Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2020 i Windows Help & Advice

There isn’t a single PC problem that isn’t ill-timed, drawing you further and further away from the reason you sat down in front of your computer in the first place. But the most disruptive of them all occurs when your PC suddenly won’t start. It may have been brewing for weeks – a slow accumulation of minor glitches growing in intensity – or maybe it came out of the blue. Either way, what are you going to do about it? That’s where we come in. If your PC won’t get as far as the Windows logo or even start at all, we’ll investigate everything from loose cables to complete hardware failure. If it’s Windows that’s causing you grief we’ll look at troubleshooting the problem thoroughly, first with the help of…

Don’t take risks when opening your PC case or handling its sensitive innards. They’re susceptible to static electricity, which we humans are masters at producing. If you can afford it, we recommend investing in an anti-static wrist strap (widely available on eBay for as little as £2). Attach the wristband to your wrist and clip the other end on to your PC case to provide an earth to safely discharge any static build-up. If you don’t have access to a wrist strap, another way to discharge static safely is to ensure your PC remains plugged into the mains, but that the mains switch itself is off – this then uses the cable and socket as an earth. If you plan to handle sensitive components like motherboards outside of your PC…

Windows’ built-in repair tools can only do so much – if you find them falling short, then it’s time to call in the cavalry. Lazesoft Recovery Suite is our go-to tool when it comes to taking on stubborn boot problems. Not only does it offer a wider range of repair tools, but there are also tools for recovering data from crashed (but readable) drives as well as the option of taking a fail-safe image of your entire corrupted Windows installation, ensuring you won’t lose any files even if you end up with no other choice but the nuclear option (see box below). In an ideal world you’ll have a Lazesoft recovery disc or USB flash drive ready to go, but if not you’ll need access to a working PC. Browse…

The simplest way to resolve boot problems is to effortlessly roll back to a moment before the glitch occurred. No wasted time troubleshooting, no heart-in-mouth moments as you wonder if you’ll ever see your data again. Instead, a brief tut-tut followed by the restoration of your latest backup, and on you go. This approach requires you to have a back-up plan in place, so if you’ve not already done so, download and install Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium. com/reflectfree.aspx). During setup, be sure to click Options under ‘Download Location & Options’ to select ‘Reflect Installer and PE Components’. This will download the components required to create the all-important recovery media, for which you’ll need a spare CD, DVD or USB flash drive (1GB or larger is recommended, but you may get…

No video is complete without a nifty title sequence, and OpenShot has a dedicated tool for creating and editing both static and animated titles. They’re really easy to use. Do note, however, that you’ll need to install Blender (www.blender.org) to make use of the animated titles. Once it’s installed, choose ‘Edit > Preferences > General’ and click Browse to locate it. If you’d like to design your own static titles, install Inkscape (www.inkscape.org) and point to it here as well. Whichever title tool you choose, you’ll be shown a list of templates. Select one, then use the controls in the right-hand pane to enter your title and tweak available options. Static titles can change font, text colour and background colour, while animated titles offer more options depending on the type…

F1 technical director Pat Symonds has seen a lot of changes in motor racing during the course of his many years in the business. Safety has been one of the biggest areas of improvement, but as we are often reminded, motor sport is still very dangerous. Accidents can and do happen, although each time something tragic happens there is always something that can be learnt from it. Symonds has also been instrumental in attempting to level the playing field with new regulations and a budget cap on the building of F1 cars due for 2020. Ultimately, though, Symonds thinks there is plenty that has filtered from the wild world of F1 down through to our everyday production cars. Symonds, now in his 60s, is still hugely passionate about motor racing…

One of the factors that contributes to our pessimism surrounding reinstalling Windows is that we desperately don’t want you to lose anything. We’re kind like that. But there is another, slightly frivolous way to do a reinstallation if you’ve got working hardware to play with: you can turn one Windows installation into two. If you have a second drive that is able to support a Windows 10 installation, or enough access to your current Windows 10 installation (and enough free space) to be able to trim down its drive using Disk Management then create a new clean partition, you can install a second copy of the operating system alongside the first. Simply select a custom install, and then point Windows 10 at that spare disk space – it should do…

Reinstalling is, or should be, a last resort – and if you ever come to the point where you absolutely have to reinstall Windows and don’t have copies of your files, it might be too late. A hardware failure, a cryptographic malware attack, whatever the case may be, you don’t want to be left stranded. We’ve talked about using Windows’ File History tools elsewhere, which is a good way to keep regular copies of your personal files, but Windows also includes a more thorough backup procedure in the form of Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Now, we can’t be entirely sure how long this is going to last, given its archaic name, but for now, it works, and we’d wager that Microsoft will supply a tool to restore its backups…

£323 | $425 www.brother.co.uk The DCP-J1100DW might seem expensive, but with a claimed three-year ink supply and a three-year guarantee included in the price, it’s actually very good value. It’s also a unique proposition for a cartridge-based inkjet printer. From Brother’s point of view, bundling this much ink keeps customers from buying third-party cartridges, but with the ability to print 6,000 mono pages, or 5,000 in colour, the customer benefits too. The three-year guarantee is also worth having because printers, with all their moving parts, have an unfortunate habit of going wrong. The marketing gives the impression that the box is full of spare ink cartridges, whereas in fact you only get a single set of four. The difference is that these cartridges are huge and filled to the brim,…

£350 | $400 www.bowerswilkins.com Noise-cancelling headphones aren’t what they used to be. They’re far superior. Gone are the days when they required AAA batteries and noise cancellation was a simple on/off affair. Today, we have adaptable noise-cancelling for numerous real-world scenarios, built-in batteries that can comfortably last an entire transatlantic flight (and, in some cases, back again) from one charge, and new technology that makes them more efficient, convenient and better-sounding than ever before. Most, of course, are now wireless too. The new Bowers & Wilkins PX7 Wireless Headphones fly the flag for such progression. It’s now over two years since Bowers’ original PX headphones – and it shows. By bringing more sophisticated noise-cancelling, much-improved sound quality, a honed aesthetic, and even a world first (more on that later) to…

If you’re looking for a USB Wi-Fi adapter, chances are you don’t have a motherboard with Wi-Fi built-in – which is quite maddening in this modern age. Our round-up of adapters brings you the ones that will improve your connectivity the most, offering you a consistent wireless connection. Even the best Wi-Fi adapter won’t give you the reliability of a wired connection, but if you prefer the freedom that wireless can offer, the choice is obvious. We rely heavily on our internet connections these days, and while some of the price tags might make you think twice, spending money on your computer’s internet connection will ensure you get the most out of your PC. 1 Edimax EW-7833UAC £35, www.edimax.com While many mainstream adapters make do with AC1200 specs, Edimax…

1 Lightworks  www.lwks.com Lightworks is the best free video editor for anyone who wants to create professional-quality movies and videos without paying a penny. It supports multitrack video and is a non-linear editor, so the quality of your footage won’t be affected by processing. With Lightworks, you’ll find all sorts of high-end features that are normally only available with expensive packages such as Final Cut Pro. These include the ability to import and render footage in the background, and to preview video effects in real time. You can drag various editing windows around to create an almost infinite number of layout variations and set custom keyboard shortcuts to speed up your editing jobs. You can download and install Lightworks for free, but if you decide you want to invest…

If you’re the owner of a Sonos smart speaker and you fancy picking up an upgrade, Sonos will offer you a discount if you recycle your old device. That’s great, isn’t it? You get a cheaper speaker, and your old model moves on elsewhere. What isn’t so great is Sonos’ method: the company flips a virtual switch which throws your existing speaker into ‘recycle mode’, effectively disabling it forever. It doesn’t matter whether the hardware was working perfectly beforehand, or might be useful for a charity or second owner; once the deed is done, it’s destined for the local e-waste bin. There are many logical reasons for this. Sonos estimates that over 90% of the hardware it has ever sold is still in use. Those with older hardware miss out…

54.62% The proportion of PCs running Windows 10 in December 2019, according to figures from NetMarketShare. Windows 7 came in at 26.64%, with Windows 8.1 on 3.63%, and Windows 8 on 0.66%. 270 MILLION  The number of times the WhatsApp messaging app was downloaded in the last quarter of 2019, according to figures from app analysis firm Sensor Tower. 30 million came from Apple’s App Store, with Google Play making up the rest. 9.1%  The growth in phone app downloads in 2019, from the Sensor Tower analysis. 0.6%  The year-on-year growth in the Windows PC market for 2019, from Gartner analysis. It was the first year since 2011 to see all-quarter growth. 333 MILLION  Is the number of smartphones shipped in just one quarter of 2019 according to figures from…

Step one of the troubleshooting process is to identify whether your problem is hardware or Windows-related. If your PC powers on, passes its initial checks (known as the POST, or Power On Self Test) and gets as far as the Windows logo before things go wrong, your problem is likely to be related to your Windows installation – turn the page to find out how to diagnose and fix it. If you can’t even get as far as this, then your problem is likely to be linked to your hardware – it may be a simple physical problem or something more fundamental like component failure. Here’s what you need to do. PC won’t power on at all If nothing happens – literally – when you press the power button then…

First, the good news: your hardware appears to be in good working order. Now the bad news: finding out what’s happened to Windows. There are two routes to follow here: the first involves Windows’ built-in repair tools, summarised opposite. The problem may be accessing them. Windows’ first recourse is its own Start-up Repair tool, which should run automatically after a failed attempt to load. If it fails to fix the problem after several attempts, it should bring up the advanced start-up tool with the all-important Troubleshoot button under ‘Choose an option’. Access Start-up Repair If this fails to appear you can try interrupting the boot sequence manually as soon as you see the Windows logo appear by pressing the reset button to trigger the advanced start-up tool, but if Windows…

If you’re unable to get Windows working in any form, and you have no recent backup to fall back on, then you’re left with two options: a full-blown reinstall. If Automatic Repair is unable to fix your PC and gives you the option, choose ‘Advanced options’ followed by Troubleshoot and finally ‘Reset this PC’. Start by with the ‘Keep my files’ option – you’ll see there’s no option to preserve your apps. This – the equivalent of a repair installation – is only available through Windows. There’s also an option to reset and remove everything, but we’re inclined to suggest that if you’re going to go down this route – having backed up everything first of course – that a brand new install using your Windows installation media is the…

Your personal files – photos, documents, media files and so on – change more frequently than Windows. While rolling back your PC a day or even a week won’t have too disruptive an effect on your programs, you could find yourself losing hours or even days of work. If you’ve not moved your key data folders to another partition or drive, we recommend you store your key data in your cloud provider’s folder – OneDrive being the obvious example – so the latest version is always being synced. When you roll back your PC, the older versions of your files will be restored to disk, but your cloud provider should detect this and download the latest versions of your files back to your PC automatically. Keep a close eye on…

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…

1 PROPERTIES PANE All objects – clips, transition effects and so on – have their own set of editable properties, accessible here. 2 PROJECT FILES Drag video clips, images and audio tracks to this pane to add them to your project. 3 SWITCH VIEW Use these tabs to switch between viewing project files, transitions and special effects. 4 PLAY-HEAD/RULER Use this to position the playback preview window at the correct point in your movie. 5 VIDEO PREVIEW Use this to play your movie – complete with any added effects or overlaid tracks. 6 TRACKS Place your movie’s elements on the relevant track to build up your movie.…

1 Select clip to trim You should edit – or ‘trim’ – your clips before placing them on the timeline. The original clip is left untouched; instead, a copy of the trimmed clip is added to the Project Files pane for you to select like any other. This enables you to produce multiple clips from one video file. Right-click your chosen clip in the Project Files window and choosing ‘Split Clip’. 2 Start and end points Either use the slider or click Play to locate the exact point where you’d like your edited clip to start. Click Start and you’ll see its thumbnail appear inside the Start button. Now position the slider where you want the edited clip to end and click End. If you make a mistake or want…

01 SWANICK BLUE LIGHT BLOCKING GLASSES Your phone may have anti-blue light tech, but what about your TV or laptop? Blue light suppresses production of melatonin (sleep regulating hormone), but these orange lens glasses block blue light. Pop them on an hour before bed if you’re looking at screens. £53, amazon.co.uk 02 ROCKETBOOK EVERLAST NOTEBOOK A racing mind is a recipe for broken sleep. Journalling is a proven way to ‘empty’ your brain before bed so that you don’t lie there ruminating. Not only is this clever notebook reusable, via the app it also converts handwritten notes into digital files. £34, getrocketbook.co.uk 03 VITRUVI ESSENTIAL OIL DIFFUSER Certain scents, including lavender, promote deep relaxation, which gets your body into a restful state for sleep. Vitruvi’s oil diffuser can be programmed…

Aelissa Gregg is a senior principal engineer at Intel, and whose work involves researching how people use their devices, and working that into Intel’s strategies. She’s part of the team developing Project Athena, a template for a new generation of laptops designed to address recent changes in how we work as a society. Do you think there’s an important distinction between a traditional computer with a full interface, and simpler devices or appliances that have invisible software? I think that there’s an interesting continuum right now where the visibility, or the literacy required of computing, is much broader than it once was. It’s very easy to talk to an Echo or a Google Home. It doesn’t require you to have a great deal of programming knowledge in order to have…

Eric King, general manager of Amazon Alexa Europe, has been helping to grow Amazon’s voice services ever since it first opened the system up to developers, and has led the charge for growing the range of Alexa Skills and hardware partners for Amazon Voice Services that have defined Alexa’s rise to the top of the voice-assistant charts. Are there areas of the tech world that you think voice control would be suited for, but it hasn’t really permeated yet? Where we see customers adopting voice most aggressively and at the fastest rate is in areas where, frankly, it makes their lives easier – where life is easier when you don’t have to fumble for a phone in order to do something. We see our next logical advancement to that happening…

Believe it or not, there is a body that controls and defines which symbols make it onto the Windows emoji palette: it’s Unicode, the same consortium that makes sure fonts work properly. In February 2019, Emoji 12.0 was finalised, and came to Windows 10 in the May 2019 update, which may still be trickling through to the last few PCs. To access emoji, and see the new symbols, press [Win] + [.] or [;].…

The act of reinstalling Windows 10 can feel daunting. Never fear: we’re going to step you through the entire process from booting from your Windows installation media to running carefully through the post-install setup options. If you’ve not yet done so, visit www.microsoft.com/en-gb/ software-download/windows10 and click Download tool now to download and run the Media Creation Tool. Insert a blank DVD, or plug in an unused USB flash drive (8GB or larger). After launching the tool, accept the licence terms, then choose Create installation media… and follow the prompts (use recommended options when asked) to create your flash drive or generate an ISO file. If you choose the ISO file option, click Open DVD burner at the end to write it to your blank DVD. Once your installation media has…

“Keeping an eye on your PC’s actions isn’t particularly difficult, Windows 10 includes all the tools you might need” Many people look at a Windows reinstallation as a way to fix any and all ills. However, we consider it as being more of a last resort. It’s a little like dealing with unruly children. Before taking drastic action and shipping your PC off to military school, you should really do everything you possibly can to fix the problems you’ve got, and find out the cause of its misbehaviour, because you might just find that a simple solution works better. Heavy-handed metaphor aside, keeping a keen eye on your PC’s actions isn’t particularly difficult, because Windows 10 includes all the tools you might need at your disposal: There’s the Task Manager…

Robots are a hotter topic today than they’ve been for some time. But while Boston Dynamics’ backflipping Atlas humanoid might never see a place in our homes, Elephant Robotics’ strangely endearing MarsCat might. A bionic feline made to behave like a real cat – right down to selectively ignoring you when you call it – MarsCat is made for equal parts entertainment and comfort. It’s not cheap, with an asking price of around £1,000 when it launches, but at least it won’t bring in any mice.…

UberAirTaxis £Sky-high (more if it’s busy) hyundai.com The flying car has long been a sign that the future is here, and at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that future was finally unveiled. A partnership between ride-sharing firm Uber and high-tech Korean car manufacturer Hyundai, the firms will work together to develop Uber Air Taxis for a future aerial ride share network. They also unveiled a full-scale aircraft concept that looks rather like a giant electric drone. Hyundai’s S-A1 is designed for a cruising speed of up to 180mph, a cruising altitude of around 300-600m above the ground, and to fly trips of up to 60 miles. It will be 100% electric, and during peak hours will require about five to seven minutes for recharging. The model is…

If your PC completes the POST, but then throws up an error about not finding a bootable operating system, start by restarting your PC, then tapping the key (typically Del or F2) to enter the BIOS (also known as the UEFI or Setup Utility). Look to see if your Windows drive has been detected – if it’s not showing in the BIOS, check the drive cables inside your case. Still no luck? There’s a possibility the drive itself has physically failed – if possible, remove it and use an external enclosure, drive caddy or USB-to-SATA adapter (around £3 on eBay) to connect it to a working PC and see if it’s recognised and its contents accessible. If the drive is recognised by your BIOS, but you still can’t access it,…

If necessary, switch to a working PC and download the Media Creation Tool from www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10 - once done, launch the tool. When prompted, choose ‘Create installation media’ after plugging in your flash drive or inserting a blank DVD and click Next. Verify the language, edition and architecture are the same as your affected PC (untick the ‘recommended options’ box and change them if not – use ‘Both’ for Architecture if not known). Click Next, choose whether to create a USB flash drive or create an ISO file for DVD, then click Next and follow the wizard through to its end, clicking ‘Open DVD burner’ if applicable.…

1 The one-click fix Open Windows Recovery, select your Windows installation if necessary and click OK. At the Overview screen, start by clicking the ‘One Click Fix Crash Solution’ option. Click ‘One Click Fix’ to run the wizard. Review the results and click Finish. 2 Try a specific fix If the one-click fix doesn’t solve your problem, examine the BootCrash tab where you’ll see a selection of individual tools from MBR Repair to Missing Windows File Repair. Select one and if it matches your symptoms, click the button to apply it. 3 Keep searching The LoadingCrash tab offers more tools, including shortcuts to System Restore and a Registry Recovery tool. This latter tool will attempt to detect – and fix – Registry corruption. Some programs may need reinstalling if this…

1 Boot from rescue media Insert your rescue media and start your PC. Look for an option to select the boot menu and press the key, then select your rescue media from the list (choose the UEFI option if the media appears twice). Wait for the familiar Macrium Reflect interface to load. 2 Select backup to restore Your backups should be detected and appear in the Image Restore tab. If a particular backup doesn’t appear, click the ‘Browse for an image file…’ button to manually locate it. Once done, click ‘Restore Image’ next to the latest backup in the list. 3 Verify destination, then restore Verify your backup matches the destination drive, which should be your Windows drive. If necessary, drag the partitions from the top to their corresponding locations…

As we’ve said throughout this feature, sleep tech on its own is not a magic bullet for instantly better slumber – your lifestyle choices and sleep hygiene are far more crucial – but some gadgets can give you a helping hand. The key when choosing a smart sleep aid is to consider your main challenge: are you a frequent waker or do you suffer from insomnia? Do you snore (or does your partner)? Perhaps you have trouble waking up easily in the morning? These are all genuine sleep issues that require time, understanding and patience, and there are smart sleep aids out there that, when coupled with proper sleep hygiene, can support you towards alleviating them. LUMIE BODYCLOCK SHINE 300 Falling asleep is not the only sleep issue people deal…

Clement Wong is Huawei’s vice president of global product marketing, and has spent decades working in the digital and mobile industries. He’s been at Huawei for seven years, helping to steer its growth worldwide from a relatively unknown Chinese brand into a gadget juggernaut. How do you think the physical form of phones will change in years to come? When you look at the trend in the last 10 years, people keep making the phone compact and sleek, but the display is huge. But there’s a little bit of a difficulty, because if you keep the display huge, the phone won’t be very light or compact. So that’s why the foldable phone is coming out. I think some more variable devices are coming out, too. So I think ‘foldable’ and…

Do you have a PC problem? Get in touch… Email full details of your problem to the support team and we’ll do our best to help windowsmagazine@ futurenet.com Windows FIX WINDOWS UPDATE Q My installing laptop updates has stopped since the 1903 update a couple of months ago. It gets to seven percent, then rolls back. Can you help? Raymond Whitehall Nick P’s solution We stepped Raymond through all the standard procedures, including downloading the update manually and running the built-in troubleshooter under ‘Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot’. We also helped him take his first ever system backup using Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/ reflectfree.aspx) in case anything disastrous happened with our more root-and-branch repairs. Once done, the next step was to elicit the help of the free version…

Reinstalling Windows 10 is a fairly trivial task. Put in the right media, boot from it, grind away the old OS, and replace it with the pristine bits of a shiny new install. This can be a painless, if time-consuming, procedure that leaves you with a like-new PC, or perhaps an even better one if you were unlucky enough to buy a PC burdened with preinstalled trashware. Before you do this, make sure you’ve checked off a few prerequisites, all of which are good practice even if you’re not planning to wipe everything and start again. “Dig out the product keys for all your crucial software and keep them safe, as you’ll need to reinstall that too” First, keep a record of your product key (if you have one –…

If you’ve gone to the trouble of creating new installation media for any version of Windows 10 past the Creators Update, you’ll probably feel a bit silly when you discover that Microsoft tucked a ‘fresh start’ option into its later Win 10 editions. Using it takes any Windows 10 installation back to the basics of a Windows install, even removing any preinstalled software your manufacturer might have included, and stripping away all your drivers – and it doesn’t require any special media. It’s basically a clean install without you having to directly perform the actions of reinstallation. You’ll find it in a corner of Windows Defender Security Centre, aka Windows Security – select Device performance and & health, then Additional info, before clicking Get started to begin. Again, make sure…

We’re at the point in the PC’s evolution where the overheads of virtualisation are proportionately so small, and the technology enabling it so plentiful, that running an everyday OS in a virtual machine is entirely reasonable. You obviously won’t get 100 percent of bare metal performance from a virtualised instance of Windows 10, but it has a host of advantages. When you’ve got a system running just as you like it, you can take a snapshot, then quickly return to it at any point in the future. You can whip up a fresh copy of Windows in minutes, without any risk to your existing install. You can fire up other operating systems, and run them simultaneously on the same machine. If you’re the kind of person who loves to settle…

From £1,749 | $2,290 www.dell.com The Alienware m17 (2019) is a reinvention of sorts for Dell’s flagship gaming brand, offering improved internals, as well as a bold new design. Alienware has a fine pedigree when it comes to gorgeously designed (and pricey) devices. From a design perspective, this is one of the best-looking gaming laptops we’ve seen. The stark colours, premium materials, and understated-yet-classy lighting really make the m17 stand out from the crowd. It’s also impressively thin and light, at just 18.6mm and 2.63kg. That makes it one of the lightest 17-inch gaming laptops in the world right now, and this is the latest device to help dispel the notion that gaming laptops need to be big, bulky, monsters. Despite its emphasis on style, and its thin and light…

From £4,399 | $5,750 www.sony.co.uk Until May 2017, the kings of professional sports and press photography were the Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and the Nikon D5. Then Sony launched the Alpha A9 and changed the game. Smaller, lighter and ridiculously fast, the original full-frame mirrorless sports shooter from Sony was one of the best we had tested. Fast forward to 2020 and the second generation A9 is on the market, trying to tempt pros to upgrade. However, Sony has mostly held on to the core specs from the first-gen A9 and has chosen to make what, on paper, seems like only incremental upgrades to the A9 II. Those little tweaks may not mean much to the average user, but professionals in the field who rely on ridiculously quick…