Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2017 i Windows Help & Advice

It’s summertime and the next big update to Windows should be with you by the time you read this. Named the Creators Update, it’s packed with enhancements, improvements and brand new features, which will make using your PC easier and more fun. One of the most obvious – and welcome changes – can be found in the Edge web browser. For it not only improves tab handling, but also now supports a wider range of extensions and add-ons, finally putting it into serious contention with rivals such as Chrome and Firefox. Edge also bests both of its rivals when it comes to battery life, enabling you to surf for longer when you’re away from mains power. And talking of power, be sure to check out Paint 3D, the simple yet…

What actually is Bitcoin? It’s what’s called a cryptocurrency, a digital currency generated and controlled by encryption techniques. This means new bitcoins can’t just be generated. Early in its life people were able to ‘mine’ them, crunching through potential bitcoin addresses until an unclaimed one was found, but new bitcoins are now, sadly, few and far between. Why does this matter? Bitcoin’s anonymous nature has made the currency very popular – and not only with hackers like those behind the WannaCry virus (see page 10). It appeals to people who need to make transactions outside of traditional financial institutions, and its increasingly being used as a way to pay for goods and services internationally. Additionally, the lack of new bitcoins means a vast amount of deflation; 2017 has seen its…

This isn’t new software by any means, but there’s a reason it’s reached such venerable standing: IrfanView is one of the best bits of free software of its kind. If you want to view an image quickly and easily, you want IrfanView. It supports a long list of formats, including obscure image types from old cameras, vector graphics, and more. Viewing isn’t its only trick: converting images from one form to another is supported, and you’ll be able to perform rudimentary tweaks too. It’s quick to launch – in our experience far faster than Windows 10’s less-compatible Photos app – and you can even extend its capabilities. Head to www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm to add support for audio and video files and even PDFs. Set it as the default app for images: in…

In this month’s Explore section we’re going to show you how to make your PC easier and more fun to use – whether it’s reading your favourite websites ( page 26 ), sending files to friends or workmates ( page 44 ) or selling unwanted items on eBay ( page 36 ). On page 30, we also take an in-depth look at Facebook’s privacy settings, and explain how to make File Explorer’s context menu work for you (page 34). You’ll also find some great tips for organising your images using the Photos app in (page 40), and much more.…

Your guide Alex Cox says… “Facebook is great for sharing, but it’s easy to overshare – it’s time to control who sees what” At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 ACCOUNT PROTECTION Use the ‘Security and login’ section to lock your account and so prevent unwanted intrusion. GET UNFRIENDLY Unsolicited requests from people you don’t really know can be unsettling – block them in the Privacy section. REVIEW YOUR TAGS See what friends are posting about you by activating ‘tag reviewing’ under the ‘Timeline and tagging’ option. BLOCK AND MUTE Remove every nuisance, from troublesome friends to annoying app requests, in the Blocking section. BACKUP NOW Even if you’re not concerned about security, you may want…

Your guide Ian Evenden says… “It’s easy to sort a large collection of images using Windows 10’s built-in Photos app” At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 ALBUMS This brings up the Albums view, from where you can make new Albums and view those the app has created for you. FOLDERS The folders you’ve given the app access to, in alphabetical order. You can drill down the folder structure from here. COLLECTION Click here to see every photo in the folders on your PC that you’ve told Photos it can look in, in date order. DATE The date each of the following images was taken on. Use it to scroll a collection, stopping by dates of…

Your guide m says… “Share the wired or wireless internet connection of your Windows 10 PC with other users and devices with one of these two methods” At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 Have you ever found yourself away from home with access to only a single wired internet connection, but with various wireless devices that you and your family want to connect up? Perhaps you’ve stayed in a hotel room where Wi-Fi access is charged based on the number of users that log on. Or maybe you just want to temporarily extend your home network’s wireless range to the garden or another part of the house using your laptop. Windows 10’s facility to turn…

Offloading services to the cloud makes sense in terms of streamlining resources and making good use of the internet, but it comes with significant security risks. It’s not that you’re simply opening your computer to the internet, you’re putting key data – files, personal information and login details – in the hands of third parties. Can you trust them? And how do you protect yourself adequately? Step one is to revisit the Lock Down Your PC feature in our Spring 2017 issue, which explains how you can make your computer hackproof. You should ensure your computers and other devices are adequately protected, and that your home network is locked down too – you should certainly make sure that your router’s default password is changed, and that you haven’t left it…

Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop is a thing of beauty, a gorgeous slice of aluminium, glass (and alcantara) that will turn heads in college cafeterias across the land. You can find out whether it’s worth taking out a student loan for on page 84. We also look at Dell’s all-in-one Inspiron 24 7000 (page 86); see if Gigabyte’s Aero 15 can successfully meet the needs of gamers and enterprise users (page 88); and put the Epson Expression XP-960 (page 90) and BT Whole Home Wi-Fi (page 92) through their paces. And on page 95, we look at Twitter apps.…

Most of the Internet Archive’s catalogue can also be downloaded to your computer It’s fair to say that the Internet Archive (https://archive.org) is one of the most important sites on the internet. It collects together the old and the new, gives a home to content which would otherwise have been removed from the web, and even offers a time warp in the form of the Wayback Machine (https://archive.org/ web), which lets you revisit websites precisely as they were on a given date. Hunt around and you can explore, for example, a 1996 version of microsoft.com, or view archived news headlines from the likes of bbc.co.uk NEW FOR OLD The Internet Archive’s coolest feature, if you’ve been around computing for some time, is its recent integration of combined software archiving and…

It was hard to miss the recent attack on Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) computers. Hit with a package of ransomware known as WannaCrypt, the machines were effectively disabled, with the virus scrambling non-essential Windows files and locking them away with a secure key known only to the hacker that developed the software. For a fee of between £250-£500 the perpetrator offered to release the files on each affected machine – although, when someone’s gone to the trouble of doing something so devastating to your files, trusting that same miscreant to fix everything once you’ve handed over the ransom money might not be the wisest move. STAYING SAFE Essentially, if a ransomware virus strikes, you’re stuck – and the NHS attack, which made use of security vulnerabilities on machines which…

Packed with informative tutorials Every issue, we guarantee to pack the magazine with great tutorials teaching you all the best things you can do with your PC. Each article features step-by-step instructions to make learning new skills fast and enjoyable. Customise Windows to work your way We all know how to do the basics but getting the most from Windows isn’t always easy. Our dedication to the operating system means you get the very best tips and tricks for all versions of Windows. Get more from your favourite websites We all have our list of favourite sites but often we miss out on great features because they’re difficult to use or hidden from sight. We’ll show you how to do more online, for a more satisfying web life. Discover new…

Your guide Cat Ellis says… Make the right-click menu work for you by adding brilliant new tools and options, and removing the ones you never use At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 The Windows context menu, which appears when you right-click a file or folder, is packed with handy tools. Not only can you open, copy or delete a file or folder using it, you can also use it to pin items to the Taskbar for quick access, scan them for viruses with Windows Defender (very useful if it’s something you’ve just downloaded), or create a handy shortcut. The context menu is capable of so much more, though. With a few extra programs, you can…

Your guide Nick Peers says… “Internet file-sharing doesn’t have to be complicated – or risky. O&O FileDirect is the perfect free tool for the job, and it’s both secure and hassle-free” At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 What’s the best way to share files over the internet? Email? It’s an insecure medium, and there are file-size limits. OneDrive or Google Drive? That works best for shared folders and collaborating regularly, not one-off file shares. The easiest and most secure way to share files is by P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing, which transfers files directly from your PC to your recipient’s computer, with nothing stored online. O&O FileDirect (www.oo-software.com/en/filedirect) makes this process a simple and safe one:…

1 Shared link Browse to the file or folder that you wish to share using File Explorer on your PC. Right-click it and you will be able to choose ‘Share a OneDrive link’ to share a read-only (and download) link, or ‘More OneDrive sharing options’ to create a link with editing and read-only characteristics – handy for collaborative projects. 2 Access link A link will be generated for you to share with others. When a recipient gets a message from you containing a link, they can click it and access the file or folder using the OneDrive web interface. They can view or download the items without logging in or click ‘Add to my OneDrive’ to edit files through their own account. 3 Permissions If you want to view and…

Just starting your Windows journey? Confused by the changes Microsoft has made to the Creators Update? Maybe you just want to learn something new about Windows 10. Well, this is the section for you! There’s not enough space to tell you absolutely everything you need to know here, but Windows Help & Advice always has your back. In our essential Basics section, we’ll show you how to: master the desktop and make it work for you; customise the Start menu and quickly access favourite items using tiles; and how to get the best from Windows 10’s virtual personal assistant, Cortana.…

You can trust our reviews Our reviewers are 100 per cent independent, with years of experience in the world of computing. Our rigorous testing procedures mean that only genuine, high-quality products are awarded high star ratings. If you see an item of hardware bearing a high score, you can be confident that it is an excellent product. We choose the best products Thousands of new PC products are released every year and choosing between them can be an impossible task. Our experts select only the best hardware and software to feature in this magazine. Even better, our star rating system makes it simple to find the best products, giving you a fast, trustworthy guide. How we review Our expert reviewers guarantee to test every piece of hardware rigorously and thoroughly,…

Once upon a time, the web was awash with third-party clients that enabled you use Twitter in a way that suited you – either as a full-screen extravaganza with multiple skins, or as a discreet sidebar alongside your web browser. Those days are over; Twitter decided to crack down on developers a few years back, imposing strict API restrictions that broke most clients and drove users back to Twitter’s web app. The third-party scene isn’t completely dead, though; thanks to dedicated developers, there are still some great alternatives for users who want to go beyond the basics. Twitter has built some alternatives of its own too, so you can choose a client that’s best suited to the way you tweet. Presented here is our pick of the best Twitter apps…

You can’t keep a good laptop/tablet hybrid down, and Microsoft’s acclaimed Surface Pro is certainly one of the best. The Surface Pro 4 was one of our favourite machines of 2016, and this new model – at press time simply called the ‘new Surface Pro’ – looks set to best it with new features, a faster processor, lighter weight and a battery which lasts 50% longer than the previous edition. Prices start at an affordable £799 for an Intel Core m3 model with 128GB of storage.…

1 Which tennis player was once linked to a virus outbreak? A Roger Federer B Anna Kournikova C Pete Sampras 2 Before the internet, how did viruses used to spread? A Infected floppy disks B Airborne spores C Dirty mice 3 In what year was the first ever computer virus created? A 1991 B 1981 C 1971 4 How many viruses are released into the wild each month? A Over 500 B Over 5,000 C Over 50,000 5 Which of these is a kind of virus? A Worm B Beetle C Fly 6 Which of these describes a virus? A Self-replicating B Self-involved C Self-less…

1. BACKUP: It’s unlikely that anything disastrous will happen, but now is a good time to ensure that you have backup copies of your most important files, preferably spread across several different devices and locations – both online and offline. 2. CREATE A RESTORE POINT: Before you install the Creators Update, create a system restore point so you can roll back your PC if something goes wrong. To do that type ‘System Restore’ in the Cortana search box, click the first link that appears and click Create to start the System Restore process. 3. FREE UP SPACE: Make sure you have enough room for the update. Type ‘Disk Cleanup’ into the Cortana search box to launch the Disk Cleanup tool. This will remove any unwanted or unnoticed files. Be careful…

Your guide Matt Hanson says… “Making websites easier to read is easy in Windows. And we’re going to show you how right here…” At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 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…

Your guide Cox says… “Top tips to help you sell your stuff, using the world’s most popular online auction site” At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 WATCH LIST Keep track of similar items by ‘watching’ them. This will let you see how much people are bidding for items like yours. SAVED SEARCHES ‘Searches you follow’ tells you when items that match your search terms go online. Handy for tracking prices. RETURNS If a buyer wants to return an item they have bought from you, it will show up here. Reply quickly and help them. SCHEDULED ITEMS Any listings you’ve scheduled are seen here. You can also adjust the time they go live or change the…

Your guide Cat Ellis says… “Escape social media, emails and cluttered programs with WriteMonkey – a simple writing app that lets you focus on what really matters” At a glance Skill level… Anyone can do it Straightforward Tricky in parts Suitable for… Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 You’ve got your word processor and web browser open, ready to knuckle down to some serious work – but wait, what’s that new email notification about? It could be something important. You’d better check. And there’s a new alert on that Facebook tab you left open. What could that be? Even with the best will in the world, it’s difficult to avoid distractions, and they can easily eat up your time. That’s why you need WriteMonkey – a simple but very effective…

“If you’ve signed up for OneDrive or Google Drive you may have already encountered your first cloud apps” One of the most interesting ways in which the cloud has transformed our lives is in the way it’s now possible to run apps that take up next to no resources on your PC. Cloud-powered apps are basically powered by remote servers – networks of supercomputers linked together to provide the resources required to run the app. Your PC then accesses these apps directly through your web browser or – less frequently – through special apps that basically provide a ‘wrapper’ around a web-based interface. The concept of running all your applications in the cloud led to the emergence of Chromebooks, low-powered laptops that are powered by Chrome OS, which basically uses…

If you use Microsoft Edge as your main web browser, you’ll no doubt have noticed that it uses Microsoft’s own search engine, Bing, as its default. While Bing is very good, there are alternatives available… the ubiquitous Google, of course, and DuckDuckGo – a search engine that doesn’t track you. To use DuckDuckGo, open Edge and head to https://duckduckgo.com, then click the ellipis (…) in the top right corner.…