Windows 7 Help & Advice - June 2014

WIDE SCREEN
STRETCH WINDOWS
ACROSS TWO SCREENS
SKYPE TRICKS
HOW TO VIDEO CHAT

WITH FRIENDS & FAMILY
EXTRA POWER
CLEAN YOUR HARD

DRIVE AND GAIN SPEED
Plus essential tips for

Windows 8, Vista & XP
MASTER
YOUR PC
IN JUST 24 HOURS
O Get to grips with Windows easily
O How to personalise your machine
ODiscover apps to boost your PC
61/329017
HOW TO CUSTOMISE
YOUR WINDOWS PC
Turn your desktop from drab to dramatic
with the ultimate visual makeover
EXPERTS
IhDowEto do
GU
out
Find
h your
more wit utes
PC in min
Windows tutorials
New things to do
Buying advice
Help & support
100% jargon free
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Welcome
This issue is absolutely packed with the best Windows

content you can get, anywhere. Not only are we going to
show you how to master your Windows PC in the space of
a day, were also going to explain how to perfect the look
of your desktop using some tried-and-tested customisation
tricks. After reading through these features youll be armed
with all you need to make your Windows PC better than ever.
Thats not all weve also included an impressive 29 pages
of handy how-to guides, which are perfect when you want
to be inspired to do more with your PC. Of course, not
forgetting the helpful tutorials included on the disc every
issue, allowing you to get to grips with the basics, like setting
up new accounts or sorting out your Wi-Fi.
Finally, weve got a stunning headset to give away to
readers who subscribe to the magazine this month. Theres
only a limited number available, so act fast to get yours!
Nicholas Odantzis acting editor

www.facebook.com/windowsmag
THE ONLY COMPUTER MAG TO HELP
YOU GET MORE FROM WINDOWS
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.
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June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
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FEATURES
14 Master your PC in 24 hours
We show you how to get the most
from your PC and release its true potential
64 Customise your Windows PC

Bored of how dull your PC looks? There are
plenty of ways to freshen it up!
72 Book recommendation sites

If you need something new to read, then
look no further these sites will inspire you
REGULARS
8 Discover Have a shot at fame via
your own YouTube channel
27 Next month Gaze into the
future Whats happening in July?
32 Subscriptions Get a free

Sennheiser headset when you subscribe!
42 Reader offers Weve a selection

of money-saving deals just for you
59 Overseas reader? Get your
mag for less with a subscription
SUPPORT
76 Four pages of essential
expert help for all your
tricky technical queries
6
Help & Advice | June 2014
EXPLORE The best PC tutorials

<L1LKOD2GQLV\
Each month we include as wide a range of tutorials

as possible, to help you use your computer more
HIFLHQWO\DQGLQVSLUH\RXWRWU\QHZWKLQJV
24 Make better online calls
using Skype
48 Expand your desktop

space with two monitors
28 Launch applications your

way with Circle Dock
50 Get perfect pictures (for free!)

with PhotoFuse
34 Use TouchMe Gesture Studio

with your touchscreen PC
54 Go mining for Litecoins and

maybe make some profit, too
38 Find out how to make music

playlists the easy way
56 Encrypt your data and make

it secure with BitLocker
40 Master the basics of

Windows with our handy disc
60 Clean up your PC and

get it working faster
44 Discover the world of Steam

gaming on your PC
Want more? Visit our website at

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Get a free Sennheiser PC 21

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ON THE COVER
UPGRADE
14 Get to
grips with
Windows
today its
so easy!
80 Our expert reviews

and recommendations
82 Denon Cocoon Stream
82 Libratone Loop
83 IN2UIT Filo
83 Pure Jongo T4
83 Cambridge Audio Minx Xi
84 Acer Iconia W4
86 Aorus X7-CF1
88 Toshiba M50-A-11C
ON THE COVER
90 Thief
CUSTOMISE
YOUR PC
92 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

94 Resident Evil 4 HD
96 Jazzpunk
64 Turn your desktop from

drab to dramatic with the
ultimate makeover
10 best
websites for
book lovers
Follow us on
72 Discover a whole
library of new titles
www.twitter.com/windowsmag
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NEW THINGS TO DO
AMAZING WEBSITES
FASCINATING FACTS
YOUR TUBE Distinctive personalities

go a long way on YouTube
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LW
*HD HV
Discover
YouTube
The Knowledge
Have a shot at fame

via a YouTube channel
YouTube is making people famous at a startling rate. Here
are our tips for achieving celebrity status on the platform
ack in 1968, artist Andy Warhol

said that in the future everyone
would be famous for 15 minutes
and he was right. YouTube has
become a platform where everyone has a
chance to have their time in the spotlight.
Its become a launchpad for new talent;
megastar singers Justin Bieber, Alex Day
and Austin Mahone all began their careers
on the video-hosting website. While you
may not achieve the millions of views
attained by YouTubes
megastars, you can
still create your own
channel and build an
audience. To get
started youll rather
obviously need a camera. Mobile phone
cameras are getting better and better, but
wed recommend investing in a video
camera or a decent webcam. Windows
Movie Maker is ne for editing videos.
Youll need to nd a good subject for
your videos. This should be something you
are passionate about. Start a separate
YouTube account (www.youtube.com/
create_account) specically for your new
channel rather than using your Google

account. Doing so makes your channel
easier to manage, and means you can give
it a catchy title rather than using your own
name. Once youve created the channel,
set up a related Twitter account and use
YouTubes settings (www.youtube.com/
account_sharing) to link the two.
Now scour YouTube and Twitter for
accounts related to the topic youll be
posting videos about; subscribe to them
on YouTube or follow
them on Twitter.
Both sites will
recommend further
people to follow, so
keep adding them
and theyll often add you back. This way
you can build a subscriber base and get
the word out about your channel.
With your YouTube channel and related
social media accounts in place, its simply
a question of uploading content and
plenty of it. The more you upload, the
more condent youll feel, and the more
youll understand your audience. Persevere
and youre sure to nd YouTube success.
Its simply a question

of uploading content
and plenty of it
ONLINE EDITING $GGVRPHQLVKLQJWRXFKHV

One issue with YouTube is that you only
tend to notice problems or things that
could be cut once youve spent ages waiting
for the videos to upload. Luckily, YouTubes
built-in video editor includes lots of
features that are great for making tiny,
last-minute changes to your vids, as well as
adding photos and music to clips. To access
it, open the video you wish to change,
choose the Enhancements wand icon, and
click Try the YouTube Video Editor.
JUST A TRIM You can remove parts of your videos

by clicking the scissors icon over the timeline.
PLAYLIST To the right youll see all your content,

which can be dragged into the editing timeline.
READY FOR BROADCAST Once youve nished

editing your clip, give it a title and publish it.
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Android Wear
Is this a clothing range for robots?
No, its Googles latest device, which runs
on the Android Wear operating system.
The Wear part doesnt refer to clothing,
instead it means its a wearable piece
of technology. Android Wear devices will
strap to your wrist like a watch.
What does it do?
The smartwatch is furnished with Google
Now, which Android and iOS users may
already be familiar with. This means it
presents useful and relevant info based on
who you are and what youre doing. If
youre on holiday itll recommend nearby
restaurants, it can tell you how long your
commute will be based on trac
information, it can provide a weather
forecast and itll even tell you the time.
But I can get all that information on
my phone anyway.
True, but having it on your wrist is
fantastic if your phones tucked safely
away in your bag or pocket. You can also
use your voice to search Google and
compose messages, so it has a level of
interactivity. Itll even display your speed
and distance if youre walking or cycling.
Havent I heard about something
like this before?
Both the Pebble and Samsungs Galaxy
Gear helped put smart features on your
wrist, but they were met with mixed
reviews. Android Wear looks more
promising because it uses custom-built
components so it can be smaller and have
better battery life and Google Now
is already awesome.
When can I get one?
Youll be able to slap one on your wrist
later this year. LG and Motorola have
announced watches powered by Android
Wear the G Watch and the Moto 360
respectively. Were particularly taken with
the Moto 360 as it has an attractive circular
face, rather than the rectangular shape
of the other smartwatches.
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
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1+6
+1<
(57
3

7(+
7(5
Clean your desktop

A nice big high-definition wallpaper is an
easy way to make Windows look wonderful,
but having icons all over the desktop makes
it cluttered and distracting. You can safely
select and delete icons with an arrow over
the top these are mere shortcuts to the
relevant programs. Icons without arrows are
generally files, which you can cut and paste
into My Documents. Finally, to remove the
undeletable Recycle Bin icon, click Start >
Control Panel > Appearance and
personalization > Personalization > Change
desktop icons. Uncheck the Recycle Bin tick
box and itll vanish from your desktop,
but you can still access it by pressing
[Windows]+[E] and choosing Desktop
on the left-hand side.
Time for a change

Windows 7s clock defaults to the 24-hour
format, but you may prefer the good ol
12-hour convention. To change it,
click on the Start button, then go to Control
Panel > Clock, language and region >
Change the date, time or number format.
Click Short time and Long time and youll
see an option to change the hh to an h.
This switches the clock from a 24-hour to
a 12-hour display. You can also add tt at the
end, which gives you an AM or a PM.
You can adjust the date format, choose
your preferred first day of the week, and even
alter symbols and formats by clicking on the
Additional settings button. Now youve got
the time and date just as you want them!
Visual effects
If youre running Windows XP on a decent
PC, you can access a whole range of effects
which make it look slicker and more
attractive. Click Start > Control Panel >
System > Advanced, then choose the
Settings button under Performance. Select
Custom to apply effects including nifty slide
animations when you open menus, mouse
pointer shadows and smoothed fonts. It all
adds up to a really flashy version of Windows.
We recommend choosing Let Windows
choose whats best for my computer at the
top of the menu if youre using a laptop
and want to save your power.
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.
Tip of the month
Multiple displays
The bigger screen

Using two monitors is easier than ever thanks
to Windows 8s collection of built-in tools
One of the best things weve done
with our PC recently is add a second
screen. Its good for productivity as it
means we can have a spreadsheet
open on one monitor while reading
a Word document on the other, and
for entertainment we can play games
while watching a film. Youll need
a relevant cable usually HDMI to
connect the screen, but check your
computers ports before you buy one.
10
SCREEN DREAMS Windows 8's

Charms allow you to access second
screen settings quickly and easily.
Youll also need the screen itself, which

can be a monitor, a TV or a projector.
Windows 8 makes second screens
easier than ever, and once theyre
plugged in you can set them up by
swiping from the right of the screen
and then tapping Devices. Here youll
find options to Duplicate or Extend
your display; the former is handy for
presentations and the latter is great
for getting more screen real-estate.
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Discover
Tech talk
X
EX
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Download this
Britain best broadband?
Pixlr
www.pixlr.com
The Paint program built into Windows
is nice and straightforward, but it lacks
the more powerful features of dedicated
programs such as Photoshop and Paint
Shop Pro. These programs can cost
a small fortune, but fortunately Autodesk
is at hand with a suite of image-editing
tools called Pixlr.
The most powerful of these is Pixlr
Editor. This includes some advanced
features such as a clone stamp tool that
can be used to cover up blemishes or
unwanted objects in the background, and
a huge array of lters and image
adjustments. Pixlr Express simply allows
you to apply retro lters to your images,
and Pixlr-o-Matic is even more basic but
still powerful and it can be used to
quickly create Polaroid-style images. Best
of all, these programs are completely free,
and they run in your browser so you wont
have to install any software at all.
Ofcom report touts UK internet as the best in the EU,

EXWRQO\FRPSDUHVLWWRYHRWKHUFRXQWULHV
fcom, the telecommunications

watchdog in the UK, has
reported that the countrys
broadband infrastructure and
speeds are number one in the European
Union. The report, which uses a scorecard
to pit the UK against other countries, is
a good indication of the governments
objective to deliver download speeds of at
least 2 megabits per second to every
premises in the country by 2015.
The report states that for every 100
people in the UK, nine have access to
a superfast broadband connection of 30
megabits per second or more. In Spain
this number is six, in Germany its ve and
in France its three.
In the UK, 83 per cent
of households have a xed
broadband connection
slightly more than the 81 per
cent of German homes. In
mobile broadband the UK
trumped every other
country 84 per cent of
people had accessed the
internet from a mobile
device. Spain had the next
highest gure at 54 per cent, and
Germany came bottom of the league
with 41 per cent. The UK also came top
in terms of people accessing the internet
at least once per week, and using it to
buy goods and services.
There is, however, one massive caveat

with Ofcoms report: the watchdog only
surveyed the EU5, which consists of
Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the
UK, rather than all 28 EU member states.
Its reasons are simple: The factors that
affect the development of broadband
networks, such as geography, population
size and density, and legacy
infrastructure, differ signicantly
between the 28 EU member states.
While it wouldnt make sense to compare
the UK to the tiny country of
Luxembourg, or the relatively poor nation
of Bulgaria, comparison with other
countries highlights the reports
discrepancies. Portugal, for instance, is
poorer than the UK in terms of gross
domestic product (GDP) and has a lower
population density, yet a greater
proportion of its residents have access to
superfast broadband than the UK. It may
not be a completely fair report, but it does
indicate that broadband access is
improving. Since last years report, xed
broadband connections in the UK have
risen from 77 to 83 per cent, and the
percentage of people who have never
used the internet has dropped from
11 per cent to 8 per cent. Its likely to
get better, too the government
has announced a further 250m
injection for superfast broadband
across the country.
PIXLR EDITOR We dont think our art team

have anything to worry about just yet...
Follow us on
,=
7+(6(&'
V W UWQ
3 QD HD \
What is the name of
Sonys virtual reality
headset for the PS4?
A) Project Trinity
B) Project Neo
C) Project Morpheus
World wide web

creator Tim BernersLee was surprised at the
online popularity of?
Minnesota company
Lakemaid has
recently used a flying
drone to deliver what?
A) Narwhals
B) Kittens
C) Puppies
A) Beer
B) Pizza
C) Spare car parts
Spotify has just

bought Echo Nest but what does it do?
A LEGO robot
defeated what in just
over three seconds?
A) A Rubiks cube
B) A sudoku game
C) An age-old chess
problem
A) Recommends music
B) Adds effects to songs
C) Rates karaoke attempts
A) A crab
B) An octopus
C) A fish
NEXT ISSUE ON SALE

June 2014
06
MIT researchers have

built a robot based
on which creature?
FRIDAY
Answers 1C, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6C
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June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
11
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TOP IMDB FACTS

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) began its life in
1990 as a Usenet posting by British film fanatic and
computer programmer Col Needham.
+
+
+
+
By 1993 it had outgrown its newsgroup format

and the independent IMDb website was born.
Henry Winchester reveals a host

of fascinating digital facts
How easy is it
to get a job in
technology?
The rise of the IT industry
in the UK seems unstoppable.
According to research from
Telegraph Jobs, London
has the most tech-related
vacancies, with a whopping
20,618 posts waiting to be
filled. Leeds and Reading
followed, with just over 1,000
vacancies each. If you want
the big bucks but don't fancy
a move to the big smoke,
Edinburgh is next best, with
an average wage of 48,217
for people employed in the
technology sector.
In 1998 the hugely popular site was sold to

Amazon, on the condition that Needham would
maintain control of it.
A German version of IMDb was launched in
1998, and the site is now available in seven
additional languages.
Although the site is operated from Bristol, UK,
its become a major part of Hollywood, and in
2002 it began offering IMDbPro memberships
to professional users.
+
+
By 2006 it had accumulated 485,000 titles,

and this increased to 755,000 with the addition
of individual episodes of television series.
Films are rated by users on a scale from one
to 10; at the time of writing, The Shawshank
Redemption is the best-rated film on the site
with a score of 9.2.
+
The lowest-rated film at the time of writing is

Paris Hilton turkey The Hottie & The Nottie
it was even advertised as a number one film
on this basis.
+
+
In September 2013 the IMDb appointed its

first guest editor, Inception and The Dark Knight
Rises star Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The site is the 45th most popular in the
world, ranking above www.apple.com, www.
craigslist.org and www.flickr.com.
26 BILLION
devices will be connected to the internet by 2020,

according to research company Gartner. These
devices arent limited to computers and smartphones,
though; the age of the internet of things is upon us,
which means anything from light bulbs to cars will be
able to connect to the internet and share data.
12
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Source: www.mumsnet.com
Discover
WorldMags.netFacts & figures
Which brands are Mumsnet

users favourites?
1 John Lewis 2 Waitrose
3 Amazon 4 Apple 5 M&S
WHAT ARE THE

BEST TIMES TO
POST ON SOCIAL
NETWORKS?
Ever posted a funny
comment on Facebook
expecting hundreds of
'Likes', but received none?
According to consultancy
firm Social Caffeine, the time of day can make
a big difference to who sees your posts. Early
afternoon is best for Facebook and Twitter,
while the workaholics on LinkedIn prefer posts
made between 7am and 9am, or 5pm and
6pm. The worst times to post on all sites are in
the wee hours of the night.
WHICH IS
THE UKS
BEST MOBILE
OPERATOR?
Orange and T-Mobile
conglomerate EE (formerly
Everything Everywhere) came
top in research carried out
by mobile network analysis
company RootMetrics. Calls,
texts, mobile internet and
reliability were all assessed,
and EE performed far better
than competing networks.
Vodafone, a brand that was
once synonymous with the
UK's mobile industry, came
last in every test although
the company has disputed
RootMetrics methodology.
42%
42 PER CENT
OF AMERICANS
...of Americans
owned a
computer in
owned a PC in 1999. The

statistic was released as part
of online game Everquests
15th birthday celebrations.
Since 1999 the price per
GB of hard drive storage
has dropped by 99 per cent,
the number of homes with
internet access has doubled,
and Believe by Cher has fallen
out of the music charts.
1999
81%
...of Americans
own a
computer in
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June 2014 |
2014
Help & Advice |
13
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MASTE
I H
N O
U
2 R
4 S
14
WIN
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Cover feature
Master Windows in 24 hours
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ER
Come with us on an intensive tour of Windows 7 and
well show you how to release the full potential of the
system and get the most from your PC
ll of us use Windows, but some of us just scratch the surface of
what the operating system can do, only using our PCs to send and
receive the odd email and surf the internet now and then.
In fact, Windows 7 can do so much to make your life easier that it
can seem overwhelming at rst. Theres now a tool for almost
anything in Windows; if you know where these tools are and how they
can be used, then your experience of your computer could be
revolutionised quickly and easily.
Theres no need to feel intimidated by the enormous wealth of
options that Windows 7 provides. Over the next few pages, well give you a crash
course that teaches you all you need to get the most out of Windows and your PC.
Everything you need to know is explored and explained in a way you can
understand, and by the end youll be amazed at what you can achieve with
Windows 7. By taking this crash course, youll open up new areas of Windows 7
to explore, and itll be the rst step towards realising your PCs full potential.
DOWS
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June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
15
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GET STARTED
Using Windows is easy when you know whereWRQGHYHU\WKLQJ

lthough there are lots of tools
in Windows, you can simplify
things by thinking of your
computer as being made up
of three large areas: your les
and folders, your programs,
and System Tools. The rst
area your les and folders covers all
the personal les that you create,
including photos, Microsoft Word
documents and your MP3 collection.
These les are unique to you, and when
you add or create them, they are saved
in folders that are collected by Windows 7
in libraries. Libraries make it incredibly
easy for you to nd your les.
There are four libraries, each of which is
pretty self-explanatory: Documents, Music,
Pictures and Videos. Any documents that
you create in programs such as Word and
Excel should be saved in the Documents
library to keep your computer organised.
In Windows XP, the locations have the same
names, but with My in front of them
for example, My Music. Keeping your les
organised means that you spend a lot less
time searching for them because you know
exactly where they are kept.
The second area your programs
covers all the software installed on your
PC. These can be installed in dierent
locations, but they can all be accessed
quickly and easily through the Start menu.
Click Start > All Programs to see them
all and launch any of them. If you have
a program you use regularly, you can access
it even faster by creating a desktop shortcut.
To do this, right-click on the programs icon
MAKE LIBRARIES EVEN MORE USEFUL

The dierence between
the folders of XP and
Vista, and the libraries of
Windows 7 is that the
libraries can combine a
number of folders and
display them as though
they were just one
location. For example, you
might have a second hard
drive in your computer
that is dedicated to your
holiday photos. You can
add this folder to the
Pictures library by clicking
on the Libraries icon
in the Taskbar and then
right-clicking on the
library you want to add a
folder to. Click Properties
> Include a folder and
choose your location.
16
SEARCHING WINDOWS,Q:LQGRZVLWVHDVLHUWKDQHYHUWRQGZKDW\RXUHDIWHU
and select Send to > Desktop (create

shortcut). Alternatively, you can pin it to the
Taskbar by right-clicking on the icon and
selecting Pin to Taskbar, which enables you
to load the program instantly. If you have
a lot of programs installed, the Start menu
can become cluttered. In Windows versions
after XP, you can quickly nd what youre
looking for by typing the programs name
into the Start search box.
The nal area System Tools covers all
the tools and programs that you can use
to tweak and improve Windows. Some of

these are quite complicated, and best left
to those who are more condent, but
through the years Microsoft has worked
hard to make these powerful settings more
user friendly. The vast majority of these tools
are kept in the Control Panel. To access
this, just click Start > Control Panel. What
was once a bewildering array of icons in
Windows XP and Vista has been cleaned up
and carefully arranged in Windows 7. Every
tool has been placed in a category for easy
reference. Looking for a tool to help set up
your home network? Look under Network
and internet. Want to set up parental
controls? Head to User accounts and family
safety. Programs and tools that help you
tweak and troubleshoot your computer can
also be found under Start > Computer and
Start > All Programs > Accessories.
Dividing up all your programs and les
into three sections in your mind can help
you memorise where everything goes,
so they are easier to locate in the future.
MANAGING YOUR WINDOWS

When you use programs, they are displayed
in boxes known as windows. The more
programs you have open at one time, the
more windows appear on your screen.
Having too many windows open at once
can get confusing, but Windows 7 enables
you to organise your desktop so you can
nd the right window in a ash. Clicking the
top of a window and dragging it to the left
or right side of your screen instantly resizes
the window to take up half of the screen.
If you want to minimise all the windows
except one, click the top of the window you
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Cover feature
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want to keep on your desktop and shake

it quickly from side to side. All the windows
behind your selected window will then
minimise. Shake the window again to bring
those windows back again.
Another quick way to organise your
windows while they are open is to rightclick the Taskbar and select Show windows
stacked to display each window horizontally
across your screen. Right-click the Taskbar
and select Show windows side by side to
display them vertically. If you want to scroll
through your open windows to nd the
one you want, hold down the [Windows]
key on your keyboard and press the [Tab]
key until you nd the right one.
SEARCHING WINDOWS 7
Using Windows 7 to search for les and
folders can save you a huge amount of
time. The way Windows searches your PC
to nd what you want was completely
overhauled with Windows Vista and it was
further rened in Windows 7. All you need
SNAP 'UDJDQGGURSWRRUJDQLVH\RXUGHVNWRS
to do is click the Start button and type the

name of the le or folder you are searching
for into the Start Search box. Even as you
begin typing, Windows 7 starts returning
results. The more you type, the more
accurate the results become. To make it
even easier, your search results are divided
into categories: Programs, Folders and Files.
If you can see what youre searching for,
just click on it. If you want to narrow down
your search, click See more results. Your
results are then listed in the Search Results
window, with the phrase you searched for
highlighted in yellow to help you quickly
gure out how relevant the result is.
Windows 7 not only searches le names
for your keywords, but also searches inside
les. So if you cant remember the name
of a document, but you can remember
a sentence or phrase that was written inside
ADD YOUR EMAIL TO

WINDOWS LIVE MAIL
it, you can search for that. If you get too

many results, you can lter them. For
example, if youre searching for a particular
email, you can prevent Windows 7 from
returning documents and programs with
similar names by clicking the search box
in the top right of the Search Results
window. Under Add a search lter select
Email or the type of document you are
searching for and only matches of that
type are returned. You can further narrow
your results by adding le type, le size
and the date the le was last edited.
Get all your emails on your desktop
SET UP YOUR BROWSER

Your web browser is your gateway to the
most important technological invention
in recent history: the internet. Setting up
your web browser properly can help you
navigate the vast amounts of information
available online, so you can nd what you
are looking for in an instant.
Internet Explorer one of the most
popular browsers in the world, which
means almost all websites are compatible
with it. Because it was created by
Microsoft, it is integrated seamlessly into
Windows 7 and the latest version brings
even more integration, with jump lists and
Taskbar pinning of individual websites.
If you dont like Internet Explorer, try
Firefox (www.getrefox.org) or Google
Chrome (www.google.com/chrome).
The rst website you are presented with
when you open your web browser is
known as the homepage. You can set
your homepage to be any website on the
internet, so its a great idea to set it to your
favourite site. If you have an internet email
account, you could set your home page
to be your inbox so that you get your
emails straight away, or maybe your
favourite news site to get the latest
headlines. To set a website as your home
page, just go to the site in question then
click the Settings icon in the top
right-hand corner of Internet Explorer
and select Internet options. Click Use
current under Home page.
If there are other websites that you visit
regularly, adding them to your Favorites
(also known as bookmarking) can save
you loads of time. To do this, go to the
site, then click the star icon and select
Add to Favorites. In future, all youll need
to do is open the Favorites list by clicking
the star icon, before selecting the name of
the website. You can speed things up
even more by adding your favourite
websites to Internet Explorers Favorites
Bar. Click the star icon with the green
arrow on the left-hand side of the screen
and the site appears at the top of the
window, enabling you to instantly
navigate to your chosen website.
Install Windows Live Mail
Add an account
Extra information
After installing the free Windows

Live Mail tool (which youll find in
Windows Essentials on this
months disc), just start the program up
and then click the Menu button on the
top left-hand side of the window. Select
Options to start connecting your email
accounts to Windows Live Mail.
Click Email accounts > Add and

then select Email account and
click Next. Now all you need to do
is enter in your email address and the
password you use to access your emails.
Enter the name you want to appear by
your emails and click Next.
If you have a free web-based email

account, such as Gmail, thats all
you need to do. If you have an
email account with your broadband
provider, you may need to provide some
extra details. Tick Manually configure
server settings > Next. You may need
to contact your email provider for the
information or check the website.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
17
WorldMags.net
MAKE WINDOWS 7
WORK FOR YOU
You can make Windows even better by tailoring it to your tastes

he best thing about all versions
of Windows and especially
Windows 7 is how easy they
are to customise. You dont
have to change your everyday
computing habits to suit the
operating system you can
adjust it to suit the way you
work. From the moment you
install it, Windows 7 is incredibly userfriendly, but if you take some time to
tweak and customise it to suit your needs,
youll nd that using your PC becomes
faster and easier than ever before.
One of the rst things that you can do to
help yourself feel at home when using
Windows 7 is to personalise the way it looks
and feels. Right-click anywhere on the
desktop and select Personalize. You can
choose from a number of themes that
come with Windows 7, or click Get more
themes online. This takes you to a website
where you can view even more fantastic
themes to decorate your computer with.
SET UP USER ACCOUNTS

If you share your computer with other
people, you can set up user accounts for
each person. Setting up user accounts for
each member of your family enables
everyone to personalise Windows in a way
that suits them. Having a user account for
each person also means that their favourites,
internet home page, browsing history and
personal les are all saved and only
accessible to them. To create user accounts,
go to Start > Control Panel and then under
User Accounts and family safety, select Add
or remove user accounts. Click on Create
DECORATE YOUR DESKTOP

WITH YOUR OWN PHOTOS
To really give your computer the

personal touch, you can use your
own digital photos as desktop
wallpaper. Right-click on any photo
you want to display as a background,
and then select Set as desktop
background. If you want a number
of photos to be displayed, right-click
the desktop and select Personalize.
Click Desktop background >
Browse. Select your photos and
press OK > Save changes. Now
admire your beautiful new desktop!
18
a new account, then enter the name of the

person you are creating the user account for.
Make sure it is set to Standard user so they
cant change any important settings, and
click Create account. Once youve set up
the account, you can click on it to edit the
name, create a password or change the
picture that represents the account.
KEEP YOUR FAMILY SAFE

Another great reason to create user
accounts for members of your family
is that you can add parental controls to your
childrens accounts to ensure that they are
kept safe. You can limit what programs
each person has access to, and if you are
worried about the children using the
computer for long periods of times, you can
limit when and for how long they can use
the PC. Go to Start > Control Panel and
under User accounts and family safety,
click Set up parental controls for any user.
Click the user account you want to add
parental controls to and select On, enforce
current settings. You can then set time limits
for how long that family member can use
the computer, the age rating of games they
can play, and the applications they can use.
If you want to add further parental controls
to the user account, such as website ltering,
you can install Windows Live Family Safety
from http://bit.ly/1edYViw.
SECURITY SOLUTIONS
Making sure your computer is secure when
you are on the internet is one of the most
important things you can do. There are
so many threats on the internet that can
infect your computer and put your personal
CLEAR OUT <RXOOEHVXUSULVHGKRZPXFKVSDFH\RXFDQ

UHFODLPLI\RXJLYH\RXU3&DTXLFNFOHDQ
les and information at risk. Installing

antivirus and anti-malware should therefore
be one of your top priorities. Windows 7
itself does not come with antivirus
protection, so you need to install your own
copy of your chosen antivirus software.
There are two main types of antivirus
software: paid-for and free. With antivirus
software that you pay for, you get a copy
that will receive updates for a year. After
that year has ended, you need to buy
a subscription for a further 12 months to
continue to keep the software updated.
This is essential because thousands of new
viruses are released on the internet every
day, and the updates make sure that the
antivirus software can detect and protect
you from the latest threats.
Free antivirus software oers basic
protection without you needing to pay for
a yearly subscription. Free antivirus software
protects your computer from infections,
but it doesnt feature some of the more
advanced features and technology that
paid-for versions do, such as email scanning
and website blocking. If you know what you
are doing and are careful on the internet,
free antivirus software such as Microsoft
Security Essentials (www.microsoft.com/
security_essentials) or AVG Free (http://free.
avg.com) should be adequate. If you arent
that condent on the internet, have a habit
of opening attachments and clicking links in
WorldMags.net
Cover feature
WorldMags.net
CONNECT TO A
WIRELESS NETWORK
With Windows 7, it couldnt be easier
nd all the tools and help you need to get

your internet and network xed right here.
In no time, youll have your very own
network up and running.
WINDOWS UPDATE
KEEP YOUR PC CLEAN
Windows 7 isnt completely defenceless on

its own against malicious threats from the
internet, however. Microsoft continually
updates the operating system through the
Windows Update service. These updates
include critical protection against the latest
threats and most of the time they are
downloaded in the background without
you needing to do anything. Occasionally,
theres a non-essential update released that
can improve your computers performance.
Non-essential updates are not downloaded
automatically, so it is worth checking
Windows Update manually about once
a month. Click the Start button and type
update into the Search box. Click Windows
Update and youll be presented with
a window telling you how many important
and optional updates are available. Click on
Optional updates are available to view the
list. Select the optional updates you want
to install, then click OK > Install updates.
Any important updates that you havent yet
downloaded and installed are automatically
selected and installed as well. This way, you
can possibly improve your machines
performance with a little extra eort.
To keep Windows 7 running like brand

new, regular cleaning of the hard drive is
essential. It doesnt take long and the
results are well worth it. Go to Start > All
Programs > Accessories > System Tools >
Disk Cleanup. Select the drive and click
OK. Windows scans your hard drive
for unnecessary les that take up precious
disk space but can be safely removed.
Temporary internet les, partially deleted
les in the Recycle Bin and other
temporary les can all add up and slow
down your PC. Select the les you want to
delete and then click OK > Delete les.
CREATE A NETWORK
Setting up or joining your home network
has never been easier thanks to Windows 7.
Simply plug your computer into your
network router via an Ethernet cable and
follow our guide on the right to get your
home network up and running. If you have
any problems, head over to the Network
and Sharing Center by clicking Start and
typing Network and Sharing Center. Youll
Search for signals
Find your network
Get connected
All modern laptops and netbooks

have wireless network receivers
built in. If you have a desktop PC,
you may need to buy a USB wireless
receiver. If your computer can detect
wireless networks, and there is one nearby,
the Wireless connections are available
icon appears in your Taskbar.
UPDATES0DNHVXUH:LQGRZVLVXSGDWHGWRNHHSLWUXQQLQJVPRRWKO\DQGVHFXUHO\
emails, like to download a lot of things or

just want the best protection there is,
consider paid-for antivirus. Brands such as
Norton and McAfee oer superb security.
Click on the icon and all the

wireless networks your computer
can find are displayed. Click the
name of your wireless network if you
havent named it yourself, it will be named
after the brand of your wireless router
(Netgear, for example) or your ISP.
UNINSTALL PROGRAMS
If you have programs installed on your
computer that you no longer use, its
a good idea to uninstall them to keep
your hard drive clean and Windows 7
running smoothly. To uninstall unneeded
programs, go to Start > Control Panel >
Uninstall a program. Select the program
you no longer use and click Uninstall.
Installing and uninstalling programs
can leave your hard drive in a bit of a state.
This is why defragmenting your hard drive
is a vital part of Windows maintenance.
The defragmentation process rearranges
the data into a more logical order, while
combining the free space on your disk.
After defragmenting your hard drive, youll
nd you have a faster computer and more
disk space. Go to Start, type defrag and
click Disk defragmenter. Select your hard
drive and click Analyze disk to see if the
disk needs defragmenting. If it does,
click Defragment disk.
Click on your network and put

a tick next to Connect
automatically. This means
Windows 7 connects to your chosen
network straight away when you turn on
your PC in the future. Click Connect and
enter the network password. Wireless
networks should always have a password
to prevent strangers accessing them.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
19
WorldMags.net
THE MISSING PROGRAMS
Installing carefully selected software can make a real difference to your PC

indows 7 comes with
a lot of great tools, but
there are some other
essential programs that
you should install to
make the most out of
your computer. The
following programs
contain all the features
you need to get the most out of
Windows 7 and your computer. Check out
our guide below for some more superb
software to install. Unless specied, all the
programs are included on your free disc.
WINDOWS ESSENTIALS
Microsoft has gathered together some
of the best programs for your Windows
PC in the Windows Essentials suite (http://
bit.ly/1fkHz1o). Once installed, youll nd that
theres a reason Microsoft has given these
programs the Essential moniker.
If you like blogging, then you should
enjoy Windows Live Writer. It allows you to
create blog posts complete with pictures,
videos and maps that are compatible with
Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal and other
major blog providers.
Windows Live Mail is a fantastic email
program that enables you to add multiple
email accounts and calendars, as well as
send and receive emails straight from your
computer desktop.
If you keep lots of digital photos on
your computer, installing Windows Live
Photo Gallery is a must. It features tools for
organising, editing and sharing your photos.
Instantly adjust the colour of photographs,
remove red eye or create stunning
panoramas with your snaps. If youve shot
some home videos, you can import them to
Windows Live Movie Maker and add special
EDIT PHOTOS WITH

WINDOWS LIVE PHOTO
GALLERY
Weve all been there youve
managed to take a once-in-alifetime photo, but its been
spoilt by bad lighting, or a bad
ash has made your subjects
eyes glow red. In Windows Live
Photo Gallery, you can edit
the photos to remove any
problems and get the photo you
really wanted to take. Select the
troublesome photo, then click
Auto adjust and let Windows
Live Photo Gallery weave its
magic. Youll then have a great
photo to share wth your friends.
20
READ IT 2SHQ3')VHDVLO\ZLWK)R[LW5HDGHU
eects, transitions and sound eects

to create and share amazing movies.
OneDrive is a handy addition, too. It
allows you to gain access to les wherever
you are, and you receive 7GB of cloud
storage absolutely free. Wed recommend
saving your most treasured photos to
OneDrive even if your computer is stolen,
your pictures wont be lost.
MACRIUM REFLECT
Windows comes with backup software built
in, which is great for keeping your les safe
and sound, but Macrium Reect takes things
one step further and creates a complete
snapshot of your hard drive, so if something
does happen to your PC, you can simply put
things back exactly how they were before.

Restoring is simply a case of popping
in a new drive and booting from a special
DVD. The program is free to use, although
youll need a large hard drive to make the
most of it. Its a great bit of software to have
for PC peace of mind.
AD-AWARE
If you want extra protection against
spyware, you should install Ad-Aware.
Spyware is software that is installed on your
PC without your consent, and which sends
information about you and your computer
across the internet. Sometimes this
information is sent to advertisers, and
sometimes it goes to malicious users who
want to steal your identity, but it is always
annoying. Ad-Aware protects you against
this and keeps your details safe.
MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS

If you want a free antivirus software solution,
Microsoft Security Essentials (http://bit.
ly/1fxEN7D) is the tool you need. It is easy to
use and is always kept up to date to protect
your PC against viruses and other malicious
software. Theres no complicated jargon
involved you simply install it and it
monitors your computer for you.
FOXIT READER
PDF les are becoming increasingly
common, so it helps to have a fast and
user-friendly PDF reader close to hand. Most
user manuals are now saved on an
installation disc, rather than printed out on
paper. Youre usually told to install Adobe
Acrobat Reader to view the PDF les, but
WorldMags.net
Cover feature
WorldMags.net
Nicks
Verdict
There you have it a complete crash
course in Windows 7. Weve covered
the best tools, tips and features to
give you a better understanding of
what Windows 7 is truly capable of.
There is so much that Windows 7
can do, that once youve grasped
the basics, you should be able to
explore this fantastic operating
system with condence. Everyones
experience with their computer is
unique, so it really does pay to have
a play with Windows 7 and see how
you can tailor it to suit your exact
needs. After reading our crash course,
youll now be equipped with the
knowledge to really get the most out
of Windows 7. We hope you feel
inspired to try something new with
your computer as well.
The best thing is that even with an
in-depth guide such as this, we have
only just begun to scratch the surface
of the operating systems capabilities.
The most fun and exciting part is up
to you get exploring and discover a
whole new side of your PC!
Enjoy the thrill of opening up
a new world with your PC and let
us know how you get on at
windowsmagazine@
futurenet.com.
OPEN ANY FILE 9/&0HGLDSOD\HUFDQRSHQDQ\W\SHRIYLGHROH
Foxit Reader is a faster alternative that has all

the features and doesnt take up as much
disk space on your computer.
7-ZIP
Compressing les in zip format is a great
way to send and receive them over the
internet. While Windows 7 can open and
create zip les straight away, 7-Zip adds even
more functionality and gives you the ability
to open and create the popular rar
compressed le type, too.
REVO UNINSTALLER
Revo Uninstaller is another example of a tool
that expands on some of the functionality
within Windows 7. While you can uninstall
programs with Windows 7, the process is
not perfect. Some les and folders can
refuse to be removed, leaving your hard
drive cluttered with the remnants of
unwanted programs. Revo Uninstaller helps
keep your computer completely clean and,
more importantly, itll free up some much
needed space on your machine.
those using the mkv format. This

open source software is a great little
media player youll wonder how you
ever managed without it.
GOOGLE CHROME
Internet Explorer is included with
Windows, but just because Microsoft
opted to bundle in its own browser, it
doesnt mean you have to use it. If you
want a speedy and good-looking
alternative, then Google Chrome (www.
google.com/chrome) should be right up
your street. It works well, and there are
some nice touches, such as the ability to
quickly pull tabs out of the browser and
change their order, or even pull them out
altogether into a new window. Q
Nicholas
Odantzis
Acting editor
VLC MEDIA PLAYER

Have you ever tried to play a movie le
that Windows Media Player cant read?
Installing VLC Media Player means you never
have to worry about that again. Its creator
boldly claims that it plays everything,
and its right VLC Media Player can handle
DVDs, streaming media and any video le
(even if it is damaged). Its also
perfect for high denition les, such as
LIVE MOVIES CREATE AND EDIT HOME
MOVIES WITH WINDOWS LIVE MOVIE MAKER
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
21
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
WINDOWS TIPS
INTERNET ADVICE
Welcome
YOUR DISC SOFTWARE
)LVQ
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, Christian shows
you how to get more from
Skype, James demonstrates
how Circle Dock can give
a more intuitive app launching
experience. and Pete helps you
get started in gaming with the
Steam platform. Theres never
been a better time to see how
your PC can make your life
easier than ever!
Nicholas Odantzis,
acting editor
nick.odantzis@futurenet.com
24 Make better online calls

using Skype
48 Expand your desktop

space with two monitors
28 Launch apps your way

with Circle Dock
50 Get perfect pictures (for free!)

with PhotoFuse
34 Use TouchMe Gesture Studio

with your touchscreen PC
54 Go mining for Litecoins and

maybe make some profit, too
38 Find out how to make music

playlists the easy way
56 Encrypt your data and keep

it secure with BitLocker
40 Master the basics of Windows

we show you how
60 Clean up your computer

and get it running faster
44 Discover the world of

Steam PC gaming
<L
%$QZV\
The TouchMe app adds

dozens of new gestures
incorporating two-, three-,
four- and five-finger
combinations.
7WSDIP
Our promise to you

Get more from Windows, software and all your favourite sites
Packed with informative tutorials
Get more from your favourite websites
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.
We all have our list of favourite sites

but often we miss out on great features
EHFDXVHWKH\UHGLIFXOWWRXVHRUKLGGHQIURP
sight. Well show you how to do more online,
for a more satisfying web life.
Customise Windows to work your way
Use our full software to try new things
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.
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.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
23
WorldMags.net
1
GET IT!
/HKW
Subscribe to get
a free headset
for Skype
Make better
online calls
<L&LVL+V\
Im always looking for a better

experience with Skype, and with a few
simple tweaks you can get just that.
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
20
minutes
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
kype, the most popular VoIP

service, is now in the hands
of Microsoft. Skype allows
traditional messaging, but its really
intended for voice and video calls.
Skype is perfect for notebook and
tablet owners because good
webcams are already built-in to those
devices. To make a Skype video call to
an individual or group, you and the
person(s) you are calling will need the
latest version of Skype for your device
(6.14 on Windows), a broadband
connection, a webcam/headset and
a DirectX 9.0c compatible video card.
When you make a video call, Skype
will automatically dictate the quality
of call that your PC is capable of
supporting. This is determined by
many factors, such as the type of
webcams involved, the speed of
internet connection you both have,
and your computer specs. You can
check your call quality settings
by going to Tools > Options.
MAIN OPTIONS
These four icons
are for some of
your main tasks.
Skype Home lets
you see and
post updates.
The others are
for calling real
phones, starting
a group chat, or
adding contacts.
CONTACTS
Online contacts display in
green; the icon is white for
those oine. If youve linked
your Facebook account to
Skype, contacts that are your
Facebook friends will show up
with the word Facebook
marked underneath their
name. You can drag contacts
into the Favorites area.
Step-by-step Get a better video calling experience
Skype and Click to Call

1 Install
Go to www.skype.com to install the program. While
installing Skype for Windows, youll be asked if you want to install
Click to Call. This is a handy Skype plug-in that links to your web
browser. Whenever you see a telephone number while youre
browsing the internet, youll be able to click on it to call via
Skype from your PC. It works across various browsers.
24
in
2 Sign
You can either sign in to Skype with a Skype account or by
using your Microsoft or Facebook account. Choose the option
thats right for you, and you will be guided through a few more
screens before you reach the main Skype interface. You will get
the chance to test your speakers, microphone and webcam,
and will be able to add an image of yourself to your profile.
WorldMags.net
Explore
Make better online calls
WorldMags.net
Jargon buster!
+616%673
,\VXJQJW
KWHUHD F
7LLHHO
QI\DFQ
CALL OPTIONS
The two green buttons are for
either video calling or voice
calling. For most mobile devices
and laptops in particular, youll
probably want to video call
most of the time.
CALL HISTORY
Here you can see messages,
call durations and times
from conversations with
a particular contact. It also
shows whether you called or
were the recipient of a call.
EXTRA OPTIONS
The + icon enables you to add
other participants to a call youre
already on, send les, and share
contacts and screens. It also lets
you send a video message that
you record using your webcam.
VoIP
Voice over Internet
Protocol is a
longstanding set
of technologies that
allow voice calls to
be sent over the
internet as data.
Skype was among
the rst companies
to make it a truly
global software tool.
Click to Call
This is Skypes handy
web-calling plug-in.
It gets installed on
your web browsers
so that when you see
a telephone number,
you can just click it
to call via Skype.
Skype Wi-Fi
Skype for Windows
comes with Skype
Wi-Fi, which gives
Skype users the
ability to connect
to paid-for public
Wi-Fi hotspots and
use their Skype
credit instead
of money from
a bank card.
MESSAGING
To type a message to
a contact that youre
calling, just enter text in
this eld and hit Send.
A selection of emoticons
are also available here.
a contact
3 Add
Click Start Using Skype and youll now see the main
interface. You now need to build up a contacts book for making
calls. Skype allows you to pull in contacts from Facebook you
will see a notice on the Home area, so just follow the instructions.
To add contacts from Skype, click on the + icon and search
for friends and family by their full names.
a call
4 On
Once youve added a contact, you can make a call. Just click
the name of your contact (on the left of the screen) and then
select the green Call or Video call button. On your recipients PC
or mobile device they will see you calling. When they answer,
youll see them and a picture of yourself in the bottom-right
screen. Move the mouse to reveal the on-screen controls.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
25
WorldMags.net
calling and sharing files

5 Group
Add other recipients to your call by dragging and dropping
a contact into the call area. Alternatively, click + then Add people,
choose a name and hit Add. Now click Call group. Group video
calling is available in Skype Premium for 6.89 per month. To
share files, select +, then Send file. While on the move, Skype
Wi-Fi lets you use Skype credit to pay for Wi-Fi hotspots.
the audio
6 Tweak
Under Tools > Options > Audio settings, you can tweak
your sound if youre having problems while on a call. Use the
Microphone and Speaker volume sliders if things are too quiet
or too loud. If youre having issues from numerous input and
output devices being installed, you can check that Skype is using
the correct accessory under Show advanced options.
quality information
7 Call
To investigate quality even further, click the signal button.
Windows 8 app
8 The
In Windows 8, you can use both the standard desktop client
This gives you five tabs of information relating to your setup.

It will display your video quality, but you cant change it from
here. To do that, go to the Options menu, click on Video settings
and choose Webcam settings. This will then launch your
webcams own software application.
and the Windows 8-specific version. The Windows 8 variant uses

the Modern interface and is available for free from the Windows 8
store. It takes many cues from the smartphone and tablet versions
of Skype. You can snap Skype alongside other apps, and messages
are delivered to your lock screen or Start screen.
for Outlook.com
9 Skype
You can also use Skype from within Outlook. Go to Outlook
and link your account (if you are logged in with a Skype account
rather than a Microsoft one) by clicking on the People tile
and then the Skype icon to import contacts. Now you can click
on a contact in Outlook and choose to message, call or video
call them with just one click.
26
calls forever!
10 Free
Skype now works across most major computing platforms,
smartphones and tablets, so theres no reason why you cant be
using it for almost all your audio and video calls. If you enjoy
group calling, its wise to save the group and give it a name this
means you wont have to add them all again in the future. Click
Save group in Contacts in the top-right, then name the group. Q
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ON SALE
Friday
6 June
2014
In the next issue...

*HPU\ :QGZ3&
SPEED UP
WINDOWS
Tips and tricks
to turbo-charge
your computer
7HV
ZI
\ 3&
YOUR
WINDOWS 8.1
UPDATE GUIDE
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
27
,
WorldMags.net
/HKW
Launch apps
your way
NEXT
I
S
S
UE
Create the
p
er
Start menufect
<L-H6WHV\
Circle Dock is a highly customisable

launcher that helps keep your Taskbar and
desktop tidy, with an injection of style.
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
15
minutes
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
GENERAL
This lets you choose
whether or not you
can rotate the dock,
and allows you to
turn down the
mouse sensitivity.
DOCK SHAPE
Unsurprisingly, Circle Dock gives you
one option for your docks shape: round.
However, you can change the number
of apps and the size of the dock.
indows 7 provides you

with two main ways to
launch apps: from the
Taskbar, which has limited space for
icons, or from the Start Menu, which
takes longer to get to. However, you
can download an app launcher to
hold icons, therefore making it easier
to nd the specic ones you want.
Circle Dock is one such launcher,
and as the name suggests, it stores
your frequently used icons in a ring
shape. It can be summoned with the
press of a key to let you re up your
apps with a single click. Its a great
way to keep your Taskbar free of all
but the essential programs, while still
allowing you to swiftly launch the
apps you use frequently. Its totally
customisable and can be summoned
or dismissed with the tap of a button
so it never gets in the way and
whats more, its totally free! Read on
to discover how to give your desktop
a fresh and functional new look.
CENTRE BUTTON
The centre of your dock is
an attractive icon, which
you can change using this
Settings option. You can
also opt to have the Start
Menu displayed when
you click the centre of the
Circle Dock.
Step-by-step Launch apps faster with Circle Dock
the web
1 Hit
Head to http://circle-dock.en.softonic.com and click the
green Safe download button at the top. A new page will open,
and youll need to click the green button again. There are ads for
various other pieces of software on the site, which have their own
download buttons, so make sure you click the button labelled
Safe Download to avoid downloading the wrong thing.
28
the app
2 Download
Click the link and your browser will give you the option
to either save the installer or run it. Click Run and youll see a
compressed Circle Dock folder appear within your Downloads
folder. If you choose Save, the installer will be added to your
Downloads folder ready for you, or you can store it in another
location of your choosing.
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Explore
Launch apps your way
WorldMags.net
Jargon buster!
Dock
A method of
displaying icons
for apps, so theyre
neatly stored in one
place. The Windows
Taskbar is eectively
a kind of dock.
BACKGROUND
The background of Circle
Dock is also customisable,
and you can choose from a
host of funky designs. Click
the box with ve dots next
to the le location to pick a
dierent look for your dock.
Apps
Although commonly
associated with
smartphones, an
app is actually any
program that adds to
the functionality of a
computing device.
ANIMATION
When using Circle Dock, youll see
plenty of animations that give the app
a slick edge. In the Animation option
you can turn down these eects, which
makes the app snappier to use.
Compressed
Folders that are
full of les are often
compressed into
a single le, which
makes them easier
to share and reduces
their overall size.
Any compressed
folder will need to
be extracted to
view the contents.
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VU\PX
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RIVQIPDL
TOGGLING
In this menu you can change
the key that summons Circle
Dock. You can also pair that key
with [Ctrl], [Alt], [Shift] or [Win].
extracting
3 Get
Unlike most apps, all of Circle Docks components are
downloaded in a single compressed folder, so you need to
extract them to install it. Just click the folder and choose Extract
all from the context menu. This will uncompress the folder and
make a new version that you can open. Youll find the extracted
folder in the same location as the original compressed one.
Circle Dock
4 Load
When the folder has been extracted, Circle Dock is ready
to use. Open the extracted folder and double-click Circle Dock.
Drag the icon to your Taskbar for easy access later. Circle Dock
wont launch automatically when you restart your PC, which
means it wont affect its startup speed, but it makes using your
PC much easier, so its handy to have the icon close to hand.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
29
WorldMags.net
of life
5 Circle
When Circle Dock opens, youll see a round panel in the
centre of your screen. It will have the Windows logo in the middle
with a pale ring surrounding it, and you can drag it around your
screen and position it where you like. There are no apps loaded
onto it yet because you have to add them manually, so dont be
alarmed that you cant use it yet.
your apps
7 Launch
When youre done, just click the icon of the app that you
want to launch. Some program icons can be a little obscure, but
dont worry. If youre not quite sure which icon represents which
program, just hover the mouse pointer over an icon without
clicking it and the name of the program will appear. This should
help you figure out the more unusual icons!
programs from the dock

9 Remove
Circle Dock is designed to keep your productivity high, and
its no good if the dock is so cluttered that you cant find anything.
You can get rid of any icons you dont use often by right-clicking
them and selecting Remove. Alternatively, you can make Circle
Dock bigger by right-clicking and choosing Settings > Dock
Shape and increasing the number of icons per circle.
30
apps
6 Adding
Its really easy to add apps to your Circle Dock, and there are
no fiddly advanced settings to worry about. Just find the icons of
programs you want to add either on your Windows desktop or
in Windows Explorer and drag them into position on the dock. If
the icons arent ready on your desktop, then go to your user folder
in My Computer and browse My Programs.
the circle
8 Summon
Circle Dock is designed to be unobtrusive, and it will
disappear when youre working a program. To bring it back, just
hit [F1] this is the default hotkey to make the dock spring back
to life whenever you want it. If youd like to change the hotkey,
simply right-click on the dock, select Settings, choose Toggle
and change the [F1] drop-down to your desired key.
the dock
10 Customise
You can also change the look of Circle Dock. Right-click
and choose Change icon, and select a different picture for the
centre of your dock. You can change the background through the
Settings menu, which is accessed by right-clicking on the dock.
Well done, you now have a neat and quick way of launching apps
and making your PC quicker and easier to use. Q
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he Sennheiser PC 21 headset has been

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June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
33
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/HKW
Use TouchMe
Gesture Studio
<L%$QZV\
Got a touchscreen PC running

Windows 8? See what it can really
do with TouchMe Gesture Studio.
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
15
minutes
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
ny lucky owner of
a touchscreen laptop or
tablet running Windows 8
will know that its fresh new interface
is perfect for tapping and icking
your way around with your ngertips.
Nifty touch gestures such two nger
page scrolling, stretching and
pinching to zoom in and out, and
swiping in from the right side of the
screen to display the Charms bar
make the experience slicker still.
That's all very nice, but these
standard Windows 8 touch gestures
dont exactly use all your digits to the
full. The TouchMe app, on the other
hand, adds dozens of new gestures
incorporating two-, three-, four- and
ve-nger combinations to control
basic window movement, initiate
web browser actions and even take
over your most-used keyboard
shortcuts. So go on, give TouchMe
a try and youll soon wonder how you
managed without it.
GO YOUR OWN WAY

Fed up with presets
and want to make your
mark? Click on the x
icon to free up your
preferred gesture and
then pair it with a
new action.
AVAILABLE ACTIONS
You can choose dozens
of actions, keyboard
shortcuts and mouse
commands from this
list, and pair each one
with a touch gesture
of your choice.
Step-by-step Make Windows respond to your touch
the app
1 Install
TouchMe Gesture Studio resides in the Windows 8 Store.
To find it, press [Windows] and open the Store app, or type store
from the Start screen and hit [Enter]. See the search box in the top
right of your screen? Type touchme and TouchMe Gesture Studio
should automatically show up in a list directly below. Click it, then
hit the green Install button in the top left of the apps store page.
34
the app engine

2 Install
Youre probably itching to get tapping, but were not quite
finished with the prep work yet. The app youve just installed will
only allow you to customise and create your new touch gestures;
it doesnt do any of the techy stuff to bring the gestures to life. For
that youll need to click the top right button titled Get TouchMe
Engine and follow the links to install this accompanying app.
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Explore
Use TouchMe Gesture Studio
WorldMags.net
INSTALL THE TOUCH ENGINE
Before you get stuck in, use this
button to install an essential
background app that is
required by TouchMe.
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R7X0HVH
/HQO
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CUSTOM OR PRECONFIGURED?
If you dont fancy creating
your own gesture
combinations, click here to
activate a selection of
pre-dened congurations.
NEW TOUCH
CONTROLS
A two-nger swipe left
or right in your web
browser like this will
now ick backwards or
forwards through your
browsing history.
Jargon buster!
Gesture
Whenever you
control your PC by
moving your ngers
in a certain direction,
or using them to
form a particular
shape, it is called
a gesture.
Swipe
A mainstay of the
touch gesture
vocabulary, this
simply means to
place one or more
ngers on your
screen and drag
them swiftly up,
down, left or right.
WTF?
TouchMe uses this
abbreviation for
buttons that would
normally be titled
Help. Well let you
use Google to nd
out what the letters
actually stand for!
TRY IT FOR FREE

TouchMe is free to download and
try for 30 days, and if you like it
just click this button to continue
using it for a modest fee.
started
3 Getting
TouchMe should display a large list of predefined touch
gestures for everything from simply moving windows about to
opening a new web browser tab. If the list is blank, just tap the
Use our favorites button on the right. Youll now be met with
a huge range of new touch gestures requiring two to five fingers,
all of which are already paired with corresponding actions.
manipulation
4 Window
Touch your screen with all five fingers, then pinch them
together and the Start screen will appear. Flick all five fingers
outward to go back to the Desktop. Swipe five fingers up to close
an app, and swiping them left or right will snap the app to the
corresponding half of the screen. Place three fingers on an open
window to drag it around, or pinch them to display Task Switcher.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
35
WorldMags.net
basics
5 Browser
To open a new web browser tab, slide four fingers upward.
Quickly tip-tap from your middle finger over to your index finger
on your right hand to go back to previous tab, or tip-tap in the
opposite direction to revert to the new tab. A four-finger swipe
down will close a tab, or rotate two fingers clockwise to refresh
it. Swiping two fingers left or right will browse back or forward.
your mouse
7 Mimic
With these new touchscreen controls, your poor old mouse
is probably gathering dust. TouchMe has another few tricks in
store to make it almost obsolete, as by tip-tapping across three
fingers to the left or right, you can mimic a left or right mouse
click. The middle mouse wheel button and even its rotation can
be assigned TouchMe gestures. If you get stuck, click WTF?.
shortcuts
9 Keyboard
Did you spot the Keyboard Shortcut entry in the list of
available actions? Select this and an additional settings box is
revealed at the bottom of the TouchMe window. Type a keyboard
shortcut here, one key at a time, then select a corresponding
gesture followed by the + button. You can use this trick more
than once to pair other keyboard shortcuts with touch gestures.
36
controls
6 Media
Wouldnt it be nice if you could control your speaker volume
with a deft touch? Just drag four fingers right or left. Pinch four
fingers inward or flick them outward and your monitor will
magically increase or decrease brightness. The touch keyboard
appears with a two-finger swipe up, and can be hidden by
swiping down. Slide all five fingers down to put your PC to sleep.
8 Customisation
Chances are you may like to tweak the default TouchMe
settings so theyre more to your liking. To reconfigure an action
with a different gesture, tap the list in the bottom left of the
TouchMe window and find your preferred gesture. Select your
action of choice from the box on the right and click on the
+ button to create the new combination.
free?
10 Touch
And thats all there is to it, providing your memory is better
than mine and you can recall the myriad of new touch gesture
combinations! There is one slight snag: all this touchy-feely
loveliness isnt free. You get a 30-day trial, but when the times up,
only three gestures will stay active. Tap the Get TouchMe Licence
button to keep using the app in all its glory for just 3.49. Q
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Plus essential tips for
Windows 8, Vista & XP
AVAILABLE NOW ON YOUR iPAD AND iPHONE
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WHEN YOUE
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/HKW
Make music playlists

the easy way
<L.+RGV\
I use an automatic playlist to keep track of my

favourite songs in Windows Media Player. Ill show
you exactly how its done.
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
30
minutes
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
indows Media Players,

playlists are music mixes
that you make yourself
from the songs in your Library. Auto
playlists are a small and easy step up
from that. Instead of adding songs
manually one at a time, you use a set
of lters to automatically ll the list
with your choices. In this way you can
create a playlist full of songs from a
decade of your choice, a favourite
artist or your highest rated tracks. The
list continues to update as you add
songs to your library.
Im going to show you how to
make and edit auto playlists from
scratch. Ive used Windows Media
Player 11, which is available in
Windows Vista and Windows XP.
The version supplied with Windows 7
is Windows Media Player 12. Where
there are dierences between the
two versions, Ive explained them in
the step-by-step guide below. Now
lets get started!
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Step-by-step Create an auto playlist
the playlist
1 Create
If youre making your music playlist using Windows Media
criteria
2 Select
Next, scroll down to the bottom of the Criteria menu and
Player 11, click the down arrow underneath the Library button.
If youre using Windows 7, the relevant button is labelled Create
Playlist instead. Now choose Create Auto Playlist. Youll be
prompted to enter a descriptive name for your list. Under Music
in My Library, click the green Add icon.
choose More This presents you with a more comprehensive

selection of choices. For now, were going to start by choosing
Release year. In the New Auto Playlist window, youll see that the
item Release year has been added to your criteria. Click the Last
30 days link and pick a year from the menu.
38
WorldMags.net
Explore
Make music playlists the easy way
WorldMags.net
Jargon buster!
Dialog
A special screen
or window that
appears either
giving information
or requesting that
you choose from a
list of options.
up criteria
3 Stacking
You can choose more than one set of filters
your list
4 Play
Finish by clicking OK. You should now have
for your playlist. Click on the green Add icon and

choose Release year again. This time, click on the
link labelled Is after and select Is before from the
menu that appears. Choose the next year in the list
after your previous selection.
an auto playlist containing songs released between

the two years you selected. Double-click on the
playlist name to start playback. If the navigation
pane isnt visible in Windows Media Player 11, go to
Layout options and choose Show navigation pane.
Filters
These enable you
to view the entries
in a list that youre
interested in by
automatically
removing specic
ones according to
your instructions.
Library
Your library contains
all the music on your
PC, in one easilyaccessible location.
new criteria
6 Add
Youre taken to the
Edit Auto Playlist dialog.
Under the criteria you
added previously, click the
green Add icon. This time,
find and select the My
Rating option. You can
leave it at the default of At
least four stars. When you
click OK, any track rated
below four stars is removed
from your list.
the choices
5 Refine
If, after playing the list, you find there are
some songs you like more than others, heres an
easy way to modify the automatic choices. Go
through the list and use the Rating column to give
each song a score. Right-click on the playlist name
in the Navigation Pane and choose Edit.
your list
7 Save
To convert the auto playlist youve created into a normal
one that you can tweak and adjust yourself, right-click on the
auto playlist in the Navigation Pane, then click the link Add to
Untitled Playlist. The new list is added to the List pane. Click the
Untitled playlist label and choose Rename playlist. In Windows 7
you can do this just by clicking the label.
your handiwork
8 Review
Brilliant! Youve now set up and created an auto playlist
using different criteria to choose tracks, then refined that choice
with a few expert tweaks. As the name suggests, auto playlists
update themselves when you add tracks to your library, whereas
normal playlists dont. You can also convert your auto lists into
ordinary playlists whenever you like. Q
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
39
WorldMags.net
*(77+('6+(5(
<FQ
XWLO')IPD
LWSQ
XQL
KWL1
/HKW
Master
the basics
Our new range of tutorials shows you
how to get to grips with Windows
very month in Windows 7 Help & Advice we include all the best
tutorials to help you do more with your Windows PC, whether
youre a beginner or youre looking for more advanced help. For
those of you who are new to the magazine, and possibly new to
Windows, we want to make sure youre able to learn the basics of what
your machine can do. In each issue, we are now going to include eight
of the handiest tutorials to get you started, all of which can be found
on the cover disc in PDF format. Just load the disc and enjoy!
Set up multiple user

accounts for your family
Create a handy wireless

network in minutes
Everyone should use multiple accounts for different

users on their home computer, even if its just to
prevent silly accidents, such as children disabling
programs that theyre not supposed to.
If youre not connecting to the internet wirelessly,

youre missing out on the freedom that it offers.
Speeds are good, too most modern routers are
fast enough to rival an Ethernet connection.
(Q
L
/HKW
L
(Q
L
Set up multiple user

accounts in Windows 7
Everyone should use multiple accounts for different users on their
home computer, even if its just to prevent silly accidents
Works with
OS
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
ome is where the heart

is, as the saying goes. Its
also where your PC is. Its a
machine you may share with your
husband or wife, and possibly your
kids, if theyre old enough to use it.
But the last thing you want is for
them to be able to mess up the PC by
deleting important les or changing
settings, or to have to put up with
your partners awful choice in
desktop wallpaper when youre
trying to get some work done.
Thankfully, with the easy process of
setting up additional user accounts
on a Windows 7 PC, you can keep all
of your computing lives separate and
ensure that your kids cant uninstall
any safeguards such as Windows
Live Family Safety that youve put
there to keep the family PC safe.
Everyone should use multiple user
accounts on their home machine, and
you can get started in 10 minutes, so
theres no reason not to.
Step-by-step Make a new account
1 Control Panel
The tools we need to create new user accounts on our PC

are tucked away in the Windows Control Panel. Begin by clicking
the Start orb on the left of your Taskbar, then click Control Panel,
on the right-hand side. In the window that pops up, you should
see the option Add or remove user accounts listed under User
Accounts and Family Safety. Left-click it.
42
33
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2 A new account
Youll see a screen that lists your current user accounts. If

youre like most people, these are your own account and a guest
account, which is switched off. It theoretically allows people
without accounts to use your PC without any risk of harming it,
but its much more secure to leave it switched off. Left-click
Create a new account to continue.
BREAK FREE If you ever want to

disconnect from a network, click
here. This can be handy if there
are multiple networks close by and
you want to make sure youre
connected to the right one.
Get a wireless
network
a name
3 Pick
Now type the name of the new account in the box. This
might be the name of the person who will use it, or anything you
like but bear in mind that this will be displayed on a login screen
when you start up Windows, so keep it clean! Next you need to
choose the type of account you wish to create, Administrator or
Standard. But which to choose?
L
/HKW
5 Customising
Click the Create Account button to finalise this new

account. Now lets give it a bit of personality. Double-click on
the account and click Change the Picture to choose from a vast
selection of images to represent the account on the login screen.
Click the one you want to use, then click the Change Picture
button at the bottom of the window to select it.
7 Parental controls
You should be back at the Make Changes page at this point

if youre not, double-click the account you want to tweak. The
Set up Parental Controls link enables you to set up various
restrictions on standard user accounts. Click it, then click on the
account you want to change. You can set time limits for computer
use, block certain applications and more ideal for children.
Help & Advice | May 2014
administrate?
4 To
If you want the user of the new account to be able to easily
install and modify software, by all means make it an administrator
account. Any other user, however, should definitely have a
standard account. Its actually more secure if you use a standard
account day to day yourself, and save your administrator account
for major changes.
If youre not connecting wirelessly, youre

PLVVLQJRXWRQDORWRIQHWZRUNLQJH[LELOLW\
Works with
OS
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
6 Password protect
Click Create a Password to begin the process of protecting

your newly created account with, yes, a password. You dont have
to do this you could keep your kids account password-free, for
example but its a good idea. Type the password in both of the
boxes at the top, then a hint (dont make it too easy to guess) in
the bottom box. Now click Create Password.
8 Switch and test
Its time to test your new account. Click the Start orb on the
left-hand side of your Taskbar, then click the arrow to the right of
Shut Down. Choose Switch User to go back to the Windows login
screen, click your new account and then log in using the
password you set. Youll see a clean, unfettered desktop,
indicating that your new account is now active. Q
i-Fi isnt just the next

generation of networking its
true digital freedom. Forget
sitting next to your internet connection.
If you can hook your laptop (or
smartphone, or even desktop
computer) up to a wireless network,
you can wander about where you
please and enjoy mobile access with no
additional charges. Of course, you need
to stay in range of your access point.
Most have a realistic range of 50 feet or
so, but if you can get access to the
actual router hardware, and if it has
external aerials, its worth pointing
them in the direction youre likely to be,
so that you get a stronger signal. Youll
find a wireless network gives you so
much more freedom, enabling you to
use your PC wherever in your home is
most convenient. Read on to connect
wirelessly today!
SEE THE STRENGTH The green

stepped icon displays the at-aglance strength of any networks in
the vicinity. We can see here that the
onion network is the strongest in
our neighbourhood.
HARDWARE SETTINGS From here

you can change the settings for the
physical network adapter that is
inside your PC. You can prevent or
allow your machines visibility.
FIX PROBLEMS If youre having

network connection problems, then
this is the place to go. Youre taken
step by step through the things you
need to fix.
-DUJRQEXVWHU
Dongle
This is a colloquial term
given to a small bit of
hardware that extends
your computers
capabilities a USB
Wi-Fi module, for
example, or an external
sound card.
Router
A router or access point
is a piece of hardware
that manages multiple
connections on
a network, and
broadcasts and
receives Wi-Fi signals.
Your router might
include a modem to
connect to the internet,
or it might connect to a
separate cable modem.
SSID
The Service Set
Identier is the name
given to a wireless
network. Each network
in the vicinity needs a
dierent SSID, or their
signals will clash.
EASY ACCESS Everything you

need for your network can be found
by clicking this icon, from new
connections to the status of your
current connection.
Step-by-step Get hooked up to Wi-Fi
1 Plug it in
This wont be applicable if you have a relatively recent laptop,

but you may need to plug in a wireless dongle before youre able to
pick up a Wi-Fi signal. Insert it into a USB port and Windows
automatically sets it up. Wait for the appropriate message to pop up
before continuing.
2 Check the status
All being well, youll have a small icon similar to a set of steps in
your Taskbar at the very bottom-right of the screen. Hover your
mouse over this and youll see the current status of your wireless
connection. If youre currently disconnected, it has a yellow flash over
the top of it, too.
WorldMags.net
3 Whats around?
Left-click the stepped icon and youll see all the networks in the
area. These might include those owned by your neighbours, because
Wi-Fi signals readily travel through walls. You can check the signal
strength and various other information about each network by
hovering the mouse pointer over them.
4 Pick your network
You need the log-in details of your desired network its name,
otherwise known as the SSID, and its password before you can
connect to it. Thats not something we can help you with, because its
different for everyone. Click on the network name you want to
connect to, then click the Connect button.
Explore
Essential how-to guides
WorldMags.net
Transfer all your old files

to a new computer
Create the perfect desktop

environment for your PC
Save heaps of time when moving files from an old

computer to a new one just use Windows Easy
Transfer. Its simple, and well show you how to get
your new machine ready to use in minutes.
Bored of the wallpapers and screensavers that

came with your computer? We are going to show
you how you can tweak the Windows theme until
youve got it precisely to your liking.
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FIND THE SOLUTION! Dream themes

You can save as many different themes as you like try a family
photos one, or one based around your favourite artist.
FIND THE SOLUTION! Some installation required

Using Easy Transfer copies all your old program settings to your
new computer, but you still need to install the old programs.
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
PC?
3 Which
First of all, youre going to transfer files over from your old
eople often make life more

difficult for themselves than
they need to. They buy a new
computer, and then spend hours
needlessly copying files across from
their old PC, folder by folder, tweaking
the desktop so that it looks the same as
it used to, and adding all their shortcuts
to the menus.
Sometimes, youve just got to step in
and lend a hand, and weve
recommended to many a friend that
they do the job with Windows Easy
Transfer instead. It helps to migrate files
and settings, such as photos, contacts
or favourites, from one PC to a new one
so everything is ready to use just like
before. Windows Easy Transfer is
pre-installed in Windows 7 and 8. If
youve got Windows Vista or Windows
XP, though, dont worry because you
can download and install it for free.
computer, so you need to select This is my old computer from the

two options that appear. Windows now takes a good look through
your hard drive to see what sort of items you can transfer to your new
Windows computer.
1 Find it
Windows Aero
The fantastic look of
Windows Vista and
Windows 7. The
transparent windows
look great and are
handy for seeing
whats behind them.
what to transfer
4 Select
If youre happy with everything Windows has found on your
computer to transfer, click on Next. Windows Easy Transfer tells you
how big the files youre transferring are in the bottom right-hand
side, so check theres enough space on your external drive if thats
how youre going to transfer them.
Works with
OS
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Create a backup right now
5 Select less
If youd like to customise which files or settings Windows

transfers, click on Customize underneath your computers name, and
select or deselect folders youd like to copy. To delve even deeper and
further customise what you transfer, click on Customize > Advanced,
select more folders and then click Save.
Step-by-step 7UDQVIHUGDWDIURPRQH3&WRDQRWKHU
To start transferring files from one Windows 7 computer to

another, type Windows Easy Transfer into Start Search and hit
[Return] to open it. The process for Windows 8 is almost identical. If
youre transferring from a Windows Vista or Windows XP computer,
you need to download and install it from http://tinyurl.com/n8ge3b.
Jargon buster!
Bored of the wallpapers and screensaver that came with your computer? Ill show
you how to tweak your Windows theme until its just the way you want it.
6DYHKHDSVRIWLPHZKHQPRYLQJOHVIURPDQROGFRPSXWHUWRDQHZ
RQHMXVWXVH:LQGRZV(DV\7UDQVIHU,WVHDV\DQGZHOOVKRZ\RXKRZ
OS
L
Create the
perfect desktop
Transfer files to
your new computer
Works with
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/HKW
2 Choose how to transfer
Once youve opened Windows Easy Transfer, click on the Next

button in the box that opens. The following screen asks you how you
want to transfer items to your new PC. If youve got an Easy Transfer
cable, choose this option if not, opt to use an external hard disk or
USB flash drive, or transfer via a network.
7 Transfer it
Once the file is saved, click Next, then Next again, then Close.
Now turn on your new PC, plug in the external hard drive you copied
the Windows Easy Transfer file to, browse to it and double-click it.
When prompted, enter the password and on the next screen click
Transfer. Your old items are transferred over.
6 Protect and save
All your files and settings are saved in one file, which you can
password-protect. This prevents anyone tampering with it before its
moved. Next choose where to save the file we saved it to a portable
external drive. Saving can take a while depending on how big the file
is, so do something else while you wait.
f youre still staring at

that peaceful Windows 7
goldsh, chances are you
think its time for a change on
your computer. Its incredibly easy
to replace your desktop wallpaper
with a favourite family photo or
lm poster, and you can even set
the computer to cycle through a
selection of your best shots if you
cant make
up your mind which one you
want. Personalising your
computer neednt stop there,
though. With Windows desktop
themes, you can tweak
every aspect of your computers
appearance, from the screensaver
to the exact amount of
transparency in your windows
borders. Its really simple to
create the computer
appearance of your dreams
just pick your pictures and follow
the steps below.
Right-click on your desktop and select Personalize to open

the applet. If youve previously made changes to your theme,
youll see these at the top under My Themes. To start from scratch
with todays changes, select one of the pre-installed Windows
themes underneath, and start to tweak.
your shots
4 Shuffle
If youve selected more than one picture, you
wallpaper, select it now and click Save changes.

However, you can also select more than one image
using the [Shift] or [Ctrl] keys, which creates a
slideshow on your desktop, cycling through your
favourite shots.
can adjust the drop-down menu at the bottom of

the screen, to choose how long each image remains
on your desktop. You can also tick the box next to
this menu to shuffle your images, showing them in
a random order. Once done, click Save changes.
Windows Live
Photo Gallery
A free program
from Microsoft
that enables you to
organise, edit and
share photos. Its on
on your free disc.
6 Screen select
To pick a screensaver,
click the link at the bottom,
then select a screensaver
from the list. Some are
just repeating moving
images, such as Ribbons,
but others, such as 3D
text, can be customised
by clicking on Settings.
Click Windows Live Photo
Gallery, then click Settings
to choose which photos to
cycle through you can
choose specific folders, tags
or ratings, plus speed and
whether the images are
shuffled. Specify how long
you want your PC
to wait before activating
the screensaver.
5 The perfect mix
Click on Window color to choose the colour

of window borders, as well as the Start menu and
Taskbar. Pick from the colours available, or click
Show color mixer to create a shade. You can also
enable the transparent borders that give Windows
Aero its stylish look (but can slow down your PC).
Step-by-step Personalise your desktop
1 Get personal
8 Moving stuff
You now have a new PC that looks like your old one, and all
your files have been transferred to the hard drive, so theres little left
to do except install old programs. Click See a list of programs you
might want to install for a report of which apps you should install,
based on what you were using on your old computer. Q
or less
3 More
If you just want one main image to be your
2 Picture perfect
Select the theme you want to personalise, then click on

Desktop Background. Youll see a selection of images probably
the standard Windows backgrounds. To make your wallpaper
more personal, click on the drop-down menu by Picture location
and select Pictures Library. You now see all your own images.
7 Hear the noise
One final change you may want to make is to your themes

sounds though we recommend turning them off. It can be fun
to choose a different noise for everything your computer does,
but it gets annoying. Click on Sounds, and you can select any
computer event, then choose a sound file to go with it. Click OK.
8 The personal touch
Your theme should now be much more to your tastes,

showcasing your favourite photos, colours and images. For more
ideas, click Get more themes online in My Themes for a huge
range of pre-packaged themes, including ones created around
recent films, that can all be tweaked to your tastes. Q
Back up your files in case

the worst happens
Manage all your emails

using Windows Mail
Would you want to lose everything on your

computer if your drive went kaput? Of course you
wouldnt, so it pays to create a backup of your PC
in case anything bad happens. We show you how.
Import your webmail into Windows Mail and you

will be able to access all of your emails straight
from your computer no more messing about
with multiple email accounts. What a time-saver!
(Q
L
L
FIND THE SOLUTION! Save hard drive space

Go to the Backup and Restore Center, click Manage space >
View backups and delete all but the most recent backup.
(Q
L
L
/HKW
Jargon buster!
/HKW
Back up your files in case

the worst happens
Network
Two or more PCs
linked together using
Ethernet cables or a
wireless connection
so they can
communicate with
each other and share
les, printers and an
internet connection.
Access webmail
through Windows Mail
Would you want to lose everything if your computer went kaput? Of course not,
so it pays to create a backup of your PC heres how to do it
Works with
OS
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Create a backup right now
hen you buy a new PC

or build your own, you
should make it a priority
to back everything up. If you dont
and something goes wrong, you
could lose everything on it.
Creating a backup doesnt
require any specialist knowledge,
and takes the same amount of
time as it does to watch an
episode of Coronation Street. The
initial backup takes a little while
to complete, but subsequent
backups dont take anywhere near
as long, because youre only
making copies of les youve
recently changed or added.
To make a backup, you need
something to save your les on.
Most people use an external
hard drive because theyre
cheap, have a very large
storage capacity, and you can
plug them in with a USB cable
and use them immediately.
1 Choose a drive
4 Pick and choose
If you only want to select a few folders to back

up, rather than most of whats on your PC, select the
Let me choose option from the list. This also gives
you the opportunity to change when you perform a
backup. Click on Next and select the folders that
you would like to include in your backup.
OS
By default, backups
are made once a week, but
if you use your PC a lot, it
might be a good idea to
increase the frequency of
backups. On the other
hand, if you dont use your
PC much perhaps only a
few times a week you can
reduce how often you
perform a backup. The best
time to make a backup is
when youre not likely to be
using your computer, such
as overnight or when youre
at work. This is especially
true if you have a lot of
files to back up. Use the
drop-down menus to
change the schedule. Click
on OK and your computer
begins making a backup.
5 Make an image
Keep the Include a system image of drives

tick box checked if you want to be able to easily
restore your PC if something goes wrong, then click
Next and confirm that youre backing up the right
folders. If you want to change how often you back
up your PC, click on Change schedule.
2 Different location
If you have more than one PC, you might prefer to back up
to a network drive. The benefit of this is that all the PCs on your
network can access it, so you dont need an external hard drive
for each one. To save files to a network drive, click on Save on a
network. Enter the location of the network (browse for it on your
PC), then enter the username and password.
7 Resurrect your PC
If something goes wrong and you want to restore your PC

using your backup, go to the Backup and Restore Center and click
on Restore my files. If theres a serious problem and you cant
even access Windows, press [F8] on your keyboard before the
Windows logo shows during startup, insert your Windows 7 CD
and choose Repair your computer.
8 Breathe a sigh of relief
Import your webmail account into Windows Mail and access all your emails
straight from your PC no more messing with multiple mail accounts.
Works with
6 Change schedule
Step-by-step Create a backup right now
To start backing up files from your PC, plug in your external

hard drive and click Start > Control Panel > System and security >
Backup and restore. Now click on Set up backup and select your
external hard drive from the list of possible destinations. Before
you proceed, make sure that the external hard drive is bigger than
the internal drive youre backing up.
3 Back up everything
Select what you want to back up. The easy

option is Let Windows choose. This backs up most
of your files and folders, except ones that arent
needed, or cant be backed up. It also creates a
system image, like a mirror of your PC, so if theres
a problem with your PC, you can easily restore it.
USB
Short for Universal
Serial Bus, USB is the
de facto standard for
connecting things to
your PC.
You should now be feeling much more confident, because

your PC is a lot safer. Youve created a backup of your PC on an
external hard drive or network drive, and you can restore it to its
old settings if anything gets wiped accidentally. You can even get
everything back if you have a more serious problem that prevents
you loading Windows. Q
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
5 Import your Windows Hotmail address book
Step-by-step Import your webmail accounts into Windows Mail
1 Download and install Windows Mail
Windows Mail is a free Microsoft email program. Download

it from http://download.live.com/wlmail. Click Download and
when the File Download Security Warning box opens, click Run.
Follow the instructions and click Install. For a faster install, make
sure only Windows Mail is checked.
3 Add your webmail account
After clicking Add email account youll be taken through

a wizard that can help you add and configure your webmail
account in Windows Mail. Enter in your email address and the
password you use to log into your webmail account into the
relevant text boxes.
ebmail accounts can be very

useful for allowing access to
your emails away from
home. With them youre able to read
and send emails from anywhere in
the world all you need to do is log
on to the webmail services website
to view your inbox. This is useful
when youre travelling, but when you
are at home you can also import your
webmail account into Windows Mail,
enabling you to use all of the great
features of Windows Mail with your
webmail account.
You can get visual indications
when you receive new emails
something you cant get with normal
webmail accounts. Even better, if
you have a number of webmail
accounts, you can access them all
straight away without having to log
on to each website. Just enter your
password once, and get all your
emails in one place.
2 Run Windows Mail
Recently installed programs are highlighted in your Start

menu. Click Start and type mail into the search box. When you
run Windows Mail for the first time, you are asked to add an email
account. If youre not asked for one, click Add email account
under Quick Views.
WorldMags.net
May 2014 |
You can also import your address book from your webmail,
so you can quickly send emails to friends and families. If your
webmail is Hotmail, all you need to do is click Sign in to access
your contacts. When you create a new email, you can select your
contacts from a list.
7 Send emails from your accounts
You can start writing emails by clicking New. Click the

address book icon to add your contacts, or type the recipients
name into the To field. You can add pictures and stationery to
your emails and you can select which webmail account you send
the email from if you have added more than one.
4 View your emails
Once you have added all the information and clicked Next,
your emails are downloaded into Windows Mail. Depending on
how many you have, this might take a while. Once completed you
can view your emails, place them in folders, designate them as
junk mail or add the sender to your contacts list.
6 Import a different address book
To import an address book from a different webmail, view

your contacts on your webmails site and click Tools > Export.
Save as a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file, then in Windows Mail
click Contacts and press [Alt]+[M]. Select Import > Commaseparated values (CSV). Select the file you downloaded.
8 Youre all done!
There you have it. Youve imported your webmail account

into Windows Mail. You can send and receive emails as before
but with the added benefit of using Windows Mails advanced
tools to sort and store your emails. And dont worry your emails
are still online for you to access anywhere. Q
Help & Advice |
43
WorldMags.net
Discover practical and creative ways

Keep your magazines
looking neat and tidy!
Kindle: Unlock the

full potential
Organise a years
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Help & Advice with
this stylish binder. No
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June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
43
,
WorldMags.net
/HKW
NEXT
ISSUE
How to bu
Be part of the
world of Steam
ild
online shopan
<L3H'V\
Steam offers a huge catalogue of

PC games that you can download
and play across multiple devices.
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
hour
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
GAMES
If youre after
something specic,
click the Games
tab to browse the
extensive game
library by genre.
ome consoles are still

getting to grips with the
possibilities oered by
digital downloads, yet its funny
to think that Steam has been
doing this for over 10 years on PC.
In its infancy, Valves service was
a gloried multiplayer client for
Counter-Strike. Now, its Steam
platform is the beating heart of PC
gaming, providing access to over
2,000 easily-downloadable games,
including AAA blockbusters and
indie titles, at very reasonable prices.
Dig a little deeper and youll
nd that Steam is a whole lot more
than just a download service. Its an
overarching platform that hosts a
community of millions, giving them
the tools to interact inside and
outside of games, and even build
content for open-source projects.
With a truckload of purpose-built
Steam Machines due this year, now
is a great time to get on board.
FEATURED ITEMS
Steams carousel of
featured items is really
well curated, with a
great mix of brand
new games, classics
and other software.
3(7(6%673
/H6HDK
ORLUZD
ZQGORDJH
HDI\HED
Step-by-step Get acquainted with Steam
the installer
1 Run
Download the installer from www.steampowered.com
and run the file. Steam is a small download and the process will
only take a few seconds, but make sure you install it on a drive
with plenty of space youll want to keep all your games together
with Steam and the downloads can be huge. Once Steam is
installed youll have Start menu and Taskbar shortcuts.
44
up your account
2 Set
Steam will prompt you to create a new account. If youve
played Portal 2 on PS3, you can log in to Steam using your
Playstation Network account. If not, follow the prompts and youll
be asked to pick a username. This needs to be unique, but its only
your account name. Your Steam profile name is the one thats
visible within the Steam community and can be changed later.
WorldMags.net
Explore
Be part of the world of Steam
WorldMags.net
Jargon buster!
SEARCH
If Steam doesnt
have what youre
after, click on the
Search tab and itll
suggest possible
alternatives.
SPOTLIGHT
This is home to
Steams best deals
every week, often
featuring big name
titles for discounts of
up to 75 per cent.
Steamguard
Steams in-built
account protection.
When you log in
from a new device
Steamguard will
email you a code to
protect your account
from hackers.
PayPal
A secure payment
system that enables
users to transfer
money safely over
the internet.
Stream
Refers to a
continuous chain of
data, usually used for
sending video and
audio on the y.
TODAYS DEAL
Each day you sign
in, youll nd a new
game on oer. It
could be anything,
from an AAA title to
a tiny indie game.
COMMUNITY
ACTIVITY
This panel tells you
how many players are
active on Steam right
now, with a little
graph of activity for
the last 48 hours.
your game library

3 Build
Purchase something from the Steam store and it will be
added to your library, where you can download and install the
game. Bear in mind that you have to download all the game files,
so it might be a few hours before you can start playing. You can
add older non-Steam games by hitting the Add a game button
in the bottom left corner, and then selecting the games exe file.
up your games
4 Back
You can back up anything in Steam by going to Steam >
Back up and restore games and selecting Back up currently
installed games. Tick the ones you want to back up and choose
where you want them to go. Steam compresses the files, which is
perfect for anyone trying to squeeze their backups onto a set of
discs. Youll never lose that XCOM save game again.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
45
WorldMags.net
and share alike

5 Share
Steam Family Library Sharing allows family and friends to
play each others games while retaining their own achievements.
Go to Steam > Settings and enable Steamguard in the Account
tab. Then go to Steam > Settings > Family to edit which users
and devices can access your games. Family Library Sharing can
be enabled for up to 10 devices and as many as five accounts.
the community
6 Join
Click on the Community tab to see masses of usergenerated content. The discussion forums are home to neverending conversations about practically everything, from specific
games to life problems. Below the forums youll find Steam
Workshop, which acts as a hub for player-created games content,
including mods for popular games such as Team Fortress 2.
to market
7 Go
Steam Community Market is an auction house that lets you
with friends
8 Play
Hit the Add a Friend button to find people you know, or
buy and sell in-game items with real cash. To start spending, youll
have to pay money into your Steam Wallet, which acts as a sort
of PayPal to Steam Community Markets eBay. Youre then free to
trade for things such as weapons and trading cards. You can even
earn items in-game and sell them in the Market to make real cash.
have played with recently. When you add friends, you can see
when theyre online, what theyre playing and their latest
achievements and screenshots. Hit [Shift]+[Tab] while youre
in a game to bring up Steam Overlay, which lets you chat with
friends, take and upload screenshots or launch a web browser.
Picture Mode
9 Big
Big Picture Mode is a console-style interface designed to
bring Steam to the living room. Connect your PC to your TV via an
HDMI cable and you should be good to go. You can also use a VGA
or DVI cable to transmit the image, but youll need good audio
cables as well. There are a number of bespoke Steam Machines
coming later this year, but a normal PC will work fine for now.
46
stream
10 Steam
If you have a powerful PC, you may soon be able to stream
games from it to a mobile device. Your PC handles all the heavy
processing and streams the game via your local network, where
your inputs are picked up, decoded and beamed back. Its only in
the beta stage, but initial testing has been very successful. Head
to the Steam Community Home Streaming group to sign up! Q
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IF YOU MAKE IT,

YOU CAN SELL IT!
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/HKW
Expand your desktop

with two monitors
<L0+QVV\
Having a dual monitor setup gives you lots of

extra room. Thanks to some great free applications,
you can get the most out of multiple screens.
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
25
minutes
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
hen I use two monitors at home, I nd the

extra space I get invaluable. I can use one
monitor for researching, leaving the other
free for Microsoft Oce and my email. The price
of at-screen monitors continues to fall, and most
new PCs come with graphics cards that are able

to support multiple monitors, so adding a second
screen is now aordable and easy. Before you buy
a second monitor, though, do make sure your
graphics card can support dual screens.
Step-by-step Expand your desktop
up Windows
1 Set
Start by connecting up your second monitor, then turn on
your computer. Once Windows has finished loading, right-click
on your desktop. In Windows 7 and Windows Vista click Screen
resolution. In Windows XP go to Properties and then select the
Settings tab. If Windows hasnt found the second monitor by
itself, click the Detect option to help Windows locate it.
48
the display
2 Extend
Now click on the second monitor icon and change the
resolution. Click the Multiple displays drop-down list and select
Extend these displays to share the desktop between both
screens. Click the Apply button and youll notice that when you
move your mouse to the side of one monitor, the pointer will
travel off the edge and appear on the next one.
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Explore
Expand your desktop
WorldMags.net
FIND THE SOLUTION! Create a dual-screen wallpaper

Open two side-by-side shots in Windows Photo Gallery. Select
both and go to Make > Create panoramic photo.
Jargon buster!
Graphics card
The part of your
PC that deals with
displaying images.
To use two monitors
you need a card
powerful enough
to support both
displays, as well as
two outputs to
connect them to.
your monitors
3 Rearrange
Windows assumes that your second monitor
more functionality
4 Get
DisplayFusion is a great tool that gives you
is positioned to the right of your original, and will

set things up accordingly. If the extra monitor is on
the left, you might want to swap the icons over in
the Screen Resolution window. Just click and drag
the monitor icons to rearrange them.
more control over your dual monitor setup. It

enables you to display different wallpapers on each
monitor, download wallpapers straight from Flickr
and much more. You can install it from your free
disc, or from www.displayfusion.com.
Wallpaper
Images that you can
use to personalise
Windows, shown in
the background of
your desktop.
a second
6 Get
taskbar
Windows only displays your
Taskbar on one monitor
the one youve designated
as your main display in the
Screen Resolution window.
If you fancy having full
control from both screens,
though, you can get around
this easily with some handy
third-party software.
MultiMonitor TaskBar adds
a second Taskbar to your
extra monitor. You can
install this from your free
disc or download it from
http://bit.ly/TGURI6.
your wallpaper
5 Stretch
Use DisplayFusion to display one wallpaper
across the two monitors. Select Span an image
across all monitors, then click Load from > My
Computer. Check out http://bit.ly/XmaCtG and
www.dualmonitorbackgrounds.com for some great
wallpapers designed for the purpose.
windows in a few clicks

7 Organise
Having more than one monitor on your desk means that
you have lots more space for extra windows, which makes it
much easier to work in several programs at once. Windows can
automatically arrange these windows so that they are all neatly
displayed over both monitors. To do this, simply right-click the
Taskbar and select Show windows stacked.
your larger workspace

8 Enjoy
Congratulations! Youve now set up your Windows desktop
to get the most out of having dual monitors. Youll have plenty
of extra space to work on several tasks simultaneously while
looking out over stunning panoramas with specially designed
wallpaper. By combining the Windows tools with additional
software, its easy to transform your desktop. Q
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June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
49
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/HKW
Get the perfect

photo free!
<L-H6WHV\
Im amazed at how PhotoFuse

can help you merge the best bits
from shots to make a perfect pic.
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
10
minutes
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
igital photography has

solved many picture
problems and helped us
take better photos than ever before.
We can store thousands of photos,
edit out red-eye and even improve
colour and composition, but until
now, weve never been able to sort
out those people who cant keep still
during a group shot.
Weve all been there. When
everyone else is ready theyre looking
the wrong way. Try again, and
someones got their eyes closed. But
help is here from a new feature in
Windows Live Photo Gallery called
PhotoFuse, which lets you merge
group shots together so you can get
everyones best side, every time.
The best part about PhotoFuse
is that its totally free, so you dont
have to splash out hundreds of
pounds on expensive photo editing
software. It can be downloaded with
Windows Live Essentials.
EDIT
You can make
adjustments to any
photo, including
straightening, cropping,
touch ups, brightening
and adding eects such
as black and white or
sepia for a completely
dierent look. Just click
the Edit tab for all
the options.
PHOTOFUSE
Once you have selected
all the photos you want to
fuse, click the PhotoFuse
button on the ribbon
toolbar. It will then
analyse the shots you
have selected to check
theyre compatible.
Step-by-step Create fantastic shots with PhotoFuse
1 Install
To use PhotoFuse you will need to have Windows Live Photo
Gallery installed on your computer. To download it, simply open
your web browser and go to http://windows.microsoft.com/
en-gb/windows-live/essentials, click on Download now and run
the exe file.
50
package
2 Whole
When you run the installer, you will be given the option
to install the whole of the Windows Live suite, which is packed
with amazing programs, rather than just Windows Live Photo
Gallery. To do this, simply click on Install all of Windows Live
Essentials when you are prompted.
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Explore
Get the perfect photo
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Jargon buster!
TAG
Windows Live Photo Gallery lets you
tag people in your photos as
Facebook friends or your Windows
Live contacts, which helps you easily
nd pictures of your mates in the
future. It should automatically detect
faces, which will be listed in the
right-hand panel.
Library
Introduced in
Windows 7, Libraries
are a single view of
your les even when
those les are stored
in dierent locations.
There are four
Documents, Music,
Pictures and Videos.
Ribbon
A strip of buttons
and commands at
the top of the screen
in some Oce
programs. It replaces
the menu in previous
versions, and is
designed to simplify
the process of
nding options.
SELECT
To choose images to use in
PhotoFuse, you just need
to select them. Hover your
mouse over the picture,
and check the box when
it appears. If you want
to deselect one, just
uncheck the box.
SAME ANGLE
For PhotoFuse to work
its magic, you need to
have your photos taken
at the same angle. Then
you can start mixing the
best elements of them
to create a super-photo.
your photos
3 Find
When you open up Windows Live Photo Gallery, it will find
all your photographs from your Pictures library. You can then
point it at any files it hasnt found by going into the main menu
and clicking on Include folder. You will then be able to choose
the location of your photos manually.
4 Select
To create a PhotoFuse, you need to choose two or more
photos which have the same subject, angle and lighting. Once
you spot a couple of similar photos, you can start to fuse the best
elements of each together. To do this, hover the mouse over the
image and tick the box that appears in the top left corner.
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June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
51
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it
5 Fuse
Once you have selected two or more photos to fuse
together, go to Create on the ribbon bar and then choose
PhotoFuse. Windows Live Photo Gallery will then attempt to
create a fuse of the two. If the angle is too drastically different
for it to work with, then it will reject the photos.
and choose
7 Drag
Once youve accepted the first change, you can fuse other
parts of the photo too. If theres an area youre not happy with,
such as someone not smiling or an awkward hand position,
simply drag a box over the offending area, and it will be replaced
by more aesthetically pleasing version from your other shot.
faces
6 Changing
When the photographs are fused for the first time, you will
be presented with a single image. Windows Live Photo Gallery will
then look at the faces, and look for drastic differences which can
be improved. It will give you a range of different options, and you
choose the face that youd like to keep.
8 Rewind
Some photo changes will work seamlessly, but in
complicated places you may find obvious lines where the two
photos have been joined. You can go back at any time by pressing
[Ctrl]+[Z] on your keyboard, which will revert your picture to its
state immediately before your last action.
it
9 Keep
Once youre happy with your changes, you need to save
love
10 Group
Now you have a photo that looks the best it can be! And
the image. Click on the Save icon on the toolbar, which is

represented by the floppy disk. As youre creating a brand new
image, you need to give it a new name, as Windows Live Photo
Gallery wont overwrite original images.
once youre finished, you can take advantage of the other great
options in Windows Live Photo Gallery, such as the excellent
retouching, straightening and colour tools, to make your shots
as perfect as your memories. Q
52
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/HKW
Mine for internet

currency
<L$O'[V\
Bitcoins are out of our reach these days,

but Litecoins are still worth digging up.
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
45
minutes
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
54
ack in
November
2013,
Bitcoins hit an
all-time high. Their
value more than
quadrupled in the
space of a month,
eventually hitting
over $1,000 per coin.
Thats per virtual
coin. Thats a lot of
money. Thats an
incredible amount,
in fact, for a
currency with no
guarantee of a
future. While the
value has dropped
back down since
then and is nestled
at around $620 at
the time of
writing, Bitcoins
are going to be
around for a while yet.
Its not about perceived value it is
all about potential.
There is some bad news that
accompanies the explosion of
interest in the currency, though.
Unfortunately, it is no longer feasible
to mine Bitcoins using your PC.
No matter how good your graphics
hardware is, itll cost you more in
electricity than youll ever be able
to make through mining.
To put some gures behind this,
in summer 2013, a Radeon HD 7990
would manage a Bitcoin a month
if left running almost constantly. The
same card at todays diculties
would take closer to ve years to get
you that single Bitcoin, and thats
assuming that the diculty doesnt
increase which it will. ASIC mining
has pushed GPUs out of the picture.
There is some good news though,
in that there is an alternative to
Bitcoin, called Litecoin, which is still
easy enough to mine. The market for
Litecoins is linked to Bitcoins, and
16%673
<FHHLL
YHI\ULFFU
HUQI\FUD
KWL68
is pretty buoyant too. A single

Litecoin may only be worth around
$20, but you can expect to mine
a single Litecoin in a couple of nights
from the same Radeon HD 7990
graphics card. Were not suggesting
you need access to a dual-GPU card
to mine Litecoins by the way any
modern GPU is more than capable of
mining Litecoins at a reasonable rate.
As with Bitcoin mining, there is
little point in mining all by yourself
you want to work as part of a larger
team to smooth out anomalies and
share the prot. This way you can be
sure that youre not duplicating other
machines as well. Its the sensible
thing to do, and there are plenty
of pools that you can pick from.
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Mine for internet currency
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Step-by-step Put your computer to work mining for Litecoins
the coin-face
1 At
CGMiner is the tool of choice for pretty much every mining
currency on every hardware platform, and is the tool of choice for
Litecoin as well. The latest builds are designed with FPGA and
ASIC mining in mind, so some old switches for mining Litecoins
no longer work. Youll need an older version 2.11.4 works, and
can be downloaded from http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer.
together
3 Working
Head to www.wemineltc.com and sign up for an account.
it
2 Coining
Download cgminer-2.11.4-windows.zip and unzip it to your
desktop. You can run CGMiner straight away, entering the values
you need as you go. This isnt the easiest interface; check whether
your pool provides a batch file that does the work for you. Thats
one of the benefits of signing up to WeMineLTC it gives you the
option of downloading a specific batch file for your account.
digging
4 Start
You now have everything you need to start mining
Youll need to register a username and password, which you

should then use to log in. Once done, click My Workers on the My
Account menu to go to the worker accounts page. This is where
you create your miners the accounts that do the work. Click the
Generate.bat link and download it to your CGMiner directory.
Litecoins. Launch the batch file youve just downloaded and it will
start CGMiner with the correct arguments. All being well you
should see your hashrate start to climb, with a similar (if not quite
the same) hashrate updated on your pools website. If you have
issues, try restarting and launching the batch file as an admin.
hacking
5 Optimal
Youd be forgiven for thinking that there isnt a lot you can
out
6 Cashing
The last thing youll want to do is set up how you get your
do with CGMiner once its running the interface certainly looks

basic. However, it packs a surprising amount of power, enabling
you to change everything from your GPUs operating frequency to
the all-important Intensity (press [G] then [I] to change this value).
You can also restart your GPUs if youre having problems.
Litecoins out of your account. The best way to do this is to set

up an automatic transfer to your Litecoin wallet every time you
earn five Litecoins. If youre looking for a wallet, download one for
your PC from https://litecoin.org, create an address and enter it
under your payment address under My Account on your pool. Q
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June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
55
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/HKW
Encrypt
files for free
<L&LVL+V\
Data encryption neednt be expensive.

%LW/RFNHUFDQPDNH\RXUOHVPRUH
VHFXUHDQGFRVWVQRWKLQJDWDOO
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
15
minutes
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
ecurity matters, and many

of us have vital info on our
PCs that we dont want to
fall into the wrong hands. Thankfully,
if you own the Ultimate version of
Windows Vista or Windows 7, or the
Pro version of Windows 8, then you
can protect the data on your PC with
Microsofts BitLocker tool.
BitLocker Drive Encryption
protects your documents by adding
a password that secures your data
using AES-128 encryption a high
standard in digital cryptography
thats almost impossible to crack.
BitLocker also uses the Trusted
Platform Module (TPM), a hardware
component installed in many newer
systems sold today. This technology
protects the keys used to encrypt
the computers operating system
volume (usually the C drive), which
enables BitLocker to secure your
precious data from even the most
hardened of hackers.
HARD DRIVES
The standard BitLocker
Drive Encryption tool
operates on your internal
or external hard disks.
Each drive is listed here,
along with its drive letter
and whether BitLocker is
currently activated or not.
TPM ADMINISTRATION
This link takes you to the Trusted
Platform Module Administration
window, where you can customise
the TPM policies on your machine.
Thankfully, theres a Help link from
this area to assist with any queries.
Step-by-step Master BitLocker Drive Encryption
BitLocker
1 Launch
There are two ways to get started: you can either type the
drive to encrypt
2 Choose
Click the BitLocker Drive Encryption link in the Control
word BitLocker into the Windows Vista or Windows 7 Ultimate

search bar, or click Start, followed by Control Panel > Security >
BitLocker Drive Encryption. Youll also notice that there are two
shortcuts under the Control Panel link for BitLocker. These provide
easy access if you want to encrypt a drive or manage encryption.
Panel and youll be shown a new window. Choose the drive

you wish to encrypt (this will usually be C), then click Turn on
BitLocker. Youll be presented with a message asking you to
initialise TPM Security Hardware; simply follow the prompts to
do so. If this fails, theres a workaround see step seven.
56
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Encrypt your files for free
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Jargon buster!
BITLOCKER PROGRAM
Alongside your hard drives or
USB drives is a link to start the
BitLocker Drive Encryption
tool. Once BitLocker is
activated, you can manage
your encryption from here.
PORTABLE DRIVES
Underneath your hard drives
are USB ash drives, if any are
connected to your PC. This is
BitLocker To Go. A drive letter
and BitLocker status are also
displayed here.
DISK MANAGEMENT
This launches a new
window for the full
Disk Management tool
in Windows, so you
can resize or reformat
partitions if required.
a password
3 Create
Youll now be prompted to create a password, which
youll need to access your drive once its been encrypted. There
are two options typing a direct password or using a smart card.
The latter means you need to insert a storage card (such as an
SD card) and unlock it with a PIN. You can also opt to unlock the
drive automatically if youre logged in.
AES-128
In cryptography,
the Advanced
Encryption Standard
is a scrambled
key encryption
adopted by the US
government; 128
is the standard size
of an AES block of
encryption keys.
Policy Editor
The Local or Group
Policy Editor in
Windows controls
certain functions
relating to a user.
Changes are often
required within it to
allow features to be
enabled or disabled.
TPM
The Trusted Platform
Module is a
computing standard
for processing
encrypted keys
hence its required
for using BitLocker.
recovery key
4 Save
On the next screen you need to decide where to store
your recovery key, which youll need in order to access your
encrypted drive if you forget your password or lose your smart
card. Its important that you keep this safe you can print it out,
store it as a text file on your computer, or save it directly to a USB
flash drive. Make your selection and click Next.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
57
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encryption
5 Begin
When youre ready to begin encrypting your drive, hit the
a drive
6 Unlock
From now on, when you want to access the encrypted drive,
Start button to initialise the encryption process. This process

might take quite a while, depending on the size of your hard
drive, its speed and how much data is on there. Typically,
BitLocker will take at least 20 minutes to fully encrypt your files,
so leave it running while you make a cup of tea.
you first need to type in the password to unlock it. Youll notice
that the drives icon has changed to show that its encrypted with
BitLocker. A gold padlock icon indicates that the drive is protected
and cant be accessed, and a grey lock is displayed after you have
unlocked it with your password.
without TMP
7 Use
If you see an error message informing you that theres
no TPM, click Start and type gpedit.msc into the Search box.
Under Local Computer Policy go to Computer configuration >
Administrative templates > Windows components > BitLocker
Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives and double-click
Require additional authentication at startup.
a portable drive
9 Encrypt
If youre using Windows 7 Ultimate, in addition to the full
desktop version of the program, you also have BitLocker To Go for
encrypting USB drives. To give it a try, plug a USB drive into your
PC and follow the same process you used to launch BitLocker, but
choose your USB drive from the menu instead. Youll be prompted
to choose a portable password or the smart card method.
58
BitLocker
8 Allow
Enable the feature and check the box next to Allow
BitLocker without a compatible TPM, then click Apply > OK
to confirm your choice and close the Local Group Policy Editor.
You can now Go back to the hard drive you want to encrypt and
turn on the BitLocker feature. Youll need to restart your computer
to prepare the disk for encryption.
your security
10 Check
Congratulations! Youve made the data on your PC or
portable USB drive much more secure. When you add new files to
a drive that is encrypted with BitLocker, it encrypts them for you
automatically, so once youve followed this tutorial and secured
your drive, all your work will be encrypted by default, and nobody
will be able to access it without your password. Q
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/HKW
Clean out
your computer
<L6P$ODVV\
If your PC is a bit sluggish, use my

guide to reclaim performance
without any drastic changes.
At a glance
SKILL LEVEL
Anyone can do it
Straightforward
Tricky in parts
TIME TAKEN
30
minutes
SUITABLE FOR
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
hen your PC starts to run

sluggishly, it can be really
frustrating. Fortunately,
there are plenty of ways that you can
solve the problem. But with so many
apps out there oering to clean your
Registry, or remove unwanted
programs, it can be tricky to nd the
correct tool for the job. This is why
many software companies make
all-in-one programs that tackle
the main areas that cause poor
computer performance.
One of the best in this crop of
system utilities is AppCleaner from
UpdateStar. Like most all-in-one
cleaners, you will nd features such
as Registry cleaning, hard disk
cleaning and temporary le removal,
but AppCleaner also includes
cleaning of third party software.
This is a excellent addition that makes
the software stand out that little bit
more from the crowd. Here, Ill show
you exactly how to use it.
TABS
These tabs are all the
possible types of les
that can be deleted, and
are organised into four
main areas: Apps,
Browsers, Registry
and Windows.
LISTS
Under each tab you will
nd a list of all the les
that can be cleaned.
Tick or un-tick the
boxes to analyse and
delete the les, or not.
Step-by-step Zap those unwanted apps
1 Install
First of all you will need to install the software from your
free disc. Navigate to the Resources section on the disc and select
AppCleaner. Click on the Install Now button to get the
installation started. As this is a free program, no registration will
be needed so you can get straight on with using the software.
60
apps
2 Analyse
The first time that the program runs it goes straight to
cleaning your apps. You can either choose to select each
application individually or select all of them at once. If, like me,
you have a fair few programs installed on your system then
analysing all of them may take quite a lot of time.
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Clean out your computer
WorldMags.net
MODULES
Here you will nd the main
components. Under the
Tools tab is the option to
uninstall unwanted programs
and remove apps from
Windows startup.
Jargon buster!
Browser
This refers to your
web browser, which
could be Firefox,
Google Chrome or
Internet Explorer.
Defrag
Defragmenting your
hard drive is a way
to rejoin scattered
(fragmented) les,
that can cause your
PC to run slower.
Registry
Part of Windows
that stores vital
information about
programs and
settings. When you
delete programs,
some unwanted
les are left in the
Registry and need
to be dealt with.
MAIN WINDOW
Here youll nd the analysis results.
Some may have warnings just go
back and un-tick. If you see warnings
after cleaning, an error has occurred
and the le has not been deleted.
3 Tabs
Under each tab (Apps, Browser, Registry and Windows) you
will find even more entries that can be scanned. By default, not
all of these entries are selected. Its up to you to select the ones
that you wish to remove. The advice here would be to select all
the boxes in all but the Windows tab.
4 Exclude
Even though you will want to get rid of most of your
unwanted files, there may still be a few you might want to keep.
In the case of your internet browser, you may wish to keep saved
passwords and other auto complete data. Be sure to un-tick those
boxes to make sure you dont lose them.
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61
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cleansing
5 App
Once analysis has completed, you will see the list of files
in the main window. Some of the entries will have a warning sign
next to them. Dont worry, this just means that AppCleaner
cannot clean these files at this current time. You should, however,
be able to clean them when those programs are not in use.
7 Executed
Now that all of the application cleaning is complete,
AppCleaner will give you the total space saved on your system.
So far, this has saved me a whopping 1.3GB of space on my
computer, and that is excluding files used by the internet browser
that was open while the scan was taking place.
9 Startup
The next tab in the Tools section is called Startup and
includes a list of all the programs that start up with Windows. You
will want most of these apps to start up with your computer, but
there may be a couple that can be removed. Simply untick the
box next to the corresponding program to deactivate it.
62
it up
6 Back
To complete the process of cleaning your apps, click Clean
at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. You will now be
prompted to back up all the entries that will be erased from the
Registry. It would be very wise to do this in case a program
become unstable and you need to roll back the changes.
8 Uninstaller
Once youve cleaned all the files you want, you can move
on to other tools featured in AppCleaner. Under the Tools section
is the Uninstall tab, which allows you to remove programs. All of
your installed programs are listed. All you need to do is select the
program you wish to remove and click on the Uninstall button.
10 Finish
You may already have noticed your system is running that
much better, especially if you were perilously close to a full hard
drive. One final thing you can do is defrag your hard drive. In the
Resources section on your free disc you will find a program called
Defraggler that will do the job. Now enjoy your speedy PC! Q
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MAKE WINDOWS 7
BETTER THAN EVER
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CUSTOMISE
\3&
Dont leave your Windows machine looking grey and drab
LWVWLPHWRJHWWKRVHFUHDWLYHMXLFHVRZLQJZLWKRXUJXLGH
to making your PC a hub of individuality
hink of the hours you spend
using your PC browsing
the web, organising your
photos and working in
Oce. The chances are that it occupies
a fair proportion of your time. Yet few
of us take the opportunity to make its
environment as comfortable as the
room that its placed in. Windows
includes a number of ways to make
your computer look and feel dierent
to everyone elses. Were not all clones,
so why should we have identical PCs?
It doesnt take much to nd a truly
individual image for your wallpaper.
However, this simple change can make
a huge dierence. Once you start
64
altering the appearance of Windows

and the sounds that accompany
system events, you have the
beginnings of a custom environment.
With a little more eort, you can even
modify the icons used to identify
programs and Windows components.
You could design your own or make
use of some of the many free icon sets
that are available online. With
Windows 8 now in our midst, why not
give Windows 7 a makeover and even
get it to imitate the newest version?
Computing should be a fun yet
comfortable experience, and
customising the look of your desktop
PC or laptop is just the start
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65
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THE
1 CHANGE
BACKGROUND
Right-click the desktop and choose
Personalize, followed by Desktop
Background. Here you can select each of
the thumbnail images to see it previewed
on your desktop. Take a look through to nd
one that you like. Once youve settled on
the picture you want, click OK to set it
as your background. If none of them take
your fancy, why not try one of your own
photographs or pieces of artwork? Click
Browse and nd the folder containing the
picture that you want to use. Once youve
found it, click Open. Select your chosen
photograph to add it to the desktop.
A DESKTOP
2 GET
FITTING IMAGE
Not all images are desktop shaped. You can
still use them for the background, but you
need to decide how to ll the desktop. Use
the options marked How should the picture
be positioned? to select whether to repeat
the image all over the desktop, to surround
it by a coloured border or to stretch the
image to t the desktop. Some pictures
stretch well, while others look odd and
distorted. Its worth trying out each option
to see which looks best.
3 CHANGE
THE THEME
Right-click on the desktop and choose
Personalize. Choose a theme from the list to
quickly change the look and feel of the
desktop. Windows 7 includes a number of
ready-made themes, and each comes with
its own background, window colours and
sound schemes, to give an overall change to
your computers desktop. Applying a new
theme is the quickest way to give your
computer a makeover. You can always
tweak it later on to make it more personal.
THE
4 MODIFY
AERO THEME
ICON SWITCH Changing your desktop icons is
a really easy way to customise your PCs look
Back in Personalization, choose Window

Colour then Appearance. Here you can
change the Aero colour scheme and tweak
the degree of transparency. Select one of
the pre-set colours and use the slider to

change its intensity. You can also turn o
transparency by clearing the box marked
Enable Transparency. To create your own
shades of Aero colour, click Show colour
mixer and use the sliders to set the hue,
saturation and brightness to taste.
ADVANCED
5 GET
OPTIONS
There are more ways you can customise the
look and feel of Windows if you opt for
a Windows classic theme. To do this,
right-click the desktop, choose Personalize
> Window Colour and click Advanced. Here
you can change individual colours and fonts
for each item in the scheme. Select the item
you want to modify from the drop-down list
and specify the colour or font. Click OK
twice to conrm your changes. Even with
a classic template, you can still express your
personality with a few simple changes.
YOUR
6 REPLACE
DESKTOP ICONS
A very eective way to achieve a new look
is by switching the icons for your most
commonly used programs. There are a few
alternative icons available for Windows
items and often for third-party programs
as well. To alter a desktop shortcut icon,
right-click it and select Properties. Click the
Change button to see the list of available
icons for that shortcut. If there arent enough
icons in this list for you, click Browse and
look for any other icon les.
Step-by-step Create new icons for your programs
size
1 Image
Open Paint by selecting Start > All Programs > Accessories,
then select Paint. Click the downwards arrow next to the Home
tab and click Properties. Select Pixels as the unit size, then set the
Width and Height at 32 each for a medium icon, 48 each for a larger
icon, or 256 for the largest icons. When youre satisified with the
dimensions of your new icon, click OK.
66
and create
2 Zoom
Select the View tab and click Zoom in so you can work with
the individual pixels on your new icon. To make things a little
easier, check the Gridlines box. Draw your icon, referring to your
design on squared paper. Once complete, select File > Save As,
give it a file name and choose 24-bit bitmap as the file type.
Finally, change the file extension to ICO.
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Customise your PC
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3 Folder
Now select the folder that you would like to customise with
your brand new icon. Right-click it and choose Properties.
Now select the Customize tab click Change Icon to customise
the picture that represents this folder. In order to add your new
image, click Browse this will allow you to find the file that
you created earlier in Paint.
the icon
4 Apply
When you have browsed to the location of your new icon
file, click Open. Youll now be able to see the file on its own in the
icon list. To proceed, simply select it and click OK. Youll need to
click OK for a second time to clear the Folder Properties dialogue
box the folder now has your new, self-designed icon for all to
see. Apply it as you see fit and marvel at your funky new icon.
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67
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the Windows 7 Phone interface, or you can
opt to add the Windows 8 start theme to
your desktop. Theres also a full Windows 8
pack available to download, too!
ICONS
7 CREATE
FROM A PHOTO
Browse to http://icofx.ro and download and
install IcoFX. Choose File > Import image
and select a picture youd like to turn into an
icon. If its bigger than 256 x 256, enter its
dimensions here or cancel, resize it in your
usual graphics program and import it again.
Choose Icon > Create icon from image
now supply the resolution and colour depth
of each of the icons that you want to
generate, then click OK. You can now edit
and save each one individually.
BACK THE
8 BRING
START MENU
If youre using Windows 8, you might miss
the Start menu of old, which used to reside
in the bottom left-hand corner of the
screen. You can easily get it back though
just install Classic Shell (www.classicshell.net)
which will restore the original Start menu,
giving you back features like Search and Run
boxes, a Recent Items menu, a familiar
shutdown menu and more. You also get
useful extras, like a menu of your Windows 8
apps which you can launch.
9 INSTALL
RAINMETER
To make more fundamental changes to your
desktop, try installing a skinning program
such as Rainmeter, which you can download
11 DOWNLOAD
ROCKETDOCK
RAINMETER Get customisable skins, such as

weather forecasts, on your desktop
from http://rainmeter.net/cms. This is an

open source program, which provides lots
of room for additional tweaks to really
customise your system. Theres quite a lot
to it, but dont feel too overwhelmed as it is
relatively straightforward to navigate. At its
most basic, you can install the program plus
one of its recommended skins for a quick
desktop makeover.
Finding your way around the clutter of

shortcuts on your desktop, Start menu
and Taskbar can be a real pain, and may
make you hanker after a Mac OS-style dock.
If so, download and install RocketDock from
http://rocketdock.com to browse your
system with a bit more style.
THE
12 CLEAR
DESKTOP
Back in the days of Windows XP, there was
a desktop clean-up wizard that tidied away
older items on the desktop every 60 days.
For a simple alternative, right-click the
desktop and choose New > Folder. Call it
Unused Desktop Shortcuts and drag
anything you dont want to see into it.
10 EMULATE
WINDOWS 8
Why not keep up with the Joneses and
get a feel for Windows 8 by making
Windows 7 look the same? There are
several toolkits available, but the most
straightforward is Omnimo, which you can
download from http://omnimo.info. This is
a skin for Rainmeter (see above) that can
make your PC look as though its running
THE
13 HIDE
TASKBAR
You can free up some screen space by
hiding the Taskbar so that it only shows
when you need to use it. Right-click an
empty part of the Taskbar, choose
Properties and select Auto-hide. To access
it, just drag the mouse to the bottom of
your screen and it pops up.
Step-by-step Modify the sound scheme
a sound
1 Record
An easy way to really stamp your own personality on your
computer is by replacing the sounds with ones youve recorded or
collected yourself. Use Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net),
which is an intuitive audio manipulation program its also free to
use! Connect a microphone to record each of the sounds you
want to use and save each of them as separate wav files.
68
sounds
2 Windows
Right-click the desktop and select Personalize, followed by
Sounds. In this dialogue box you can modify the existing sound
scheme, save a new one or apply one that you saved earlier.
To ensure you can change the audio files around, make sure that
youre in the Sounds tab. This lists the sounds played with each
Windows event. Select a sound scheme to modify.
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a sound
3 Change
Select one of the Windows events with a sound icon next
to it. Press the Play button and youll be able to listen to the
current sound linked to that Windows event. Click Browse and
locate one of the sounds you recorded earlier. When youve found
it, click Open. We advise testing the sound again to ensure that
you have the correct one selected.
as a sound scheme
4 Save
Replace as many of the Windows sounds as you like to
personalise your PC, by simply repeating the previous steps.
Weve found the most effective ones to replace are those played
when you enter and exit Windows. If you dont like your own
sounds, there are plenty of ready-made ones to be found online.
When youre done, be sure to save your customised scheme.
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69
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to use a square picture where
possible, so that its proportions
look right when applied as your image.
TEXTURE
14 ADD
TO WINDOWS
If you want to go a bit further than just
changing the colour of your windows,
try giving them some texture with
WindowBlinds. You can get a 30-day trial
from www.stardock.com/products/
windowblinds. If youre impressed and
want to upgrade it, the full program costs
$9.99 (6). Be sure to choose a texture and
click Apply Changes to give your
Windows 7 a real makeover.
15 DOWNLOAD
MORE SKINS
You can vastly increase the number of skins
available to WindowBlinds by downloading
new ones from the extremely useful
www.wincustomize.com. Pop the URL in
your internet browser, select WindowBlinds
and click More to browse through a large
collection of skins that have been designed
and uploaded by the WinCustomize
community. You can also choose Get more
skins within WindowBlinds itself.
16 DOWNLOADS
IN START MENU
To add your Downloads folder to the Start
menu, right-click the Start button and
choose Properties. Click the Customize
button. In the resulting dialogue box, scroll
down to Downloads and choose Display as
a link or Display as a menu. Click OK to
conrm your selection and check the Start
menu to see the new link.
OPEN
21 TILE
WINDOWS
FEEL IT Pick colours and textures you like
You can tile open windows spread across

your desktop, as in Mac OS, using Switcher.
You need to install Switcher from
http://insentient.net. Using its default
settings, hold the left [Windows] button and
[Caps Lock] to tile your windows. Each has
a number assigned to it. Press the
appropriate number to choose that window.
MORE ICON
19 GET
SETS FOR WIN7
Just like with WindowBlinds, you can get
additional content for IconPackager from
www.wincustomize.com. Go to the site,
scroll down to the list of programs, pick the
IconPackager tab and then select More.
Browse to a set of icons that you want to
use, select it and choose Download. You
can now import them into IconPackager.
THE
20 CHANGE
USER PICTURE
Windows automatically assigns a picture
to your user account. To change it, select
Start > Control Panel > User Accounts >
Family Safety and click Change your
account picture. You can pick one of the
available images or opt to browse for your
own click Change Picture to conrm. Try
TEXT
22 REMOVE
FROM ICONS
Sometimes icons look better without text.
Try renaming a desktop shortcut to a single
space and Windows doesnt let you. But you
can force it to accept a space as the name
by holding down [Alt] and typing 255
on the number pad. Rename multiple
shortcuts by using additional spaces.
MAIN
23 SWITCH
DESKTOP ICONS
You can change the core Windows icons
that appear on the desktop by opening
Control Panel and choosing Appearance
and Personalization, followed by
Personalization and Change Desktop Icons
in the left-hand pane. Now check or clear
the boxes for each of the main icons. You
can also change the icons here, too.
USER PICTURE Personalise your account image by picking one that reects your mood or personality
THE SIZE
17 ALTER
OF JUMP LISTS
You can change the number of items shown
in Windows 7 jump lists. As a default,
10 items are normally shown. Right-click the
Start button and choose Properties, then
click Customize. At the bottom of the
dialogue box that appears, change the
number of recent items to display in jump
lists. Once youre done, simply click OK.
THE CORE
18 SWAP
SET OF ICONS
Weve already told you how to change
individual icons, but Stardocks
IconPackager enables you to swap the
standard set of Windows icons for
matching custom suites. You can get
a 30-day trial from www.stardock.com/
products/iconpackager. The full program
costs $9.99 (6) if you want to
upgrade. Launch it, select the icon package
you want and click Apply Changes.
70
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MOUSE
24 MODIFY
POINTERS
Right-click the desktop and choose
Personalize > Mouse Pointers. You can
modify individual pointers by selecting one
in the current scheme and clicking Browse.
Replace this with any static cursor le with
the extension CUR or an animated cursor le
with the extension ANI.
NEW
25 ADD
POINTERS
Mouse pointers are distributed online in sets
of CUR or ANI les. Download the le, unzip
it and then replace the pointers that you
want to change. A good place to start
looking is http://cursors.funutilities.com.
Once downloaded, choose Browse in
Mouse Pointers to install the le.
Menu. Clear the box marked Store and

display recently opened items in the Start
menu and Taskbar.
A NEW
28 GET
LOGON SCREEN
You can change the background image for
the logon screen using Tweaks.coms Logon
Changer for Windows 7 (http://tweaks.com/
software/tweakslogon). Once installed,
launch the program and choose Change
Logon screen.
29 TRANSFORM
A FOLDER INTO
A TOOLBAR
Right-click an empty part of the Taskbar and
choose Toolbars > New Toolbar. Select the
item that you want to use as a toolbar and
A
26 CREATE
CURSOR IMAGE
mouse pointer? If, so choose a dierent one
click OK. Your new toolbar appears as

a button on the Windows Taskbar. Click this
to see an expanding menu of its contents.
A
30 BYPASS
WELCOME
You can also make your own cursor les by

creating suitably small bitmap images and
saving them with the CUR extension. Use
a graphics program such as Paint to create
or edit the image le in the same size as
your ICO les and save it as a 24-bit BMP le.
To bypass the welcome screen, type Run

into the Start search, then type control
userpasswords2 in the Open bar. Click OK
and clear the box Users must enter a user
name and password to use this machine.
27 DISABLE
JUMP LISTS
Jump lists can give away the les youve
been using to anyone else with access
to your PC. To disable them, right-click the
Taskbar and choose Properties > Start
NEW POINTER Bored of the same old arrow
A DESKTOP
31 ADD
TOOLBAR
MENU PROPERTIES You can customise what
information appears in your Start menu
Nicks conclusion
With all these dierent ways to make your computer look and feel like a unique environment,
theres really no excuse not to dive in and start making some changes. There are loads of free
wallpaper images available online, so why not have a quick search to nd something that
matches your mood? Even better, set one of your own photographs as your desktop
background. You cant get any more individual than that!
Put a bit of thought into how you want items such as your windows and icons to appear.
It may be enough to set your own colour scheme in Aero, or you could use a third-party
program such as WindowBlinds to apply a new texture. Ensure that the window colour
and texture complement the background images that youre using. The eect is so much
more pleasing if icons, colours, background and sounds all work together to create
a consistent environment. If you want to get a bit more advanced, why not try
modifying the logon background and screensaver? Dont forget that there are many
useful programs such as Switcher that change the behaviour of Windows to add yet
more customisation. Above all, make sure that you have fun and be individual!
Nicholas Odantzis Acting editor
WorldMags.net
Right-click the Taskbar and choose Toolbars

> Desktop. This adds the word Desktop to
the Taskbar. Click the arrow to the right of
this to get access to these shortcuts. Q
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BEST BOOK
RECOMMENDATION
WEBSITES
6FLP\VWHU\RUDGYHQWXUHZKDWHYHU\RXU
JHQUHWKHUHVDZKROHOLEUDU\RIWLWOHVWRGLVFRYHU
READING
TOGETHER
Goodreads (www.goodreads.com) puts a social slant on

a solitary pursuit. Sign in using Facebook, Twitter or
Google+ to see a list of friends who are already using
the service. You can chat, share recommendations, or
just have a voyeuristic poke through their libraries. The
Goodreads experience centres around Bookshelves
lists of books that youve read, are currently reading,
and would like to read. Click on any title to add a review
and join discussions. Goodreads can also provide
recommendations based on your favourite genres,
ratings youve given, and any custom shelves youve
created. If a book doesnt take your fancy, click Not
interested and youll see fewer similar titles in future.
72
WORD UP Goodreads will recommend books based on your preferences, reading history
and recommendations from friends. You can prioritise the ones youre keenest to read
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Feature
Book recommendation sites
WorldMags.net
SPREAD THE WORD There are no forums or groups on WSIRN, but you can share lists via
social media or email. A not-so-subtle hint if youve got a birthday coming up, perhaps...
EASY
DOES IT
What Should I Read Next (www.

whatshouldireadnext.com) is
a straightforward proposition. Search
for books by author, title or ISBN, and
a list of possible matches will appear
as you type. Once youve added
a few, select What should I read next
to see a list of other titles that might
take your fancy. When you add books
to a list they become associated with
one another, and these associations
are then used to generate the
recommendations for other users
on the website. Simple.
SLIDE
ALONG
Whichbook (www.openingthebook.com/
whichbook) presents you with a series of
sliders, which you can move to reect your
literary tastes. Would you like something
lighthearted, or do your tastes tend towards
the bleaker side of life? Are you looking for an
easy holiday read, or would you rather lose
yourself in something challenging? You can
also nd books based on character, plot and
setting such as a tale of conict set in Brazil,
featuring a woman between the ages of 26
and 50 (a search that brings up Revenge of the
Middle-aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan).
BUY OR BORROW Once youve found something interesting, you can click
to buy it on Amazon, or look it up in a local library catalogue
THINKSTOCK.COM
4
TASTING SESSION Lovereading includes extracts from over
12,000 titles to help you make the right choice
NOVEL
ROMANCE
Its easy to see that Lovereading (www.lovereading.

co.uk) was created by people with a passion for
literature. Select a genre to see a list of featured titles,
then click one for a synopsis, reader reviews, a brief
biography of the author and a list of similar books
that might take your fancy. You can download an
extract, and buy the book directly from Lovereading.
LIBRARY
THING
Take a look through your bookcase, then pay

a visit to LibraryThing (www.librarything.com)
and type in the names of the books youve
enjoyed most. The site will then provide a list of
other similar titles. Users are encouraged to add
tags to the books theyve read, and these are
displayed as a word cloud on the books page.
Like Goodreads, Librarything oers group forums
for likeminded people to discuss authors and
genres, share recommendations or just chat. If
youd rather meet other readers in person,
LibraryThing can help you nd local book clubs.
DO YOUR THING LibraryThing oers a program where

publishers oer free books in exchange for early reviews
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73
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GO
EXPLORING
LARGE PRINT
Shelfaris website
looks slick and is
regularly updated
As its jungle-inspired name suggests, Shelfari (www.shelfari.com) is owned

by Amazon. It was built as a social network for readers, before being
bought by the online bookselling behemoth in 2008. The premise is much
like many other book recommendation sites add the books that you
currently own, then create a wishlist based on the suggested titles that
appear as a result. The key dierence here is the sites smart interface, and
the ability to follow other readers with similar tastes whether you know
them or not and see what theyve been leang through lately. Perhaps
surprisingly, Shelfari wont import the books that youve bought from
Amazon automatically once youve linked the two accounts.
WORD OF GNOD
You cant click an
authors name to
see a list of their
works, but Gnooks
is a great starting
point for nding
new literature
Gnooks (www.literature-map.com) is based on Gnod,

which is a self-adapting system based on input from
its users. In addition to books, Gnod can also
recommend new music, movies and art that might
tickle your fancy. The site is refreshingly uncluttered,
and suggestions load almost instantly. You can simply
enter the names of three authors to see a fourth whose
work you might enjoy, but the best tool here is the
Literature Map. Enter an authors name and a cloud of
names will swirl onto the screen, then settle into place.
The closer an authors name is to the one you entered,
the more likely people are to enjoy both.
STORY
TIME
Bookish (www.bookish.com) puts yet another spin on the tried-and-tested

method of suggesting new books based on your current collection. This
time its a series of blog posts (or Stories) by the sites editors. These cover
a wide range of topics (why Irish romance should be a genre, the book
behind the success of the TV series True Detective, female authors who use
pen names), and each one comes with a suggested reading list. You can
buy books directly through the site (including ebooks and audiobooks),
but you might prefer to search around rst to see if you can nd a better
price. If you already use Goodreads, you can import your shelves rather
than entering all your book titles again.
10
CLOUD
COVER
GENRE
THERAPY
BookLamp (www.booklamp.org) is based on the Book

Genome Project. Instead of just throwing out
suggestions based on what other people like to read,
it uses literary components (language, character and
theme) to establish a kind of DNA that separates one
book from another. It doesnt actually recommend new
books instead it aims to replicate the feeling of
browsing through bookshelves, discovering things on
your own. Go on delve into your favourite books
literary DNA and have a look around yourself.
PSYCHIC
SCRIPT
A fun take on book recommendations, The Book Seer

(www.bookseer.com) greets you with a cheery Hail
fellow or Salutations and prompts you to enter the
author and title of the novel youve just put down. The
suggestions that follow are gleaned from Amazon and
LibraryThing (and The Book Seer makes no secret of
this), but its a handy way to search both sites
simultaneously. Sadly, it also suers from the common
problem of books being linked due to their popularity;
for example, if you read one book recommended by
Richard and Judy, youre likely to read another no
matter how dissimilar they are. In BookLamp, this issue
is neatly avoided by the DNA-style approach. Q
74
WorldMags.net
CRYSTAL BALL The

Book Seer is a handy
tool presented in
a quirky fashion, but it
doesnt use its own
algorithm to produce
book suggestions
WorldMags.net
Windows 7 Help & Advice is an internationally licensed title and
is exported to another 22 countries.
Future Publishing Ltd, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW
Tel: 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 732275
Email: windowsmagazine@futurenet.com
Web: www.facebook.com/windowsmag
EDITORIAL
Acting editor Nick Odantzis
New media editor Jeremy Ford
In the next issue...

SDHRKQX WLO
ART/PRODUCTION
Art editor Fraser McDermott
Deputy art editor Mat Gartside
Managing editor Catherine Emma Ellis
Deputy managing editor Alice Lipscombe-Southwell
ON SALE
Friday
6 June
2014
CONTRIBUTORS
Editorial Ben Andrews, Dan Grabham, Christian Hall,
Nick Peers, Mayank Sharma, Henry Winchester
Production Alan Stonebridge
Design Cormac Jordan
Photography Joseph Branston, Dave Caudrey, Philip Sowels,
Thinkstock.com, iStockphoto.com, Gettyimages.com
SENIOR MANAGEMENT
Group art director Steve Gotobed
Group senior editor Paul Newman
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Group managing director Nial Ferguson
Creative director Bob Abbott
Editorial director Jim Douglas
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The registered oce of Future Publishing Limited is at Beauford Court, 30
Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW. All information contained in this magazine is for
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WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
75
WorldMags.net
WINDOWS HELP HARDWARE FIXES SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INTERNET TIPS

per cent, despite multiple attempts
to install it. Can you help?
Peter Johnson
Windows
CANT INSTALL SP1
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 Or
write to the support
team and well do our
best to help
Support squad,
Windows 7 Help &
Advice magazine,
Future Publishing Ltd,
30 Monmouth Street,
Bath BA1 2BW
Q I recently upgraded my
Compaq NX6325 laptop to

Windows 7 with a clean install. It all
went smoothly including all
subsequent updates until
I attempted to install Service Pack 1.
The conguration part of the
process keeps failing at around 14
Adams solution
Installing SP1 seems to
be a major problem on
many machines, and the
usual troubleshooting steps (see
http://windows.microsoft.com/
Software
UNWANTED ASUS
UTILITIES
Q I have a number of programs
that came pre-installed on my

ASUS A53E series laptop. I use it
primarily for photography and
video, oce work, surng and
email, and intend to use it for video
chats. How can I nd out which
programs are safe to remove?
Brian Davey
CUSTOM
INSTALLER
RT7-Lite lets you
create an install
disc with an SP1
slipstream
76
troubleshootwindows7sp1) often
fail, as youve found. As the
installation is a new one, we
suggest reinstalling again from
scratch using a Windows 7 install
disc with an SP1 slipstream on it.
You may already have one of these
discs, but you can create your own
by following the tutorial at http://
bit.ly/slipw7sp1. This should give
you SP1 as well as a host of
updated drivers for the laptop.
Nicks solution
Our reader furnished us
with a long list of
installed programs, but
WorldMags.net
Support
Technical help
WorldMags.net
FIND THE SOLUTION! Troubleshoot Windows 7 SP1

Visit http://taurarian.mvps.org/Windows7/ServicePack.html for
a comprehensive list of links to SP1 support articles.
SLOW START
Use a tool like
Norton Startup
Manager to
speed up boot
times
Quickfire questions
How can I access my AppData
folder without having to view
hidden les or folders in
Windows 7?
Fred Whiteley
Press [Win]+[R], then type
%AppData% to access the
AppData\Roaming folder, or
%LocalAppData% to access
the AppData\Local folder.
Im following the instructions
in issue 91 to download a
Windows 7 DVD. Theres a
choice of two: Windows 7
Home Premium x64 or x86.
Which do I need?
Alan Pacitti
If your PC is running 64-bit
Windows, use the x64 version.
The x86 version is 32-bit.
the rst thing to do in this situation

is visit www.shouldiremoveit.com,
which holds a large database of
programs by various publishers and
manufacturers including ASUS.
From this list, we identied these
three programs that should
denitely be left alone: Fast Boot,
Wireless Console and WinFlash.
It would then be a good idea
to check the start-up routine to see
if any of the other programs are
starting with Windows. Our reader
informed us that he has Norton 360
installed, so we steered him
towards its own Startup Manager
tool under Performance to see
what it identied. This handy tool
ranks programs by their resource
usage, making it easier for you to
identify any potential bottlenecks.
You can then decide whether to
remove the programs completely
or disable them from starting with
Windows. Pursuing either option
will help reduce startup times and
reclaim vital system resources to
speed up your computer.
Jamess solution
After many false starts
and dead ends, we
worked with our reader
to trace the problem to Internet
Explorer and a feature called MIME
sning. By default, its set to try
and detect a les type by its
content rather than le extension
this is for security purposes, and
is intended to block viruses that
masquerade under fake lenames.
However, in this case it was
changing the extension of older
Word documents (with the doc
extension) to docx. When our
reader manually renamed the le to
a doc extension, it opened with no
problems. Our reader attempted to
disable MIME sning via Internet
Explorers Options dialog box, but
this had no eect. You can try
disabling the feature in the Registry
too, but a simpler workaround is to
Installing SP1 seems

to be a major problem
on many machines
Jargon buster!
Slipstream
The process of integrating
updated les into a new
Windows installation disc. The
updated les typically come
from a Service Pack.
USERFRIENDLY
Ditch the Modern
User Interface
in Windows 8
with the help of
Classic Start
MIME
This stands for Multipurpose
Internet Mail Extensions, and
is a web and email standard for
supporting certain types of
les, including downloads and
attachments.
Internet Explorer
CANT OPEN
DOWNLOADED
DOCUMENTS
Q I have a Lenovo Z500T laptop
that is running Windows 8.1

and have discovered Im unable
to open Word documents
downloaded from the internet,
which is really annoying. I get an
error message telling me that
Windows doesnt recognise the le
format or extension. This only
started happening in the past few
weeks. Can you help?
Alan Orrell
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
77
WorldMags.net
Quickfire questions
How do I change the OneDrive
language settings? Its giving
me messages in Malay!
Stuart Cox
Log on to http://account.live.
com, where you should nd
that everything is displayed
using Malay. Try to nd a
section called Bahasa Melayu
click this and you should be
able to select English (United
Kingdom) to update your
language settings.
How can I prevent my hard
drive from powering down
after just a few minutes of
inactivity?
Annabel Taylor
If you cant adjust your drives
power-saving features via
Device Manager, try a free tool
called NoSleepHD (http://
nosleephd.codeplex.com),
which writes an empty le to
the drive at set intervals to
keep it awake.
I opened a le inside a zipped
folder in Excel 2007, made
some changes and saved it,
but my changes have
vanished.
Shen Hateld
Your changes will have been
saved to a temporary folder
inside your user folder. Search
your C drive for the le, which
will probably be inside C:\
Users\{Username}\AppData\
Local\Temp, then copy it
somewhere safe.
use an alternative web browser

such as Firefox or Chrome. Our
reader installed Firefox, and
reported he was able to download
les with no further problems.
Windows
DOWNGRADE TO
WINDOWS 7
Q I recently bought a new
computer with Windows 8

on it for my 75-year-old husband.
Its not user-friendly and hes
struggling. Could you provide
idiot-proof instructions for
changing the machine back to
Windows 7 please?
Pat Dale
Adams solution
Downgrading to
Windows 7 could be an
expensive business if no
free downgrade path is provided,
and theres no simple way to do it.
However, our reader told us that
her husband was mostly struggling
with the new Modern User
Interfaces tile-based Start screen
and full-screen apps these can be
changed without downgrading.
To do this, go to the free Classic
Shell tool, which youll nd on your
free disc. For a more familiar
Windows experience, install it from
the Desktop tile, then make sure
you click the buttons next to
Classic Explorer and Classic IE9.
Choose Entire feature will be
unavailable when prompted to
install just the Classic Start
component. Once installed, Classic
Start will automatically launch and
if youre running Windows 8
rather than 8.1 a new Start button
will appear too. Click this and the
familiar Start menu will return.
More importantly, when you next
reboot your PC youll be taken
straight to the classic Windows
desktop, bypassing the Start screen
CLUNKY KEYS
The older your
laptop, the more
susceptible
the keys are to
problems
and Modern User Interface entirely.

There are other ways to make
Windows 8 more like Windows 7,
but Classic Start is by far the most
important step in making the
Windows 8 operating system more
familiar and easy to use.
Hardware
LAPTOP KEYBOARD
GONE CRAZY
Q Im experiencing an attack of
the square brackets whenever

I start to type on my ageing laptop
keyboard running Windows XP.
Ive tried switching Num Lock on
and o to no avail. Can you help
me, please?
Adam Arnold
Simons solution
As laptops get older,
they become more
prone to these sorts of
problems, and my guess is that this
is a hardware issue either the
cable connecting the keyboard to
your laptop motherboard has come
loose, or the keyboard itself is on its
SYNC FILES QUICKLY

Q Please could you tell me how
it is possible to quickly copy

multiple les from the same folder
to three dierent backup folders
depending on their le type?
Gerald Gibson
Matts solution
Youll nd a tool called
FreeFileSync on this
months cover disc that
can do what you want. FreeFileSync
takes a little bit of setting up, but
it makes copying les based on
their le type eortless. Follow
these handy steps to nd out
how it works.
78
folder pairs
1 Set
Launch FreeFileSync and click Browse
to the left of the blue <> button. Select the
folder containing the files you wish to copy.
Now click Browse on the right and select the
first backup folder for the first file type you
wish to copy.
filter
2 Create
Click the green + button next to the
first folder pair to create a new one. Youll now
see a grey funnel icon between the two
folders. Click this to open the Local Filter,
which lets you restrict which files are copied
based on their type.
WorldMags.net
Support
Technical help
WorldMags.net
last legs. Depending on the model
of laptop you own, you may be able
to source and t a replacement (or
check the connection) yourself.
Failing that, you may need the
assistance of a service manual or
a repair shop. Before going down
this route, try plugging in a USB
keyboard and see if the problem
persists. If it doesnt, then the
laptop keyboard is denitely to
blame, but if it does then the issue
may be with Windows itself
perhaps a malware infection.
Windows
CANT ACCESS RESTORED

FILES
Q I reloaded Windows 7, having
taken a full backup of my les

to ash drive. After reinstalling,
I restored it using the Windows 7
Backup utility. This seemed to copy
the data back successfully, but now
I get an Access denied error
whenever I try to locate the les.
Please help me!
Ken Chapple
Matts solution
This error typically
happens with
documents and other
les that have been stored in
a personal user folder, which is
encrypted for security. Switching
to a new Windows installation
creates a brand new user prole
that doesnt have access to these
les and documents.
If you try browsing to the C:\
Users folder, you should nd your
old user folder. Double-clicking this
should throw up the Access
denied error, but it will also give
you the chance to gain permission
to open the folder. This will give
you access to the les within,
which you can then copy to the
corresponding folders in your
new user account.
Software
DRIVE SPACE VANISHING

Q I have a 180GB SSD drive
partitioned in two. When

I check the C drive (formatted as
a 120GB partition), it currently
shows me 32.9GB is free, and this is
gradually reducing with use. Can
you help me track down what is
taking up all this space, please?
David Hunter-Rowe
Jamess solution
We directed our reader
towards a handy free
program called
SpaceSnier, which youll also nd
on this months free disc. To get an
accurate idea of whats on your
disk, right-click on the program
shortcut and choose Run with
administrator. This provides a neat
graphical representation of where
exactly all the drive space has gone,

and you can double-click on
individual folders to zoom in for
more detail. In our readers case,
we found a number of large folders.
One of these was the AppData
folder, which was rather large
at 8.6GB. Six days later it had
swelled in size to 9GB. Upon further
examination, we found that our
readers Seagate Dashboard
backup program was generating
a hefty 89MB le every day after it
had completed its backup.
After some consultation, our
reader decided to ditch Seagate
Dashboard in favour of an
alternative backup tool. He
eventually settled on EaseUS Todo
Backup Free (also on your free disc),
which has all the features of
Seagate Dashboard, but doesnt
take up quite so much space. Q
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
Or write to the support
team and well do our
best to help
Support squad,
Windows 7 Help &
Advice magazine,
Future Publishing Ltd,
30 Monmouth Street,
Bath BA1 2BW
FREE UP SPACE
Find any
space-hogging
les with the free
SpaceSnier tool
Classic Start is by far the most important

step in making the Windows 8 operating
system more familiar and easy to use
Jargon buster!
Modern User Interface
This is the most common term
that is used to describe the
user interface behind the new
tile-based Start screen and
full-screen apps in Windows 8
and 8.1. Some people can nd
it a bit tricky to use.
filter properties
3 Set
Click inside the Include box and type
back up
4 Repeat,
Add more folder pairs as required, then
the file type you wish to copy using the

following format: *.doc. To include multiple
file types, separate each one with a semicolon. You can also apply filters by file size
and other criteria, too.
click the green Settings cog next to

Synchronize. Choose the Update option,
then click OK followed by the Synchronize
button to take your first backup. Run
FreeFileSync each time you want to update it.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
AppData
This is a hidden folder that is
found inside each personal
users folder. It contains
user-specic data such as
personal application settings.
Help & Advice |
79
WorldMags.net
NEW HARDWARE
ESSENTIAL ACCESSORIES
Welcome
LATEST GAMES
7LLVLLKW
The days of your

computer being a
grey box on your
desk are long gone.
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.
We love cramming our desks
with new gadgets, but were not
so keen on the accompanying
rats nest of cables, so this
month weve put five of the
best wireless speakers to the
ultimate sound test.
Weve also looked at a wide
range of new Windows devices,
from a tiny tablet through to a
giant gaming laptop with an
incredible spec list and a price
to match. Enjoy!
Nick Odantzis acting editor
82 Wireless speakers
84 Acer Iconia W4
Five different ways to enjoy your music,

whether youre playing it from a tablet,
smartphone, or your Windows PC.
This capable little tablet is equipped with

Windows 8.1 and a gorgeous display, but it
wont replace your laptop any time soon.
Decent performance for a reasonable price,

but limited by its unimpressive speakers
and disappointing build quality.
Nine years after its first release, the finest

installation in the Resident Evil series gets a
fresh lick of paint and slick of polish.
Our review guarantee
Our awards
Only the very
QHVWSURGXFWV
receive our Best
On Test Award.
These will have
excellent marks
for quality.
We use only acknowledged experts to review products, so you can use

our ratings with full confidence to make your buying decision
How we review
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
WKHQHVWSURGXFWVRIDFHUWDLQ
type against one another at
the same time that you can
UHDOO\FRPHXSZLWKDGHQLWLYH
RATING EXPLAINED
80
verdict as to which is the very

best in that category. The pace
of development in computer
hardware means that it is very
GLIFXOWWRFRPSDUHVFRUHV
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.
Superb
Very good
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.
Good
WorldMags.net
Our Best Value

Award is given
to products that
quite simply
represent the
best value for
your money.
Disappointing
Poor
Upgrade
WorldMags.net
Whats inside
)LVQ
84 Acer Iconia
W4: a solid
little tablet
thats great for
watching films
on the move
82 Denon Cocoon Stream

82 Libratone Loop
83 INTUIT Filo
83 Pure Jongo T4
83 Cambridge Audio Mini XI
84 Acer Iconia W4
86 Aorus X7-CF1
90 Thief
92 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
96 Jazzpunk
86 Aorus X7-CF1:
top gaming
performance
if you have the
cash to spare
The guard woke up, but remained

in his chair. I darted behind it and
waited until he went back to sleep,
listening to the sound of his breathing.
7 WSD
Our promise to you
Well introduce you to new stuff

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
single scores can be genuinely useful.
The Upgrade section is your key to finding out about the latest
products, all designed to help you get more from your PC
You can trust our reviews
We choose the best products
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,
\RXFDQEHFRQGHQWWKDWLWLVDQH[FHOOHQW
product. Always check when the award
was given, to ensure it is still up-to-date.
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
VLPSOHWRQGWKHEHVWSURGXFWVIRU\RXU
needs, with our recommended products
section giving you a fast, trustworthy guide
to a wide range of hardware and software.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
81
WorldMags.net
STREAMING
SPEAKERS
Five new but very different wireless audio solutions want
to make sweet music. But which suits your sonics?
Denon Cocoon
Stream
Price 249 | $599 (www.denon.co.uk)
This oversized jelly bean of a dockless AirPlay
streaming speaker is a bargain, packing a build
generally found in 500+ systems.
Connectivity is easy; Apples AirPlay is the
default, but we loved the Cocoon Control
App, which links with NAS storage and DLNA
on Android. This speaker punches above its
price point for sound, with impressive bass
thump and detailed mid-range.
Libratone Loop
Price 399 | $500 (www.libratone.com)
This sizeable, woolly jumper-wearing
wireless speaker offers stylish Scandinavian
looks and is easy to connect, especially if you
plug your iOS device iOS 5 and beyond
directly into the USB port.
AirPlay connectivity is a little more of a faff to
sync, but nothing too taxing. PlayDirect and DLNA
support is on hand for Android music fans, but this is an
unmistakably Apple-centric speaker.
As for performance, it sounds terrific at dinner-party volumes.
Mid and high ranges are sensational, especially in a small space,
but the bass does feel a bit stodgy at full volume.
82
WorldMags.net
Upgrade
WorldMags.netHome audio
IN2UIT Filo
Price 220 | $200 (www.in2uit.com)
This startlingly thin, battery-powered aptX Bluetooth speaker
is minimalist, elegant and simple to use. With just one button for
syncing, all controls are handled by your phone just make sure
you have some battery left, as the Filo refuses to connect while
handsets are charging.
Portable, but not sturdy enough for a trip to the
park, it can be wall-mounted or sits happily on your
desk, with 10 hours battery. At just 30 cheaper
than the Cocoon we expected top-notch sound,
but sadly the audio on offer is disappointing,
and as thin as the speaker.
Pure Jongo T4
Price 199 | $299 (www.pure.com)
This colourful Jongo speaker has 50W of power, which is perfect for the
bedroom or kitchen. Dont want to constrain your listening to just the one
space? Well, link more T4s for multi-room wireless sound, then. Alternatively,
flank yourself with T4s and switch on stereo pairing for enveloping noise.
As with the rest of the Jongos, connection is easy via Bluetooth.
Alternatively, go Wi-Fi using the Pure Connect app and your Spotify or
Deezer account. Connectivity can be glitchy and the app has some niggles,
but there are few cheaper ways to get quality sound in every room.
Cambridge Audio Minx Xi

Price 600 | $899 (www.cambridgeaudio.com)
Its expensive, it may baffle the first-time streamer and that price
doesnt include speakers, but the Minx Xi does offer an ace mix of
sound quality and wireless audio solutions.
Thanks to the hard work of the Wolfson DAC and audiophile-grade
amp, even Bluetooth streaming sounds great. It also handles internet
radio, lossless files and has UPnP support for your NAS and PC music
libraries. Theres no Spotify support, but upgrades are expected.
The Stream Magic app is mighty appealing, and gives you the power
to boost your TV, Blu-ray player and consoles sound.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
83
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Acer Iconia W4
250 | $299 www.acer.com/uk

Acer re-imagines its 8-inch Windows 8 tablet but can it improve on the patchy W3?
he Acer Iconia W4 is the

follow-up to the Iconia W3,
which was the rst 8-inch
Windows 8 tablet that raced out of
the traps almost a year ago. While
the W3 proved that it was possible
to squeeze Windows into a
miniature frame, its deciencies
made it dicult to care. The W3
sported a grainy, low-quality
display and was powered by an
underwhelming processor it
really epitomised a rst attempt
at the genre.
Its successor makes a number of
improvements in several key areas
in a bid to take on newer, ashier
entrants in the 8-inch category,
such as the Toshiba Encore, the Dell
Venue 8 Pro and Lenovos businessfocused ThinkPad 8.
Once again, the device comes
with a free copy of Microsoft Oce
Home & Student 2013 thrown into
the mix, meaning you can get
access to Word, PowerPoint and
Excel (but not Outlook) by using
84
a supplied code. The Acer Iconia W4

is powered by a fourth-generation
Intel Atom Bay processor clocked at
1.3GHz thats backed up by 2GB of
RAM, which is a small amount
compared to what you would nd
in most laptops or even high-end
smartphones. Thats set to change.
Intels 64-bit Atom processors are
arriving in tablets soon. As such,
future tablets will come with 4GB
of RAM, which will provide a
much-needed speed boost.
The W4 is available with 32GB
(tested here) or 64GB of internal
storage. In the UK, the 32GB model
can be picked up for around 250,
and 299 for the 64GB model.
If youre unsure which capacity
model to go for, be warned that the
32GB versions SSD comes with just
15GB of usable free space out of the
box. As such, you might want to
consider picking up a microSD card
to expand your storage.
The W4 ships with Windows 8.1,
which lets you install desktop
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Windows programs and apps from

the Windows Store. This rst
update to Windows 8 brings some
useful improvements, including
multi-monitor support, more
exible snapping of apps side-byside, better search options and
tighter integration with Microsofts
OneDrive cloud storage service.
The W4s display is a vast
improvement over its
predecessors, serving up strong
contrast levels, decent brightness
and good colour reproduction.
It lives up to Acers 170-degree
viewing angle claims and is suitable
for watching Netix or sharing
content with a friend. In fact, its
one of the best screens on an
8-inch tablet to date, and its colours
are punchier than the Dell Venue 8
Pro and the Toshiba Encore. It uses
what Acer calls Zero Air Gap
technology, which apparently
removes the air between the tough
panel and the LCD module to
reduce reection and improve
Upgrade
Acer Iconia W4
WorldMags.net
KEY FEATURES
Acer Iconia W4
Supplier www.amazon.co.uk
Operating system Windows 8.1
Processor Intel Atom Z3740 quad-core
1.3GHz
Storage 32 or 64GB
RAM 2GB
Graphics Intel Graphics Media
Accelerator HD
Connectivity microUSB, micro HDMI,
Wi-FI 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Weight 415g
Screen size 8 inches
Display resolution 1,280 x 800
readability under bright sunlight.

Its claims arent too far o the mark
with the exception of bright
ceiling lights indoors, the display
copes well with reections.
Acer has stuck with the
1,280 x 800 resolution common
across 8-inch Windows tablets. Its
a suitable choice for the devices
size, providing adequate real estate
for interacting with dierent apps
without running into scaling issues.
The W4 is similar to the Iconia W3
in terms of design, but there are
a few modications that give it
test that continually loops video

playback and opens and closes
apps until power is depleted.
Processing power is a mixed bag.
Even with a fairly low 2GB of RAM,
the tablet zips along nicely thanks
to its speedy SSD. Windows 8.1
apps run without a hitch, but its
a dierent story once demanding
desktop programs come into the
fold. You wont have too much
trouble with one or two desktop
applications open. Open four or
ve apps, however, in addition to
a few from the Microsoft Store, and
youll start to experience frozen
windows and annoying lag. Simply
put, the Iconia W4 wont meet the
needs of users wanting to do
anything more demanding than
casual web browsing, word
processing, social media or using
Microsoft Store apps. Nonetheless,
as a day-to-day companion device
for completing PC tasks on the go,
its perfectly up to the task.
So the Acer Iconia W4
undoubtedly improves upon last
years 8-inch debutant, but it
already feels ready for an upgrade;
with tablets packing 64-bit Intel
processors and 4GB of RAM on the
way, youll have to consider how
badly you want an 8-inch Windows
8.1 tablet at this moment in time.
Its not suitable as a laptop or PC
replacement, but as a nippy,
lightweight device for undertaking
basic productivity tasks or using for
entertainment, you would be hard
pressed to nd a more versatile
tablet for the price. Q
need a converter to hand), microSD

slot, micro-HDMI port and
headphone jack.
Along the devices top ridge is
a micro-HDMI port for hooking the
Iconia W4 up to larger displays
using an appropriate cable or
converter. We had no problems
connecting the device to a 1080p
monitor to view websites and play
back full-HD video on YouTube,
which streamed with no stutter.
Such are the dimensions of many
modern phones that holding up an
8-inch tablet to take an image
At 11m thick, its a little chubbier than some

other tablets, but it never feels cumbersome
a more premium look. The most
noticeable dierence is that the
Iconia W3s almost childish-looking
white bezel is now a brushed
metallic shade, lending the device
a moodier, serious business feel.
Acer has opted to keep the tactile
Windows button, which we nd
preferable to the touch-sensitive,
haptic feedback variants found on
other tablets. In terms of portability,
at 415g its 85g lighter than the
Iconia W3 and is similar to the
Toshiba Encore (445g). At 11mm
thick, its a little chubbier than
some other tablets, but it never
feels cumbersome.
The Acer Iconia W4 keeps the
same basic port selection as the
W3, oering a solitary micro-USB
connection for peripherals (youll
doesnt leave you looking quite as

daft as it did a few years ago. Its
a good job, then, that the Iconia W4
features a fairly competent
5 megapixel front camera capable
of taking crisp, well-saturated
images in daylight. Images become
a little harder to make out in lower
light conditions due to the absence
of a ash. If youre a budding
smartphone photographer, you
wont be wanting to ditch your
Nokia 1020 any time soon.
The Acer Iconia W3 had good
battery life, so we were condent
that the Iconia W4s would last
around 10 hours. It didnt
disappoint. We managed to
squeeze out more than nine hours
from its 4,960mAH battery by
putting it through a benchmark
The W4 is a exible and capable

Windows tablet. But it still isnt
a full-blown laptop replacement.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
85
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Aorus X7-CF1
1,660 | $2,100 www.aorus.com

Theres an incredible amount of tech here, but is it worth the outlay?
orus is a name unfamiliar

to, well, everyone, given
that Gigabyte has only just
launched this new sub-brand. But
if youre looking for eye-catching
gaming laptops, you will know it
soon. In fact, right now is a good
place to start, because the X7-CF1
is a heck of a debut.
The likes of Gigabytes own P25W
and Toshibas Qosmio X70 gaming
laptops show that it is possible
to have impressive performance
from a portable machine, but you
generally have to sacrice a lot of
power. The simple fact is that if you
want a meaty GPU that gives out a
lot of heat, you cant have it in a tiny
chassis. Its just physics.
Well, Aorus doesnt care about
physics, apparently. Its put the
equivalent power of a Nvidia
GeForce 780M into a laptop thats
only an inch thick. This is right in
line with the most powerful mobile
card that Nvidia makes. Only the
Aorus doesnt contain a 780M.
86
Instead, it oers two Nvidia 765Ms

in SLI combination, including 4GB
of graphics memory. SLI essentially
means two graphics cards acting as
one unit, and each one oers 2GB
of GDDR5 graphics RAM. Just about
everything we threw at it played as
smoothly as youd hope, but the
headline is that BioShock Innite,
with all its graphics options set to
maximum, achieved an average of
55 frames per second at 1080p. The
XMG P503, with its 780M card,
achieved 45 frames per second.
The X7 is a 17-inch laptop, and
one with a particularly large
footprint at that it might be
portable, but youll need a heck of
a bag to carry it around in. At 2.9kg,
its not exactly light, although weve
seen much heavier. The laptop has
an all-black aluminium body and is
clearly fairly high-quality. That said,
on our review model, the plastic
bezel around the display had
come loose already. Although its
generally more understated than a
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lot of gaming laptops, there is still

a certain ridiculousness to its look,
which comes from the multitude
of fan vents. Fitting this much
gaming and computing power into
a thin chassis means theres a lot
of heat to get rid of and not a lot
of space to absorb it, so the X7 is
covered in vents two on each
side, two on the back, and half a
dozen on its underside.
Get what you pay for

Unsurprisingly, all of this doesnt
come cheap. Youre absolutely
paying for the power and eort
thats gone into this machine.
However, its not really overly
expensive given the specs, and
its about in line for what wed
expect given its capabilities.
The processing power comes
from an Intel Core i7-4700HQ,
which will be familiar if youve
looked at any decent gaming
laptop recently. It and its nearidentical twin, the i7-4700MQ,
Upgrade
WorldMags.netAorus X7-CF1
KEY FEATURES
Aorus X7-CF1
Supplier www.overclockers.co.uk
Operating system Windows 8
Processor Intel Core i7-4700HQ quadcore 2.4GHz
Storage 2 x 128GB SSD, 1TB hard drive
RAM 16GB
Graphics 2 x Nvidia GTX765M SLI GDDR5
Connectivity 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
4.0, SD card reader, 2 x USB 2.0, 3 x USB
3.0, Ethernet
Weight 2.9kg
Screen size 17.3-inch
Display resolution 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD
have been used in powerhouses

such as the HP Envy TouchSmart 15,
the Schenker XMG P503 and the
Gigabyte P25W. Why? Because
its a very good processor indeed.
Its a quad-core chip that runs at
2.4GHz, rising up to 3.4GHz using
Intels Turbo Boost technology.
Its also HyperThreaded, meaning
that it can oer eight virtual cores,
speeding up heavily multi-threaded
applications. Its a mobile chip
thats good enough for pro-level
media creation, and oers great
performance for games.
and gamers may prefer the shorter

press anyway. The keyboard
includes a macro panel on the left
side for gaming, and a number pad
on the right-hand side. The [W][A]
[S][D] keys have a highlighted edge
for gaming, so theyre easy to spot.
The trackpad is nice and
responsive, and works really well,
but does have one signicant
downside it is made of glossy
glass, and it picks up ngerprints
and grease to a comical degree.
Its not just an aesthetic problem
greasy marks cause friction and
responsiveness to drop, which can
interfere with operations.
though, this is a good compromise

for keeping this fast while oering
lots of space for a reasonably large
collection of games.
That 17-inch screen is 1080p Full
HD, and is a fairly standard TN
panel, which means its perfectly
satisfactory for gaming, but isnt
particularly high-end.
Noise pollution
One area where, perhaps
predictably, usability suers a little
is in the noise levels from the fan.
With one GPU under load its not
bad at all a high hiss that can be
drowned out without too much
diculty. With both GPUs at full
load, though, its a dierent story.
Finally, we expected battery life
to be fairly poor, and it was. But
it wasnt as awful as we feared
weve seen a lot worse in gaming
machines. Two hours in our intense
battery tests isnt great, but it
means that you could watch a lm
on battery power alone.
The Aorus X7 is a truly impressive
gaming machine, with a stunning
design. It has some small issues,
but if you really want high-end
portable gaming in a chassis
thats minimalist and reasonably
slim, Gigabyte/Aorus has done the
impossible and made it happen. Q
Plug and play

Gigabyte has been fairly generous
with ports, oering three USB 3.0
connections, two USB 2.0 ports,
two HDMI ports, a mini-DisplayPort
The simple fact is if you want a beefy GPU, you

cant have it in a tiny chassis. Its just physics
The 16GB of RAM (which can
be increased to 32GB for an extra
charge) is also great its more
than enough for gaming, and again
makes the machine a tempting
proposition for those who want
to use media creation tools. When
it comes to storage, things get
interesting Aorus is including
a large hard drive, along with an
SSD for fast boot/wake times. Our
review unit was very fast to start
and respond thanks to the SSD,
but still oered 1.2GB of storage in
total not a bad deal.
The downside is that, while
Windows itself will run fast,
the hard drive will hold back
performance when fetching les.
Considering how expensive a
1TB SSD would be out of the box,
and an SD card reader scattered

around the various edges.
Theres also 802.11ac Wi-Fi for
better signal and faster speeds,
along with a Gigabit Ethernet
port for serious network gaming.
Bluetooth 4.0 rounds o the set
of connections. Theres no optical
drive, but thats often par for the
course these days. And anyway,
getting rid of it provides more
space for GPUs/cooling.
We knew that this machine
would be a good performer, but
we were surprised by just how
good the usability was in general.
The keyboard is truly excellent,
with crisp, responsive keys that give
plenty of feedback when typing.
The travel is a tiny bit short for our
liking, but thats just nit-picking,
The X7 is an incredible gaming

laptop for the money, but do you
really want to spend that much?
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
87
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Toshiba M50-A-11C
599 | $990 www.toshiba.co.uk
Can great performance make up for poor physical design?
signicant chunk of the

laptop market is still taken up
by traditional notebooks that
trounce some of the swanky new
ultraportable laptops. Weve found
that the older-style laptops often
have larger screens, more versatile
specications and lower prices than
many of Intels hyped-up machines
can currently match.
The Toshiba Satellite M50-A-11C
is the latest such system to arrive
on our testing bench, and the
Japanese tech giant reckons its got
the sort of specication that will
make slimmer laptops envious.
Power comes from a combination
of a current-generation Intel Core i5
processor and discrete Nvidia
graphics core, and those impressive
components are backed up by
decent specications elsewhere
plenty of RAM, a large hard disk
and good connectivity.
Toshiba isnt usually a rm that
takes risks with the physical design
of its laptops, and thats certainly
88
the case here. The Satellite M50 is

a good-looking machine, but
theres little new about the layer of
brushed aluminium that is used
to coat much of this machine, or
the glossy black bezel that
surrounds the 15.6-inch screen. The
1,366 x 768 resolution is standard
on mid-range and budget
machines, but it feels a bit low on
a 15.6-inch panel Windows 8.1s
Live tiles look huge, and theres not
enough desktop real estate to have
two desktop windows open
side-by-side. The Toshibas screen
is non-touch, and it didnt blow us
away in tests it has a pretty
average brightness level. The
screen is ne for web browsing,
basic day-to-day tasks and
gameplay, but the lack of pixels and
poor clarity makes HD lm viewing
a lacklustre experience.
This versatile mid-range machine
has plenty of competition. There is
the Toshiba Satellite U50t, which
represents the new breed of Intel
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laptops. This has got an Ultrabook

sticker on its wrist rest, which
means its lighter in weight than the
M50 and, at 629, its barely any
more expensive. There is also the
sleek and slim Samsung ATIV Book
9 Lite, the small and light Asus
Aspire V5 and the Lenovo G505s.
The Samsung and Asus both come
with touchscreens, which can help
users get the most out of the
Windows 8 operating system.
Whats inside...
Processing power in the M50-A-11C
comes from a Core i5-4200U. Its
a part hewn from Intels latest
Haswell architecture, and this 22nm
chip has a respectable specication
that includes a 1.6GHz standard
clock, a Turbo Boost peak of
2.6GHz, and two Hyper-Threaded
cores. Its a better-sounding
proposition than the low-power
AMD A6 parts inside the Samsung
ATIV Book 9 Lite and Asus Aspire V5
laptops although it may face
Upgrade
Toshiba M50-A-11C
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KEY FEATURES
Toshiba M50-A-11C
Supplier www.amazon.co.uk
Operating system Windows 8.1
Processor Intel Core i5-4200U 1.6GHz
Storage 750GB hard drive
RAM 6GB
Graphics Nvidia GeForce GT 740M
Connectivity 802.11n Wi-Fi, 2 x USB 3.0,
1 x USB 2.0, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet,
Bluetooth 4.0, SD card
Weight 2.2kg
Screen size 15.6-inch
Display resolution 1,366 x 768
travel. The trackpads two buttons

are light, and the pad itself is
decorated with a smart textured
pattern. It feels rougher than most
trackpads, but we like the extra
grippiness it provides.
Mixed bag
a stier test when up against the

Lenovo G505s beefy AMD A10 APU.
Meanwhile, the Toshiba Ultrabook
has an Intel i3-4010U processor,
which does not have the Turbo
capabilities of the i5-4200U.
The Toshiba M50s graphics card
is an Nvidia GeForce GT 740M,
while elsewhere, theres 6GB of
DDR3 memory and a 750GB hard
disk. Thats plenty of storage
capacity, but were not exactly
expecting great speed from that
drive it spins at just 5,400rpm
rather than 7,200rpm. If youre after
Media performance is hampered by

average speakers. Theres not
enough volume to ll much
beyond a small bedroom, and bass
is barely present. It ended up
sounding pretty tinny and
uncomfortable in the top-end.
The M50 is a mid-range machine,
but its pretty clear that Toshibas
budget has swung towards the
components. The Core i5 processor
is one of the fastest weve seen in
a mid-range notebook, and the
discrete Nvidia core is better than
integrated Intel chipsets and the
Radeon silicon inside AMDs APUs.
The lack of cash for the panel,
storage and design shows, though,
with poor screen quality and mixed
chassis strength. However, its rivals
are no better in this regard every
other machine weve mentioned
makes do with a 1,366 x 768 panel
of middling quality and they all
suer from typically plasticky
construction. The Toshiba, instead,
makes up some ground in the
benchmarks. Its dedicated graphics
and latest generation processor
ensure that it works quickly. Its
a bit pricier than the competition,
but if you prize power over build
quality then its better value than
its rivals and the added speed will
see this machine last longer, too. Q
get inside, too theres no smaller

panel to provide access to the
memory slots and hard disk, and
we couldnt budge the base even
after removing loads of screws.
The Toshiba M50 is denitely
no Ultrabook and its meaty 2.2kg
weight is heavy for a laptop of this
type. Its 22mm thickness is more
impressive nearly 2mm slimmer
than Intels ocial specication for
larger Ultrabooks and matches
the size of the Satellite U50t. Its
also much slimmer than the
29mm-thick Lenovo. The wrist rest
The M50 is a mid-range machine, but its

pretty clear that Toshibas budget has
swung towards the components
pace, the Samsung has an SSD,
although its capacity is restricted
to a mere 128GB.
Connectivity includes dual-band
802.11n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet and
Bluetooth 4.0. The Ethernet port
sits on the right-hand edge along
with two USB 3 connections and
an HDMI output, and the machines
left-hand side houses a USB 2
connection, audio jack and SD card
reader. Its an acceptable port
selection, although Toshiba has
omitted a VGA output. Theres
no room for a DVD writer either.
It is a pretty smart-looking
machine, but it doesnt do anything
new in terms of physical design.
We found it almost impossible to
is sturdy, but the screen exed

backwards and forwards a lot, and
the base panel feels imsy. Wed
protect this machine with a decent
case before slinging it in a bag.
The Toshibas battery lasted
3 hours 34 minutes in high
performance mode, with this gure
extending to 4 hours 42 minutes
when using power saver. Thats
a pretty decent result, but the
Toshiba Ultrabook managed to
squeeze out six hours in total. The
keyboard quality is good and the
keys have a consistent action that
lends itself to speedy typing.
Theyre responsive, but if were
quibbling wed prefer the keys to
be a little heavier with a bit more
The performance of this laptop is

very good for the money, but we
really dont like the build quality.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
Help & Advice |
89
WorldMags.net
Garretts personality is
intact, despite the reboot
Every trap in the game

is powered by string
Thief
Gets the details right, but misses the grand prize
Price 30 | $49.99
Developer Eidos Montreal
Publisher Square Enix
Multiplayer None DRM Steam Web www.thiefgame.com
Recommended specs Quad core CPU, 4GB RAM, 2GB GPU
Lets start with the

good news. Eidos
Montreal listened to
negative feedback
from fans of the Thief series
and dialled back on the
quicktime events and slow
motion nonsense.
Beyond the standard spread
of diculty modes, custom
settings enable purists to
disable everything they feel
intrudes on their game. You
can play Thief with campaignspanning permadeath,
quicksaves disabled, or the
stipulation that being
detected at all constitutes
mission failure.
90
After a tutorial on the

rudiments of stealth, Thief
opens strong. The rst wave
of relief hit early, during
a jewellery shop heist mid-way
through the opening chapter.
Id jimmied a rear window and
slipped in, swiping cups and
inkpots from shelves before
sliding into a side room where
a guard lay dozing in
an armchair. I extinguished
some candles and, in the dark,
began to crack a safe
embedded in the wall. This
involved a simple minigame
where each tumbler was
unlocked by feeling for a
sweet spot. Crack it at the right
time and the action is silent.

Fail, and the lock clicks loudly.
I failed on the second tumbler.
The guard woke up, but
remained in his chair. I darted
behind it and waited until he
went back to sleep, listening
to the sound of his breathing.
I always played Thief games for
these near-misses, and in that
instant I felt like Garrett again.
On a moment-by-moment
level, Thief delivers on the
fantasy of being Garrett as
well as if not better than its
predecessors. Much is owed to
the way the game feels. The
game takes place at night, but
colour is used to distinguish
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areas and make it clear when

youre concealed in shadow.
This is matched with a spread
of audio-visual tricks that ll in
for Garretts instincts. Guards
have multiple levels of
awareness, and if someone
catches sight of you, the rst
youll know of it is a stirring on
the soundtrack that conveys
the sense that youre being
watched. In combat, your
vision narrows; when sprinting
the world seems to contract
around your point of focus.
Mixed bag
When it all comes together,
Thief feels dextrous, physical
and uid to play. Many
interactions are context
sensitive jumping and
climbing in particular and
where problems emerge its
because Garrett doesnt do
quite what you expect.
Sometimes youll peek around
a corner when you intended
to steal something from the
top of a table, and sometimes
youll jump to your death
when you thought you were
facing a gap you could easily
cross. These are issues, but
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Upgrade
Play this
A small supporting cast

provides side missions
Earn skill points by having

tea with little old ladies
Clockwork puzzles are a
hazard of Garretts job
Slow down or mess up and

youre killed by dogs
eventually you learn to look

before you leap.
The cost of this tactile
traversal is that the freedom of
movement provided by
Garretts gadgets has been
curtailed. Rope arrows only
lodge into pre-determined
points, making them ways of
accessing pre-designed
hidden routes rather than
a means to create your own.
Water arrows serve their
purpose, but the presence of
electric lights in many
buildings deactivated
by switches that can be hit
with regular arrows renders
them situational. Moss arrows
are gone, and a variety of
lethal options went unused
as the game (happily) didnt
require me to kill anybody.
Focus is an upgradable
vision mode that makes use of
Garretts enhanced eye. Magic
vision can be a bit of a pain in
stealth games, but in Thief its
a little better than usual. You
can use it to detect interactive
items, and by investing skill
points you can add functions
such as slowing time,
perceiving the inside of locks,
or unlocking the ability to

stun any alert guards.
The City plays the role of
mission hub, not only linking
chapters but oering a range
of activities of its own. The
majority of side missions are
single-room stealth or puzzle
challenges, but half a dozen
take place in entirely new
areas small but open-ended
environments that suit Thiefs
tight take on stealth.
Any mission can be replayed
at any time if you wish to go
back and try for a better
rating. Theres also a challenge
mode, accessed from the main
menu, that enables you
to make timed runs on
reworked versions of certain
mission areas. Factor in secret
areas and special loot, and
Thief has good mileage
beyond its initial running time.
Looted
A warning for long-time fans:
this is a reboot. The old
factions are gone and Garretts
backstory has been entirely
discarded. Key motifs return,
but the result is incoherent.
Entire plot threads go
nowhere and on the whole

it feels cobbled together
despite some adept moments.
Thiefs previous selves
surface occasionally as ugly
reminders of the game that
almost was, and the campaign
is inconsistent as a result. The
missions that focus around
actual thieving are strong.
Elsewhere, not so much. Youll
dodge bits of an exploding
building and attempt to evade
guards in a boxed-in area right
out of Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Youll explore a haunted
mental institute that has none
of the brilliance of Deadly
Shadows haunted orphanage.
There are a couple of boss
encounters better than Deus
Ex: Human Revolution, but,
yeah. Boss encounters.
Certain areas are linked by
brief third-person climbing
sequences straight out of
Assassins Creed. Then theres
a chase sequence that gets
Thief about as wrong as is
possible you dash across
rooftops and steer Garrett into
cinematic scrape after
cinematic scrape. Screw up
and youre killed by dogs.
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
The team at Eidos clearly

know a lot about interaction
design, and enough about
level construction to build
exciting places to plunder, but
its a shame this competence
hasnt been matched to
a more coherent vision.
Thief the series has been
many things, but it has always
been important. It might be
unfair to expect a modern
reboot to capture that
catalytic re. This is a decent
stealth game thats nice to
play and many will enjoy.
If you feared the worst, you
can rest a little easier. But the
thing about evading disaster
is that sometimes greatness
slips away as well. Q
Great in places, but doesnt
live up to its potential. Its let
down by its inconsistency.
Help & Advice |
91
WorldMags.net
QTEs abound. There are doors that
take ve of the things to open
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

A mess RIDZHGV\VWHPVWKDWPDQDJHVWRPDNHSOD\LQJDV'UDFXODERULQJDVKHOO
Price 29.99 | $59.99
Developer MercurySteam
Publisher Konami
Multiplayer None DRM Steam Web www.konami-castlevania.com
Recommended specs i5-2500K, AMD 7850, 8GB RAM
My name is Gabriel
Belmont, the latest in
a long line of
renowned vampire
hunters. At the end of
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow,
things went a bit south,
and I became Dracula.
At the outset of this sequel,
I awake from a thousand-year
slumber in a future-gothic
London, stripped of most
of my powers but within
a couple of hours of play Im
back up to full strength. Im
the Prince of Darkness, so
why am I spending so much
of my time cowering in it,
disguised as a rat?
92
The games setup gives its

Spanish developer,
MercurySteam, a level of
creative freedom that is
unprecedented in Castlevania.
This is a series that has spent
25 years casting players as the
guy hunting Dracula, not
playing him. Its been set in
gothic fantasy worlds, not
grounded in reality. As
a concept, Lords of Shadow 2 is
full of potential. MercurySteam
spends most of its 20-hour
runtime squandering the lot.
Vampire rat
Take the interminable stealth
sections, the chief mechanical
addition to the rst games

blend of linear platforming
and third-person melee
combat. Belmont spends a lot
of the rst hours of the game,
and far too much of the rest of
it, sneaking through the
headquarters of an evil
pharmaceutical company
evading armoured demonic
guards. His magical powers
are disabled except for the
ability to transform into a rat
and sneak through small
spaces. He can follow
a ventilation network into an
adjacent room, or chew on
cables to cut the power. Quite
why the developers chose
WorldMags.net
a rat is anyones guess

perhaps someone misheard
vampire bat and no one
realised until it was too late
to change anything.
The games stealth element
is profoundly linear, leaving
no room for experimentation.
When you do fail, stingy
checkpointing often drops
you three rooms back from
where you fell. Its miserable
stu that reaches its nadir two
thirds of the way through
this is when you have to
traverse a garden in
the underworld while evading
a goat-headed pursuer wholl
insta-kill if he catches you. Its
WorldMags.net
Upgrade
Play this
Launch foes into the

air to break their attacks
Say Ahhh
The famous Chaos

Claws in action
When Christopher Lee chewed

the scenery, he didnt do it literally
Vampire slaps
The tools of Draculas demon-thumping trade
Chaos Whip
The Belmont clans standard
issue vamp-thwacker. Decent
damage and range.
Chaos Claws
Surrounds our heros hands in
a ery glow. Heavy damage
that breaks enemy shields.
Void Sword
Recharges your health bar
with every successful hit. Its
damage output is piing.
a section so unspeakably
infuriating and poorlydesigned that Im getting
angry just thinking about it.
The potential of the setting
is similarly wasted. Too much
of the action is set in drab
medical facilities, sewer
networks and tower blocks.
One section took me to an
underground car park, then an
elevator leading to a cutscene,
then back in the lift and down
to the car park for a ght,
followed by a basic
environmental puzzle, and
another elevator. Im Dracula.
Cant I just turn into a swarm
of bats and y in through
the window?
Combat involves switching
between Belmonts signature
whip and Draculas famous
health-recharging Void Sword
and heavy-hitting Chaos
Claws. Just as Bram Stoker
wrote it. Use of the latter is
regulated by a pair of magic
meters recharged in combat
by lling a combo bar that
empties as soon as you take
a hit. Which you will, thanks to
the wayward camera that
makes it next to impossible
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
to track where the next attack

is coming from. And while
a well-timed press of the block
button will parry an attack,
unblockables must be
dodged. Every enemy in the
game has an unblockable, and
every single one uses the
exact same sound eect, so
good luck with that.
Its baing that developers
who garnered such acclaim for
their successful 3D reinvention
of a long-running series could
not only fail to improve on
their formula with the sequel,
but make a game thats worse
in almost every possible way.
Who ever thought that playing
as Dracula would be so
thoroughly dull? Q
A miserable mix of awed
gaming mechanics. Deadly
dull and a leap backwards.
Help & Advice |
93
WorldMags.net
Chainsaw, meet shotgun
Resident Evil 4 HD
When the framerate holds, this undead classic is better than ever
Price 15 | $20
Developer Capcom
Publisher In-house
Multiplayer None DRM Steam Web www.residentevil.com/re4pc
Recommended specs 2.7GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 1024MB GPU
Resident Evil 4 is nine

years old, and is still
the best action game
weve ever played.
Its masterfully paced in a
way that few games have
ever achieved a gauntlet
of creative set pieces that
show creator Shinji Mikami
and developer Capcom at
the height of their powers.
Its a game of enormous
signicance, but one that
experienced a rough ride on
PC with its original port.
By contrast, this updated
HD version of Resident Evil 4 is
the best version of the game
weve played, and we beat it
94
on the GameCube and the Wii.

We wish it was perfect, but its
not quite there occasional
slowdown and a few interface
issues are minor aws in an
otherwise fantastic port.
If youve dodged Resi 4 in
anticipation of a port like this,
you should know that the
story is intentionally cheesy
but frequently entertaining.
Leon S Kennedy, curtainhaired hero of Resident Evil 2, is
dispatched to a vague part of
Spain to rescue the presidents
daughter from Los Ganados,
infected villagers who
function similarly to zombies.
What starts as ambiguously
scary becomes increasingly

daft as melodramatic gures
like knife-wielding maniac Jack
Krauser and tiny Napoleonic
man Ramon Salazar step into
the frame as main antagonists.
Aged like ne vino

This story facilitates many
excellent setpieces, including
chase sequences, scraps with
blind creatures that operate
on sound, and showdowns
over lava pits with trolls. The
combat was the anti-Resi
when it debuted. Its all about
precision headshots, welltimed melee attacks and
crowd control it was
WorldMags.net
progressive enough in 2004

to still be satisfying today. It
remains thrilling when we nail
four swarming Ganados with a
shotgun blast, still tense when
we face down an unrelenting
Iron Maiden before it impales
Leon with its deadly spikes.
Playing on PC only makes
the game better. We thought
the precision of the mouse
might make headshots too
easy, but on normal diculty,
Resident Evil 4 still feels
remarkably balanced.
Headshots are easier, yes, but
the tougher enemies soak up
the bullets, and swarms can
still overwhelm and cause you
to miss shots. That tuned-toperfection over-the-shoulder
camera angle keeps you
vulnerable as you take aim. We
jumped with surprise a couple
times as Ganados sneaked up
from outside my eld of view.
While mouse support
works for shooting, its poorly
integrated with the rest of the
interface. You cant use the
mouse to move items in the
attache case and have to use
a combination of [Backspace]
and [Page Up]/[Page Down]
WorldMags.net
Oh god, oh god, oh god
Upgrade
Play this
Leon Kennedy: deep thinker
Saddlers sinister plot involves

parasites and dressing gowns
Eat lead. Ha! Get it?
The phrase Napoleon

complex taken to its
logical conclusion
The Iron Maidens look

sharper than ever
for the inventorys Tetris-like

arrangement instead.
Those keys cant be
remapped, which is annoying.
Another quibble: two buttons
used for the games often
superb quicktime events, [X]
and [C], are hard to press with
ngers are poised over [W]|
[A][S][D]. Thankfully, you can
remap more important keys.
The Xbox 360 controller is also
fully supported.
The most signicant
additions Capcom made to
this version of Resident Evil 4
higher denition textures and
a locked 60fps framerate are
adjustable in the graphics
options settings. The game
defaults to the new HD
textures and 60fps, but also

includes the original textures
and a 30fps option too.
We played the game at
1,920 x 1,200 and 2,560 x
1,440 on two PCs thanks to
Steam Cloud support, and the
character models and lighting
both held up pretty well.
Some environmental textures
are mottled and ugly, but
most are surprisingly detailed.
After playing at 60fps, the
original framerate feels
comically sluggish.
Theres a problem with
that locked 60fps, though. If
anything causes the game to
dip below 60, it starts moving
in slow motion. This typically
happens when graphical
eects like the heat waves

around a torch appear on
screen, but we also sat
through a pair of cutscenes at
40-50fps, video lagging four
or ve seconds behind the
audio. Most of this happened
on an older Radeon 5970, but
we experienced it once or
twice on newer Radeon 7870
and R9 290X GPUs too.
Even with intermittent
slowdown issues on older
hardware, wed call this the
denitive version of Resident
Evil 4. Its clean and sharp at
1440p, mouse aiming feels
fantastic without being
game-breaking, and 60fps
feels as smooth as it should.
Resident Evil 4 itself feels as
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
impeccably designed as ever,

a high point against which
other third-person shooters
should be judged. If Capcom
Frankensteins some 8K
textures into it in another 10
years, well probably buy that
version, too. Q
One of the best action games
ever nally has a worthy, if
imperfect, PC incarnation.
Help & Advice |
95
WorldMags.net
And suspiciously
yellow, too
Jazzpunk
Cowboys, cyborgs and bums whats not to love?
Price 12 | $14.99
Developer Necrophone Games
Publisher Adult Swim
Multiplayer None DRM None Web www.jazzpunk.net
Recommended specs 1.8GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 512MB GPU
When every
interaction
in a game leads to an
Easter egg, you get
something like Jazzpunk. Its
a rst-person comedy
adventure about espionage
and technology, although
to describe it as such is
to misjudge the ratio of
comedy to adventure.
Instead, picture the word
comedy in block capitals,
surrounded by neon ashing
lights. Also, imagine the letter
m has been formed from
a pair of bum cheeks, and
theyre mooning the word
adventure. I didnt say the
96
humour was always high-brow

and sophisticated.
You play Polyblank, a secret
agent working out of
Darlington Station. Assigned
various missions by the
agencys Director (think James
Bonds M as scripted by Guy
Ritchie), youre sent to explore
a world where cyberpunk and
1960s spy thrillers have
collided in a retro alternate
reality that is lled with robots,
cyborgs and a wee dash of
Cold War paranoia.
Explore is the operative
word. To focus exclusively on
the missions would be to miss
out on Jazzpunks funniest
moments, and also the

majority of its three and a bit
hours running time. You have
objectives, and your path to
them is blocked by the lightest
of puzzling, but they never
feel like the main attraction.
Instead, youre compelled to
scour every area and interact
with every object in your
quest for humour.
The sheer number of
comedic asides is quite
extraordinary. Whether its
minor characters delivering
computer puns, weird
interactions from your rolling
selection of gadgets, or
unexpected minigames found
WorldMags.net
in corners of the map, it seems

as if every character and
object is hiding something
funny. Jazzpunk is a game in
which clicking on something
as simple as a fruit bowl can
lead to an unexpected
encounter that is designed
to make you chuckle.
Much like Blendo Games
Gravity Bone or Thirty Flights
of Loving, Jazzpunk makes
great use of cinematic editing
to sell its theme. Rather than
being the focus, though, these
are skits: a dramatic ourish to
announce your inltration, or
a split-screen mission brieng
that eciently sets the mood.
Nor does the appropriation
of lm techniques mean the
humour is passive. Even the
best modern comedy games,
like Portal 2 or The Stanley
Parable, regularly fall back on
simply delivering their lines. If
the secret to comedy
is timing, goes the thinking,
its easier to keep the player
out of the equation. Jazzpunk
is unusual in how often it lets
you play inside the joke. Youre
regularly asked to be a
participant and are trusted
WorldMags.net
Like you wouldnt
give it a go
Upgrade
Play this
A sushis eye view
of the action
Even the maps are

silly-looking
Er, yeah. About

that, fellas
...and dont call me Shirley

Jazzpunks best worst puns
Ive got some How dare

upcoming gigs. they try
Almost a and
terabyte.
control
me?
Am I... Turing
you on?
Do you like me
in kimono or
kistereo?
Actually, better
make that a double
to stretch out or delay the

punchline accordingly.
Despite its disparate and
surreal collection of jokes,
Jazzpunk is kept grounded by
its visual design. The thick
black outline that surrounds
each character gives the game
a cartoon sensibility. Because
of this, even the strangest
ights of fancy feel as if they
are in keeping with its style.
All of this the design, the
jokes and the plot combine
to make a game that, despite
its absurdity, feels like a
complete package. While the
occasional joke doesnt quite
work, it never sours the
experience. While playing
Jazzpunk, you always know
that youre only a few steps
WorldMags.net
June 2014 |
away from something that

will make you giggle. That
Jazzpunk so frequently caused
me to laugh is a sign that its
a great comedy game. Days
later, Im still ghting the urge
to blurt out its best moments
surely this is a mark of
a unique and lasting game. Q
Stylish, inventive and funny,
Jazzpunk just wants to make
you laugh. Dont worry, it will.
Help & Advice |
97
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This issue weve complied the
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Jeremy Ford Disc editor
jeremy.ford@futurenet.com
ESSENTIAL RESOURCES
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documents with Foxit Reader
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two monitors with DisplayFusion
60 Let Defraggler tidy up your

hard drive for a faster PC
78 Use Classic Shell to make your

Windows 8 PC feel like Windows 7
Step-by-step How to use your free disc
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Place your free disc into your computers disc drive. The
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Read it, then click on I agree to continue.
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Full commercial products usually have information about how
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Your disc
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Make the most of it!
FIND THE SOLUTION! How to get your disc to play

If the disc doesnt start automatically, hit the Windows key, then
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When you begin to install your chosen applications, the
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June 2014 |
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WIDE SCREEN

HOW TO VIDEO CHAT

CLEAN YOUR HARD

Plus essential tips for

Help & support

100% jargon free

This issue is absolutely packed with the best Windows

Nicholas Odantzis acting editor

Help & Advice |

64 Customise your Windows PC

72 Book recommendation sites

32 Subscriptions Get a free

42 Reader offers Weve a selection

Help & Advice | June 2014

EXPLORE The best PC tutorials

Each month we include as wide a range of tutorials

48 Expand your desktop

28 Launch applications your

50 Get perfect pictures (for free!)

34 Use TouchMe Gesture Studio

54 Go mining for Litecoins and

38 Find out how to make music

56 Encrypt your data and make

40 Master the basics of

60 Clean up your PC and

44 Discover the world of Steam

Want more? Visit our website at

Get a free Sennheiser PC 21

80 Our expert reviews

92 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

64 Turn your desktop from

Help & Advice |

YOUR TUBE Distinctive personalities

Help & Advice | June 2014

Have a shot at fame

ack in 1968, artist Andy Warhol

channel rather than using your Google

Its simply a question

ONLINE EDITING $GGVRPHQLVKLQJWRXFKHV

JUST A TRIM You can remove parts of your videos

PLAYLIST To the right youll see all your content,

READY FOR BROADCAST Once youve nished

Help & Advice |

Clean your desktop

Time for a change

Struggling to get something to work? Need a tip?

Tip of the month

The bigger screen

SCREEN DREAMS Windows 8's

Youll also need the screen itself, which

Help & Advice | June 2014

Britain best broadband?

Ofcom report touts UK internet as the best in the EU,

fcom, the telecommunications

There is, however, one massive caveat

PIXLR EDITOR We dont think our art team

World wide web

Spotify has just

NEXT ISSUE ON SALE

MIT researchers have

Answers 1C, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5A, 6C

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TOP IMDB FACTS

By 1993 it had outgrown its newsgroup format

Windows 7 Help & Advice - June 2014

Windows 7 Help & Advice - June 2014