) is a major player and offers a number of plans that will suit a wide range of consumer and business uses. The basic plan is free for all, but is limited to working on a single device. The paid home plan is $3.33 a month, and supports unlimited devices, password sharing, and Yubikey 2FA support. A business plan starts at $4…

Email SWITCH FROM THUNDERBIRD TO THUNDERBIRD PORTABLE Q I’ve decided to switch from an installed copy of Thunderbird to a portable one, so I can carry it around with me. I’m trying to copy my profile – which I presume contains everything I need – from the installed copy to my portable copy, but am confused by the instructions online. Can you help? Steve Cox Rob’s solution By default, Thunderbird stores all your data and settings in a profile folder under C:\Users\{Username}\ AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\ Profiles\ - the quickest way to open this folder is to press [Win] + [R], then type %AppData%\ Thunderbird\Profiles\ and press [Enter]. Look for a folder with ‘.default’ at its end – this is your profile folder. Open up Thunderbird Portable, but skip the account configuration and…

Not all reinstalls require a complete wipe of your hard drive. A repair or refresh installation leaves your programs, settings and files in place, and restricts itself to installing a fresh copy of your Windows files over the top of your existing copy. If your problem is linked to a corrupt file or Windows setting, the repair installation can usually fix it. All repair installs share one common characteristic: you must launch them from Windows itself. You can’t boot from your install media and repair Windows through that; you need to boot into Windows, then start the repair process from there. If you’re unable to boot into Windows, therefore, you’ll need to skip to page 72 and perform a full destructive recovery instead. Start the repair Starting a repair install…

Reinstalling Windows from scratch – namely, wiping your system drive to install a fresh version of Windows on to it – is the ultimate choice for anyone looking to revive a slow PC or resolve a major, non-hardware issue. Here we’ll step you through the entire process – if you’re simply looking to repair an existing Windows install, turn to our guide on page 70. Before you begin, make sure your PC is fully backed up by following the ‘Back up Windows 10’ tutorial on page 43 of issue 148. A full reinstall really is destructive – nothing left on your C drive will exist once you’ve finished. If you’d like to transfer selected program settings from old installation to new, download the portable CloneApp tool (www.mirinsoft.com) to your backup…

Toshiba’s Canvio Advance is an external hard drive that comes in 1TB, 2TB and 3TB capacities. This is not a drive to buy if raw performance is the main concern. However, it does offer a lot of storage for not much money. And it’s much more portable than a desktop external hard drive. People’s hard drive preferences often boil down to which brands haven’t failed on them in the past, but complaints here are minor. You’ll pay £79.99 ($72.99), for the 2TB version, which is on test here. Prices across the Canvio Advance line are comparable to Western Digital’s WD My Passport range. Design and features Portable hard drives are like spare keys. They are not particularly exciting, but when you need them you really need them. The Canvio Advance…