Help&support 100%jargonfree Buyingadvice Windowstutorials Newthingstodo

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GADGETSBACK RECOVERDATA PURGEYOURPC
GETYOURFILESBACK
EVENIFYOURPCISDEAD
TRACKDOWNAND
DESTROYROGUEFILES
BRINGBACKDESKTOP
GADGETSTOWINDOWS
GET MORE OUT
OF YOUTUBE
Howtoupgradeyour
viewingexperience
EKC|USlVE QUIDE
Fasterperformance
Fixannoyingproblems
Masteryourdesktop
Discoverhiddensecrets
W
IN
D
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S
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HowtokeepyourPCrunningwhen
M
icrosoftendssupportthisApril
110
ESSENTIAL
NEW TIPS
Plusessentialtipsfor
Windows8,Vista&XP
Nicholas Odantzis ActingEditor
www.facebook.com/windowsmag
Welcome
ThoughImreticenttoshowfavouritismtooneissue
ofWindows7Help&Adviceoveranother,thismonths
magazineisanimportantone.Notonlyhavewecompiled
ahugelistofessentialtipsover100,thatisforevery
versionofWindows(yes,theoldandthenew!),wevealso
puttogetheranexhaustiveguidewhichisessentialreading
foranybodystillusingaWindowsXPcomputer.
Asyoumayalreadyknow,Microsofthasendedsupportfor
its13-year-oldoperatingsystemunderstandably,you
mightsay,consideringthatthreenewversionsofWindows
havebeenreleasedsinceXP.Sowhatdoesthismean?Well,
youcancarryonasnormalandmakesomefundamental
changestothewayyouuseyourPC.Alternatively,you
canupgradetoanewerversion,andwellshowyouhow
todothis,quicklyandpainlessly.Goodluck,andasever,
emailmeifyoudliketosuggestanythingforafutureissue.
THEONLYCOMPUTERMAGTOHELP
YOUGETMOREFROMWINDOWS
We pride ourselves in being the only magazine
on the shelves to show you exactly how to get
the best from the Windows operating system,
whether its 7, 8, Vista or even XP. Windows 7
Help & Advice also comes with a disc, on which
you can find some of the great apps covered
in the magazine. If you get a chance, take a look
at how you can even read the magazine on your
laptop, phone or tablet.
April2014
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Help&Advice

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5
8 Discover Find out how to breathe
new life into old technology
34 Subscriptions Save up to 35
per cent when you subscribe today

44 ReaderoffersWeve a selection
of money-saving deals just for you
49 Nextmonth Gaze into the
future Whats happening in May?

75 Overseasreader?Get your
mag for less with a subscription

76 Four pages of essential
expert help for all your
tricky technical queries
REGULARS
FEATURES
SUPPORT
EXPLORE ThebestPCtutorials
Wantmore?Visitourwebsiteat
www.facebook.com/windowsmag
14 DefinitiveWindowstips
Over 100 hidden gems and new ways
to experience Windows 7 to the full
62 TheendofWindowsXP
Discover what your options are and how to
implement them as XP nears end-of-life

72 ThebestYouTubeextensions
Find and watch videos however you like
with these brilliant browser add-ons
28 Recover data if your
PC fails unexpectedly
32 Edit large groups
of photos in batches
36 Create your own
personal newsreader
40 Get amazing video
desktop backgrounds
42 Get Gadgets
back on your desktop
46 Rid your computer
of malware the easy way
50 Create an emergency
system recovery disc
52 Create a RAM drive
for faster file access
56 Get real help from
real people online
58 Read Amazon Kindle
books on your PC
Yov qrc NcIaa, OrIz, ,g,.
Each month we include as wide a range of tutorials
as possible, to help you use your computer more
ecienLly and inspire you Lo Lry new Lhings."
6
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April2014
Follow us on
www.twitter.com/windowsmag
www.facebook.com/windowsmag
80 Our expert reviews
and recommendations
82 MarshallStanmore
82 JawboneMiniJambox
83 JabraSolemateMini
83 NixonTheBlaster
83 DamsonJet
84 AsusX102BA
86 ZotacZboxID92Plus
88 ToshibaSatelliteW30t
90 NeedforSpeedRivals
92LegoMarvelSuperheroes
94 XRebirth
96 MechWarriorOnline
UPGRADE
CUT-PRICE
SUBSOFFER
Fd oI worc or agc 54
Saveupto35%payjust23.49everysixmonths
10 best
YouTube
browser
add-ons
72Watchvideosyourway
withFirefoxandChrome
ON THE COVER
62 Whatareyouroptionsand
howcanyouimplementthem?
14 Speed up
your PC and
reveal hidden
secrets
PREPARE FOR
THE END OF
WINDOWS XP
April2014
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Help&Advice

|
7
ON THE COVER
ON THE COVER

Windowstips
NEW THINGS TO DO AMAZING WEBSITES FASCINATING FACTS
OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS Dont throw
away that ancient computer yet
there may be a use for it
8
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Help&Advice
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April2014
TheKnowledge
Instruction manuals are inherently useful
documents, but theyre also easy to
misplace or lose; this can be especially
annoying if youve got an old piece of
technology you cant work out how to use.
Fortunately, the internet can bring you
long-lost user guides in downloadable
formats or can point you towards
purchasable hard copies. Handily, you can
even print out a manual if youre selling
an item without the original instructions.
GIVE OLD TECHNOLOGY
BACK ITS SPARKLE
AA ]]]]rccc,, ,,rrII
An unfortunate consequence of our love
for shiny, new tech is a lot of waste. And if
youre anything like us, youll have
a cupboard bursting with an electronic
spaghetti bolognese of gadgets, gizmos
and cables. While the disposal of
electronic goods is controlled by
a European Commission directive, plenty
of old gadgets slip into landll where they
can leak toxins into the environment.
While local councils will often recycle
e-waste, it might be
worth putting
apparently obsolete
tech to good use.
An elderly
computer may not
play the latest games, but it can be
repurposed as a media centre PC and will
function effectively even without the latest
graphics card. You can also set up your old
PC as a digital video recorder simply add
a TV tuner card or USB device and use
Media Center (supplied with Windows 7)
or the free XBMC media centre.
Even though the original Xbox is over
10 years old, it can be turned into a media
centre, too. Visit www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk
and youll nd full instructions for turning
it into an all-singing, all-dancing media
hub that can play music and videos.
Laptops are also ideal candidates for
repurposing. Both Windows 7 and 8
include Virtual Wi-Fi tech that allows
laptops to be turned into wireless routers
fantastic if you have problems accessing
the internet wirelessly from certain parts
of your home. Its a bit tricky, but youll
nd instructions at:
http://bit.
ly/1dzDNMc. Open
source software such
as Virtual Router
(http://virtualrouter.
codeplex.com) can be used to set up
a laptop as a Wi-Fi hotspot, too.
If youre feeling really techy, you can
root an old Android phone to access new
features and functions. It may sound
complicated, but CyanogenMod (www.
cyanogenmod.org/) will help you through
the process. Doing this might void the
phones warranty, but if the device is old
anyway, you really have nothing to lose.
Dig out that ageing laptop and give it a new lease
of life with our guide to reviving ancient gadgets
Stratasys Objet500
Connex3
Ah, a 3D printer. Havent they been
around for a while?
Yes, and theyre brilliant and we love them.
But the one massive drawback to 3D
printing is that you have to make models
from materials of a single colour. For
example, if you want to create a model
lighthouse, you have to print out the red
and white bits separately before piecing
all of them together.
Youre going to tell me this 3D printer
can print lighthouses, arent you?
Well, yes. The Objet500 Connex3 includes
three nozzles, which can blend coloured
materials in a manner similar to inkjet
printers. This means that the objects
it creates can be multi-coloured, which
is a rst for 3D printers.
What else can it do?
As well as working with multi-coloured
objects, the Objet500 Connex3 can also
blend translucent, solid and rubbery
materials, so you can create a pair of
sunglasses with bendy arms and
see-through lenses, or a set of
headphones with comfortable earpieces.
Or, a wobbly lighthouse.
Why does it matter?
Stratasys has designed the 3D printer
specically for prototypes; designers can
save a lot of time if they are able to easily
print a single object in a variety of colours
and materials.
When can I get one?
The Objet500 Connex3 is only available
to order, and is rumoured to cost roughly
$330,000 (200,000). If you dont have that
sort of cash in your back pocket, itll be
worth waiting a bit Stratasys also owns
consumer 3D printer company MakerBot,
and the technology may trickle down
to home machines one day.
WWW.INSTRUCTIONMANUALS.CO.UK This site
has lots of downloadable instruction manuals.
WWW.OLDTIMERCAMERAS.COM Features
instructions for cameras, but only as hard copies.
WWW.MANUALSONLINE.COM A US-based site,
but many products are also available in the UK.
MANUAL LABOURInstructionbooksonline
"An elderly computer
can be repurposed as
a media centre PC"
Discover
Outdatedcomputers
April2014
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Help&Advice

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9
HENRY wINCHE$TEP
TECH EXPEPT
Tipofthemonth Desktops of the world
Struggling to get something to work? Need a tip?
Then email us your woes (to windowsmagazine@futurenet.com with the subject line
Windows Insider) and well share your perfect Windows tweaks in a future issue.
Speech recognition has long been a feature
of Windows, but in Windows 8 it really comes
into its own especially if youre using your
laptop or tablet hands-free. Before you begin,
youll need to have a microphone plugged
in or enabled you can check this via the
speaker icon in the Taskbar. To enable speech
recognition, press the Start button, then
type Speech and click on Windows Speech
Recognition. You will then be taken through
a few options to set it up, and will be given
the option to print out a cheatsheet for
common commands. When speech
recognition is running youll see an icon
at the top of the screen, and you can use
keywords such as Desktop, Start and
Internet to control your PC.
Speakeasy
You dont need a state-of-the-art
smartphone to access Androids amazing
intelligent search features in fact, you can
do it straight from Internet Explorer running
on Windows XP. Simply visit www.google.
com and sign in or register using the link to
the upper right. Youll now be able to enter
terms into the Google search box such as:
what time is it in Tokyo? or remind me to
turn off the hob in five minutes. Each of
these will take you to a customised Google
results page where the required information
will be right at the top of the screen.
Getmorefrom
Google
Each and every typeface that you use in
Windows Vista has a host of hidden
characters such as umlauted-s,
mathematical symbols and smiley face icons.
To access them, click the Start button then
choose Accessories followed by System
Tools and Character Map. Here youll find
a table that lists all of the characters available
within a typeface, and you can switch
between fonts by using the drop-down
menu at the top. Double-clicking a symbol
adds it to the field at the bottom, which can
then be copied to the clipboard. For some
fonts you will see a keystroke such as
[Alt] + [0214] that can be used to quickly add
unusual characters within documents.
Quiteacharacter
Windows 7s UK-based themes are
rather beautiful, but even we tire from
looking at the same views of Tower
Bridge and Stonehenge all the time.
Interestingly, Windows 7 comes with
themes for countries such as Australia,
South Africa and the United States, but
they are turned off by default. If you
want to access them, click My
Computer and go to C:\Windows\
Globalization\MCT and in here you will
find themes for other countries.
Double-click on a folder in order to
access the themes. Double-click on your
chosen theme file and it will
automatically be applied to your PC and
will appear in the My Themes section of
your personalisation menu. To switch
back to a different one, right-click on
a blank area of your desktop
background, then choose Personalize
and select a different theme.
Internationalthemes
Bored of Windows 7s default themes? Install some
beautiful desktops from around the globe
SLIDESHOW This
stunning image is
included in the
Canadian theme pack
10
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Help&Advice
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April2014
Downloadthis
Follow us on
www.facebook.com/windowsmag
www.twitter.com/windowsmag
FRIDAY
April 2014
NEXT ISSUE ON SALE
11
S
haring your Wi-Fi internet
connection with your neighbours
sounds like the stuff of nightmares,
or at least a plot from a low-budget
sitcom. What if they took you over your
usage limit by downloading huge les, or
got you into trouble by illegally streaming
the latest movies via your connection? It
certainly seems like a recipe for disaster.
Yet this is almost exactly what Spanish
network operator Telefnica wants to do.
Its proposed system
is dubbed BeWi and
spreads download
tasks among multiple
Wi-Fi routers in the
vicinity, resulting in
faster and more
reliable downloads.
BeWi would allow
users to give their
own internet speed a
boost by borrowing
bandwidth when
other people are
ofine. With more speed you will enjoy a
movie online without interruptions; you
will be able to make video calls or
download large les, the company says.
Telefnica rst dreamt up the idea in
2008, when the company realised that
most people keep their routers on 24/7 but
only dip into the internet for occasional
periods. By tapping into the excess
bandwidth, users could increase their
connection speed; this would then drop
back to the standard speed when more
people came online. As the connection is
only accessed when not in use, users
cannot see others data. In fact, BeWi is
just as secure as other Wi-Fi connections.
When properly rolled out, a series of
routers in a block of ats would provide
a fast and smooth connection for everyone
there. More routers result in better
service.
Telefnica tested
the system in
Barcelona, where
some users found
that their Wi-Fi
speeds increased by
100 per cent thanks
to the new
technology, and the
process of jumping
onto other
connections worked
seamlessly.
The only problem? This technology
might never make its way to UK shores.
While Telefnica owns UK network
operator O2, O2 itself recently sold its
own home broadband offering to BSkyB.
However, if Telefnica decides to license
the system to internet service providers
or router manufacturers then we may
be in luck. Fingers crossed!
Spanish network operator Telefnica is revolutionising
inLerneL connecLions - buL will 8eWi ever come Lo Lhe UK
EEcciiggoovvvcc', aaLLkkggg aaooI...
1
WhichrareTwitter
usernamewas
allegedlystolenby
ahacker?
A) @Bieber
B) @Apple
C) @N
2
Whichentertainment
mediaisFacebook
usingtostoredata?
A) DVDs
B) Blu-rays
C) HD DVDs
3
Whichinternetgiant
isrumouredtobe
bringingoutitsown
gamesconsole?
A) Facebook
B) Google
C) Amazon
4
Whatisthenameof
Intelswearable
technology?
A) Jarvis
8) Liam
C) Damon
5
Toughnew
smartphonescreens
areinspiredbywhat?
A) A sharks tooth
8) A mollusc's shell
C) A ducks bill
6
Anewartificial
tonguecan
distinguishdifferent
typesofwhat?
A) Beer
B) Chillies
C) Chocolate
Pc, aI lc rcadq, gov vc ,r, o(l
THE OO-$ECOND QUl7
A n s w e r s 1 C , 2 B , 3 C , 4 A , 5 B , 6 A
Speeding up wireless
Build with Chrome
www.buildwithchrome.com
2014 is shaping up to be the year of Lego.
Not only is its big budget Hollywood lm
The Lego Movie now on the big screen,
but the legendary Danish toy company
has also inked a deal with hit TV show The
Simpsons. And thats not all Lego has
recently collaborated with Google
to launch Build with Chrome online.
Build with Chrome is a simulation
of a Lego set and comes complete with
lots of dierently-shaped coloured blocks
and a base plate on which to assemble
them. Theres even a Build Academy
where you can carry out tasks to brush up
on your construction skills, while more
condent users can share their
masterpieces with friends. Itll bring back
a ood of memories if you played with
Lego as a kid with the added advantage
that you dont have to tidy away your
latest creation before Dad gets home.
BUILD WITH CHROME Click on a Lego brick
to start building your dream house
Discover
Techtalk
April2014
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Help&Advice

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11
VS
G
O
O
G
L
E
N
O
W S
I
R
I
HOWMANY
GADGETSDOES
THEAVERAGE
TEENOWN?
Six, according to a poll conducted by
IT firm Logicalis. Eighty-four per cent
of teenagers own a smartphone, 78 per
cent have a laptop, but only 51 per cent
possess a tablet device. Facebook,
YouTube and Twitter are among the top
apps that teens visit, while two in three
youngsters upload content and video.
Ten per cent of teenage boys have
coded smartphone apps, and 28 per
cent of those questioned said that
information and communications
technology (ICT) is vital to employment.
WHICH ASPECTS
OF LIFE DO
UNDER-25S
BELIEVE
TECHNOLOGY
COULD IMPROVE?
If youve got an Android or iPhone
handset, chances are youve also got a
virtual assistant that can answer spoken
questions. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene
Munster put Siri and Google Now to the
test, asking them 800 questions in indoor
and outdoor environments. He found that
both understood his questions 94 per cent
of the time, but iPhones Siri gave correct
results 83 per cent of the time, compared
to 81 per cent for Androids Google Now.
Having a conversation with your phone
can be fun, but we prefer a good ol
virtual keyboard.
WHICH IS BETTER:
40%
Shopping
45%
Work
12
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Help&Advice
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April2014
Henry Winchesterrevealsaselection
offascinatingdigitalfacts
was the top trending YouTube
video of 2013. The comedy song,
which asks what noise a fox makes,
achieved a whopping 276,314,743
views. The Norwegian Armys take
on the Harlem Shake meme
achieved 95,260,562 views, while
a pair of chaps impersonating
animals eating their food garnered
88,822,009 views. Gangnam
Style singer PSYs Gentleman
M/V was the most watched music
video on the site, with
599,041,255 views. These figures
continue to soar in 2014 catch up
today at http://goo.gl/3qvkA3
YLVISS
THE FOX...
ThetermWeblogwascoinedbyJornBarger
in1997,butitwasPeterMerholzwholater
shortenedittoblog.
blogger.comwaslaunchedbyEvanWilliamsand
MegHourihanon23August1999.
Bloggerwasoneofthefirstblogtoolsand
providedaneasy-to-useinterfacethatgave
good-lookingresults.
By2003,theservicehadattracted1.1million
registeredbloggers.Atthatpoint,blogswere
startingtobecomeincreasinglymainstreamand
wereemergingasanimportantnewssource.

Inthesameyear,Googleacquiredthesiteunder
undisclosedterms.
Googlesinvestmentbroughtwithitasnazzynew
redesignin2004,withsupportforcommentsand
theopportunityforpostingviaemail.
Thesiteisavailableinmorethan50languagesand
ishugelypopulararoundtheworld.
BloggerhasbeenblockedinIran,Peoples
RepublicofChinaandCuba.
Acrossallbloggingplatforms,overtwomillion
blogpostsarewritteneverysingledaythats
enoughcontenttofillTimemagazineformore
thansevencenturies.
DespiteTwitterandFacebookhostingblog-esque
content,blogger.comisstillverypopular;asof
May2013,itwastheworlds12thmost-visitedsite.
TOP BLOGGER FACTS
ALMOST HALF OF
ALL WOMEN...
wouldrathergoamonthwith
nosexthangiveuptheir
smartphone.Fivepercentcuddle
uptotheminbed,
and47percentkeepiton
anightstandsotheycancheck
itfirstthinginthemorning.One
ofthe3,500womensurveyedby
RealSimpleandTheHuffington
Postevenadmittedshedbought
awaterproofcasesoshecould
keepaneyeonherphonewhile
shewasintheshower.
52%
Transportation
49%
Healthcare
57%
Education
April2014
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Help&Advice

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13
Discover
Facts&figures
U
sing Windows on your PC can sometimes
feel a bit like doing the weekly supermarket
shop. We tend to follow the same routine,
visit the same sections and end up with the same
results. It can easily become boring, but both
Waitrose and Windows contain plenty of hidden
gems weve yet to discover or havent dared to try.
1hankully, nding resh and inLeresLing eaLures
in Windows 7 wont require you to rummage
through supermarket shelves or part with any
extra cash. A lot of features will actually make
Windows quicker and easier to use. For example,
learning new keyboard shortcuts will save you
hunting through menus to carry out simple tasks.
Likewise, once you know the range of alignment
and layout tricks that Windows 7 has to offer,
youll wonder how you managed without them.
However, we know that embracing the new
isnt always easy, so were also going to show you
how to restore some of Windows XPs best-loved
qualities, such as its Quick Launch toolbar and
traditional Taskbar icons. And while Windows 7 is
streets ahead of its forerunner when it comes to
features such as animated desktop backgrounds,
its also possible to unearth a secret store of
stunning hidden wallpapers.
All this customisation is good fun, but
discovering a new tool or feature that will make
your life easier takes some beating. Fancy making
virLual PosL-iL noLes, sharing les and resources
between several home computers, or controlling
your PC with your voice? Windows 7 has the
power to do it, once you know where to look.
Of course, you may already be familiar with
some of the tips weve lined up over the following
pages, but the sheer extent and diversity of
what Windows 7 is capable of means that many
of them should still be pleasantly surprising.
So wiLhouL urLher ado, here's our deniLive lisL
of the ultimate Windows 7 tips, tricks and tweaks.
Definitive
WindowsTips
Ben Andrewspresentsover100waysyoucan
experienceWindows7tothefull,whetheryoure
newtotheoperatingsystemoranoldhand
14
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Help&Advice
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April2014
AeroSnap
OneofWindows7smost
usefuleverydayfeaturesis
theAeroSnapfunction.
Whenyoudragawindow
tothefarleftorright
ofyourmonitor,itwill
automaticallyresizeitself
o|||a||eceer.
Alternatively,youcandrag
ittothetopifyouwantto
fullymaximisethewindow.
MovetheTaskbar
TheWindowsTaskbaris
alwaystiedtothebottom
ofthescreen,isntit?Well,
itcanactuallyresideonany
edgeyoulike.Justright-
clickablanksectionofthe
bar,ensuretheLockthe
Taskbaroptionisun-ticked,
thendragittothetop,left
orrightofthedesktop
whereveryoulike!
Sackyourmouse
Wereallfamiliarwithminimising,maximisingandclosing
windowsusingthemouse,butthereareafewbackup
keyboardcontrolsforwhenyourrodentgoesonstrike.
[Windows]+[Down]or[Windows]+[Up]handlemaximising
andminimising,and[Alt]+[F4]willcloseawindow.
Anotherusefultrickis[Windows]+[D].Thisminimises
everyopenwindowandreunitesyouwiththedesktop.
Wanttosnapawindowtotheleftorrightofthedisplay
usingyourkeyboard?Press[Windows]+[Left]or[Right].
Finally,youcanseethebiggerpicturebytapping
[Windows]+[+]toinstantlymagnifyanythingonscreen.
AntiSnap
Ifallthatsnappingis
makingyousnap,you
candisableitbytyping
regeditintotheStart
menu,thendouble-
clickingyourwayto
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
>ControlPanel>
Desktop.SetWindow
ArrangementActiveto
0andreboot.
Tileyourwindows
AeroSnapisbrilliant
forcomparingtwo
windowsataglance,
butviewingmore
requiresanewknack.
Press[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Esc],
thenhold[Ctrl]and
clickeachitemonthe
list.Nowright-clickand
pickTilehorizontally
orTilevertically.
AeroShake
Havingmultiple
windowsopencanget
distracting,sotosingle
oneout,clickandhold
itsuppermosttitlebar
andgiveitashake.All
oftheotherwindows
willmagicallyminimise.
Anothershakewill
restorethemtotheir
previouspositions.
QuickLaunch
Hereshowtoreinstate
thoseiconsontheright
oftheWindowsXP
Taskbar:right-clickthe
Taskbar,selectToolbars
>Newtoolbar,then
type%userproIe%)
AppData)Roamng)
Mcrosoft)Internet
fxpIorer)Quck
Launchandhit[Enter].
Restyleyouricons
Ifyourenotafanof
theminimalistWindows
7Taskbariconsand
wantamoreXP-style
look,right-clickablank
areaoftheTaskbar,
clickPropertiesand
selectCombinewhen
Taskbarisfullfromthe
Taskbarbuttons
dropdownmenu.
Peekatthedesktop
Canyouseethesmall
sectionoftheTaskbar
totherightofthe
clock?Hoveroverit
totemporarilypeekat
thedesktop,orclickit
tominimiseallopen
windows.Ifyoudrather
disablethisfeature,
simplyright-clickthe
samesection.
AeroFlip3D
Switchingbetween
openappsusingthe
keyboardisusuallythe
realmofthe[Alt]+[Tab]
shortcut,butWindows
7addsanother,sexier
switchingmode.Its
calledAeroFlip3D,
andyoucangiveit
awhirlbypressing
[Windows]+[Tab].
Cover feature
DefinitiveWindowstips
April2014
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Help&Advice

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15
Bypassthebin
De|e|rq|eard
foldersisaseasyas
pressingthe[Delete]
key,right?Wellsortof,
butthentheresthe
RecycleBintonegotiate
beforethedatareally
disappears.Trypressing
[Shift]+[Delete]to
bypassthebinfora
directdeletion.
Securemobilestorage
|av|rqyou|S|a|d|ve
fallintothewronghands
couldspelladatadisasterif
|cora|rcorder|a||e,
sotakeamomenttosecure
itproperlyusingBitLocker.
Itdoesnttakelongjust
right-clickthedrive,select
TurnonBitLockerand
followtheinstructionsto
pa.odpoecyou|e.
Fastdeleting
IfyourRecycleBinhas
beengatheringdigital
dustonyourdesktop
sinceyoulearnedthe
[Shift]+[Delete]trick,
youcouldtrydisabling
italtogether.Right-click
itsicon,thenselect
Propertiesandchoose
|e'Dor'nove|eo
theRecycleBinoption.
BackupyourPC
Dor'|||o|rqyou|e
intheeventofaharddrive
failureorinvasionfroman
uninviteddigitaldemon
makesureyoubackthem
uponanexternalhard
driveorhigh-capacityUSB
a|d|ve.Tap\|rdo.],
typethewordbackupand
press[Enter]tosetthe
wheelsinmotion.
Addanantivirusapp
WindowsDefenderis
aqood||reo
defence,butitsfar
fromimpenetrable.
Forfullprotectionyou
needaproperantivirus
package.Downloadthe
freeversionofAvast
(www.avast.com)or
AVG(http://free.avg.
com)tostaysecure.
Activateauto-logon
Ontheotherhand,if
youandyourPCare
mostlyhomealone,
whynotskipthelogon
screenandgostraight
tothedesktop?Click
Start,typerunandhit
[Enter].TypecontroI
userpasswords2then
clickOKanduncheck
thetickbox.
Lockitup
Theresnoexcuse
forleavingyourPC
unlockedifyoure
workinginapublic
place,especiallywhen
theresakeyboard
shortcutthatllsecure
Windowsinaninstant.
Press[Windows]+[L]
andheypresto,prying
eyesaverted.
WindowsDefender
IsyourPCdisplaying
strangepop-upsoran
unexpectedbrowser
homepage?Chances
areitsbeeninvaded
bymalware.Fightback
withWindowsDefender.
ClickStart,type
defenderandensure
itsuptodatebefore
scanningfornasties.
WindowsUpdate
Keepinguptodate
withthelatestWindows
upgradesandpatches
isgoodpractice,but
theresnoharmin
controllingwhenthey
aredownloaded.
ClickStart,thentype
updateandselect
Changesettingsfor
moreoptions.
ConfigureWindowsFirewall
YoucangenerallysitbackandletWindowsFirewalldoits
ownthing.However,ifyouneedtotweakitssettingsor
specifyinternetaccesspoliciesforaparticularapp,type
WndowsfrewaIIintotheStartmenuandtakecontrol.
S|ou|dyouequ|eanoeubar|a|e.a|||ar
Windows7sbasicoffering,headovertowww.zonealarm.
co.ukanddownloadZoneAlarmFreeFirewall,ortry
ComodoFirewallFree(www.comodo.com).Eitherofthese
willgiveyoufarmorecontroloverexactlywhichappsare
allowedtoroamfreeovertheweb,andtheydoabetter
jobatkeepingvirtualvillainsatbay,too.
16
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
Discoverthe
DeviceManager
Ifyouneedtotweak
anyhardwaresettings,
adjustdriversor
temporarilydisablea
component,theDevice
\araqe|you
portofcall.Press
[Windows]+[Pause/
Break],thenclick
DeviceManager.
Fine-tunetheSystem
Restoretool
Onceyouveseenwhat
SystemRestorecando,
youmayfancydelving
intocustomiseit.Press
[Windows],right-click
Computerandselect
Properties>System
|oec|or>Corque'o
changesettingsanddelete
oldrestorepoints.
Fixafailedstart-up
OccasionallytheinnerworkingsofWindowsgetabit
confusedandthecomputerfailstostartproperly.It
reedr'beapa|ro.,|ouq|.|o.edo.r|e|C,
thenswitchitbackonandrepeatedlypress[F8]untilthe
AdvancedBootOptionsmenupopsup.Scrolldownwith
thekeyboardarrowkeystoSafeModeandpress[Enter].
\|rdo..|||ro.|oad|ebaeeer|a||e|reed
tofunction,hopefullybypassinganyissuepreventinga
successfulstart-up.Whenthedesktoploads,clickStart
andtyperestore.ThisloadsWindowsSystemRestore
feature,whichshouldundoanystart-upanomalies.
Oldhardwareslowing
youdown?
WhenWindowsspeed
tweaksarentenoughto
compensateforsluggish
hardware,press[Windows]+
[Pause/Break],thenclickthe
WindowsExperienceIndex
linkandruntheassessment.
Anycomponentthat
receivesascorelowerthan
3.0isripeforupgrading.
Findcompatible
components
Whenyouverooted
outwhichcomponent
isntpullingitsweight,
youllneedtoknowits
techspecsinorderto
upgradeit.Download
CPU-Zfromwww.
cpuid.com/softwares/
cpu..|n|ordou
exactlywhatsinside.
TakeyourPC
anywhere
Itsnotonlyproblem-
solvingwhereremote
accesscomesinhandy.
RemoteDesktop
Connectionletsyou
controlaWindows7
Professional,Ultimateor
Enterprise-equippedPC
viatheinternetwhile
youreonthego.
BurnISOfiles
T|ee|eercapu|ae
theexactcontentsofa
CDorDVDwhenits
dataisduplicatedonto
aharddrive.Youcan
copythecontentsback
ontoadiscbydouble-
c||c||rq|e|e,
choosingyouroptical
driveandburningtoa
blankCDorDVD.
Createasystem
repairdisc
Therearetimeswhen
Windowshasbecome
damagedtooseverelyfor
evenSystemRestoreto
..|'a|ne|||e|ee
whenasystemrepairdisc
isinvaluable,soburnone
beforedisasterstrikes.
Typerepairdiscinthe
Startmenusearchbox.
SummonRemote
Assistance
Onceyouverecorded
aPCproblem,wouldnt
itbehelpfulifatech-
savvyfriendcould
accessyourPCoverthe
internettogetitback
ontrack?Typeremote
assstanceintotheStart
menuandtheyllbe
abletodojustthat.
ProblemSteps
Recorder
FixingaWindows
problemcanbetricky,
butthisniftytoolwill
recordtheactions
youretakingatthe
timeofthefaulttohelp
pinpointthecause.Find
itbytypingpsrintothe
Startmenusearchbox
andpressing[Enter].
Cover feature
DefinitiveWindowstips
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
17
DiscoverDisk
Defragmenter
Defragmentingyourhard
driveismuchlikeorganising
a||rqcab|re,ard.|||
reorderdatasothat
Windowsandappscan
loadfaster.Theprocess
maytakeawhilethough,so
typedefragmenterinthe
Startmenusearchboxand
putyourfeetup.
Masteryourmemory
Attimes,eventhelatest
andgreatestcomputers
canstumbleandcrash.
Iffymemorycanoften
betheculprit,butyou
cangetitbackontrack
usingtheWindows
MemoryDiagnostic.
Accessitbytypingthe
wordmemoryintothe
searchbox.
Recoverfrozenapps
ResourceMonitoralsohastheabilitytorestorelifetoan
urepor|vepoqan.|r|eC||ab,rd|epoce
highlightedred,right-clickandselectAnalyzewaitchain.
Shouldtwoormoreitemsappearonthelist,thelowest
willbethevillainofthepeace.Ticktheboxnexttothis
item,saveanyopenworkinotherapplicationsyouhave
running,thenclicktheEndprocessbutton.
Alternatively,youcanjustkillaproblemprogramby
pressing[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Esc]toactivatetheTaskManager.
Right-clicktheappwithastatusofNotRespondingand
chooseEndTasktoshutitdown.
Cleanup
unnecessaryfiles
GivingyourPCaspring
cleaniseasierthanyou
mightthinkandhasthe
potentialtoclawback
somespeedaswellas
storagespace.Click
Start,typecIeanup
andpress[Enter]to
reachthesimpleDisk
Cleanupwizard.
Speedystart-ups
/eyourd|rqyou
PCtakesanageto
startup?Trylimiting
thenumberofapps
thatautomaticallyload.
Press[Windows],type
mscongandhit
[Enter].Switchtothe
Start-uptab,un-tick
anynon-essential
programsandrestart.
Deactivatevisualfrills
Windows7ssnazzy
visualeffectstendto
sapthespeedofolder
PCs,soyoushouldget
aperformanceboost
bydisablingthem.Click
Start,typeWndows
performanceand
press[Enter],then
selecttheoptionAdjust
forbestperformance.
Compatibilitymode
Microsofthasgoneall-out
toensurethatolder
softwarerunssmoothlyon
Windows7,butifyoudo
haveanappthatprovesto
beincompatible,right-click
it,selectProperties,then
theCompatibilitytab.Tick
theCompatibilitymode
box,pressApplyand
awayyougo.
LoveyourLibraries
Librariesareaniftyway
oqoup|n||a|e
typesstoredinmultiple
locations,butglitches
canhappen.Right-
clickingaLibraryand
selectingProperties>
RestoreDefaultswill
ironoutanyissues,
butwillalsoundo
yourcustomisations.
Howreliableis
yourPC?
Press[Windows]and
typereIabItyto
displaytheReliability
Monitor.Thiskeeps
tabsoneventssuchas
whenhardwaredrivers
wereinstalled,andlogs
anysoftwarecrashes
togetherwithpossible
.eorac|ea|ne||re.
Monitorsystem
resources
YoumayknowtheTask
Manager,buthow
abouttheResource
Monitor?ClickStart
andtyperesmon.
Itscrutiniseswhich
appsareusingyour
processorandmemory,
andmonitorsharddisk
andinternetusage.
18
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
EasyPC,lemon
squeezy
Areyousickoftiny
Windowsicons,ordo
youfancyalarger
mousecursor?Press
[Windows]+[U]tobring
uptheEaseofAccess
Centerwhereyoucan
tweakvarioussettings
tomakeWindowseven
easiertouse.
Defineacustom
keyboardshortcut
Wevecoveredalotof
keyboardshortcuts,but
didyouknowyoucan
alsocreateyourown
toopenanapp?Right-
clickitsStartmenu
entry,clickProperties
andenteryourkey
combinationintothe
ShortcutKeybox.
Essentialkeyboardshortcuts
The[Ctrl]+[C]and[Ctrl]+[V]shortcutsshavesecondsoff
copyingandpasting,buttheyrenottheonlytypingtricks
youcanmaster.Use[Ctrl]+[X]tocutratherthancopy,
[Ctrl]+[Z]toundoanactionand[Ctrl]+[Y]toredoit.
[Ctrl]+[S]savesyourworkand[Ctrl]+[P]printsit.Nexttime
youdosomewordprocessing,remember[Ctrl]+[B],
[Ctrl]+[I]or[Ctrl]+[U]makeselectedtextbold,italicisedor
underlinedrespectively.[Ctrl]+[E]willcentretextonthe
page,and[Ctrl]+[F]displaystheFindpop-up,helpingyou
trackdownaparticularwordorphrase.Trythatonein
yourwebbrowser,whereitllworkjustaswell.
Enhancetext
Youdbeforgivenfor
thinkingthattextwouldbe
automaticallydisplayedwith
themaximumpossible
clarity,butWindowscan
ub|yer|arce|der||or.
Press[Windows]andtype
cIeartypetoembarkon
atext-tune-upthatis
strangelyreminiscentof
aneyetest!
Hideandsqueak
Itsfunnyhowthe
mousecursorhasa
habitofhiding.Ensure
itstaysinplainsightby
activatingmousetrails
viaControlPanel>
HardwareandSound>
Mouseandselecting
Displaypointertrails
fromthePointer
Optionstab.
Magnifyyourscreen
Somehigh-resmonitors
canmakeWindows
lookrathersmall,but
theresnoneedtokeep
squinting,asyoucan
scaleeverythingup.
ClickStart>Control
Panel>Hardwareand
Sound>Displayand
trythe125percentor
150percentoptions.
Insertobscure
textcharacters
First,opentheCharacter
Mapbytypingitsname
intotheStartmenusearch
box.Choosethefont
youwantfromthetop
dropdownmenu,then
double-clickyourpreferred
charactertoselectit.Finally,
presstheCopybuttonto
placeitontheClipboard.
Findyourfonts
Everwonderedwhere
allyourfontslive?Type
fontsintheStartmenu
searchboxandyoull
gostraighttotheir
folder,completewith
thumbnailpreviews.
Youcaninstallnew
fontsbycopyingand
pastingthemdirectly
intothisfolder.
Letsgettouchy-feely
Theexperienceof
controllingWindows
withatouchscreen
takessomebeating.
Onetrickistopress
andhold,whichacts
likeamouseright-click.
Anotheroneisswiping
leftorrightinyourweb
browsertonavigate
forwardandback.
Multiplemonitors
Whoeversaid"lessis
more"hadnttried
Windowsondual
displays!Makethemost
oftheextraspaceusing
[Windows]+[Shift]+[Left]
or[Right]toswap
windowsbetween
monitors,orpress
[Windows]+[P]to
changedisplaymodes.
Cover feature
DefinitiveWindowstips
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
19
Automatea
shutdown
Windowscanshutitself
downatasettime.
Press[Windows]+[R]
andtypeshutdown-s
-txxthenpress[Enter].
Replacexxwiththe
numberofseconds
yourPCshouldremain
running.Useshutdown
-atocancel.
Giveyourlogon
screenafreshlook
Desktopwallpaperisall
therageinWindows7,
soitsapitytheblue
logonscreencantbe
changed,too.However,
ifyouinstallLogon
ScreenRotatorfrom
http://bit.ly/LfMhkTit
willrotatethrougha
galleryofimages.
Revealsecretdesktopbackgrounds
Windows7includesavarietyofbackgrounds,butyoull
probablyberestrictedtoimagesfromyourcountry.To
broadenyourdesktopshorizons,press[Windows]+[R],
thentype%systemroot%/gIobaIzaton/mctandtap
[Enter]torevealhiddeninternationalbackgroundfolders.
FindtheThemefolderwithineachanddouble-clickthe
|ene|e|r|deoapp|y|e|eneoyoude|op.
Thesearelovely,buttheresstillnosubstitutefor
creatingaslideshowusingyourowncherishedsnapshots.
Right-clickthedesktop,selectPersonalise,clickDesktop
backgroundandbrowsetoyourpreferredalbum.
SeewhatTask
Schedulercando
Timedshutdownsarent
theonlythingWindows
canbeprogrammedto
happenautomatically.
OpentheTask
Schedulerbytypingits
nameintotheStart
menusearchbox,then
tap[F1]tosetupall
sortsofprocedures.
AdjustAutoPlay
TiredofWindows
automaticallyplaying
aCD,orimporting
yourcamerasphotos
withoutyourapproval?
Takecontrolby
openingControlPanel
>HardwareandSound
>AutoPlayandsetting
howWindowstreats
newmediaanddevices.
Discovernewdesktop
backgrounds
Gazingatthestunning
desktopslideshows
featuredinWindows7
isanicewaytoavoid
work.Toreallyindulge
suchprocrastination,
right-clickthedesktop,
selectPersonaliseand
clicktheGetmore
themesonlinelink.
Monitorcalibration
Ifyouliketodabblein
aspotofphotoediting,
thenitsessentialthat
yourmonitorscolour
andcontrastsettingsare
absolutelycorrectbefore
youbegin.Bringupthe
Startmenu,typecalibrate
andfollowthesimple
step-by-stepguideto
achieveperfectpixels.
ChangeMedia
Playersbackground
Press[Windows]+[R]
andtyperegedit.
Navigatethrough
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
>Software>Microsoft
>MediaPlayer>
Preferences,double-
clickLibraryBackground
Imageandentera
valuebetween0and6.
ChangeWindows7s
fontstyles
ThedefaultSegoefont
usedinWindowslooks
good,butisatad
genericforsome.Ifyou
wantsomethingmore
distinctive,typegIass
intheStartmenu,press
[Enter]andselectthe
Advancedappearance
settingslink.
Openappstheway
youwantto
Settinganappofyour
choicetoopenaparticular
|eype|eay.C||c|'Sa',
typetheworddefauItand
press[Enter].Nowselect
yourpreferredprogram,
followedbytheChoose
defaultsforthisprogram
op|orodere.||c||e
typesitopens.
20
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
Customisethe
Startmenu
Whynottrycustomising
thenumberofrecent
programsonyourStart
menu,orwhichlinksappear
alongsidethem?Right-click
theTaskbarandselect
Properties,followedbythe
Customisebuttoninthe
StartMenutabtosetyour
preferredstyle.
Enjoyhassle-free
internetradio
||ay|rqyouned|a|e|r'
thelimitofWindowsMedia
Playerstalents.Openit
andgointoLibrarymode.
Ifyouretiredifyourown
musiccollection,clickthe
MediaGuidebuttoninthe
lowerleftcornertolisten
tohundredsofinternet
radiostations.
Stayontopofyourdrivers
DriverstellWindowshowtocommunicatewitheach
pieceofhardwareinyourcomputer,butWindowsUpdate
doesntalwaysgiveyouthelatestversions.
Upgradingthedriversforyourgraphicscardtendsto
offerthemostnoticeableperformancegains,potentially
givingyousmootherHDvideoplayback.Thebigthree
graphicshardwaremanufacturershaveautomaticdriver
detectiontoolstohelpyouupgradetothemostup-to-
datedriversforyourPC.Visithttp://support.amd.com,
www.geforce.co.uk/driversorhttp://downloadcenter.intel.
com,dependingonwhathardwareyouown.
Seelinksasmenus
Whileyouwere
choosinglinksforyour
Startmenu,didyou
noticetheoptionto
displaythemasmenus?
Whenthisoptionis
enabled,aneasyaccess
menuwillappearwhen
youclickalink,rather
thandivertingtoa
separatewindow.
Changethepower
buttonsfunction
Beforeyouleavethe
StartMenutab,check
outthedrop-down
menutitledPower
buttonaction.This
willletyouchange
theStartmenupower
buttonfromitsusual
Shutdownfunction
toSleeporLogoff.
Playmoremedia
T|eec|eve|||e|e
tellWindowshowto
playdifferentaudioand
videoformats.Youll
needmorethanthe
defaultWindowscodec
quotatomaximise
mediacompatibility
though,sovisitwww.
cccp-project.nettoget
apackofextras.
Timeforachange
Mostpeopledont
realisethatthehumble
Windowsclockis
capableofmuchmore
thanmeetstheeye.
Right-clickit,select
Adjustdate/time,then
|c|o|e/dd||ora|
Clockstabtosetup
secondandthirdclocks
fordifferenttimezones.
Furthermaths
Didyouthinkthatthe
Windowscalculator
wasjustawaytoavoid
mentalarithmetic?Click
Viewforafull-blown
c|er|cnode,a
handyunitconversion
function,andevenfuel
economyand
mortgagerepayment
worksheets.
Windows
MobilityCenter
ThisWindows7gadget
isexclusivetolaptop
usersandgivesyoua
one-stopdashboard
viewofkeysettings
likedisplaybrightness,
systemvolume,Wi-Fi
andscreenorientation.
Press[Windows]+[X]
torevealit.
Preservepower
Windows7ispacked
withpoweroptionsto
ekeoutyourlaptops
batterylife.ClickStart,
typepoweroptons
andopentheChange
plansettingslinkon
yourpreferredpower
plantocontrolhowand
whenyourcomputer
savesenergy.
Cover feature
DefinitiveWindowstips
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
21
Bringfilesoutofhiding
Youcanrevealanyhidden
|eoo|deoryou
computerbyclickingthe
Organisebuttonthat
appearsatthetopleft
ofafolderwindow,then
selectingFolderandsearch
options,followedbythe
Viewtab.Finally,tickthe
'S|o.||dder|eard
foldersboxtounveilthem.
MasterJumpLists
Thesehandylittlemenus
popupwhenyouright-click
aTaskbaricon,butthe
fancywaytoseethemisto
|ec||c|ard|c|up.ad
withyourmouse.The
liststendtoincorporate
equer|ynod|ed|e,
butyoucanhoverover
oneandclickthepinicon
tomakeitstickaround.
Seeyourfile
extensions
Itsoftenusefultoview
|ee.er|oruc|
asDOCorJPGatthe
erdoyou|erane.
Todothis,justopen
afolderandclick
Organise>Folderand
searchoptions>View.
Un-tickHideextensions
o|ro.r|eype'.
Addcheckboxesto
WindowsExplorer
StayingintheViewtab
inFolderandsearch
options,scrolldown
untilyouspotUse
checkboxestoselect
items.Thisaddsatick
bo.byevey|e,o
youdonthavetohold
[Ctrl]toselectmultiple
|e|rao|de.
Customisefile
indexing
\|rdo.|rde.e|e
tohelpspeedupyour
searches.Choosewhich
harddrivesorpartitions
youwantthesystem
tomonitorbytyping
ndexintheStart
menusearchbox,then
press[Enter]andclick
theModifybutton.
Perfectpasting
Copyingtextfroma
webpageintoaWord
documentusually
takesawhileasWord
attemptstopreserve
theformattingstyle,
andthenmakesapigs
earofit.Pastethetext
v|aNoepadard
itllbequick,withno
formattingissues.
OpenDOCXfiles
inWordPad
EversinceMicrosoft
Cce2JJ,\od
documentshavebeen
savedbydefaultinthe
DOCXformat.Thats
great,unlessyouhave
anolderversionof
Cce,bu\|rdo.'
WordPadapphasno
troubleopeningthem.
Filecontentssearch
TheWindowsExplorer
searchboxisagreat
.ayord|e,bu
whatifyoucant
rememberthecorrect
|eraneTyeac||rq
usingadistinctiveword
thatislikelytobe
.|er.|||r|e|e,
thenclicktheFile
Contentsbutton.
RevealtheMenubar
Inaneffortto
streamlinethelookof
Windows7,Microsoft
appearstohavedone
awaywiththegoodold
MenubarinWindows
Exploreralongwith
numerousessential
apps.TheMenubaris
justhidingthough
press[Alt]torevealit.
AltertheWindowsExplorerlaunchfolder
ClickingtheWindowsExplorerfoldericonontheTaskbar
pov|dequ|c|acceo|ev|ayou||ba|e,.||c|
|r'a|.ay|e|dea|pooca||.|uc|||y,c|arq|rq
|e|cor'deau|qooo|de|r'd|cu|.||q|c||c|
theTaskbaricon,thenright-clicktheWindowsExplorer
headingonthelistandchooseProperties.Changethe
contentsoftheTargetboxto%wndr%)expIorer.exec:)
XYZandreplaceXYZwithyourpreferredfoldersname.
Alternatively,type%wndr%)expIorer.exe
::[20D04ff0-3AfA-l069-A2D8-0800230309D}inthe
TargetboxtomakeComputerthedefaultdirectory.
22
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
Renamemultiplefiles
Ifyouwanttorename
ae|ec|oro|e.||
astandardisedtitle,
beginbyselecting
theoneyoudlike
oappea,|er
highlighttherestand
tap[F2].Renamethe
|e,pe|re]
andtheotherswill
followsuit.
Openwithaclick
Heresahandyshortcut
youllwonderhowyou
didwithout.Nexttime
youdliketoopenan
additionalcopyofa
runningprogram,dont
botherhuntingitdown
intheStartmenu;
simplyhold[Shift]and
clickitsTaskbaricon.
Jobdone.
Zipfilesforeasier
emailing
|na|||rqaburc|o|ea
separateattachmentsisa
slowandmessyprocess.
|read,qoup|e|e
intoafolder,right-click
it,thenoptforSendto>
Compressed(zipped)
folder.Thispackagesall
|e|e|r|dea|rq|e,
convenientcontainer.
AddmoreSendto
menuoptions
Ifyouneedtomovea
|e,|o|dS||]ayou
right-clickit.Thisadds
extralocationstothe
Sendtosub-menu,
suchasContacts,
DesktopandLibraries.
Chooseanyofthese
ardyou|e.|||be
movedstraightthere.
Searchthewebfrom
yourStartmenu
UsetheStartmenu
ordqped|.nc
anddouble-clickthe
lowerAdministrative
templatesfolder,
thenStartMenuand
Taskbar.Double-click
AddSearchInternet
linktoStartMenuand
selectEnabled.
ExperienceReadyBoost
ThisniftyWindowsfeature
oeequer|yued|e
ora|S|a|d|vea|e
thanyourharddrive,
helpingtoreduceloading
times.Allyouneedisa
reasonablynippydrivewith
atleast256MBcapacity.
Plugitin,thenselect
Speedupmysystemusing
WindowsReadyBoost.
Closewithaclick
Toshutaminimised
appinWindows7,just
hoveroveritsTaskbar
iconandclicktheclose
buttoninitspreview
thumbnail.Want
somethingevenfaster?
Middle-clickwithyour
mousewheelanywhere
onthethumbnailand
itsbye-byeapp.
CreateaTaskbar
searchbox
IfclickingtheStart
menutotypeaweb
addressistooarduous,
right-clicktheTaskbar
andselectToolbars,
followedbyAddress.
Thisplacesasearch
boxontheTaskbarto
maketheinterneteven
moreaccessible.
Instantwebbrowser
Youveprobably
gatheredthattheStart
menusearchboxwill
helpyounavigate
straighttoallsortsof
Windowsfeatures,but
didyouknowitllalso
takeyoudirectlytoa
webpage?Simplytype
thewebsitesaddress
andhit[Enter].
Speedingupshuttingdown
Sluggishshutdownsareapainifyouregularlyrestart
yourPC.YoucanacceleratetheprocessviatheWindows
Registry,whichisaccessedbyclickingStartandtyping
regedit.Double-clickthroughHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>
SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control,thenturnyour
attentiontothepaneontheright.Double-clicktheitem
namedWaitToKillServiceTimeoutandchangeitsvalue
o|'ouq||y2Jpecer|o.e|ar|ecuerque.
ClickOKandyournextshutdownshouldbequicker.
Youcantryloweringthevalueevenmore,butdontget
toogreedyassystemstabilitycouldbecompromised.
Cover feature
DefinitiveWindowstips
April2014
|
Help&Advice

Cuthasslewith
theSnippingtool
Thisisoneofthose
Windowsfeaturesthatyou
mayhaveseen,butnever
tried.Itsworthinvestigating
though,becauseitlets
youda.aourdapec|c
portionofyourscreen
andcaptureitstraightto
ar|naqe|e,eadyo
savingorsharing.
Soundrecordings
Ifyouhavea
microphonehooked
uptoyourcomputer
andyoufancymaking
aquickrecording,goto
Start>AllPrograms>
Accessoriesandopen
SoundRecorder.Its
simpletouseand
letsyoucanceland
resumerecording.
Declutterwith
StickyNotes
StickyNotesisthe
virtualequivalentof
thosePost-itnotes
onthesidesofyour
monitor,andallowsyou
tomakenotesonyour
desktopinstead.Click
Start,typestckyand
voila!Clickingthe+
signaddsanothernote.
WindowsEasy
Transfer
Thinkingofbuyinga
newPC?Transferringall
you|earde|rq
needntbeadaunting
prospect.Havealarge
externalharddriveat
theready,thentype
easytransferinthe
Startmenuandletit
dotheworkforyou.
Makeyourlaptopan
internethotspot
WithWindows7,its
possibletoturnyour
laptopintoawireless
internethotspotsoyou
canshareitsinternet
connectionwith
anotherPCorWi-Fi-
enabledmobiledevice.
http://bit.ly/1fA04g3
willgetyoustarted.
App-specific
volumecontrol
Nexttimeyouwantto
adjustthevolumeiconin
Windows,clickMixer.
Thisenablesindependent
volumecontrolforeach
audio-enabledopenapp.
Itsusefulformutingan
annoyingwebpagevideo
advertwhilekeepingthat
Kyliealbuminfullswing.
Windows7,
hands-free
Beforeyoutrykaraoke
withyourmicrophone,
whynottryusingitfor
speechrecognition?Its
usefulfordictatingyour
wordprocessing,or
fornavigatingaround
Windowshands-free.
ClickStartandtype
speechtolearnmore.
CreateaHomeGroup
HavemorethanonePC
athome?Windows7s
HomeGroupfeaturewill
connecttwoormore
computersviayour
internetroutersoyou
car|ae|e,nu|c
andprinters.Sound
good?Visithttp://bit.
ly/1fdCJSwfora
detailedguide.
Accessemailfrom
yourdesktop
Doyouwanttosee
emailsinWindows,
ormanagemailfrom
multipleOutlook,Gmail
andYahooaccountsin
oneplace?Download
WindowsEssentials
fromhttp://bit.
ly/1ftvCUXandinstall
theMailapp.
CleanseyourcomputerwithCCleaner
RegularreaderswillknowhowmuchweloveCCleaner
(www.piriform.com/ccleaner),sotherewasnowaywe
couldleaveitoffthislist.MuchliketheWindowsDisk
CleanupWizard,itsdesignedtocleartheclutterfrom
yourharddrivetoboostperformance.However,rather
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pac|aqe.`ouc|ooe.||c|ypeo|eyou'd|||eo|eep
orsweep,soitseasytoclearyourwebbrowsersstoreof
enpoay|e.|||eea|r|rqaved.eb|epa.od.
24
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
Avoiduser
accountlimitations
Sometoolsand
programsmustberun
withadminprivileges
toavoidrestrictions.
Eitherright-clickthe
appandselectRunas
administratorortype
itsnameintotheStart
menu,followedby
[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Enter].
AppLocker
NowyourControlPanel
islockeddown,why
notsecureyourapp
settingsaswell?They
canbesecuredusing
theAppLockertool,
whichisincorporated
intoWindows7
Ultimateedition.Learn
itsinsandoutsvia
http://bit.ly/1ehrqsV.
Customise
notifications
No|ca|orpopp|rq
upbytheWindows
clockcandriveyou
mad.Topolitelydismiss
them,clickStart,type
notcatonandselect
'No|ca|oraea|cor'.
Thesmallarrowonthe
Taskbarwilldisplay
anythingyouhide.
Rearrangeyour
notificationarea
Havingbanished
ro|ca|oro|e
hiddensystemtray,its
comfortingtoknow
theycanbearranged
inanyorderyoulikeby
clickingthesmallarrow
ontheTaskbarand
dragginganddropping
eachiconwithin.
Banishthebeep
Pressanincorrectkeyand
Windowsemitsasmall,
shrillbeep,whichcanget
beepingannoying.Shut
itupbytypingsystem
soundintotheStartmenu,
rd|rqDeau||eep|r|e
ProgramEventslistand
changingthevaluein
theSoundsdrop-down
menuto(None).
Totalcontrol
SwitchingyourControl
Paneltoiconviewis
great,butyoucan
dobetter.Makea
folderonthedesktop,
nameit1otaIControI.
[fD7A470-8f54-
465f-825C-
997l2043f0lC}and
openitforaControl
Panelonsteroids.
Disableunwanted
Windowsfeatures
Ifyourestrugglingtoprya
familymemberawayfrom
playingSolitaireonyourPC,
waitforaquietmoment
andtakeyourrevenge.
Typeturnfeaturesoffinto
theStartmenu,thenun-tick
theGamesbox.Nowyou
cannameyourpriceto
re-enablethem!
DeactivateAction
Centeralerts
Windows7lovesto
takecareofyourPC,
butitsActionCenter
alertsarentalways
welcome.Thankfully,if
youtypeactoninthe
Startmenuandselect
ChangeActionCentre
settings,peacecan
berestored.
RelaxUser
AccountControl
UserAccountControl
isafeaturethatseeks
yourpermissionevery
timeanapptriesto
makechangestoyour
PC.Tostopitsnagging,
typeUACintheStart
menusearchbox,press
[Enter]andsetthe
slidertoNevernotify.

NEXT
ISSUE
PrepareyourPC
foranydisaster
LockdownyourControlPanel
Itcanbeannoyingwhenyouvegotyourcomputersetup
perfectly,thenanotherusercomesalongandmessesup
yoursettings.Youcanpreventthishappeningbydisabling
theControlPanel.Typegpedt.mscintheStartmenu
searchboxandpress[Enter].Intheleft-handpaneofthe
newwindow,double-clickthebottommostAdministrative
templatesfolder,followedbytheControlPanelfolder.
Next,switchtotheright-handpaneanddouble-click
ProhibitaccesstotheControlPanel.SelecttheEnabled
optioninthetopleftandclickApply.Torestoreaccess,
followthesameprocedure,butclickDisabledinstead.
Cover feature
DefinitiveWindowstips
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
25
WINDOWSTIPS INTERNETADVICE YOURDISCSOFTWARE
Ourpromisetoyou
Get more from Windows, software and all your favourite sites
Packedwithinformativetutorials
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.
CustomiseWindowstoworkyourway
We all know how to do the basics but
getting the most from Windows isnt
always easy. Our dedication to the operating
system means you get the very best tips and
tricks for all versions of Windows.
Getmorefromyourfavouritewebsites
We all have our list of favourite sites
but often we miss out on great features
because Lhey're diculL Lo use or hidden rom
sight. Well show you how to do more online,
for a more satisfying web life.
Useourfullsoftwaretotrynewthings
Our exclusive industry access enables us
to pack your free disc with full commercial
software. From speed-up and security software
to superb photo apps, theres always
something new to try on your PC.
Welcome
Whether
youre stuck for
inspiration or
want to become
a master of your
Windows computer, our
Explore section is the place
to come. Each month we pack
it with tutorials covering a
range of subjects suitable for
all levels of expertise.
This month, Nick Peers
explains how to recover your
data if your PC fails and you
havent made a backup,
Christian shows you how to get
rid of troublesome malware
and Catherine demonstrates
how to edit large groups of
photos at once.
Theres never been a better
time to see how your PC can
make your life easier than ever!
Nick Odantzis, acting editor
nick.odantzis@futurenet.com 1ir o agc 58 ]ov worc
FuL ,g.
Yov qrc
PcIrd Ca((c ,g,.
A PC is the perfect way to
try out ebooks to see if
you like reading your
favourite novels digitally,
and the Kindle for desktop
app does this brilliantly
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
27
28 Recover data if your
PC fails unexpectedly
32 Edit large groups of
photos in batches
36 Create your own
personal news presenter
40 Get amazing video
desktop backgrounds
42 Get Windows Gadgets
back on your desktop
46 Rid your computer
of malware the easy way
50 Create an emergency
system recovery disc
52 Create a RAM drive
for faster file access
56 Get real help from
real people online
58 Read Amazon Kindle
books on your PC
Lcir Io( o.
Recoverdata
ifyourPCfails
Cant boot into Windows? Before
attempting repairs, take steps to
back up and protect your data.
hat happens if you cant
boot into Windows? If as in
most cases the hard drive
itself hasnt physically died, then your
data is tantalisingly close, but just out
of reach. Attempting repairs could
make things worse, but if you follow
this tutorial youll be able to back up
all the data on your drive using a free
program called Macrium Reect Free
before you try to x the problem.
The tutorial assumes youre unable
to boot into Windows, in which
case youll need access to another
Windows PC. Youll also need an
external USB hard drive to recover
your non-functioning drives les to,
plus rescue media in the form of a
blank CD/DVD or spare USB ash
drive (512MB in capacity or greater).
Even if your PC is working perfectly
for now, why not protect yourself by
following the rst six steps to create
the all-important rescue media now?
It could save your les one day.
1
Install Macrium on a working PC
From your working PC, first open a web browser and go to
www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp. Click the CNET download link
followed by Download now. Save the file reflectdl to your hard
drive, then double-click it to launch the installer. Make sure the
selected download is the free version with PE 3 components, then
click Download and follow the prompts to install the program.
2
Connect an external drive
Youll need an external USB 2.0 hard drive to store the
recovered data. It needs enough free space to hold the contents
of the entire PC Macrium will compress the backup, but it may
not be enough. A new 1TB hard drive costs around 50/$80, and
is a worthwhile investment. Plug your USB hard drive in to the
working PC, which will detect it and install the necessary drivers.
Step-by-step Rescue your data
Yov qrc Nck Pccr, ,g,.
CHECKDRIVE
You can quickly see if the
troublesome PCs drive is in
good working order before
backing it up click Actions
under the drive and choose
Analyze le system.
FORENSICIMAGES
Pick the Forensic option to
take an exact copy of the
entire drive for advanced
data recovery purposes.
Note, however, that
standard images are smaller
and quicker to create.
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Ird dic vl co
,acc, alc u ,ccod ack
- j,I r ca,c.
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
60
minutes
28
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
3
Launch Rescue Disc Creator
With the USB hard drive still plugged in, click Start and
select Reflect to launch the program. Open the Other tasks
menu and select Create rescue media. The Windows PE option
should be selected, so click Advanced and choose the 4.0 option
if your non-booting PC came with Windows 8 installed. Otherwise,
select 3.1 and click OK followed by Next to continue.
4
Select PE Architecture
The PE Architecture is one of the most important choices
you have to make. Usually the default setting (typically 64-bit
on newer PCs) is the right one to pick, but if your non-booting
PC is running Windows XP, select 32-bit instead. Ignore the
Architecture Conflict warning that pops up by clicking Continue.
Leave Default base WIM (recommended) selected and click Next.
Jargon buster!
Forensicimage
A complete byte-by-
byte backup of an
entire hard drive.
This includes all free
space where deleted
les may reside,
making it possible to
recover them later.
Mount
The process of
accessing a drive
image by making its
contents accessible
through Windows
Explorer. The image
is assigned a drive
letter and works like
a virtual hard drive.
PEArchitecture
The version of
Windows either
32-bit or 64-bit
used by your
rescue media. This
should match the
version of Windows
installed on your
non-booting PC.
SELECTYOUR
BACKUPDRIVE
After clicking Image
this disk, click the ...
button to select your
external USB drive or
a folder within it as
the place to store
your backup.
NAMEYOURIMAGE
The entire contents of your
recovered drive are stored in
one le, called a drive image.
Untick this box to give it a
more easily identiable
name, such as xp-recovered.
REDUCEIMAGESIZE
After clicking
Next to view the
summary screen,
click the Advanced
Options button for
more options. Start
by reviewing the
compression options
if space is tight, set
this to High.
GETBACKEDUP
Once youre ready, close
Advanced Options and click
the Finish button. Macrium
will now back up your
non-booting drives contents
to your external hard drive.
Explore
RecoverdataifyourPCfails
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
29
9
Create your drive image
The annotated screenshot on page 29 reveals all the
options for backing up your hard drive (known as drive imaging).
These include creating a forensic image if you need to recover
previously deleted data from your inaccessible drive, and
choosing a more easily identifiable name for the drive image
itself. Work your way through the wizard, then click Finish.
7
Start the non-booting PC
Next, plug the external hard drive into your non-functioning
PC and power it up with the newly made rescue disc or USB flash
drive inserted. If prompted, press any key to boot from CD or DVD.
If no media is detected, restart your computer and look for an
option to select the boot media. Press this key and choose your
CD/DVD drive or USB flash drive from the list.
5

Build rescue files
Click Next and wait for the files to be collated, then click
Continue. You may receive two warning messages one that says
Check your rescue media can access your drives and one telling
you about an update that requires upgrading. Click Continue
to ignore them. If youre returned to the PE Architecture screen
from here, just click Next to repeat the step.
10
Verify backup integrity
When the process is complete, click OK followed by Close.
Switch back to the Restore tab, where the drive image should
now be displayed. Make sure the image isnt corrupt by clicking
Verify image. Click Verify and wait a moment for Macrium to
check the image and confirm that it is intact. When this has been
successfully verified, click OK followed by Close.
8

Load Macrium Reflect
After a short pause the Macrium Rescue Environment
should start. If youre prompted to load drivers typically network
ones you can click No. You dont need them to detect your
external hard drive. When the main screen appears, switch to the
Disk Image tab. You should see both your internal, non-booting
hard drive and the external drive you plan to recover data to.
6
Choose rescue media
You should now be prompted to burn your rescue media
either CD/DVD (insert your disc) or USB. If youre using a USB
flash drive, make sure you tick Enable multiboot MBR/UEFI USB
support if youre trying to recover data from a newer PC with
Windows 8 pre-installed. Click Finish to create the rescue media,
then eject the disc or safely remove the flash drive.
30
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
15
Attempt repairs
With your data now accessible from your drive image, you
can go back to trying to fix your non-booting PC, secure in the
knowledge that whatever happens you wont lose any data. Try
booting from your Windows installation disc or recovery media
and look for repair options to see if the problem can be fixed for
you. If it can, you wont need to perform any further data recovery.
13
View and copy files
Youve found the files you want to restore, but you cant
open them directly from the rescue media, so close Macrium and
shut down your PC. Boot up the working PC again and plug the
USB hard drive back into it. Locate and double-click your drive
image to access it in the same way you did in step 11. This time
you can also view and copy files from the image.
11

Mount image
Now switch back to the Restore tab. Under Restore tasks,
click Open an image or backup file in Windows Explorer. If the
image isnt displayed, select Browse for folder from the drop-
down menu and click your USB hard drive. Once its detected,
tick the drive, assign it a letter from the drop-down menu and
tick Enable access to restricted folders before clicking OK.
16
Data restored
Congratulations. Even if youre forced to reinstall or recover
Windows from scratch, you can do so without losing files. Once
the reinstall and post-reinstall processes are complete (see issue
91 for our most recent guide to doing so), install Macrium Reflect
Free on your PC, then plug in your USB hard drive and mount your
drive image to copy your files back to the internal hard drive.
14

Recover deleted files
If you took a forensic image of the drive, it will contain all
previously deleted data as well as your existing files and folders.
Armed with the right free tool such as Glary Undelete (from your
free disc or www.glarysoft.com) you can search for and attempt
to recover deleted files. Once the tool is installed, just select your
mounted drive image and click Scan to see what it can find.
12
Locate your files
A new Explorer window will open, which should reveal
all the files and folders on your non-bootable PCs hard drive.
Youre now free to browse through the drives contents for your
lost folders and files, as if you were using the computer itself.
Look under Users or Documents and Settings for your user folder
most of your personal files will be located here.
Explore
RecoverdataifyourPCfails
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
31
Lcir Io( o.
When you've imported lots of photos from your
camera, editing them can take hours. Save time and
effort by processing them in bulk with PhotoMarks.
eve all been there youve
just got back from an
amazing trip with dozens
of photos on your camera, and now
youre back home, faced with the
daunting task of editing them all
before uploading them to the web or
getting them printed professionally.
Doing them one by one can take
hours, but theres a free program that
will take care of the hard work for
you. Download PhotoMarks, tell it
what to do with your pictures, and
it will edit them all in a ash.
You can try PhotoMarks for free,
or buy the full version for $30/18.
This includes extra functions and
a lifetime licence, and wont apply
PhotoMarks own watermark to your
nished snaps. Theres a 60-day
money-back guarantee, too.
The editing process is broken down
into three simple steps and couldnt
be easier, so grab all your pictures
and lets get going!
1
Download PhotoMarks
Visit www.bitscoffee.com/photomarks and click Download.
Scroll down until you see PhotoMarks for Windows and click
Download again. Itll ask whether you want to save or run the file,
so click Run. Leave English as the default language and click OK.
Click Next, accept the terms and click Next > Next > Install. Once
the installation is complete, click Finish to launch the program.
2
Pick your photos
A message will warn you that the trial will put an extra
watermark on your photos. Click Continue trial, then click Add
photos and select the pics that you want to edit. To select multiple
photos, hold [Ctrl] as you click them or use your mouse to draw
a box around them. Once youve selected them, click Open. You
can drag photos into PhotoMarks from your desktop, if you prefer.
Yov qrc Calcivc Evwu EL, ,g,.
W
Step-by-step Save time with faster picture editing
Editphotos
inbatches
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
1
hour
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32
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
7
Process your pictures
Click Process to apply your filters and save the edited
pictures in your chosen location. Youll see a warning that the trial
version of PhotoMarks will apply its own watermark to your
photos. Click OK and your photos will be processed. This might
take a while depending on the speed of your PCs processor, how
large your images are, and how many filters youve created.
5
Frame it
You can add several filters at once. Click Add
filter to apply another effect; weve used Grunge
frame. You can pick from various options, including
border shapes and colours. If you dont want all your
pictures to look too uniform, select Apply random
frame for variety. Click OK when youre happy.
3
Choose a filter
The pictures will appear in PhotoMarks main
window. Click a photo to see a preview in the
bottom right. Click Edit photos, then click Add filter
to select a change that will be applied to all of
them. You can add text, logos and frames, apply
a border, crop your images or rotate them.
8
Check the results
Once PhotoMarks is finished, a new folder will open
containing your photos with the custom filters applied. If you
think youll want to use the same settings again, you can save
them as a preset, helping you save even more time with your
photo editing. If you like everything except the PhotoMarks
watermark, it might be worth upgrading your account.
6
Prepare to
export
Youll now see a preview of
how your photographs will
look with both of the filters
applied. Once youre
satisfied with how they
look, click Setup to choose
how your edited photos
will be saved. You can
either save your photos
on to your PC, send them
via email, upload them via
FTP (ignore this unless you
have your own website)
or send them to Flickr. You
can also choose an output
format JPEG is generally
a good choice.
4
Type some text
To add text, click the Text icon, type your
words and use the various options to change the
style and format. Use the scrollbar to display more
options, including a palette for changing text
colour. Click OK and youll see a preview of how the
filter will look when it is applied to your images.
Jargon buster!
Crop
To chop the sides o
an image to make
it a certain size. It's
very useful if you
have a portrait photo
that you want to
show in a landscape
format instead.
JPEG
A common le
format for
photographic
images.
Processor
The chip that
handles all your PCs
decisions. Everything
that your PC does is
controlled by the
processor, and the
slower this is, the
slower your PC.
Explore
Editphotosinbatches
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
33
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S
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nick.odantzis@futurenet.com
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35
Subscribe and receive
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Lcir Io( o.
Getapersonal
newspresenter
Let SoundGecko convert the
latest news stories to speech and
deliver them to your inbox.
ews and entertainment
websites are often updated
several times a day, and it
can be hard to stay on top of the
inux of information. Who has time
to sit at their desk for hours each day,
absorbing the latest stories?
SoundGecko makes it easy to stay
up to date by reading the latest news
to you while you get on with other
things. Think of it as your personal
news radio station. Just tell it your
favourite sites and it will gather the
latest stories for you, translate them
into speech and send the resulting
sound les to your email inbox, or to
a cloud storage service like Dropbox.
What could be more convenient?
Text-to-speech tech has come
a long way in the past few years, and
SoundGeckos synthetic voices sound
very natural. The free service is great,
but if you want more voices and extra
options, premium subscriptions cost
$2.95/1.80 a month. Lets get going!
1
Try it out
SoundGecko will convert individual web pages into speech
before youve registered an account. To try it, go to the page you
want to convert and copy its URL from your browsers address bar.
Visit www.soundgecko.com and paste the address into the box
provided. The web page will open again, with an extra sidebar on
the left. SoundGeckos speech conversion will play automatically.
2
Make an account
If you like what you hear, return to www.soundgecko.com
and click Register/Log in in the top right. You can either sign in
using Facebook or create a new account for SoundGecko. To make
an account, enter your email address and type a password
dont worry, SoundeEcko wont sell your details to third parties.
Uncheck the box if you dont want to receive email newsletters.
Step-by-step Get a personal newsreader
Yov qrc Calcivc Evwu EL, ,g,.
ACCOUNTSETTINGS
You can convert one web
page at a time without
logging in, but to
automatically receive
updates from your favourite
websites, youll need
to create a new account
or connect to SoundGecko
using Facebook.
FINDYOURVOICE
Free account holders get a choice of two voices
one male and one female. More are available
with a premium subscription, but the two
standard ones sound pleasant enough.
CLOUDSTORAGE
SoundGecko can send
audio les straight to your
cloud storage account.
This is a great way to
avoid cluttering up your
email inbox, and means
that you can listen to the
news anywhere.
N
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
30
minutes
36
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3
Verify and share
Youll be sent a verification email containing a link that will
finalise the registration process. Click it and youll be logged into
your new account. Youll then be offered the opportunity to share
SoundGecko with your friends in exchange for access to the
premium features. You probably wont want to recommend it
before youve tried it yourself, so for now well ignore this option.
4
Explore SoundGecko
Welcome to the main SoundGecko interface! Youll see
a series of links along the top of the page for configuring your
account and news sources. Click Account profile. Here, you can
edit your email address, enter your name, connect your Facebook
account and pick a time zone. This last option is vital for making
sure your news digests are delivered at the right time of day.
Jargon buster!
Podcast
A series of either
audio or video digital
les that are
downloaded via the
internet. Podcasting
enables you to get
content for your MP3
player that you can
listen to, or watch,
when it suits you.
MP3
A type of music le
that can be read on
any music-playing
device such as your
PC, iPod or other
portable player.
Cloud
When les are stored
on the internet, the
catch-all term is
cloud storage. It
comes from cloud
computing, where
services such as
SkyDrive are
provided online,
rather than on your
own computer.
PERSONALPODCAST
Synchronise your audio player with SoundGecko
to create your own personalised MP3 podcast.
It works with iTunes and Windows Phone, and
SoundGecko provides a link that you can add
manually to other players.
GETNOTIFICATIONS
Click here to set up email
notications. You can
receive two digests a day,
at times that suit you, and
you can choose whether
you want to receive
a notication each time
you add a new article.
REFERAFRIEND
If you enjoy
SoundGecko, why not
share the love? For every
three friends who
register, youll get one
months free subscription
to the premium service.
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Explore
GetnewswithSoundGecko
April2014
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37
9
Facts and figures
When SoundGecko emails you an article, it also gives
you various useful statistics, including how many words it has
converted, how long the sound file is, and how much time youll
save by listening to it rather than reading it. You can convert as
many as 30 stories a day with a free account, and each article can
be up to 4,000 words long, which is a pretty generous allowance.
7
Connect to the cloud
If you dont connect a media player or cloud storage service,
SoundGecko will send you emails containing links to your latest
audio files. Just click the link to open the page and SoundGecko
will begin reading it to you. To download the sound file, right-click
the Download MP3 link and select Save link as. You can then
open it using your usual audio player.
5

Set up speech
Next, select the tab labelled Service settings & feeds. Here
you can choose the voice that SoundGecko uses to read websites
(there are two available to free account holders), and you can
connect your account to a cloud storage service such as Dropbox
or SkyDrive. It will then store audio files in the cloud so you can
access them from any device with an internet connection.
10
Hear the headlines
Congratulations, you now have a personal newsreader that
will send regular updates to your email inbox, cloud storage and
media player so you can stay up to date without losing time
scrolling through websites. If you want to hear news on the move,
there are free apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, which
will link with your main SoundGecko account. Happy listening!
8

Try the extension
If you use Google Chrome, you can install the SoundGecko
extension, which lets you convert web pages instantly by clicking
an icon in the top right of your browser window. It works the
same way as the quick conversion tool we used in step one, but
SoundGecko will also send a link to the MP3 file to your email
address in case you want to listen to it later.
6
Make a podcast
Now youre ready to link SoundGecko to your favourite
news sites so new stories are converted into sound files
automatically. The basic SoundGecko account only lets you add
one feed at a time. If you want to add more, youll need to
upgrade to a Pro account, which costs $2.95 a month. You can
also sync SoundGecko with your music player of choice.
38
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Plusessentialtipsfor
Windows8,Vista&XP
AVAILABLE NOW ON YOUR iPAD AND iPHONE
SEARCH FOR
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IN THE APP STORE
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Lcir Io( o.
Getamazingvideo
backgrounds
The DreamScene feature in Windows Vista was
dropped from Windows 7, but all is not lost. You
can still get stunning video wallpapers with our help.
heres no quicker and
easier way to spruce up
your computer than with
a great new desktop background,
but plain photos and slideshows can
get a bit boring after a while. What
if you could use a video as your
desktop wallpaper instead?
Back in the days of Windows Vista
Ultimate, Microsoft developed
Windows DreamScene, which
enabled users to add special video
backgrounds to their desktop.
The feature was canned for
Windows 7, but some clever people
have found a workaround, which
lets you get the same features in
the newer operating system. Whats
more, unlike in Windows Vista, you
can add any MPEG or WMV video,
not just ones released by Microsoft,
so your choices are limitless. Ill show
you how to get started and turn your
lifeless backgrounds into moving
picture masterpieces.
1
Find the installer
The DreamScene functionality isnt built into Windows 7 as
standard, so before you can get started youll need to download
an installer that will add it to your system. There are several
websites where you can download the necessary files, but we
recommend getting it from our friends at The Windows Club.
Go to http://bit.ly/9nFLnB and click the Download arrow.
2
Download and save
Your web browser will then ask you to confirm that you
want to download the file. Choose to save it rather than open
it straight away, and then select an easy-to-find location like
the desktop so you can locate it easily when youre ready to use
it. Once you press the Save button, the files will be copied from
The Windows Club to your computer.
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T
Step-by-step Get video backgrounds in Windows 7
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
15
minutes
40
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
7
Get more backgrounds
While the animals in the sample videos folder are fun, their
appeal is bound to wear thin after a while. Luckily, you can find
loads more DreamScene videos online. Visit www.dreamscene.org
to find a plethora of compatible videos that you can download
and run as desktop backgrounds. They look fantastic, and will
loop seamlessly as they play.
8
Experiment and enjoy
Now you know how to get amazing video wallpapers
on your Windows 7 PC, and restore the functionality that was
dropped from Windows Vista. Video wallpaper can look extremely
impressive, and with the right content it can make using your
computer even more enjoyable, so have fun experimenting with
it until you find something you love.
5
Add a video
Now that youve got the software, you need an MPEG or
WMV video to play on your desktop. Windows 7 comes with one
such sample video, which youll find in the Videos folder. Click
Start and select your personal folder (the one thats marked with
your name), then click Videos > Sample video. Right-click on the
video and choose Set as background.
3
Unzip the folder
You can retrieve the folder from your desktop once its
finished downloading. Youll notice that its in the form of a
compressed zip file, so before you can open it youll need to
right-click on it and choose Extract. Once thats done, choose the
desktop again and youll see the unzipped folder, which you can
open to find the link for the DreamScene program.
6
Go back to normal
The video will now start playing on your desktop, running
on a loop. It looks great and really livens up your PC, but you
might want to turn it off if it starts to distract you, or uses too
many of your computers resources and makes it run too slowly.
To deactivate it, just revert back to a normal theme by right-
clicking on the desktop and choosing Personalise.
4
Run the installer
To start using the DreamScene program, right-click the
file called Windows 7 DreamScene Activator 1.1 and choose
Run as administrator. A box will then appear offering you two
simple options: Enable DreamScene and Disable DreamScene.
Click Enable and the registry changes will be made, activating
video backgrounds on your Windows 7 PC.
Explore
Getamazingvideobackgrounds
April2014
|
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41
Lcir Io( o.
Windows 8's desktop is very minimal, but if you
loved those Gadgets from Vista and Windows 7 then
Ive got good news you can bring them back!
e now know that Microsoft
removed desktop Gadgets
in Windows 8 due to security
issues, as well as the change to the
all-new Modern Interface Start
screen, where such things became
pinned Live Tiles instead. However,
if all that empty desktop space looks
a bit too barren for your liking, you
can use the free Desktop Gadgets
2.0 program to get your favourite
widgets back, plus hundreds more
from the Gadgets Revived website
www.gadgetsrevived.com.
Microsofts Gadgets in Vista and
Windows 7 were meant to bring you
closer to key at-a-glance applications
such as a basic calendar, clock and
weather forecast. For many users they
became the quickest way to access
that information, particularly on a
widescreen desktop, where they are
always visible. If thats they way youd
like to work again, then Gadgets in
Windows 8 are just a few clicks away.
1
Your Gadget Gallery
After installing Desktop Gadgets 2.0 from your free disc or
www.gadgetsrevived.com, youll see the Gadget Gallery. Here
youll see the default set of Gadgets from Windows 7 and Vista,
such as Clock, Calendar, CPU Meter and Weather. You can get
more by clicking Get more gadgets online at the bottom of the
window. There are hundreds of choices, arranged into categories.
2
Add a Gadget
Once you see a Gadget that you like, simply drag it onto
your desktop, where it will snap neatly to the Sidebar like it did
with previous versions of Windows. You can also double-click to
add a Gadget (which automatically places it on the right-hand
side of your desktop). To get a Gadget from the Gadgets Revived
website, click 'Download > Install' to add it to the gallery.
Yov qrc Cli,r HaL ,g,.
W
Step-by-step Bring desktop Gadgets to Windows 8
GetGadgetsback
onyourdesktop
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
10
minutes
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Yot cr ccr ard qvc, o
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42
|
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April2014
7
Look elsewhere
As well as the standard Gadget search in the Gadget
Gallery, the app provides full integration with Windows Search.
This means that wherever you type the word gadgets in
Control Panel, or in third-party Start menus such as Classic Shell
(www.classicshell.net) or StartIsBack (www.startisback.com) the
common Gadget-related tasks will appear in search results too.
5
Use the Control Panel
You can access full Control Panel options with
working links from within the Appearance and
Personalization category. This works exactly the
same as it did in Vista and Windows 7, letting you
add or remove Gadgets, and providing a link to
download more if you fancy something new.
3
Customise your settings
Both the Windows defaults and most
third-party Gadgets can be customised right from
the desktop. All you have to do is click the Spanner
icon for options. With Weather, for instance, you can
change temperature type and location. This Gadget
also requires an internet connection to work.
8
Gadget heaven
Now youve got Gadgets on your Windows 8 desktop, you
can easily check the weather, get a quick calendar overview,
and even see what your CPU is up to. There are also third-party
Gadgets such as battery monitors for laptops, which will make
your desktop even more useful. Remember that many Gadgets
can be expanded by clicking the Larger size button, too.
6
Search Gadgets
In the Gadget Gallery
youll see the number of
pages listed. Each page
holds up to 12 Gadgets,
and you can use the arrows
to cycle through pages of
them. If you have lots of
Gadgets installed, youll
find the search bar in the
top right helpful. You can
use the drop-down arrow
to search all your Gadgets,
or just ones that have been
installed recently.
4
Desktop context menu
If you close the Gadget Gallery, the Sidebar
should remain on your desktop even when you
restart your PC. If not, get it back by right-clicking
on the desktop and choosing 'Gadgets'. When you
open the Gadget Gallery you can use the Show
details arrow to see info about each Gadget.
Jargon buster!
Gadget
These were
introduced in
Windows Vista as a
handy way to get
information on basic
facts such as the
time or date, plus
more sophisticated
tools such as
antivirus alerts.
GadgetGallery
A place where all
Windows Gadgets
are kept before
being added to the
Windows desktop.
ModernInterface
Previously known
as Metro, the
Modern Interface is
Microsoft's name for
the new Start screen
in Windows 8.
Gadgets, such as
time and date, exist
here as Live Tiles.
Explore
GetGadgetsonyourdesktop
April2014
|
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43
44
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April2014
Discoverpracticalandcreativeways
Doyouownan
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45
Makesureyoudont
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RidyourPC
ofmalware
If your PC is behaving strangely,
malware could be to blame.
Its time for some detective work.
our internet security suite or
advanced antivirus program
is always the rst line of
defence in combating internet-based
threats, but while a virus or trojan
will almost certainly be caught, less
obvious malware can fall through the
net. We dont usually recommend
using a second security suite, but
HitmanPro is a great tool for getting a
second opinion on possible malware.
HitmanPro has a behavioural
scan tool, which it uses to check your
computer for potential virus activities
or suspicious les that have the
characteristics of malware. For the
les that are classied as suspicious,
HitmanPro sends a request to the
Scan Cloud for conrmation that
these les are indeed malicious. If the
le is unknown, HitmanPro uploads it
to the Scan Cloud, where it is scanned
using the antivirus programs of ve
dierent vendors. Ill guide you
through all of its main options.
1
Install and set up
HitmanPro is free for a month, and can be downloaded from
www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro. During the installation process
you can opt to scan your computer on startup. I recommend
checking this option for extra security. Note that HitmanPro
doesnt actually need to be installed it can be run straight from a
USB drive, a CD/DVD, a local hard drive or a NAS drive.
2
Auto removal
Choose Next on the Install screen, then click Next again
when you reach the main interface. Youll initiate a Quick Scan
by default, which will look at every folder on your PC for pesky
malware that might have slipped through your standard security
suites net. If you see Delete failed in the list of identified files, you
need to close the web browser that you currently have open.
Step-by-step Stop malware in its tracks
Yov qrc Cli,r HaL ,g,.
PROGRAM
SETTINGS
This is where youll
nd the most
rudimentary settings
that aect how
HitmanPro works.
Crucially, this is
where you can get
HitmanPro to scan
for any toolbars
that try to install
themselves without
your approval.
Y
CHPl57lAN'5 GE51 7lPl
Yot Ic o acvatc gov
ia cr,or o] HwrPro.
(o o 5cq, > Lcccc >
Acvatc ]rcc cccc'.
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
40
minutes
46
|
Help&Advice
|
April2014
3
Report status
When the scan has run, the program will automatically
remove any browser tracking cookies and alert you if its found
any other threats that need your attention. The total number of
objects scanned and the time of the scan are displayed, and you
can save the report log by clicking on the option in the bottom
left corner of the window. Tap Close and your scan is complete.
4
Delete unwanted programs
Once your scan is finished, choose Settings. Youll be taken
to the Settings tab by default, with an option called Scan for
Potential Unwanted Programs (PUPs) already selected. Below
this youll see a drop-down menu. Select Delete if you want
HitmanPro to automatically remove add-ons such as browser
toolbars that were added when you installed other programs.
Jargon buster!
Malware
A catch-all term to
describe malicious
software that nds
its way onto your
PC. It can mean any
threat, but here
we use it to mean
malicious programs
other than viruses
and trojans that are
primarily found
through the internet.
Proxy
An intermediary
server connecting
your PC to an end
destination server via
the internet. Proxy
servers are most
commonly used to
help a PC get access
to servers that it
normally wouldnt
be able to access.
Behaviouralscan
Using a clever series
of algorithms, its
possible for some
software programs
to identify les and
apps that pose a
threat, even if its
not initially obvious
that they are up to
something malicious.
SCANOPTIONS
This tab will let you schedule
a malware scan in much the
same way youd set up a regular
antivirus scan using your main
security suite.
SCANHISTORY
Any items that HitmanPro
has deemed to be harmful
will be delivered to the
Quarantine area on this tab.
Theres also a sub-tab called
Logs, where youll nd
detailed information about
the programs scans.
PROXYSETTINGS
Here you can change the
proxy options that HitmanPro
will use. By default, the
program uses Internet
Explorers settings, but if you
use dierent options when
browsing the web, you can
enter them here manually.
ADVANCEDSETTINGS
If you have a quarantined le you
can use VirusTotal to check it online.
Alternatively, you can enable the EWS
(Early Warning System), but this is for
experts only and could potentially
disable a core boot element of your PC.
Explore
RidyourPCofmalware
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
47
9
Rescue a ransomed PC
If you ever encounter malware that holds your PC hostage
by encrypting your data until your pay a fee, you can insert the
USB stick that contains Kickstart, enter the boot menu of the
BIOS and select it. You now have a choice of two ways to boot.
The default option here skips the master boot record, bypassing
the ransomware so you can start Windows and run HitmanPro.
7
Explore advanced features
Under the Advanced tab youll see an option called Disk
Mode. Leave this set to Direct disk access (recommended) to
allow HitmanPro to scan your PC when you start Windows. In the
VirusTotal section you can choose to use HitmanPros partner
VirusTotal service to analyse files or URLs. You can sign up for it
within HitmanPro using the link provided.
5

Scan preferences
On the second tab, you can change how HitmanPro scans
your PC. Youll find all the usual options, such as when to perform
scans and what type of scan to carry out (default or quick), but
there are also a few unusual options, such as the ability to prevent
scans when a fullscreen program is in use, or to add a Scan with
HitmanPro option for files and folders in Windows Explorer.
10
Stay safe
If you need to remove a threat from your PC, youll have
to buy the full product, but you can use the VirusTotal tool in
the meantime. You can schedule scans in HitmanPro by day of
the week and time, but if youd rather use the Windows Task
Scheduler to plan your regular maintenance, simply follow the
instructions provided at http://bit.ly/Lfj8qe.
8

Grab Kickstart
From the main screen, choose the Kickstart icon. You will
be asked to insert a USB stick. Do so, then select it from the
list (if theres more than one attached) and click Install Kickstart.
Youll be alerted that the USB stick will need to be formatted
before the program can be installed. This will delete everything
on the stick, so make sure it doesnt contain anything important
6
Quick commands
You can also use Hitman Pro via the command line. Click
Start and search for command prompt. Now type C:\Program
Files\HitmanPro\HitmanPro.exe followed by a command (such
as /scan). One of the most useful commands is /fb (Force Breach
mode), which terminates non-essential processes. You can find a
PDF containing the full list of commands at http://bit.ly/LarvDj.
48
|
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|
April2014
P, aL ll, d vc worcl
10ofthebestmusic
streamingservices
April2014
|
Help&Advice

|
49
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EDITORIAL
Acting editor Nick Odantzis
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ART/PRODUCTION
Art editor Fraser McDermott
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Managing editor Catherine Emma Ellis
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CONTRIBUTORS
Editorial Ben Andrews, Dan Grabham, Christian Hall,
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Production Alan Stonebridge
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Next issue on sale 11 April 2014
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certiedinaccordancewiththerulesof the
FSC(Forest StewardshipCouncil).
ON SALE
Friday
11 April
2014
Lcir Io( o.
MakeaWindows7
systemrepairdisc
The worst computing disaster is one that prevents Windows
from loading. But dont worry here we show you how
to prepare for, and deal with, an apparently unbootable PC.
he worst moments of our
computer lives are all based
around the same situation:
After turning the system on,
Windows absolutely refuses to start.
Are our machines useless heaps of
junk? Have we lost all of our
important les, photos and
information? Its a horrible feeling.
Fortunately, if this happens, it is
possible to boot from a Windows 7
installation DVD. In this situation the
Repair function can be used to swiftly
get the computer going again. But if
you dont have an installation DVD,
or its lost or scratched, youll be in
trouble. And thats why you need to
be prepared for when disaster strikes.
Follow this helpful guide and in less
than ve minutes youll have
a Windows 7 system repair disc that
can be used to start an unbootable
computer, and usually get it working
again. Just dont forget to keep it in
a safe place so its easily accessible.
1
Explore Control Panel
Click on the Start button and then select the Control Panel
option. If the View by option is currently listed as Category,
click on the arrow to its right and select the Large icons option
instead. This will enable you to see all of the available applets
on one screen. Find the Backup and Restore applet, and then
double-click on it to launch it.
2
Launch the disc creator
On the left of the window you will see the Create a system
repair disc option. Click on this to run the program that you need.
However, if you do not see this option, it is possible to launch the
repair disc tool separately. Click on the Start button again and
type recdisc into the Search box. You can then click on the
recdisc link to fire up the program.
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T
Step-by-step Creating a Windows 7 repair disc
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
5
minutes
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E
X
T

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S
S
U
E

H
o
w
to
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ack u
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yo
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r files
50
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April2014
7
System Recovery options
Select your keyboard (in the UK, this will probably be United
Kingdom Extended) and click the Next button. Select your
Windows installation, then Next again. You will now see
the recovery options. If Windows 7 ever wont start, boot from
this disc, click the Startup Repair option and Windows should
get your computer automatically working again.
8
Ready for (almost) anything
You now know all about the Windows 7 Recovery Disc
creation tool. If youve completed these steps, well done youre
protected. If Windows 7 ever refuses to start, you can always
launch the Recovery Disc, then use System Restore, a backup
or Startup Repair to fix the problem and get everything back
on track without losing too much precious time.
5
Test carefully
It makes sense to test the disc immediately to ensure that
it works correctly this only takes a moment. Leave the disc
in the drive, close any open applications and then reboot your
computer. If Windows loads as normal, change your BIOS set-up
program to boot from your optical drives first. Check your
computers manual for more advice on how to do this.
3
Find a disc
Grab yourself a blank disc it can be either a CD or DVD,
it doesnt matter. Carefully place the disc into one of your
computers optical drives. Once the Create a system repair disc
program has started up, click on the drop-down menu arrow
and select the drive that contains your disc, as shown above.
Click on the Create disc button.
6
Boot it up
When your computer is correctly booting from your repair
disc, you may see a message that informs you to press any key
to boot from a CD or DVD. If you do see this message, just tap the
[Space] bar immediately and the repair disc will continue to load.
When you are shown a menu, select the Windows Setup [EMS
Enabled] option, as shown above.
4
Click and burn
Once you have clicked the Create disc button, the program
will start to burn all of the system recovery files on to your
CD or DVD. This shouldnt take long on the computer we tested
it took less than one minute. Then, as the program suggests,
label the disc as Repair disc Windows 7 so it will be easy for
you to identify it later.
Explore
Systemrepair
April2014
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Help&Advice

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51
Lcir Io( o.
Createa
RAMdrive
Use the spare memory in your PC
to speed up its performance and
extend your hard drives lifespan.
he concept of taking unused
memory and turning it into
a lightning fast virtual drive
that also reduces the wear and tear
on your hard disk is nothing new, but
using RAM has traditionally had one
major drawback: its volatile nature
means all data is lost when power
is cut, such as when you turn o or
restart your PC. However, thanks to
modern tools like SoftPerfect RAM
Disk, thats not a problem. SoftPerfect
is a free tool that regularly saves the
content of your RAM to an image le
so you can use it to store all kinds of
data, not just temporary les. Youll
have to put up with slower startup
and shutdown as the image is either
loaded into RAM or updated, but Ill
show you how to strike a balance
between performance and boot
times. It work best with modern PCs
with 4GB of RAM or more, but you
can still take advantage with as little
as 1GB read on to nd out how.
1
Get started
Install SoftPerfect RAM Disk from the free disc (if prompted,
install the virtual disk driver). Leave Launch SoftPerfect RAM
Disk ticked on the exit screen and click Finish. When the main
screen appears, select Image > Create image. First, youll need to
pick a location to store your RAM disk image this will let you
keep data whenever you shut down or restart your PC.
2
Set disk size
Click the folder icon to choose where to store this image.
Loading and saving this at startup and shutdown lengthens boot
times, so with this in mind, save it to your fastest drive (preferably
SSD), give it a suitable name say RAMdisk and click Save.
Now set its size, limiting it to either 2,048MB or a maximum of 25
per cent of your PCs total RAM, whichever is smaller.
Step-by-step Set up and use your RAM drive
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FIREFOXCACHE
Install the Conguration Mania add-on
(http://addons.mozilla.org/addon/4420) and
select Firefox > Options > Conguration
Mania > Browser Cache to change its location.
PROGRAMCACHES
If your favourite
program makes use
of temporary folders
or caches, check its
settings for an option
to move these to your
new RAM disk.
PORTABLEAPPLICATIONS
Portable apps (see page 32,
issue 92) are self-contained,
so theyre perfect candidates
for switching to your RAM
drive if theyre currently
being stored on a slower
hard drive.
T
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
15
minutes
52
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April2014
3
Create image file
Set the file system to FAT32 and type RAM disk or some
other easily identifiable name into the Volume label box. Verify
that Image Type is set to Volume, then click OK to create the
image file. This can take some time, so be patient and ignore any
Not Responding messages. Once the image file has been created,
ignore the prompt to mount the image drive and click OK.
4
Set up RAM disk
Click the + button to create a new RAM disk. Start by
clicking the folder icon to locate the file you created earlier.
Next, pick a suitable drive letter that wont clash with anything
else R for RAM disk might be a good option. Tick Save
contents to image to ensure that any data stored in your RAM
disk is updated when your PC shuts down or restarts.
Jargon buster!
Cache
A special folder in
which Windows or
specic programs
such as web
browsers can store
data. This can later
be retrieved at a
faster rate than if the
data was requested
again from its
original source.
SSD
Stands for solid-state
drive, and refers to
the new generation
of hard drives that
have no moving
parts and therefore
deliver much faster
transfer speeds
than traditional
mechanical ones.
Virtualdiskdriver
A driver that allows
Windows to
recognise and access
the portion of
memory set aside
for a RAM drive as
if it were an actual
physical hard disk.
GOOGLECHROMECACHE
Moving the Chrome cache isnt for
inexperienced users youll need to
follow a relatively complicated procedure
outlined under A better way at http://
essayweb.net/miscellany/chrome.shtml.
INTERNETEXPLORERCACHE
Select Tools > Internet options >
Settings under Browsing History. Click
Move folder to select a folder on your
RAM disk, then click OK twice before
logging o when prompted.
MULTIPLERAMDRIVES
You can create two or
more RAM disks for
dierent purposes, but
make sure their combined
size doesnt exceed 25 per
cent of your PCs total
memory (so 512MB for
2GB, for example).
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Explore
CreateaRAMdrive
April2014
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Help&Advice

|
53
9
Delete and start again
You can only make changes to your RAM disk by deleting
and recreating it, thus losing all data currently on the disk. First,
copy any files off that you wish to keep, then set your Windows
TEMP folders back to their default values via Tools > Set Windows
TEMP folders. Close any apps using the RAM disk and then
right-click it and click Delete, forcing a dismount if required.
7
Add more folders
You can now use the RAM drive like any other check out
the annotation on p52-53 for a guide to the kinds of data you
should consider storing there. Just create the relevant folders on
the drive, then instruct their parent applications to use them.
Id advise against storing any personal folders such as Documents
on the drive, just in case the PC crashes between backups.
5

Protect your data
If your PC crashes, youll lose any changes that have been
made to the RAM disk since your last reboot or startup. To back
up changes to the disk image regularly, click the Advanced
button, tick Save contents to associated image every x min and
set it to a figure thats balanced between performance and
protecting data on the RAM disk 30 would work well. Click OK.
10
RAM disk heaven
Depending on which files you transfer to RAM disk, you
should soon notice some performance gains. Your hard drives will
also thank you for putting less strain on them. If you have enough
RAM you can even create more RAM disks, just choose Disk > Add
to create a temporary RAM disk that wipes itself whenever the
computer shuts down or restarts perfect for sensitive tasks.
8

Auto-run applications
If you move folders or caches related to programs that
start with Windows, youll need to disable their auto-start entries
(look within the program for this setting). Now open SoftPerfect
RAM Disk Manager and choose Tools > Applications. Click Add
to select the program file, then click Open > OK so the program
auto-starts again, but only after the RAM drive is ready.
6
Move Windows temporary folders
Click OK to mount the drive. Once the drive has been
created, you can start using it. First, open the drive in Windows/
File Explorer and create two folders: TMP and TEMP. Now switch
back to SoftPerfect RAM Disk and choose Tools > Set Windows
TEMP folder. Type R:\TEMP and R:\TMP into their respective
boxes, replacing R with the letter you assigned your RAM disk.
54
|
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April2014
*Free issues not available on Zinio.
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Lcir Io( o.
Getrealhelpfrom
realpeople,fast!
Sometimes the standard help forum just doesn't cut
it, and in the age of internet video chat youll soon
wonder how you lived without Google Helpouts.
oogle rolls out so many
new web services that it can
sometimes be dicult to
keep track of them all, even the ones
that have the potential to change
the way your use your PC. Google
Helpouts addresses the problem of
trying to properly explain a problem
to an expert over the phone or
through a chat forum. Here you use
video to have a proper face-to-face
discussion. Its essentially a mix of the
Hangouts feature of social network
Google+ and Google Wallet,
Googles own payment system.
Helpouts is far from an amateur
aair though its designed to work
with partner video helpers, all of
whom are approved by Google, so
although the choice might be slim at
present, the quality is high. You can
nd the help you need by searching
Helpouts, by browsing the categories,
or through direct links on the web.
1
Search for help
Like most of Google's services, Helpouts is all tied into
the company's search engine, so youll see popular search terms
appear as you type your query at https://helpouts.google.com.
You can also get the top results by typing a search term into
www.google.com, followed by the word helpouts. Alternatively,
you can browse for Helpouts using the Categories list.
2
Accept terms
Once youve found a Helpout session that looks useful, take
a minute or two to read the reviews to see whether it's the right
one for you. You can then send the channel owner a message for
more information by clicking Send a message. Youll be asked to
agree to the Google Helpouts terms and conditions before you
can proceed and make an appointment with the owner.
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Step-by-step Get chatting to an expert in seconds
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
30
minutes
56
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April2014
7
Activity notifications
You can change how you are notified through Google
Helpouts in the Settings menu (access it by choosing the cog icon
in the top-right then selecting 'Settings'). The default time to be
notified of a session starting is five minutes, but you can enter any
time you like. You can also choose where to get your notifications:
through the desktop, via Gmail or by text message to your phone.
8
Give and take
Thats it, youve had your first Google Helpout! If you would
like to have more assistance from the same Helpout partner, you
can just go back to Your Helpouts. You can also give Helpouts
yourself by signing up to be a Google partner. Its still early days
and youll have to wait for an invite code, but you can register
your interest through the Give your own Helpouts button.
5
During a session
When you start a Helpout for the first time, youll be
prompted to install the associated browser plugin. Just follow the
on-screen prompts to do so. Youll then see the main video call
window with a message asking you to confirm that you're ready
to begin, and that it's okay for Google to save a recording of the
Helpout (if your partner also agrees).
3
Make an appointment
Most Helpouts will have a grey box labelled 'Schedule',
which you can select to see a calendar and choose an available
time slot. Pick a date and time for your appointment, then hit
'Schedule'. Some pages may also have a green Start Helpout
now box for immediate connection, or a white Request a time
box, where you can type a message to the session owner.
6
Keep track of Helpouts
Youll now begin your Google Helpout session, which uses
your computer's webcam to make a video call just like you do
when you're using Skype. The controls at the top of your window
allow you to tweak volume, mute audio, turn the camera off or
end the Helpout. To get a list of your past Helpouts and any
recordings, go to 'Your Helpouts > Past Helpouts'.
4
Pricing
All Helpouts payments are processed through Google
Wallet (www.google.com/wallet), so youll need to create an
account before you can schedule a paid session. You'll be asked
to add a credit card to your Wallet when you register. Prices are
based on either a per-minute or per-Helpout basis, and are set by
providers. Free Helpouts sessions dont require a Wallet account.
Explore
Getrealhelpfromrealpeople
April2014
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57
Lcir Io( o.
ReadAmazon
Kindlebooks
Try the electronic versions of your
favourite books you dont even
need a Kindle to enjoy them.
othing beats the Amazon
Kindle as a dedicated
e-reader device. Its screen
looks almost as good as paper, you
can read it inside or in bright
sunshine, its light and slim enough
to go anywhere with you, and its
battery life gives you about a months
use depending on how voraciously
you read books before you need
to think about recharging it. Prior
to getting mine, I couldnt imagine
not buying paperbacks from the
shops. Now well, I have to admit
Im starting to wonder.
But a Kindle isnt the only way you
can read Amazon ebooks. There are
Kindle applications for every major
phone platform and tablet, a brand
new one for the web, and of course,
one for your home PC. This is the
perfect way to dip your toe into the
water, see what ebooks can do, and
decide if you want to make the jump
to a dedicated device.
1
Join Amazon
Every book you buy on Amazon is tied to your main
account. If youve ever bought anything there before, you already
have one. If not, then go to www.amazon.co.uk in your web
browser, click the Start Here link at the top of the screen and
register a new account it should only take a few moments.
2
Get the software
Move the cursor over Kindle in the list of departments on
the left to bring up a menu, then click Free Kindle Reading Apps.
On the screen that appears, click Windows 7, XP & Vista, then
Download now. A Windows 8 Modern UI app version is available,
though the Windows 7 version works just fine under Windows 8.
Step-by-step Get started with ebooks
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COLLECTIONS
Hand-made,
unfortunately. Theres no
automatic sorting of
even ction vs non-
ction, never mind
genres or authors. Search
for them in the top-right
searchbar though.
COVERS
Most Kindle books have
covers that look good and
help you identify titles. If
not, Amazon gives them a
generic one instead words
on top of a clip-art book.
N
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Ataglance
SKILLLEVEL
TIMETAKEN
SUITABLEFOR
30
minutes
58
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April2014
3
Install the reader
Click on KindleForPC-installer.exe to start the installation
process. Once installed, enter the email address and password
that you used to register your Amazon account. This activates
all of the readers functions, and tells Amazon that it can send
books to it when you request them.
4
Your e-library
If youve already bought Kindle books on Amazon in the
past, theyll be automatically listed (but they wont be
downloaded until you request them) along with their covers.
If not, you have three free classic ones to play with Aesops
Fables, Pride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island.
Jargon buster!
Ebook
Electronic book.
Amazon uses a le
format called .mobi,
and the Kindle
reader can handle
books that you
didnt buy from its
online store if theyre
in that format.
Simply double-click
to open them.
Kindle
Amazons dedicated
e-reader. Uses e-ink
instead of a standard
LCD for an
experience thats
much easier on the
eyes. Highly
recommended if you
get into ebooks.
LONG-TAIL
As you buy books, Amazon gets
a better idea of what you like. Or sometimes,
a very strange idea. Its worth checking this
button out though, just in case.
LIBRARY
This contains all the
books youve bought.
Sampler editions only
stay in it until you delete
them or buy their book
they wont clutter
your library forever.
PURCHASING
You can purchase books from
Samples through here, but are
sent back to Amazon to buy
new ones. You can purchase
them on any machine and
read them here.
Explore
ReadAmazonKindlebooks
April2014
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59
9
Two page spread
You can also click the icon of two pages next to each other
to give you columns instead. Its closer to the experience
of reading an actual book, giving you more words without extra
eye-strain, but whether you enjoy the experience or not is going
to be pure personal preference. Its easy enough to swap it back.
7
Change the flow
One advantage that ebooks have over regular ones is that
you can control the reading experience. By default, the book will
probably look pretty hideous. Fix that by clicking the Aa icon
in either windowed or full screen mode, which gives you several
options to make it much more comfortable to read.
5

Open a book
Double-click on one of these three books well use
Treasure Island to open it in the reader. Most Kindle books have
a cover and a contents page, but youre usually put at the
beginning of the main text when you open it. Click on the left
and right margins to flip through the pages.
10
Inside the book
The final options you need to know about are on the left
of the window. The top icon jumps you around the book
(including to the table of contents, though it doesnt list it itself ),
the middle one searches through the book for you, and the final
one tracks any notes or highlights that you add to the text.
8

Tweak the pages
The font size slider does exactly what youd expect scales
the text up and down. The Words Per Line setting shrinks the
page width. For most people, a small column works best because
it reduces how far the eye has to travel. Color mode lets you
switch to a sepia or black background, which some people prefer.
6
Open it wider
Reading in a small window can feel cramped. Click on the
last icon above the main window (a box with arrows pointing out
of it) to put the book into full screen mode instead. Press [Esc]
when youve finished reading, or if you simply want to go back
to the window version.
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15
Making notes
Right-click anywhere in a book to highlight it, add a note,
copy text (unless locked out by the publisher) or look up a word.
The first time you do this, the reader will have to download the
dictionary, which may take a short while. After that, it will
be a much faster automatic process.
13
Buying the book
Buying a book is no harder. All of the samples finish on a
link to do so, and theres a shortcut under the link in the Library.
You wont be asked for your password and ordering is immediate.
If you mis-click and buy a book by accident, you can request a
refund but try not to.
11
Free samples
Enough of Treasure Island! Go to Amazon and
search for a book thats available in Kindle format.
Everything on Kindle has a free sample. Click Send
sample now on the right of the screen. If you have
multiple Kindle readers, choose the PC one first.
16
Staying in sync
As long as you have internet access, every Kindle reader on
every platform will sync so you never lose your page, and you can
pick up your book wherever you left off. This makes it easy to start
reading in bed, continue on the bus to work, and even sneak in a
few pages over lunch on Amazons web-based reader.
14
Making collections
Collections make it easy to manage your books as your
library grows. Click + to create a new collection, then drag books
in. You have to move books one at a time, but its still easier
than using the keys on an actual Kindle, on the worlds slowest
updating screen. Here you can be finished in a few minutes.
12
Collect the book
Return to the Kindle reader. If the book
doesnt appear, click the Refresh button next to
Library. Your sample will appear in the top left.
Double-click on it to load it. Samples vary in size,
though you usually get a decent chunk.
Jargon buster!
Sync
The short form of
synchronise. In this
case, the Kindle
Reader keeps track
of what ebooks you
own, and exactly
where you are in
reading them. You
can download your
library to any
registered device.
Explore
ReadAmazonKindlebooks
April2014
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Help&Advice

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61
OF WINDOWS XP
PREPARE FOR
62
|
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April 2014
IT'S THE FINAL CURTAIN FOR WINDOWS XP OR IS IT? DISCOVER WHAT YOUR
OPTIONS ARE AND HOW TO IMPLEMENT THEM AFTER XP REACHES END-OF-LIFE
This ending of official support also means an
end to any new or updated XP-related articles on
Microsofts various technical websites (including
http://support.microsoft.com), and will have a
knock-on effect elsewhere in the tech world.
Hardware and software manufacturers will
increasingly abandon support for the operating
system; this means your favourite programs
may no longer be updated, and new hardware
devices wont work in XP.
At the same time, Microsoft is also dropping
support for Office 2003, but it has recently
backtracked on plans to remove support for
Microsoft Security Essentials in XP, promising
to continue providing critical anti-malware
assistance until 14 July 2015. Despite this
change of heart, now is the time to take a critical
look at your Windows XP PC and decide what
youre going to do will you stick, or twist to a
new operating system? Armed with this feature,
you can be confident that you will make the right
decision for you and your computer.
On 8 April this year, all official support for
Windows XP from Microsoft will come to an
end. This news doesnt indicate that XP will
suddenly stop working overnight, but it does
mean that in the future there will be no official
support provided for Microsofts venerable
operating system. It also signifies that no new
updates or hotfixes will be released, and this
certainly has critical implications for the security
of your XP-powered PC.
Microsoft stopped providing new features to
Windows XP users a long time ago, but the tech
giant has continued to contribute critical hotfixes
and security patches. This has meant that when
vulnerabilities in Windows XP have been
discovered either by security researchers or
through the release of new malware Microsoft
has released updates that close these holes to
protect your PC against these threats. Now that
these updates are no more, your computer is
vulnerable to any threats or exploits discovered
in the months and years to come.
Cover feature
The end of Windows XP
April 2014
|
Help & Advice


|
63
To upgrade or
not to upgrade?
o, Windows XP has
reached end-of-life.
The good news is that
it didnt suddenly
stop working as the clock
ticked over over to 9 April.
Microsoft has conrmed
that you will still be able to
activate XP and Ofce 2003
after this date, so you should
still be able to reinstall
Windows without worrying
about being locked out of
your system. You ll also still
be able to use Windows
Update to download all
Service Packs, hotxes and
other updates released before
8 April, but from now on,
youre essentially on your own.
This leaves you with two
choices. The rst is to accept
that now is the time to
upgrade either Windows or
your PC. The second is to
continue using XP past its
cut-off date. Here we ll look
at the practicality involved
in choosing either option.
Choose to upgrade
Despite the criticism levelled
at it, Windows 8.1 is far
superior to XP. Its much
more secure out of the box,
and contains a number
of great new features and
usability improvements,
many of which get
overlooked. The new File
Explorer makes navigating
les and folders far easier,
while the enhanced Taskbar
lets you quickly and simply
access your favourite les.
Most of the criticism
surrounding Windows 8.1
relates to the new Modern
User Interface a tile-based
system designed to bridge
the gap between traditional
computers and touchscreen
devices like tablets and
phones. It has proved a
bridge too far for many users,
but behind this faade lies
the Windows desktop (and all
its trimmings) that youve
come to know and love.
The good news is that you
can shut out the Modern
User Interface and work
exclusively in the Windows
desktop. Install a free
program called Classic Shell
(www.classicshell.net) and
not only will it allow you to
keep the new Start screen
at arms length you ll boot
straight to the desktop for
starters but it will restore
the classic Start menu, too.
You can even congure this
to more closely resemble the
old Start menu rather than
Windows 7s newer, more
powerful version.
One reason people stuck
with XP for so long was
because Windows Vista its
immediate successor had
heavy demands that meant
it struggled to run on older
PCs. Windows 7 resolved
this issue by streamlining
performance, and Windows
8.1 goes further still, making
it a snappy performer even
on older systems. That said,
its still not as fast as XP,
so bear this in mind.
Upgrade requirements
To run Windows 7 or 8.1,
you ll need a PC with a 1GHz
processor, 1GB RAM, at least
20GB free hard drive space
and a graphics card that
supports DirectX 9. Those
arent onerous system
requirements, so even
if youve not upgraded your
PC for eight years, youre
likely to nd that its already
capable of handling the latest
versions of Windows (at
least in theory).
Its worth bearing in mind
that some of your older
hardware, such as printers
and scanners, may not work
in Windows 8.1, but we'll
reveal tips and tricks for
dealing with these over the
page. For now, get a heads-up
on whats likely to cause
problems by running the
Windows 8 Upgrade
Assistant. Download this at
http://go.microsoft.com/
fwlink/p/?LinkId=321548.
If your PC passes muster,
then remember that
performance might not
be quite as snappy as youve
come to expect. Upgrading
your machines memory
to 2GB (or even 4GB if your
system supports it) will help
here, particularly if you
plan to run three or four
applications at once. A faster
hard drive will also help, and
if your PC is a younger model
with SATA drive support,
a solid-state storage drive will
Preserve data and settings
Sadly theres no direct upgrade route from Windows
XP to either Windows 7 or 8. That means if youre
planning to install the new version of Windows on
your existing PC, you wont be given the option
of migrating your existing les, settings and
applications during the installation process.
Thankfully, there are third-party solutions. If youre
upgrading to Windows 7 you can migrate your data
and compatible program settings for free using
Microsofts own Windows Easy Transfer program. If
youd like to perform an in-place upgrade from XP
preserving programs, settings and data then youll
have to pay. Laplink oers Upgrade Assistant tools for
both Windows 7 and Windows 8 (see www.laplink.
com/pcmover). They cost 20/$30 each, but make the
process as painless as possible.
If youre buying a new PC, then you can use
Windows Easy Transfer to move les and settings
across as before to Windows 7, but youll need to
purchase a more expensive Laplink product either
PCmover Home (34/$40) or PCmover Pro (50/$60)
if you want to migrate programs, too.
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Upgrade with care
If youre planning to save yourself a few pennies
by reusing the core components from your old
computer, consider the following points before you
get started. First, your PCs case will probably be ne
if its ATX standard, but the power supply may need
upgrading. It should be at least 300W (400W ideally)
and have modern connectors like SATA, 24-pin ATX
and maybe PCI Express, as well as older Molex ones
for backward compatibility. Quieter, more ecient
models come at a premium, but you shouldnt have
to pay more than 40/$65.
If you want to reuse the old drives from your
computer, then check their connections. If they're the
older ribbon-based IDE standard, you may need to
source an adapter or converter as most modern
motherboards only support the newer SATA standard.
Youre also unlikely to be able to keep your old
graphics card when sourcing a new processor,
choose one that comes complete with integrated
graphics. The onboard graphics chip should be
capable of handling both Windows 7 and 8.1, which
will save you the cost of yet another upgrade.
make an enormous difference
to its everyday performance.
If your PC fails to meet
these relatively modest
requirements, investigate
whether certain upgrades
typically memory, hard drive
and graphics would save
you the cost of purchasing
a new PC from scratch.
Before you decide to travel
down this route, check to see
what desktop deals are out
there you can pick up
a desktop PC (minus
monitor) with Windows 7
pre-installed for under
230/$375 from the likes
of www.ebuyer.com, which
might be a better deal than
upgrading your old machine.
If you need to upgrade the
processor, you ll need to
replace the computers
memory and motherboard
as well. AMD multi-core
options are much cheaper
than Intel, so if youre on a
tight budget, shop around for
a bundle. It is possible to pick
up an AMD FX-4300 bundle
with 4GB RAM for less than
170 from dabs.com. While
the performance isnt quite
on a par with the more
expensive Intel models, it ll
still be a signicant step up
from your old PC. Before you
take the plunge and decide
to revamp your computer,
check the Upgrade with care
box on this page to ensure
that upgrading isnt a false
economy compared with
buying a brand new model.
Stick with Windows XP
If youre absolutely wedded to
Windows XP perhaps your
PC is too old and you cant
afford to upgrade it then it
will be possible to keep it
running beyond the 8 April
cut-off date. However, the
longer you do so, the less
secure it and by extension
your personal privacy and
data will become. Later on
in this feature we will reveal
how its possible to tighten
up Windows XP so its more
secure, which will buy you
more time to either save up
some cash for an upgrade or
come to terms with the fact
that its time to bite the bullet
and move on from the vintage
XP operating system.
One of the best ways
to lock down XP is to
implement your own form
of User Account Control.
This security feature was
introduced in Windows Vista
and has gone a long way
towards stopping certain
types of malware just
strolling on to a PC and
installing themselves silently
in the background. While
you cant make things that
user-friendly and simple
in XP, it is possible to add
an extra layer of security
to your machine.
In XP you can create
a second user account thats
used for administrative tasks
such as installing software,
and making major changes
to your system like adding
new hardware or tweaking
certain settings. Once done,
you can reduce your own user
account to that of a Limited
User, which will give you
all the access you need for
day-to-day use of your PC
while closing a great big hole
in your PCs security.
Other ways in which you
can tighten security include
switching to a modern web
browser that will continue
to support XP after the
cut-off date. The same is true
for anti-malware software,
and many vendors have made
it clear they plan to support
XP for a while yet. And
last but not least, you can
minimise your exposure to
danger by adding even more
layers, whether by vetting
websites before you visit or
screening all downloads
before opening them.
We ll also look at ways of
future-proong Windows XP
reinstalls. While Microsoft
has made it clear that you ll
still be able to reactivate XP
after 8 April, will this always
be true? And what about
downloading updates?
They ll still be around after
8 April as well, but we ll
explain how to download
them to a folder for updating
future reinstalls essential
if you decide to protect your
XP installation by going
ofine with it.
The end result of following
our advice is that your
Windows XP computer will
be more secure than it has
ever been. Were not saying
that it will be a catch-all
solution, but it will buy you
a few months more thinking
time perhaps even a year.
Whichever route you
decide to go down, read on
to discover how to either
make switching to a new PC
or a fresh version of Windows
as painless as possible,
or how to ensure your
existing system will remain
viable for that little bit longer.
Lets get started!
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Cover feature
The end of Windows XP
Compatibility
Troubleshooter
If the program installed, right-click its
shortcut. If it didnt, right-click its setup file.
Click Troubleshoot compatibility. When it
launches, click Try recommended settings.
Review findings and click Test the program.
Test and repeat
If the program successfully installs
or runs, return to the troubleshooter, click
Next and choose Yes, save these settings
for this program. If it fails, try No, try again
using different settings to follow a wizard
that will attempt to pinpoint the problem.
Manual tweaks
If all else fails, right-click the
program shortcut or setup file and choose
Properties > Compatibility. From here you
can experiment with different settings: try
different Windows versions and ticking the
Run this program as administrator box.
Step-by-step Resolve compatibility issues
o if you decide its
time to move to a
newer version of
Windows, what do
you need to look out for? By
now you should have either
purchased a new PC with
Windows 7 or 8 pre-installed,
or have purchased an
upgrade copy of Windows 8
or 8.1, having rst conrmed
that your current computer
is capable of handling it.
What next?
Switching to a new PC
The advantage of buying a
new PC is that youre not
overwriting anything on your
old PC, giving you the luxury
of making sure everything
you want to transfer is in
place before sending your old
computer off to the recycling
centre. If youre using
a program like Windows
Easy Transfer or PCmover
to migrate from your old PC
to the new one, make sure
theyre on the same network
and visible to each other,
then you can launch the tool
on each computer and follow
the prompts to transfer your
les and if applicable
programs and settings. Once
done, take one last fail-safe
drive image of your old PCs
entire hard drive using a
free program like Comodo
Backup (on the cover disc).
This ensures that no les
are accidentally lost or left
behind, and allows you
to dispose of your old
computer securely.
Upgrading Windows
If youre keeping your PC but
installing a new version of
Windows, the process is
slightly different. You ll need
to back up your data and
if applicable settings and
programs, then install the
new version of Windows
before restoring your backup.
If youre planning to upgrade
to Windows 7, you can
download the Windows Easy
Transfer tool from http://bit.
ly/xp-easytransfer. Install
and run this, then follow the
prompts, noting you ll need
to choose the external hard
drive or USB ash drive
option to back up your
les and settings prior to
installing Windows 7. You
would then run Windows
Easy Transfer again (its
incorporated into Windows
7, so no separate download
is required) and follow the
prompts provided to restore
your backup.
If you plan to upgrade to
Windows 8, then Laplinks
Windows 8 Upgrade
Assistant offers the simplest
solution. For it to work, its
critically important that you
opt to keep your personal
les during the setup process.
Windows will then copy
all the les you ll need for
migrating to a Windows.old
folder. This will only be kept
for 28 days, so dont hang
about! Once Windows 8 is
installed and set up, reinstall
the Upgrade Assistant and
follow the prompts to bring
across your les, programs
and settings.
If you simply want to
transfer your les across,
then a tool like the free
version of Comodo Backup
(http://backup.comodo.com)
is a good choice. During
installation, untick Install
cCloud if you have no need
for 10GB free online storage,
and dismiss any warnings
about unsigned drivers.
Reboot when prompted, then
launch Comodo Backup to
get started. Click the Back up
now button and work your
way through the Backup
Source options to choose
which les and folders to
back up. If in doubt, select
the entire Documents and
Settings folder, inside which
most of your data should
reside. When prompted for
a backup location, choose
My Computer to save to
an external USB drive,
or Network to save to a
network one. Click Next
to proceed to the Backup
Settings screen, where
advanced users can perform
all kinds of tweaks, then click
Back up now.
Once backed up, run the
backup tool again to back up
email, IM conversations and
browser settings in turn if
Migrate to a new PC
or version of Windows
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Visit website
Check the program
or hardwares site for
compatibility information,
including any possible free
or paid-for updates that are
available to download.
Take the plunge
Run a program or driver
installer and see what
happens it may just work.
Alternatively, Windows
may be able to apply
compatibility settings itself.
Go hunting
Go online and try a Google
search for your program
name, version number and
either Windows 7 or
Windows 8 to see if anyone
else has had success.
Find drivers
Install the free DriverEasy
tool on the cover disc if
youre having problems
tracking down drivers for
specic hardware
components or devices.
Try an alternative
Visit www.alternativeto.net
to nd similar, compatible
products to your
non-working software.
There are many freebies
listed on this site, too.
Compatibility
Check our step-by-step
guide opposite on resolving
compatibility issues to see
if Windows can nd the
compatibility settings it
needs to run the program.
Virtual world
One workaround could be
to install VirtualBox (www.
virtualbox.org). This product
allows you to run your
uncooperative software in a
virtual Windows XP window.
Try older drivers
A lot of Windows 7 and
Windows Vista drivers will
happily work in Windows 8,
too. If you are struggling
to source a drive, try
accessing these instead.
SOS
SOS = Save Old Scanners!
VueScan (www.hamrick.
com) is a program that lets
older scanners be used in
later versions of Windows
try the free version rst.
Get in touch
If all else fails, email us
at Support Squad
(windowsmagazine@
futurenet.com) with details
of the program and well see
what we can do to help.
applicable. And when all
of that is done, wed also
suggest taking a System
Backup too if you have the
space for it on your backup
drive this provides a safety
net in case you forget to
include a key le in your
main backup.
Pre-install requisites
Youre now ready for the next
step of the process. This
involves checking to see what
hardware and software may
cause problems after you
upgrade Windows by visiting
the Windows Compatibility
Center at www.microsoft.
com/compatibility. Here
you can opt to scan your PC
using the Upgrade Assistant
(not to be confused with
Laplinks product), or search
for specic programs or
hardware devices you may
have concerns about.
Its likely that you ll
discover a few potential
problems, but dont worry
the Upgrade Assistant will
offer some suggestions where
it can, like updating or
upgrading to a newer version.
Check out the box above for
our top 10 tips to help you
with some compatibility
issues you may face.
Youre now nearly ready to
install your new version of
Windows. Before you do,
make sure you have all the
setup les for your
compatible programs to
hand, and make a note of any
drivers you might need. The
critical ones at this point are
your network drivers, without
which you wont be able to
get back online. Once youre
ready, dig out one of our
recent reinstall guides (the
latest appeared in issue 91)
and get installing.
Brave new world
Once your new version of
Windows is in place, and
before restoring any data
or settings, you should rst
make sure your hardware has
been detected correctly and
that youre able to reinstall
your favourite programs. If
youve been unable to source
an update for a particular
program, you may be able
to get it to work or install by
using Compatibility Mode.
The guide opposite reveals
what you need to do if
youre lucky, you may be able
to keep an old favourite
running in this post-XP era.
Now youre ready to restore
your data. If youre using
Windows Easy Transfer you ll
nd its already installed in
Windows 7, so simply launch
it from the Start menu. If you
purchased the Windows 8
Upgrade Assistant, now is the
time to install it. Ignore any
prompts to run additional
scans or download extra
software, and then follow the
wizard through. It should
detect your Windows.old
folder and then allow you
to select les, folders and
programs to bring across.
If you used Comodo
Backup, reinstall the program
and click Restore. Switch
to the My Computer or
Network tab depending
on where your backup was
stored, then locate the CBU
backup le. When prompted
to restore the les contents,
you can expand it to select
only specic les and folders.
Make sure you untick
Restore to default location
to select a new folder on your
hard drive, into which the
les will be copied. When
this is done, locate this folder
and return the les inside to
their appropriate locations,
such as your new Documents
or Pictures folder. Once your
les are all fully restored,
youre ready to embrace your
new life with a more up-to-
date version of Windows.
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Cover feature
The end of Windows XP
Step-by-step Prepare to reinstall Windows
re you unable
or unwilling to
upgrade right
now? If the
answer is yes then its
essential that you prepare
your PC to face XPs end-of-
life. Although in theory the
9 April should have passed
like any other day, from
now on your PC will be
increasingly vulnerable
to hackers and other forms
of malware. In this section,
we ll look at ways of reducing
this risk as much as possible,
therefore buying you extra
time with Windows XP.
Now is a good time to
consider one last reinstall
of XP, particularly if you plan
to put off your upgrade for
at least six months. This will
allow you to create a vanilla
version of XP that you
subsequently bring fully up
to date with all available
Service Packs, security
patches, drivers and other
xes and updates. You can
then take a full backup of this
pristine installation and use
it as the basis for any future
reinstalls, saving you time
and ensuring your copy of XP
is as well patched as possible.
If you choose this route,
follow the walkthrough
below, which reveals the steps
you need to take to make this
reinstall as painless and safe
as possible. Start by creating
an ofine update folder that
contains all the Service Packs
and patches for Windows XP
if you do this now, it ll
contain everything you ll ever
need to bring XP as up to
date as possible. The benet
of creating this folder is that
it will allow you to patch XP
after reinstalling without
connecting it to the internet,
ensuring a large number
of potentially dangerous
security holes have been
closed before you venture
back online.
Get backed up
You ll need to take a number
of backups. The rst will be
your drivers, so you can
quickly restore them post-
installation now and in the
future. The most critical of
these are your display and
network drivers (if theyre
not already covered by the
Windows CD); the latter are
vital for getting back online.
The second backup will be
your personal les, folders
and selected settings.
Advanced users may also be
interested in backing up
settings for their favourite
programs see the box on the
right for some tips on where
to look for these.
Finally, we suggest that you
take a fail-safe backup in the
form of a complete drive
image of your current XP
installation. Doing this will
ensure that no les get left
behind, and allows you to roll
back your system to this state
if the reinstall doesnt work
out. If you create this backup,
make sure you click Settings
in Comodo Backup and
create a rescue disc using
a blank CD or DVD. You ll
need this to restore any drive
images you make.
Once youre backed up, the
nal step before reinstalling
is to ensure all your program
installation les (in particular
your security software see
over the page), relevant
product keys and other
required registration
information are to hand.
If youve mislaid a product
key, the nal step in our
guide below will help you out.
The reinstall process
Weve covered the reinstalling
process a number of times
in the magazine, but if
you have a Windows XP
installation disc and need
a complete step-by-step
guide, you ll nd a PDF le
on the cover disc that you can
print out for reference. If
youre using a recovery disc
or partition, you ll need to
set the procedure in motion
by booting from the disc or
looking for a key to press
to access repair or recovery
options. From here, just
follow the prompts, making
sure that you choose a full
Stick with
Windows XP
Update offline
Follow the guide on page 78 to
use WSUS Offline Update to grab all the
updates youll need to patch and protect
XP without going on to the internet.
Choose the USB medium option to store
these in a folder on your backup drive.
Back up drivers
Install Double Driver from the
cover disc, then double-click dd.exe to
launch it. Click Backup followed by Scan
current system to select all non-Microsoft
drivers. Click Back up now, select your
backup drive and click OK.
Prepare for file backup
Install Comodo Backup from the
cover disc, then launch the program and
click Settings. Click the Browse button
to change the default backup location
to a folder on your backup drive, then click
OK followed by Apply.
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Back up and image
Follow the instructions on the
previous spread to create all of the
file-based backups you need, then return
to the home screen and click System
backup to create a fail-safe drive image
on your backup drive, just in case.
Locate forgotten
product keys
Install Belarc Advisor from cover disc, click
Yes when prompted to update security
definitions. Itll generate a report, which
will appear in the browser. Click Software
licenses link to view all product keys.
destructive recovery; this
wipes all existing data from
the Windows partition and
returns your computer to
the exact state it was in when
you rst switched it on. Its
a pretty straightforward affair
follow the wizard, sit back
and wait for the computer
to be restored, then follow
whatever setup wizard
is provided to put your
computer back in basic
working order.
Post reinstall
The temptation at this point
would be to connect to the
internet and start the
laborious process of
reinstalling drivers and
updates, but this is where
your preparatory work
starts to pay off. First,
make sure your PC remains
disconnected from the
internet either physically
unplug its connection to the
router/modem or ignore any
prompts to connect up to
a wireless network. Next, its
time to reinstall those critical
drivers. Do so by reinstalling
Double Driver from the cover
disc. Launch the program,
clicking the Restore button
this time. Select Locate
backup, then click the
button under Other location.
Select the folder inside which
your drivers were backed up
and click OK twice. You
should see a list of all your
backed up drivers appear
click Restore now followed
by OK to bring them back.
Reboot if necessary, then
right-click the desktop and
choose Properties > Settings.
If all is well, you should be
able to resize your desktop
to a comfortable resolution.
Now you need to browse to
the folder where you stored
your ofine updates (see the
rst part of the step-by-step
guide). Here you ll nd an
UpdateInstaller program le;
double-click this to select
which updates to install. All
critical updates including
Internet Explorer 8 will
be pre-selected, but you
can choose to install other
components, too. Tick
Automatic reboot and recall
before clicking the Start
button, then sit back. This
is a lengthy process, and will
reboot your PC a number of
times, but once its complete,
XP will be fully up to date.
Now you can reinstall
Comodo Backup and take
a fresh system backup. Dont
forget to change its default
backup directory via the
Settings button rst create
a dedicated folder on your
backup drive such as
Reinstall Image in which
to store it. In future, you can
skip all the above steps by
simply restoring this image
using the rescue disc you
created. You can then go
on to restore your le.
Once your PC is up to date,
you need to make it as secure
as possible (turn the page
to nd out how). Remember
to reinstall security software
rst, then reconnect to the
internet. Once done, reinstall
your favourite programs and
restore any program settings
you may have backed up.
Back up your
program settings
Many program preferences are
stored in the Registry explore the
SOFTWARE branches of HKEY_
LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_
CURRENT_USER for your chosen
programs. If you nd any, add their
keys to a Registry Entries Comodo
Backup. Other program
preferences are stored in a number
of locations on your hard drive,
which you should add to a new
Files and Directories backup in
Comodo. Look inside the
applications own Program Files
folder for a preferences folder or
INI le for starters, and look inside
your personal user folder for two
hidden folders: Application Data
and Local Settings\Application
Data. Make sure you also check All
Users\Application Data.
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Cover feature
The end of Windows XP
Create master account
Click Start > Control Panel, select
User accounts and click Create a new
account. Type its name (Master) and click
Next. Select Computer administrator and
click Create account. Double-click on new
account and click Create a password.
Step-by-step User Account Control in XP
f youre going to
continue using
Windows XP, its
imperative that you
make your PC as secure as
possible. That means making
sure your current security
software will continue to be
supported on XP beyond 8
April check the vendors
website for details. Microsoft
recently conrmed it would
continue to support
Microsoft Security Essentials
on XP until July 2015, for
example. Whats likely to
happen is that security
companies will continue
to provide virus denition
updates for XP, but the big
question is whether they ll
provide versions that are
compatible in XP when they
next update their security
products. Keep an eye on the
vendors website and see what
happens if you want XP to
benet from major advances
in protection, you ll want
to pick a product that does
more than just provide
virus denition updates.
Lock down XP
One of the most important
security improvements
introduced in later versions
of Windows is User Account
Control. When youre logged
on as an administrator in XP,
youre given carte blanche
access to your system, and
thats extended to the
programs running on your
PC as well. In contrast, User
Account Control (UAC)
throws up warnings
whenever administrator
access is requested by
programs and some system
tools, letting you review the
warning and decide if its safe
to continue. Lack of UAC is
a key reason why XP is more
vulnerable to malware than
later versions of Windows.
One of the most effective
ways to boost security in XP
is to implement a crude form
of User Account Control
(UAC). This is done by using
two accounts side-by-side.
Your own user account is
reduced to the level of
a Limited User for day-to-day
work, while a new master
administrator account allows
you to gain elevated access
when its required, such as
when youre installing new
programs or accessing certain
system tools. The step-by-
step guide below reveals how
to set this up.
However, you may not
want to be prompted to log
into Windows each time your
PC starts if youre its sole
user. To bypass this screen,
click Start > Run while still
logged on using the Master
account. Type control
userpasswords2 and click
[Enter]. Tick Users must
enter a user name and
password to use this
computer and click Apply.
Now untick the box and click
Apply again. Enter your
limited user account name
and if applicable your
password, and then click
the OK button twice.
Now restart your PC. You
should log back on to your
own user account, at which
point you can test that
everything is working as it
should. Start by trying to
install a new program or
access the System Properties
Control Panel. In the case of
the former you ll be unable
to install it, and you ll see
that certain options are not
available to you in the latter.
Working with UAC
Dont worry, these options
arent permanently closed off
to you, but they will require
a little more work. However,
this is a small price to pay for
increased security. To install
new software on your PC,
right-click the setup le and
choose Run as. Select The
following user, pick your
new master account from the
drop-down menu, enter its
password and click OK.
The software should now
install correctly, but some
programs wont work even
with this workaround. The
solution here is to log out of
your own account and log
on temporarily as the master
Make XP
more secure
Log on to new account
Choose a memorable password,
then close the Control Panel and click
Start > Log off, selecting Log off again
at the next screen. Select your new master
account, enter its password and log on
to set up the new account proper.
Reduce user privileges
Open User Accounts and double-
click your personal user account. Choose
Change the account type, Select Limited
and click Change account type. Repeat
for other admin users of your PC before
closing both open windows.
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Different browser
Internet Explorer 8 is getting
a bit long in the tooth now.
Why not replace it with the
latest version of Google
Chrome or Mozilla Firefox?
Google has promised to
support Windows XP at
least until April 2015, while
Mozilla has conrmed that
it doesnt have any plans
to end support for the
operating system.
Scan downloads
Only download programs
that come from reputable
sites preferably those
of their developers and
dont run them directly from
your internet browser.
Before you install any
program that has been
downloaded from the
internet, right-click on it and
scan with your security
program and Malwarebytes.
Vet websites
Install the free Web of Trust
plug-in (www.mywot.com),
which rates websites for
safety and privacy. Unsafe
sites will be rated red, and
youll receive warning
messages alerting you
to steer clear, which will
help you avoid potential
infection. Safe sites are
marked as green, whereas
yellow ones recommend
that caution is exercised.
account to install it, which
should work without a hitch.
If prompted about who to
install the program for, select
the All users option.
In future, you may also
encounter problems with
certain programs such as
system tools and some older
applications that wont run
properly in a limited user
environment. If you trust the
program, you can either
right-click it and choose Run
as, or modify its shortcut to
prompt you automatically
each time you want to launch
it. This is done by right-
clicking its shortcut on the
Start menu, desktop or
Taskbar and choosing
Properties. Click Advanced
and tick Run with different
credentials. Click OK twice.
You may see an Access
denied message at this point
if the programs shortcut is
stored in the All Users
desktop or Start menu
folders. To resolve this, just
right-click the shortcut and
choose to create another
shortcut instead, placing
it on the desktop when
prompted. This new shortcut
will work correctly, enabling
you to perform the tweak.
It is likely that you will also
run into problems with
a number of system tools that
are buried inside the
Windows folder, including
Control Panels and tools like
Registry Editor. You ll need
to manually create shortcuts
to all of these, and then tweak
the shortcut as previously
explained. As this could be
quite an onerous task, weve
given you a head start by
creating some common
shortcuts for you to use
download them from
support-pcs.co.uk/resources/
shortcuts.zip. Once the
download is complete,
double-click the ZIP le and
browse its contents for any
shortcuts you need. Just drag
them on to the desktop, Start
menu or Taskbar, then
right-click them to perform
the Run with different
credentials trick that was
explained earlier.
Regardless of what you do,
some older programs may
refuse to work properly under
a limited user account. If this
happens, consider nding
more up-to-date alternatives
of these programs. Any other
administrators on your PC
should also have their levels
of access reduced, and they ll
need to congure their
accounts separately. Finally,
if you cant perform a critical
task, log on using your
master account to do so.
More security tweaks
If youve been relying on XPs
own rewall for protection,
then now is the time to install
a third-party one. Free
rewalls are available from
Comodo (www.comodo.com)
and ZoneAlarm (www.
zonealarm.com) among
others. If they wont work
properly with your existing
antivirus tool, ZoneAlarm
offers free antivirus, while
Comodo has a free Internet
Security suite (on the cover
disc). This offers additional
protection, including
sandboxing, which allows
you to run unknown or risky
applications (including your
web browser) in an isolated
environment to help prevent
malware from getting a
foothold and spreading
across your PC.
Wed also suggest installing
the free version of
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
from the cover disc run
scans with this on a weekly
basis to ensure that no
nasties have sneaked through
your defences. Armed with
the right protection, you
should be reasonably safe for
now, but check out the Ways
to boost security box for
some more tips that will help
you minimise your risk of
infection. And now start
looking into other PCs and
operating systems for when
the time comes to update.
April 2014
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71
Cover feature
The end of Windows XP
LOOK SHARP Make YouTube videos display in high denition automatically
YouTube videos play in standard denition by default,
and seeing the HD version usually means clicking a link
and waiting for the video to reload. Its frustrating, but
can be avoided with YouTube High Denition. This
fantastic Firefox extension gives you the best image
quality straight away and lets you choose a default size
for videos, including a full-screen option. YouTube High
Denition also works with YouTube videos embedded
in Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. Its the work of Baris
Derin (www.barisderin.com) and if you like it, you can
make a donation to help him create more great
browser add-ons in future. Its quick and easy to use
just download it, restart Firefox and away you go!
HIGH
DEFINITION
BEST YOUTUBE
BROWSER
EXTENSIONS
Find and watch videos however you like with
these brilliant add-ons for Firefox and Chrome
1
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April2014
SPEEDY SEARCHES Once youve installed Search in YouTube, you will be able
to nd useful videos without typing a word into your search engine
TUBE
ENHANCER
BLACK
YOUTUBE
MINI
PLAYER
FIND IT
QUICKLY
Search in YouTube is a Firefox
extension created by Didier Laeur.
It adds an extra item to your context
menu so you can highlight a chunk
of text and right-click it to search
YouTube for related videos. Its
a great time-saver, and ideal if youre
looking for new music simply
highlight the name of an artist to nd
their music videos. Its also brilliant
for product reviews. If you see
something that youre interested
in buying, just highlight its name and
click Search in YouTube.
Do you love YouTube, but wish it gave you more
options? This is the Firefox extension for you.
Download Tube Enhancer and click the icon in
the top right of your browser to display a panel
full of settings, including the option to convert
videos to MP3 format, watch a video in a sidebar,
loop automatically, play in HD by default and
more. We particularly like the dim the lights
feature, which keeps your video at full brightness
and fades the rest of your browser window to the
colour of your choice. Theres even a version for
Google Chrome, but with fewer features.
DARK SIDE Use Black YouTube to transform the video-sharing sites
standard white interface in to something a little easier on the eye
Not all of the best YouTube extensions are
purely functional some are fun, too! Black
YouTube is a nice little Firefox add-on thats
simple, but extremely eective. As its name
suggests, it changes YouTubes fresh, white
interface to something much darker and more
elegant. It looks very stylish, and is perfect
if you nd the standard white too hard on your
eyes. However, its also ideal if you want to dim
the lights, sit back and watch one of the many
fantastic lms or TV shows that are available
freely (and legally) on the site. You just need
to supply your own popcorn.
The Mini Player extension for Google Chrome adds
a miniature browser window so that you can have
a video running while you surf the web. Its great
for playing music videos, or for catching up with
the news while youre working. When the Mini Player
appears, simply paste in the URL of the video you
want to watch and away you go!

T
H
I
N
K
S
T
O
C
K
.
C
O
M
5
3
4
2
Feature
YouTubebrowserextensions
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73
Use YouTube Grid Search to nd the video youre
looking for faster and make the most of your precious
screen space. As the name suggests, this handy add-on
tool for Firefox displays your YouTube search results as
a grid of thumbnail images rather than as a list. Its true
that you dont get as much information as you would
with the standard search layout, but sometimes
a thumbnail says a thousand words.
YouTube Ratings Preview for Chrome and Firefox will be
a welcome addition if youve ever clicked a video, only to
discover that its actually a cunningly disguised clip of
Rick Astleys Never Gonna Give You Up. Go to YouTube,
search for something that youre interested in, and the
videos with the highest ratings will be highlighted with a
red square to help you separate the wheat from the cha.
YouTube Video Preview is a Google Chrome extension and
is great tool for making sure the video youve found
is actually the one you want, helping you to avoid those
Rick Astley clips. Search YouTube for a video, then hover
your mouse pointer over one of the thumbnails to see
a mini slideshow of still images. It doesnt seem to work
with all videos, but when it does, its very handy.
Lyrics Here is available as an add-on in Chrome and Firefox.
It scours dozens of sites for song lyrics, which are then
displayed in a panel alongside the relevant music vid. You
can pick a dierent source if the words dont look right. Its
ideal for karaoke lovers, or if you want to nd out what
Michael Stipe is saying in The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
There are quite a lot of ads built into Chromes Magic
Actions for YouTube, but there are also plenty
of features to explore. You can choose to enlarge
thumbnails as you move your mouse pointer over
them, hide video annotations, stop videos playing
automatically and more. One of the best features is the
ability to control the videos volume using your mouse
wheel, which is much easier than clicking the tiny
volume control in YouTube itself. TURN IT UP Magic Actions lets you control the volume of vids with your mouse wheel
ELIMINATE
THE TRASH
VIDEO
PREVIEW
TIME FOR
KARAOKE
YOUTUBE
GRID SEARCH
JUST LIKE
MAGIC
6
8
10
7
9
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75
WINDOWS HELP HARDWARE FIXES SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INTERNET TIPS
Hardware
PC CANT DETECT
OLD CAMCORDER
Q
Im trying to connect my
old Panasonic NV-DS38
camcorder, which only has a
FireWire port, to my new Acer
Aspire TimelineX 5830TG laptop
running Windows 8.1. I purchased
a FireWire-to-USB cable, but when
I plug the camcorder in I get Error
Code 43 in Device Manager. Ive
tried a replacement cable with no
success, and cannot nd a driver
anywhere to resolve this problem.
Dennis Smith
Nicks solution
Unfortunately, there
are major compatibility
issues with older
camcorders and newer versions
of Windows, even with the
supposedly universal FireWire
interface. The best solution would
be to source a ClimaxDigital USB
video capture device for 15 from
www.climaxdigital.co.uk (quicknd
code: 111129). This should allow you
to connect your camcorder via its
S-Video port to the Windows 8.1
laptop so that you can stream the
footage from there. Although its an
analogue solution, the results will
be perfectly usable and you wont
have to replace the camcorder.
Windows
CHANGE COLOUR
OF TASKBAR
Q
I just upgraded to Windows 7,
and my Taskbar has changed
to a pale blue colour. I suer from
age-related macular degeneration
(AMD) and nd it very hard to see
the icons now is there any way
to darken the Taskbar back to the
colour it was in Windows Vista?
HJ Stephens
Simons solution
You can set a darker
shade for your taskbar
and windows via the
Personalization Control Panel. First,
right-click the desktop, choose
Do you have a
PC problem?
Get in touch
Email full details of
your problem to the
support team and well
do our best to help
windowsmagazine@
futurenet.com
UNIVERSAL FIX
Video-capture
devices like these
work with older
camcorders, too
76
|
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April2014
Jargon buster!
Personalization and click the
Window Color link at the bottom
of the screen. For a quick x, select
the chocolate colour as shown in
the screenshot and then push the
color intensity slider all the way
to the right. As you do so, youll
notice that the Taskbar and window
border darken, allowing you to see
your changes as you make them.
If the underlying transparency is
still too distracting, untick Enable
transparency to make the Taskbar
completely solid. If youd like to get
a closer match to the original black,
click Show color mixer. Set the hue
slider to the darkest shade of blue,
then push the saturation slider all
the way to the right and move the
brightness slider all the way to the
left. When youre happy, click Save
changes to make it permanent.
Internet
ANNOYING SECURITY
MESSAGE
Q
Recently, the following User
Account Control window
keeps appearing whenever I try
to browse the web on my laptop:
An unidentied program wants to
access your computer: ssvagent.
exe, unidentied publisher. It
points to the following le location:
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07/
bin\ssvagent.eve-new-high-
regdeploy. I have a choice of
cancelling or accepting. Is this le
safe, and how do I remove it?
Trevor Lee
Adams solution
The le is linked to an
outdated or corrupt Java
installation the les
should be digitally signed, but the
error message suggests theyre not.
The reference to the jre1.6.0_07
folder points to an outdated
version of Java, which should be
updated immediately. In most
cases, you should be able to x
the problem by visiting http://java.
com/en/download/index.jsp.
Simply download and install
the latest version and the error
message should cease. If this
doesnt work, check the Programs
and Features Control Panel for any
existing installations and remove
them. If there are lots, you could try
the online Java-based removal tool
at http://bit.ly/javacleanup, but this
didnt work on our test machine.
Another tool to try is JavaRa
from http://singularlabs.com.
Click Update JavaRa denitions >
Download to ensure it has the
information it needs. Next, click
Remove JRE to get rid of all
existing versions of Java on your
PC, including any Registry entries
and les left over by a standard
uninstall. If no uninstaller is found,
click Next > Perform removal
routine. Youll be prompted to
download and install the latest
version. This should resolve any
outstanding issues once and for all.
Quickfire questions
FIND THE SOLUTION! Office Suite Solution Centre
Got a problem with Microsoft Office 2010 or 2007? Check out
the dedicated support centre at http://snipurl.com/13ybrk.
Since making Libraries visible
in Windows 8.1, the File
Explorer Taskbar shortcut
defaults to Libraries instead
of This PC. Can I change this?
Trish Harding
You cant change the default
path for the File Explorer
Taskbar icon in Windows 8.1.
Either make Libraries invisible
again, or use the [Win]+[E]
keyboard shortcut instead.

What is a CMX le and how
can I open it?
Lily Rivers
Its a graphics le used with
Corel software. If you dont
have any, you can open it in a
free program called Inkscape
(http://inkscape.org).
There are issues with
old camcorders and new
versions of Windows
DLNA
A standard used for sharing
digital media including video
between devices including
PCs, televisions and tablets.

PCI Express
A format that lets you connect
special cards that add extra
functions to your PC such as
Wi-Fi, FireWire and USB slots.
CHANGE
COLOUR
Use the Window
Colors dialog
box to alter your
taskbar colour
XP BACKUPS
This trick lets you
access Windows XP
backups in later
versions of the
operating system
Support
Technicalhelp
April2014
|
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|
77
2
Select update items
First, choose your version of Windows
and Office: select x86 for 32-bit and x64 for
64-bit Windows XP and Office 2003 can
be found under Legacy products. We also
suggest selecting the C++ Runtime Libraries
and .NET Frameworks option.
1
Download, extract, run
Download the latest version of WSUS
Offline Update from http://download.
wsusoffline.net. Extract the contents of the
ZIP file to a suitable folder, then browse
to the wsusoffline folder, double-click
UpdateGenerator and click Run to launch it.
UPDATE WINDOWS
OFFLINE
Q
I have a bandwidth-limited
internet connection and two
laptops running Windows 7, both
of which need reinstalling. Is there
some way I can update both from
the same downloads?
Jim Fredericks
Adams solution
The best way to do this
is to create a special
oine update CD using
a program called WSUS Oine
Update. You can then run it on
each laptop after reinstallation
without any additional downloads.
Quickfire questions
Eurosport Player). However, Im
struggling to nd out how to pair
the two together it wont let me
stream wirelessly as it claims it only
works with recorded material. What
options do I have? My laptop is a HP
G56 XP270EA laptop running
Windows 7 Home Premium.
Phil Clarke
Jamess solution
Your Samsung TV can
receive streamed media
wirelessly using the
DLNA protocol, which allows you
to access media stored on your PC.
Sadly, the television is not a Smart
model if it was, it would allow you
access to Eurosport Player via an
app available from the Samsung
App store. Usually, the best
workaround would be to connect
your laptop directly to the TV via an
HDMI cable this basically uses the
television as an external display for
the laptop, allowing you to play
Eurosport Player full-screen. Most
modern laptops have the requisite
HDMI port, but your model only
has the VGA port. As the television
has no convenient VGA port to use,
Is there a tool I can use to try
and detect what expansion
cards are currently plugged
into my machine?
Henry Thomas
PCI-Z (www.pci-z.com) is a
tiny utility that polls a public
online database to provide
information about any
PCI-based device including
PCI Express cards installed in
your PC. Itll even help identify
devices that are unrecognised
in Device Manager.

My Freecom Classic external
DVD-RW has stopped playing
CDs. Can you help?
Walter Curtis
Assuming it can still burn and
read data discs, this sounds
as if one of the drives two
lasers has failed. Try the drive
in another PC to conrm
the diagnosis. If the drive is
broken, youll need to get it
either repaired or replaced
hopefully under warranty.

My PC has been upgraded
from Windows XP to Windows
7. Is there a compatibility
update for Audacity and my
ION TTUSB Turntable?
Tom Langrish
You need to source two
software updates go to
www.ionaudio.com/ezvc for
the latest version of EZ Vinyl/
Tape Converter, and http://
audacity.sourceforge.net if
youre not running the latest
version (2.0.5) of Audacity.
Backing up
RESTORE XP BACKUPS
IN WINDOWS 8
Q
With Windows XP coming to
its end, I diligently backed up
my data using the Windows Backup
tool, got rid of my old desktop and
bought a shiny new laptop running
Windows 8. One problem: I cannot
nd how to restore the data from
my old Windows XP computer to
my new computer. Any pointers?
Paul Phillips
Nicks solution
Sadly, backups made
with Windows XPs
built-in backup tool
arent compatible with later
versions of the Windows Backup
Tool, but theres a workaround that
works in Windows Vista, 7 and 8.
First, visit www.stsanford.com/
pebuilder and click nt5backup.cab,
saving this le to your Downloads
folder. Double-click the nt5backup.
cab le to view its contents, then
select all the les, right-click one
of them and choose Extract. Pick
any folder on your hard drive to
save the les to, then create a new
folder within this called NT Backup
and save the les inside that.
Once thats done, open this
newly created folder and double-
click ntbackup.exe to get started.
Ignore the warning message about
the Removable Storage service
this isnt needed, so tick the box
and click OK. You can now follow
the wizard, choosing Restore les
and settings when prompted, to
select your backup and gain access
to your old PCs les.
Hardware
CONNECT LAPTOP TO TV
Q
I recently bought a Samsung
HD TV with the intention of
streaming Eurosport from my
laptop (I have a subscription to
TV CONNECTIONS
Its possible if
a little ddly to
hook your laptop
to your TV via its
VGA port
78
|
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April2014
Jargon buster!
Metro
The original term for Windows
8 apps installed via the
Windows Store. These apps run
full-screen using the new
Modern User Interface.

User Account Control
A Windows security feature
that helps defend against
potentially unsafe software
by promoting the user to
administrator-level when
programs attempt to access
protected parts of the system.
Do you have
a PC problem?
Get in touch
Email full details of your
problem to the
support team and well
do our best to help
windowsmagazine@
futurenet.com
4
Update target PC
Browse to the wsusoffline/ISO folder,
right-click the ISO file and choose Burn disc
image or use ISO Recorder from http://bit.ly/
MmLhfI. Insert the disc in your target PC, then
double-click UpdateInstaller.exe and follow
the prompts to update it.
3
Create ISO image
Tick Per selected product and language
under Create ISO image(s), then click Start.
Click Yes if prompted to update security
certificates, then wait while the updates are
downloaded and prepared. This can take
some time, so be patient.
As the television has no convenient VGA
port to use, youll need an adapter to convert
the VGAs analogue signal to digital
youll need to get an adapter to
convert the VGAs analogue signal
to digital for outputting via the
HDMI port on the TV. Converters
perform one-way conversions, so
its important to source the right
model in this case VGA to HDMI
rather than the other way around.
After some detective work weve
found Ebuyers Xenta VGA to HDMI
Converter, which costs just 19.98
from ebuyer.com/409852-xenta. It
doesnt come with cables, but you
can obtain these for less than 10
collectively from Ebuyer too: http://
ebuyer.com/130555-xenta for a VGA
cable, http://ebuyer.com/193821-
hdmi for the HDMI cable and nally
http://ebuyer.com/476583-wires for
the all-important analogue cable to
provide sound.
Internet
DISTRACTING IE11
ADDRESS BAR
Q
Ive been persevering with the
Windows 8 interface for about
18 months, but recently came up
against a couple of issues I cant
x. The Metro version of Internet
Explorer has suddenly started
showing a series of tabs above the
address bar, which Id like to get
rid of. Also, Im trying to set the
KeepAliveTimeout Registry setting
for Internet Explorer 11, but cant
nd out how to do it. Can you help?
Bryan Little
Simons solution
The solution to the rst
problem is relatively
simple. With Internet
Explorer on-screen, press [Win]+[I]
to open the Settings charm and
click Options. You should see
a setting marked Always show
address bar and tabs ick this
switch to O and the distracting
address bar will disappear from
view. Just start typing to bring it
back temporarily when required.
Unfortunately, your second query
cannot be solved because the
KeepAliveTimeout setting no
longer works in Internet Explorer.
The obvious workaround is to
install an alternative browser purely
for accessing the required website.
Security
NORTON STUDIO
PROBLEM
Q
Im trying to load Norton
Internet Security on to my
tablet, but cannot download the
Norton Studio app and it gives me
an error code. I can load it on my
Windows 8 laptop just ne. Could it
be a problem with Windows 8.1 or
am I trying to load the wrong app?
No Norton Internet Security option
appeared when I searched.
Michelle Wingrove
Matts solution
A lot depends on
the tablet you have,
Michelle. If its running
Windows RT, then Norton wont
work. You dont actually need it
anyway, because the built-in
Defender tool provides adequate
protection. However, if your tablet
is running the full version of
Windows 8.1, then you should be
able to install the main desktop
app and ignore the Norton Studio
app completely if it continues
to misbehave. The app provides
no protection and is merely a
convenient place to monitor your
Norton account. Download the
latest trial of Norton Internet
Security for your tablet from http://
uk.norton.com (look under Free
Trials) and then use your purchased
product key to activate it.
NO DISTRACTIONS
Flick this switch to
hide the address
bar in Internet
Explorer 11
Support
Technicalhelp
April2014
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|
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NEWHARDWARE ESSENTIALACCESSORIES LATESTGAMES
Thedaysofyour
computerbeinga
greyboxonyour
deskarelonggone.
You can now take
your PC with you everywhere
you go, ready for whenever
you want to type out a report
or relax and have fun.
This month weve put a
selection of the best new
Bluetooth speakers through
their paces so you can make
the most of your music library
without the hassle of untangling
cumbersome cables
Weve also looked at three
of the latest Windows 8 PCs,
including the tiny Zotac Zbox
ID92 Plus, which is small enough
to tuck neatly out of sight
behind your screen. Enjoy!
Nick Odantzis Acting editor
nick.odantzis@futurenet.com
Welcome
Howwereview
One of the key tenets of our
review philosophy is that
hardware should be compared
against like products wherever
possible. It is only when you pit
Lhe nesL producLs o a cerLain
type against one another at
the same time that you can
really come up wiLh a deniLive
verdict as to which is the very
best in that category. The pace
of development in computer
hardware means that it is very
diculL Lo compare scores
from today with those from,
say, six months ago. Magazines
and websites that review a new
product on its own run the risk
of confusing or misleading.
We guarantee to test every
piece of hardware rigorously
and thoroughly, using only
acknowledged experts to
establish the worth of a
product. We always review
from the viewpoint of our
readers; the day-to-day
practicality and quality of
a product is paramount.
We use only acknowledged experts to review products, so you can use
our ratings with full confidence to make your buying decision
RATINGEXPLAINED
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Ourawards
Ourreviewguarantee
Only the very
nesL producLs
receive our Best
On Test Award.
These will have
excellent marks
for quality.
Our Best Value
Award is given
to products that
quite simply
represent the
best value for
your money.
86 Zotac Zbox ID92 Plus
It might not look like much, but this tiny
box is actually a full PC, and is one of the
best small form factor computers around.
82 Bluetooth speakers
Enjoy your favourite tunes anywhere with
these fantastic wireless speakers that will
satisfy the most discerning music lovers.
92 Lego Marvel Superheroes
Iron Man, Thor and the Incredible Hulk get
the plastic treatment in the latest instalment
of the hugely popular Lego series.
84 Asus X102BA
Dont let its price tag fool you this budget
laptop is packed with features, making it
perfect for studying or working on the go.
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1l, ,,uc', llI,
Upgrade
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Our expert 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. Further, very
few are handed our Best Value or Best
on Test Awards. If you see an item of
hardware bearing one of these marks,
you can be condenL LhaL iL is an excellenL
product. Always check when the award
was given, to ensure it is still up-to-date.
Wechoosethebestproducts
Thousands of new products for your
computer are released every year and
choosing between them can sometimes be
an impossible task. Our experts select only
the best hardware and software to feature
in this magazine, making your decision on
which one to choose easier. Even better,
our awards and star rating system make it
simple Lo nd Lhe besL producLs or your
needs, with our recommended products
section giving you a fast, trustworthy guide
to a wide range of hardware and software.
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Wherever we can, we review new
hardware comparatively, pitching
it head-to-head against other similar
products. (Full details of our policy can be
found in the opposite page, under Our
review guarantee.) Of course, this isnt
always possible with new products and
part of our duty to you is to introduce you
a wide range of fascinating new hardware,
software, services and games.
The reviews of standalone hardware
and software are just as thorough as our
comparative reviews. However, we do not
allocate scores to them because this can
often be misleading. The only exception to
this rule is on our games reviews, where
the pace of change is a lot slower and
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The Upgrade section is your key to finding out about the latest
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The merest tap of the brakes as you
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1ir o agc 8O

82 Marshall Stanmore
82 Jawbone Mini Jambox
83 Jabra Solemate Mini
83 Nixon The Blaster
83 Damson Jet
84 Asus X102BA
86 Zotac Zbox ID92 Plus
88 Toshiba Satellite W30t
90 Need for Speed Rivals
92 Lego Marvel Superheroes
94 X Rebirth
96 MechWarrior Online
88 Toshiba Satellite
W30t: a multifunction
PC with two batteries
for extra power on
the move
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FuL ,g
Ourpromisetoyou
86 Zotac Zbox ID92 Plus: could this mini
marvel replace your bulky desktop PC?
WIRELESS
FOR SOUND
JawboneMiniJambox
Price150 | $180 (www.jawbone.com)
Available in a rainbow of colours, this handsome aluminium
speaker is the smallest and lightest on test. Sound quality
is exceedingly good despite its stunted dimensions, clean
and punchy with the ability to fill a room with your tunes.
Ten hours of battery life is also good for a speaker of this
size and LiveAudio mode, which eliminates crosstalk between
channels, is perfect for achieving stereo sound when
watching a film on a tablet. Its simple to pair over Bluetooth
and a free app enables you to collate playlists from multiple
music services so that everyones track choices can be heard.
Audiophiles, cover
your ears, were
ditching hi-fi and
going cable free. Its
all about Bluetooth
speakers now
MarshallStanmore
Price400 | $400 (www.marshallheadphones.com)
This speaker is actually the work of Marshall Headphones,
rather than the legendary amp maker itself. Intended
to be a compact speaker for a small space, rather than
a portable, the tank-like build makes it possible to deliver
some strong audio. Pairing is swift and sound is rich and
powerful with plenty of bass that can be upped further
using the dedicated control dials.
Unlike the other Bluetooth devices on test, the Stanmore
sports RCA inputs as well as a 3.5mm jack, so you can hook
up your AV gear, plus an optical input for the likes of Apple
TV. Versatile and loud, but rather pricey.
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Jabra
SolemateMini
Price80 | $100 (www.jabra.com)
The trainer-shaped speaker now comes
in smaller foot sizes, with the same grooved,
rubber base and dust- and splash-resistant
case. Its light, but chunky compared to the
Mini Jambox. That extra heft
accommodates back and front speakers
that deliver a decent 360-degree sound.
Audio is reasonable but lacks bass and can
get messy if you whack up the volume.
Sporting Bluetooth and NFC, the speaker
is easy to set up and will pump out tunes
for up to eight hours between charges.
Does it put the boot into the Jambox?
No, but its a good affordable alternative.
NixonTheBlaster
Price125 | $150 (www.nixon.com)
The Blaster is around twice the weight of the
Mini Jambox, but still slips easily into a backpack.
Its slinky, minimalist design helps it stand out,
while its water resistance and impressive
12-hour battery life score points in its favour.
Bluetooth setup is easy, although the heartbeat
that sounds through the speaker during pairing
is mildly unnerving. As is the cheery see you
later! sign-off when powering down.
Sound quality isnt bad if youre sat squarely
in front of the speaker, but it is very linear. Step
to the side and the sound drops off instantly.
A party for one, then.
DamsonJet
Price150 | $180 (www.damsonaudio.com)
These wireless NFC mini speakers aim
to deliver genuine split-channel stereo
sound. Its a bold move. Does it actually
work? Almost
Pairing is pesky, largely because the two
speakers have to pair to each other as well
as the source. Sound quality, particularly
bass, is surprisingly good, providing you
have a suitable surface for the music
to resonate through the Jets vibrate
to spread sonics. It does inevitably sound
tinny on some tracks, especially if you turn
up the volume, but nine hours of battery
and the option to use each speaker
individually makes the Jets pretty fly.
Notallthesespeakersarefullywaterproofcheckthemanufacturersdetailsbeforegettingthemwet
Upgrade
Bluetooth speakers
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R
ecently, Windows 8 laptop
manufacturers have gone back
to their roots. We've seen
a small number of them breaking
away from the more expensive
form factors, such as Ultrabooks
and hybrids, instead creating
smaller devices that oer great
portability, incredible value for
money and good battery life.
Though the companies are hesitant
to label them as such, they're
basically netbooks in disguise.
The latest device to appear in this
new niche is the Asus X102BA this
10.1-inch laptop is light, easy to
carry and costs relatively little.
It also comes with a bundled
version of Microsoft Oce 2013
Home & Student Edition.
It goes up against similar
low-powered, bargain machines,
including the Acer Aspire V5-122P
and HP Pavilion TouchSmart 11.
The Acer has the advantage of
a quad-core A6 processor, whereas
the Asus has the newly introduced
Jaguar-architecture Temash APU.
This is a dual-core chip, but uses
less power than the TouchSmart's
processor on paper at least.
Like the HP Pavilion TouchSmart
11, the X102BA would be a great
choice for users who are just
getting started with Windows 8. Its
built-in touchscreen makes it ideal
for university students who want
a no-frills laptop with added
versatility. The machine comes in
either black, white, pink or blue.
Modest features
The Asus X102BA is built to an
incredibly small budget, so
unsurprisingly it doesn't have any
standout features that the
untrained eye is likely to spot. The
processors performance won't
blow you away, as it's designed
with low power consumption in
mind. Theres also 4GB of memory
on-board, though you can choose
to opt for just 2GB instead if your
needs are particularly modest.
The 500GB hard drive is pretty
standard at this price range, so
dont expect a speedy start-up. The
X102BA does, however, wake up
immediately, provided you use the
Sleep function rather than shutting
it down completely.
The X102BA doesnt feel
especially light, despite tipping the
scales at a mere 1.1kg. It weighs less
than the Microsoft Surface Pro 2,
which is around 1.5kg (with the
Type keyboard added), as well as its
closest competitors, the HP Pavilion
TouchSmart 11 and the Acer Aspire
V5-122, both of which are around
the 1.4kg mark.
The X102BA is relatively slim at
the front, but thickens to a chunkier
29mm at the rear. Its thinner than
the HP, but not quite as slender as
the Acer, and it certainly doesnt
rival the svelte Surface Pro 2.
Regarding portability, youre not
going to get much better than the
X102BA if you need a machine for
creation and not just consumption.
Asus X102BA
300 | $494www.asus.com
Cheap and feature-packed, this is the perfect small laptop for students
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travel on each key, and it denitely
doesnt feel as if quality has been
compromised to keep costs down.
The trackpad, on the other hand,
isn't quite as pleasing, mainly due
to the gesture input being a little
bit too sensitive.
Budget buy
If you're on a tight budget, the Asus
X102BA is denitely a good buy. For
a relatively small investment, you
get a laptop running a full version
of Windows 8, meaning you can
install almost anything you like
on it unlike tablets running
Windows RT. The touchscreen
makes it easy to use day-to-day,
and its light weight means its not
too hefty to sling in a bag and take
on your travels. It really is a usable
alternative to tablets like Googles
Nexus 10 or Apples iPad Air.
Anyone looking for a professional
laptop might want to consider a
machine thats a little meatier in the
processor department something
like the Microsoft Surface Pro
2 or Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro may be
a better option, but youll need to
pay a lot extra for the privilege.
Though the X102BA looks and
feels a little chunky, its actually one
of the lightest laptops we've come
across to date, which gives
it excellent portability credentials,
and its battery will last you much
of the day on a single charge. This
laptops price tag really makes for
a cheap entry point into Windows
8, and youre unlikely to nd
a better deal on a device with such
decent all-round abilities.
Better than its rivals at this price
point. There's little to dislike
about this budget laptop.
The 10.1-inch display doesnt set
the world alight, but the 1,366 x 768
pixel display is perfectly
respectable and the touch
sensitivity is very welcome.
It doesnt feel like an afterthought
either, and we were pleasantly
impressed with its responsiveness.
The three-cell battery
is comparable to similar laptops,
though Asus has wisely included
a small format charger the kind
that youd nd bundled with
a smartphone thats easy to carry
around for an extra boost of
welcome power when the
machines battery runs dry.
To round things o, you get
decent wireless capability,
including 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and
up-to-date Bluetooth. Theres also
a single USB 3.0 slot, two USB
2 slots, HDMI out, an SD card slot
and an Ethernet connection.
Awkward charging
Unusually, the charging connector
for the X102BA lies in the middle of
the others on the left-hand side.
Thats not a deal breaker by any
means, but is unexpected. The
biggest win for the X102BA is the
recommended retail price; it can be
found even cheaper if you shop
around, which makes it one of the
lowest-priced touchscreen
Windows 8 laptops available on
the high street right now.
The only real issue is that its not
a great performer. It fell below our
expectations in our benchmark
tests, which was surprising
considering that in real-world use
it handled most basic tasks with
ease, with only the occasional
minor speed lag. Processor
performance from the 1GHz unit
wasnt bad, although graphics
performance seemed to have taken
a signicant hit somewhere along
the line, with much lower results
than competing devices. The
real boon of the X102BAs newer
processor is energy eciency it
uses around 50 per cent less power
than the TouchSmarts chip. Having
said that, though the three hours
and 14 minutes we recorded in our
battery life tests is commendable,
the TouchSmart managed three
hours and 42 minutes, which ies
in the face of logic. It wasnt what
we were expecting, but overall the
X102BAs performance and battery
longevity were still good.
The touchscreen might be the
main attraction for many home
users, but Asus has pitched this
as a workplace laptop. Its isolation-
style keyboard feels as if its been
designed for long bouts of typing.
It's comfortable, theres decent
The Asus X102BA would be a great choice for
users who are just getting started with Windows 8
Upgrade
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85
KEYFEATURES
X102BA
Supplier Asus
Operating system Windows 8
Processor Dual-core AMD A4-1200 1.0
GHz Temash
Storage 500GB
RAM 4GB
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 8180G
Connectivity 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, VGA,
HDMI, 1 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, card reader
Weight 1.1kg
Screen size 10.1-inch,
10-point touchscreen
Display resolution 1,366 x 768
Z
otac has spent the past few
years churning out impressive
small form-factor computers,
and the ID92 Plus is its latest
eort. At 430/$705, its one of the
most expensive models the rm
produces, but for good reason
this machine includes a new Intel
Haswell processor, as well as all the
other components youd expect.
The star of the show in this latest
model is the new chip, and weve
rarely seen this much power inside
such a small machine. The ID92 Plus
measures just 188mm from front to
back, and 45mm across. It ts into
tiny spaces, and its included stand
and mount make it even more
versatile; the former allows for
vertical operation, and the latter
means it can be attached to the
back of compatible monitors.
The processor is a desktop-
edition Core i5, and is supported
by 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard
disk. Theres even a decent amount
of upgrade room, with a spare
memory socket and space for an
mSATA SSD. The only thing thats
not included is an operating
system, so youll need to factor in
the price of a copy of Windows 8.1
currently 85/$96 on Amazon.
Upgrade versions cost less if you
have a spare copy of Windows 7
or XP that you can install rst.
There is an alternative Zbox ID92
if youre feeling more adventurous.
The standard version without
the Plus sux is a bare-bones
system. That means you get the
case, motherboard and processor,
but you need to supply your
own hard disk and memory. Its a
cheaper option, especially if you
have existing components to use.
Small crowd
The popularity of smaller, more
ecient components means theres
strong competition in this sector of
the PC market. Weve seen a host
of worthy machines over the past
months: the Lenovo IdeaCentre
Q190 is just as small and
signicantly cheaper, and the
Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p Tiny
costs more, but is packed to the
gills with business features.
If the Zotac looks too big, theres
the Gigabyte Brix its just 115mm
across and 30mm tall, and the new
GB-BXi5H-4200 model includes a
mobile-edition Core i5 Haswell
processor for just 338/$400. Its a
bare-bones unit though, so again
youll have to supply your own
storage, memory and OS.
The nal competitor comes from
Zotac itself. The ID65 is almost as
small as the Gigabyte, and now
its been updated with the latest
hardware, although its processor is
a less powerful mobile component.
The Zotacs Core i5-4570T has the
new HD Graphics 4600 integrated
chipset. The processor compares
well to rival machines, and the ID92
Plus punches above its weight. The
Lenovo IdeaCentre Q190 remains
available with a slower Pentium or
Zotac Zbox ID92 Plus
430 | $705www.zotac.com
This mini PC includes a speedy processor is it the system to replace your bulky desktop?
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to t into tiny spaces, with a stand
and VESA mount that make it
easy to use anywhere. The interior
is easy to access, with plenty of
upgrade room, and this system has
enough power to handle a broad
range of everyday computing tasks
as well as casual games. The Zotacs
chassis is versatile and easy to
use, but its plastic side panels are
somewhat imsy and the glossy
nish looks a little out of date.
One of the components is also
showing its age; the hard disks
read and write speeds are half as
quick as better platter-based parts,
and its performance cant hold a
candle to solid-state storage. The
new processor is a great addition to
this tiny PC: its ecient enough to
make this machine cool, quiet and
frugal despite its size, and theres
enough application and graphics
power to put the Core i5-4570T
ahead of almost everything else in
this part of the market.
There are plenty of ports around
this machines chassis, and its has
802.11ac Wi-Fi. This is the latest
and fastest wireless standard, and
represents a smart bit of future-
proong by Zotac.
Some systems are smaller and a
few might be faster, but the Zotac
is a great balance of size and power.
The build quality and lack of OS
are minor niggles, but the Zbox
ID92 Plus is one of the best small
form-factor machines on the
market right now a great buy
if you need a reasonable PC that
doesnt take up much space.
Small, upgradable and quiet.
Theres a lot to recommend, but
its let down by a slow hard drive.
Core i3 processor based on older
architectures, and the ThinkCentre
M92p Tiny is still saddled with
an Ivy Bridge processor again,
based on aging silicon.
Ironically, its the Zotacs two
smallest rivals that are closest to it
in speed. Gigabytes refreshed
Haswell model features a mobile-
edition Core i5 with a HD Graphics
4400 chipset, and Zotacs own Zbox
Nano ID67 Plus now includes a
mobile Core i7 Haswell processor.
Elsewhere, weve no complaints
about the specication. Theres
a 500GB hard disk, 4GB of DDR3
memory and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Its all
contained within a tiny chassis and,
unlike several other manufacturers
of small form-factor machines,
Zotac encourages upgrades. You
can slide away one side of the
case by unscrewing a couple of
thumbscrews, and the hard disk
is installed inside a caddy thats
removed the same way. Beneath
this are two memory slots, one of
which is free, and theres an empty
mini-PCI-Express slot too.
The outside is well-equipped,
too. The front features a USB 3.0
port, card reader, two audio jacks
and an infra-red receiver, and the
back edge houses two USB 3.0
connections, two Gigabit Ethernet
ports, an optical S/PDIF jack, two
DisplayPort connectors and DVI-D.
Theres a connector for the Wi-Fi
antenna, and one side has a fourth
USB 3.0 socket, but no HDMI.
Its not all good news, though.
The Zotacs plastic chassis looks
dated and its build quality is
mediocre; the top panel exes
when pressed, and the removable
bottom panel feels even imsier.
The new graphics core
performed well in our tests. Indeed,
both the Zotacs processor and
graphics chip are clearly capable,
and the Zbox case kept the interior
cool. The ID92 is frugal too, thanks
to minimum and maximum power
draws of 25W and 41W respectively
among the lowest weve seen
from any desktop PC. Theres
very little noise too, even during
demanding stress-tests. We only
heard the small fan when we
pressed our ear to the case.
The only real disappointment
is the hard disk. While 500GB is
reasonably generous for a tiny,
aordable machine, its measured
sequential read and write results
of 66.7MB/sec and 68.8MB/sec are
poor. Some drives are twice as fast.
Small package
Zotacs small form-factor machine
gets plenty right, starting with its
sensible design its small enough
Unlike several other manufacturers of small form
factor machines, Zotac encourages upgrades
Upgrade
ZotacZboxID92Plus
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KEYFEATURES
Zotac Zbox ID92 Plus
Supplier www.zotac.com
Operating system None
Processor Intel Core i5-4570T
Storage 500GB hard drive
RAM 4GB
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4600
Connectivity 4x USB 3.0 ports, card
reader, 2x audio jacks, infrared receiver,
2x Gigabit Ethernet ports, an optical S/
PDIF jack, 2x DisplayPort connectors and
DVI-D
Weight 1.8kg
Screen size N/A
Display resolution N/A
W
indows 8, with its
emphasis on touchscreens,
has shaken up the laptop
market, and hybrids and
convertibles are now as
commonplace as Ultrabooks and
traditional notebooks. The Toshiba
Satellite W30t-A-101 is the latest
two-in-one machine to arrive, and
it uses an unusual design.
Rather than using the kind
of 180 hinge that Lenovo has
employed on various Yoga devices,
or a Sony-style sliding mechanism,
Toshiba has opted for a detachable
keyboard design. The screen can be
attached to the base and used
as a standard laptop, or removed
entirely for use as a tablet.
Toshiba has tted the W30t with
an Intel Haswell Core i3 processor,
which sports one of Intels new
integrated graphics cores. Theres
also a 13.3in IPS display, 4GB of
RAM and a 500GB hard disk.
In an unusual move, Toshiba has
crammed the components behind
the screen, along with the W30ts
primary battery. The base only
houses the keyboard, some ports
and a secondary power pack.
The W30t will set you back
around 700/$1,139, which puts it
towards the more aordable end of
the growing hybrid market. For
comparison, the Sony VAIO Duo 13
with its hinged mechanism costs
upwards of 1,200/$1,400, the
business-like Lenovo ThinkPad
Yoga costs at least 780/$1,049, and
Microsofts Surface Pro 2 comes in
at 719/$899 (not including
a keyboard).
The Toshiba also costs around
the same as the Lenovo Yoga 11S,
which is aimed squarely at home
users. At the cheaper end of the
eld is the Asus Transformer Book
T100, which has a similar separation
mechanism to the Toshiba but
costs just 350/$399.
However, although the
Transformer Book has enough
power to run Windows, it wont
be able to match W30ts hardware
in either applications or games.
Screen saver
Its vital for any type of laptop to
have a good screen, which is why
Toshiba has installed an IPS panel
inside the W30t. Thats usually
a guarantee of quality almost all
premium laptops include this type
of display but the screen gives
away the W30ts mid-range status.
Its 1,366 x 768 resolution, for
instance, matches the that of the
Lenovo Yoga 11S and the Asus
Transformer Book T100, but cant
compete with the Full HD panels
of the Sony VAIO Duo 13 and
Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga.
The integrated graphics chip has
been cut back, too; rather than the
HD Graphics 4600 GPU included on
Intels higher end hardware, the
Toshibas processor has HD
Graphics 4200. Its not all bad news,
though the combined processor
and graphics chip is an ultra-low-
Toshiba Satellite W30t
700 | $1,027www.toshiba.com
Two parts with two batteries, but too weighty and too clever for its own good
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when you dont need a keyboard.
Build quality especially on the
tablet is good, and the screen
is bright with great contrast, which
really makes images pop. The
processor is a reasonable performer
that regularly outpaced others
in its price category, even if more
expensive systems have beeer
hardware. The Toshibas detachable
mechanism works well, and means
you dont have to lug around
a keyboard if you just need a tablet.
Unfortunately, the sheer weight
of the screen section means the
Toshiba isnt comfortable to use as
a tablet, and when its deployed in
laptop mode the entire machine
feels o-balance. The keyboard isnt
particularly good, and the lack of
an SSD means that the machines
storage and boot speeds are slow.
Awkward oering
Hybrids currently occupy
a strange space in the market
between tablets and laptops, and
the Toshiba suers by having one
foot in both camps its
a competent machine, but its
heavyset design and mediocrity
in key departments make it dicult
to recommend, when dedicated
laptops and tablets are doing each
job with aplomb.
If you need a hybrid, though, the
Lenovo Yoga 11S is a better choice.
Despite its slightly slower processor,
its slimmer and lighter, looks better
and has a slick folding mechanism
not to mention the bright,
high-contrast screen and high
quality keyboard.
A decent hybrid with good
battery life and power, but
unbalanced weight distribution.
power version, which should help
ensure lengthy battery life.
The rest of the specication
is so-so, with 4GB of RAM and
a 500GB hard disk. The latter
provides plenty of space, but other
machines have more impressive
storage; every other device weve
mentioned in this review has an
SSD to enable faster boot-up times.
The Toshibas Intel-made wireless
chip is dual-band, and theres
Bluetooth 4.0, but theres no
Gigabit Ethernet either on-board
or in an adapter. With only one USB
3.0 port on the base, the port
selection is found wanting, too.
Elsewhere, theres a micro-USB port,
microSD card slot, micro-HDMI
connector and a headphone jack.
Chunky monkey
The Satellite is 25mm thick and
weighs 2.1kg. Sonys machine,
meanwhile, is almost a kilo lighter
and 22mm thick, while the Lenovo
Yoga 11S weighs in at 1.4kg and
is just 18mm thick.
When in laptop mode, the W30t
is top-heavy and has a tendency to
tilt away from you when touched.
The screens weight and size mean
were not inclined to use it as a
tablet for any great length of time.
The Toshibas two batteries work
in tandem, and lasted for three
hours and 52 minutes in our test,
which involves opening and closing
a range of demanding apps with
the screen at full brightness. This
good result will only improve with
a dimmer screen and less strenuous
work. By comparison, the Lenovo
ThinkPad Yoga ran out of juice after
three hours and six minutes.
The 500GB hard disk has more
space than its rivals SSDs, but
suers speed-wise: the Toshibas
sequential read and write results of
104MB/s and 99MB/s are mediocre.
While the Toshibas screen doesnt
have the sheer number of pixels of
its rivals, the build quality is great,
with a sturdy back panel and no
ex anywhere. Sadly, we cant say
the same of the base its imsier,
with a wrist-rest that moves
noticeably under pressure, and its
too easy to press the base and
bend the keyboard. That keyboard
isnt great, either: the keys are light,
feel insubstantial, and have very
little travel, presumably because
much of the base is taken up by the
second battery.
The Toshiba has its faults, but
lets concentrate on its good points
rst: the Haswell processor has
enough power to handle plenty
of applications, the pair of batteries
result in good longevity, and the
detachable design adds versatility
Hybrids currently occupy a strange space
in the market between tablets and laptops
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KEYFEATURES
Satellite W30t
Supplier Toshiba
Operating system Windows 8.1
Processor Intel Haswell Core i3 1.5GHz
Storage 500GB hard drive
RAM 4GB
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4200
Connectivity 1x USB 3.0 , Bluetooth 4.0,
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, micro-USB, microSD
card slot, micro-HDMI connector,
headphone jack
Weight 2.1kg
Screen size 13.3-inch
Display resolution 1,366 x 768
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April2014
Thats also been xed, but if
Rivals dips below 60fps, your
car slows down proportionally.
We struggled to get above
45fps at max settings, making
it impossible to outrun the
police. We could have dialled
down a few settings, but we
didnt want to. Need for Speed
Rivals might be a poor port,
but it sure is pretty.
Much of that beauty comes
from particle eects. Rivals
setting, the open world of
Redview County, packs in a
totally unrealistic amount of
environmental and climatic
variety, giving developer
Ghost Games licence to ing
A dull cop campaign undoes all that this game does well
Price 40 | $40
Developer EA
Publisher Ghost Games
Multiplayer Up to six players DRM Origin Web www.needforspeed.com
Recommended specs 2.4GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, Radeon 7850 or similar
a constant cloud of things
at you. Leaves utter in the
Pacic Woods. Snowakes
do likewise on the northern
Grand Peak Drive. Misjudge a
corner in the desert of Dead
Tree Canyon and clouds of
dust kick up under your tyres.
When the environment
doesnt naturally provide
a particle shower, Ghost
Games creates one for you.
The storms are remarkable,
the sky darkening and the
rain lashing down, the road
glimmering wet, the camera
lens splattered with droplets.
As far as the action goes,
Rivals is best thought of as a
The increased
processing power of
the PS4 and Xbox One
should, surely, mean
the end of shoddy console
conversions. Yet here we are,
at the start of a new console
generation, and one of the
rst big multiplatform games
will run at no more than 30
frames per second.
That framerate was
unlocked within about ve
seconds of Need for Speed
Rivals appearing online, but
the game engine is also locked
at 30fps, so if you double the
framerate, you double the
speed of the whole game.
NeedforSpeedRivals
combination of Criterions
Burnout Paradise and its rst
Need for Speed game, 2010s
Hot Pursuit and little wonder,
given that 80 percent of the
UK studio now work at Ghost
Games. Like Paradise City,
Redview is full of races, time
trials and other events, but its
peppered with distractions
too. Ramps are marked on the
map and prove hard to ignore,
especially when a dotted line
shows the arc of another
drivers jump. There are speed
cameras and speed zones
stretches of road that measure
your average velocity and
theres a leaderboard for all
of them, teasing you with the
better time, faster pace or
longer jump set by that guy
on your friends list or, for
the rst time in the series,
someone else in the world
with you. AllDrive means you
share Redviews 100-mile road
network, seamlessly, with
other human players.
Racer relations
Hot Pursuits legacy,
meanwhile, comes from two
If it can be imagined, it is
a particle eect in Rivals
A profanity lter forbade certain licence
plates. Naturally, we experimented
Four new games available to
play on your Windows computer
Playthis
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distinct careers, one for racers
and another for cops, each
with its own levelling path and
compendium of unlockable
cars. Unlike Criterions 2010
game, however, this time the
street racers have access to the
same Pursuit Tech toy box as
the police, from EMP blasts
and electrical forceelds to
deployable spike strips and
huge bursts of turbo. A few
are only available to the cops
a helicopter that ies ahead
and drops spike strips, and a
roadblock that never, ever
works but their availability
makes playing as a racer much
more interesting, albeit to the
detriment of the police career.
Thats something of a
theme. The balance is further
tipped in the racers favour by
Speed Points (SP), the games
principal currency, which, as a
racer, you spend on new cars
and upgrades to existing ones.
Theyre doled out as a reward
for just about everything you
get up to in Redview, whether
its a long drift around a
sweeping bend, a near miss
while weaving through trac
or the use of a full stock of
nitrous turbo. As a cop, you
build Speed Points indenitely
but as a racer, you have to
bank them at one of the
Hideouts that pepper the
map. A multiplier builds up the
longer you stay out on the
road, but you attract more and
more police attention. Wreck
your car, or get yourself
arrested, and you lose the lot.
Its a delightful balance of
risk and reward, and theres
nothing like it as you speed
down a stretch of road in a
head-to-head battle with a
fellow racer, weaving in and
out of a helicopter searchlight
while four police cars chase
after you, smoke pouring out
of your battered bonnet while
you wrestle with a burst tyre
and desperately look out for a
repair garage or Hideout.
A policemans lot
Sadly, thats only half the
game. The police career has
no such element of risk or
reward; Speed Points are,
pardon the pun, all but
pointless since youre given
cars for free and they cant be
upgraded. The cop path has
its moments: chasing down
a trio of racers one by one is
a thrill, but that was in Hot
Pursuit three years ago at
double the framerate, and
given the delights on oer
elsewhere, youre constantly
aware of what youre missing.
Its telling that one of the cop
campaigns ner moments is
when you go rogue and are
tasked with taking down
10 racers in a ame-red Ferrari.
Youre a racer in all but name.
Worse still is the way Ghost
has structured things and
once again theres a buzzword
for it. Youre given a handful of
objectives at a time, dubbed a
Speedlist: get Gold in a race,
earn a set number of SP and
hit half a dozen cars with
Pursuit Tech, for instance.
When youve done all thats
asked of you, a new objective
appears telling you to return
to a Hideout (or Command
Post, if youre a cop) to bank
your winnings, level up, unlock
a new car and pick up a new
to-do list. Thats fair enough if
youre a cop youre there to
follow orders, and theres no
detriment to doing so but
for the racer campaign its
a dierent matter. Youre
actively instructed to avoid the
best part of the game: staying
out for as long as you can,
building up that multiplier,
racking up that score.
AllDrive, too, has been
fudged. While Redview
Countys sprawl is packed with
other racers and cops, the vast
majority are controlled by the
computer. Just ve human
players share those 100 miles
of open road with you, and
encounters with them are rare.
You can set a waypoint to
track them, unless the police
are after you, and you can
always invite a friend to join
you, but that rather defeats
the object of a seamless
multiplayer world.
Its not Ghosts fault that
there are some troublemakers
one spate of missions with
a random partner ended with
him switching from racer to
cop and shunting us o the
side of a cli but the studio
most certainly is to blame
for networking issues. Host
migrations are common, and
we often found that when the
action resumed wed slipped
down a position or two, or
been booted out entirely.
This is a tremendous shame
because at Rivals core lies a
beautiful racing game. The
vehicle handling is the right
mixture of weighty and oaty:
the merest tap on the brakes
as you enter a corner is
enough to push your back end
out into an extravagant drift.
The game is staggeringly
pretty at times, too. Its a world
built with a photographers
eye, which ensures theres a
spectacular vista around every
sweeping bend. But its let
down by some baing design
decisions: a multiplayer
structure that doesnt work, a
dull cop campaign that dilutes
the frantic splendour of the
racers, and that frustrating
locked framerate.
Need for Speed Rivals runs at
half the speed it should and,
thanks to the police stu, is
half the game it could have
been. Its not only next-gen
consoles that have held Rivals
back: its the developers
inability to focus on the things
that really work.
One good idea the racers
scoring system spoiled by a
dull cop campaign.
Cars take a good few
hits to shut down.
We miss Burnouts
one-hit takedowns
At deaths door, the corners of
the screen crack and darken
Drive through a garage forecourt to
instantly repair your car. Obviously
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example, both y and re
energy projectiles, but their
approach to combat is unique.
Iron Mans attacks are
mostly ranged launching
missiles and energy beams to
annihilate minigs from afar.
He only comes in close for
nishing moves, such as a
jet-powered charge to scoop
enemies up, followed by a
midair tussle and a nal slam
to the ground. By contrast,
Thor keeps things up close,
using his lightning powers to
shock those around him while
tossing his massive hammer
like a boomerang to keep
enemies at midrange in check.
A brick-for-brick replica of its predecessors
Price 18 | $20
Developer Travellers Tales
Publisher Warner Bros
Multiplayer Two-player local co-op DRM Steam Web http://marvelsuperheroes.lego.com
Recommended specs 2GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, GeForce 9800GT/ Radeon HD 4850, gamepad
The agile Spider-Man is our
favourite to play. Leaping and
swinging from wall to brawl,
and lassoing baddies with
webbing before whipping
them into the nearest solid
object feels exactly as over-
the-top as it should. But
despite the fun, something
kept nagging at us a yawn.
Attack of the clones
There is a disconnect between
the coolness of the characters
and the dullness of the game
mechanics. These are the
exact same systems that have
been present since the series
beginning. The same levers,
Every Lego game has
some yummy digital
gravy to help avour
an otherwise dull
romp through undemanding
challenges and headache-
inducing camera work. For
Lego Marvel Super Heroes,
that gravy is a huge, varied
cast of characters.
The biggest delight isnt
just how much of the Marvel
roster has been squeezed into
the game (more than 150
characters), but how dierent
each character feels so much
so that its easier to identify
them by skillset than character
class. Thor and Iron Man, for
LegoMarvelSuperHeroes
hatches and platforms to be
pushed or pulled in every
level, in every game, for 10
years. To be fair, it all works
ne, but its got so boring.
And weve got a feeling
Travellers Tales knows it.
If it didnt, there wouldnt
be such a sugary crust of
characters and voice actors,
superb visuals, a monstrous
quantity of collectables and
even an open-world hub full
of side missions to sweeten
the deal. But ultimately its the
mechanics that make a game
memorable, and this is where
LMSH and the rest of the series
are woefully lacking.
The game-within-the-game
of nding your character in
LMSHs co-op split-screens is
maddening. At rst, both
characters are in a single,
unbroken frame. When they
get too far apart to t on the
same screen, a line splits the
monitor vertically and play
Gross! A spider. Step on it!
April2014
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93
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continues uninterrupted. But
as players move around the
arena, the screens move
around the monitor with the
characters. We cant count the
number of times we looked up
from our nachos to nd our
screen on the other side of the
monitor with our character
careening into walls.
LMSH simply highlights an
obviously stagnating formula.
The collectables make it either
a completionists dream or a
nightmare, and working out
how to rescue Stan Lee in each
level is fun. Were not calling
for the series extinction, but
it deserves an evolution.
The huge cast of characters
is fantastic fun. Too bad this
is just another Lego game.
The fantastic forms of Mr Fantastic
Its a bird, its a plane, its a
Rocket!
For ying to the Brick Moon.
Wrecking ball!
Includes twerkable Lego Miley Cyrus.
Water pump!
Thats what he calls it, anyway.
Screwdriver!
Why not just use a real one?
Want to play spot
the dierence?
Grand Theft Lego, anyone?
Theres always
time for tea
We agreed nothing
below the belt!
Even an X-Woman needs
to cut loose sometimes
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April2014
Albion Skunk. Youre able to
explore it using a rst-person
mode, which could have been
fun if there were more than
two rooms, and if anything
was even slightly interactive.
You have a separate ship
for trading that follows you
around and has to be given
orders. You cant cancel an
order without editing your
save le, and sometimes it just
refuses to move. Its like were
dragging a badly-behaved
toddler around a shopping
centre. Then theres your
co-pilot, the extremely
irritating Yisha Tarren. For a
character you spend the entire
Battling boredom and bugs in a galactically awful space sim
Price 40 | $50
Developer Egosoft
Publisher Deep Silver
Multiplayer None DRM Steam Web www.xrebirth.com
Recommended specs 2GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 1GB graphics card
game with, and whos almost
constantly talking, youd
think they would have hired
someone with some basic
acting ability to speak her
lines. But although youll
eventually grow used to her
awkward delivery, youll never
stop cursing how useless she
is. Case in point: if youre
piloting a drone and enemies
start attacking the Skunk,
shell just sit there dumbly.
Couldnt you, like, move, or
ght back, or something?
The game has a problem
with humans generally.
On stations which all look
identical, incidentally youll
When we were rst
set loose in X Rebirths
vast universe, we
were convinced it was
going to be amazing. That
32 per cent average score on
Metacritic couldnt possibly
be accurate. Were in space!
In a spaceship! But we quickly
realised that this is, in fact, a
colossal missed opportunity.
A supernova of bugs and
baing game design that
refuses to let you have any
fun, no matter how hard you
try and we really tried.
The rst problem is that you
only get to pilot one ship in
the game, the horribly named
XRebirth
talk to other characters, who
are all terrifying, slot-mouthed,
dead-eyed shop mannequins.
Lost in space
While space itself feels nicely
alive, teeming with trac and
huge ships lumbering back
and forth, the interiors feel
eerily lifeless. In a nightclub
you can hear the ambient
sound of people drinking and
laughing, but its actually
empty except for two people
standing motionless beside
the bar. Not exactly Deep
Space Nine.
Rebirth fares much better
when youre in space. Some
messy shadows aside, its
a good-looking game, with
colourful nebulas, asteroids,
planets and stars providing a
vivid cosmic backdrop. The
combat is rather like jousting
in space. Enemy ships make
passes at each other, ring
a volley of shots when they
get close and hoping some of
them connect. You can also
use heat-seeking missiles.
Hit the spacebar and you can
strafe, shoot-em-up style.
You can dock at this nightclub
to trade and chat with NPCs
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Hit it again to steer with the
mouse. The movement as you
do so feels nicely weighty.
This games biggest
problem is that theres simply
nothing fun to do. There
are countless stations, jobs,
contracts and other ways to
The occasional bit of
spectacle cant save this
tedious space simulation.
make money, but its all deeply
tedious, and utterly free of
personality. The characters
you talk to cycle through the
same few dumb lines. The
missions are rote. Its only in
the (dreadful) story that youll
nd any excitement; its
Waste of space
Things more useful than co-pilot Yisha Tarren
Its the future, but
people still love booze
You dont get to pilot
anything this big
Theres a mod to make your
co-pilots outt less revealing
The mannequin-like
characters are unconvincing
Zones are clogged with trac,
space stations and asteroids
colourful, large-scale space
battles are at least genuinely
impressive to behold.
Consider how rich and full
of character the Mass Eect
universe is. Now imagine the
exact opposite and you have
X Rebirths charmless world.
We dont want to be here any
longer than we need to be.
Some severe patching is
needed. There are more bugs
and broken missions than we
have space to list here, and
save-le editing is almost
always the go-to solution,
which is just absurd when you
realise youve been charged
40/$50 for the pleasure.
It feels like an early access
game. But even if they iron
out the aws, X Rebirth is just
so innately unlikable, and so
deathly boring, that we think
it may be beyond help.
Inatable
dartboard
Chocolate
teapot
Games for
Windows Live
Waterproof
towel
Useless Less Useless
Yisha Tarren
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April2014
combat, and the games
balance is perfect. A wide
variety of mech builds are
viable, from sluggish missile
boats that rely on teammates
to acquire targeting
information, to fragile, agile
Locusts and Spiders.
But Piranhas focus on
perfecting combat before
eshing out other features has
a drawback: some aesthetic
and secondary elements
remain rough. MWOs
command map is a vestigial
feature thats clumsy to use,
and customisation (a core
MechWarrior tenet) hasnt
received the attention it
No singleplayer? No problem
Price Free
Developer Piranha Games
Publisher Infinite Game Publishing
Multiplayer 24 players DRM Online only Web www.mwomercs.com
Recommended specs Dual-core processor, 2GB RAM, GeForce 480/Radeon AMD 5850
deserves. The MechLab, the
garage where mechs are
bought and modied, doesnt
display fullscreen. Data
on weapons and armour is
poorly presented, you cant
compare stats side-by-side,
and colours and patterns are
organised as text lists rather
than as a visual palette.
Revel in the details
Inside the cockpit, intricate
game mechanics such as
modular damage, heat
management, ammo
detonation and throttle delay
work your reexes and brain
equally. Gauss rie slugs, for
MechWarrior Online
doesnt have melee
combat, but it does
have plenty in
common with boxing. Both
divide ghters into weight
classes and test competitors
pain tolerance against their
damage output.
This stghty feel is what
distinguishes MechWarrior
Onlines 12-on-12 team
deathmatches from military
rst-person shooters and
fellow vehicular shooters like
World of Tanks and Hawken.
Most of Piranha Games time
spent developing MWO has
been dedicated to mech
MechWarriorOnline
example, are one of the few
ammunition types that dont
explode when their housing
is destroyed. The gauss rie
itself, however, is volatile,
and if you destroy one youll
deal extra damage unless
your enemy has installed a
CASE explosion-containment
module. But wait that
module is meaningless if
theyre running an XL engine,
which, unlike standard
engines, occupies all three
torso segments. Imagine
trying to use this knowledge
while youre being cooked
with lasers, and youve got an
idea of high-level MWO play.
Whats a shame is how little
energy the good people at
Piranha have dedicated to
explaining these nuances
to newcomers. The most
complex systems such as
equipment that improves and
disrupts missile targeting
arent even mentioned in
the modest tutorial. Still, the
core concepts are intuitive,
and building a durable,
straightforward mech doesnt
take an engineering degree.
Time to up your game, that stompy
dude is getting the better of you
All niggles aside, MWO nails
it where it matters: combat
April2014
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We love how much careful
marksmanship MWO demands
despite the size and lumbering
speed of the titans youre
piloting it takes genuine skill,
patience and intuition to paint
a scout mech with lasers as its
circle-strang you at 120kph.
The relationship you develop
with your mechs is MWOs
other great aspect. Damage
isnt persistent, but eventually
youll get the engine blown
out of your mechs chest, have
to retreat to the MechLab to
rework your build, then queue
up to test your modications.
That loop of death, iteration
and success is special. When
combined with the control
you have over your mech, it
validates your builds when
they work, and helps you see
the benets of dierent
weight classes and weapons.
Our main mech is an Orion
Protector variant, a 75-tonne
heavy with two ultra AC5s
thrown in. Its a medium-long
range gunslinger that works
best when its holding down
a corridor, punishing slower
enemies who peek out of
A more than worthy
successor to one of PC
gamings greatest series.
cover. When we take a loss, we
switch to our 35-tonne Raven,
which can move at almost
twice the speed. We dont get
many kills with it, but MWO
makes it unusually gratifying
to play as a decoy.
The maps are a mixed bag.
Terra Therma is a volcanic
maze, a series of bottlenecks
formed by high clis that
stie movement a little more
than wed like. Alpine Peaks is
enormous, but barren in a
way that makes it tough to
memorise (wed love to see
more landmarks in general).
Crimson Strait has a rail tunnel
that heavy mechs can sneak
through. Some backbreaking
anks and defences happen
here; if scouts dont let you
know whats on the other side,
your heavy mechs might walk
straight to their doom.
Canyon Network,
Tourmaline Desert and Caustic
Valley, on the other hand, are
spacious mixtures of open
and dense. MWO also brings
urban maps to MechWarrior
for the rst time, although the
tower blocks dont deform or
break and the streets are
abandoned, making the
cities feel more like thematic
obstacles than immersive
spaces. MWO needs more
mode variety to get better
mileage out of these maps.
There are just two: a ve-
capture point domination
mode, and a straight-up
12-on-12 brawl.
More signicantly, the
MWO community awaits
the addition of Community
Warfare a persistent territory
control metagame where
individual matches will aect
the map-level power struggle
between player-led factions
and mercenary corps. The
game is starved for this sort
of context, which would give
matches meaning beyond
their time limit.
Coin slot
Although theres a lot of
variation in pricing, MWO is
more expensive than average
free-to-play games. Mechs
can be bought with in-game
currency (known as C-bills) or
cash (MC). Prices increase in
proportion to weight, from
560 MC (about 1.60) for a tiny,
20-tonne Locust all the way
through to 7,500 MC (a crazy
20) for the 100-tonne Atlas
legendary variant.
Piranhas work to modernise
MechWarrior is admirable.
MWOs layered mechanics
facilitate combat thats deep,
balanced and most
importantly satisfying in
your hands. That almost
singular focus on combat
design leaves MWO slim on
modes and tutorials, with
some rough interfaces, but
not at the expense of what is
both an entertaining and solid
foundation for the future.
Customise your mech with a wide
array of weapons and equipment
Tactical knowledge comes through
protracted, painful trial and error
MWO rewards cautious play
and thoughtful weapon use...
Its good to see urban maps included,
but its a shame theyre abandoned
Yourdisc
Helloandwelcome
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exclusiveto
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packed CD-ROM features great
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Microsoft is due to end
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46 Let Hitman Pro scan your
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