Computer Active - April 2013

PUBLISHING

ALL NEWHints & tips for Firefox

April 2013 Vol.8 Issu e 4

PROJECTSStrips easeRelocate your data

Chat in the dockYou know the type

NOKIA Lumia 920

100only!

KICKOUT PCGREMLINSHow to get of irritating error messages and keep your PC running smoothly

YOUR FRIENDLY GUIDE TO PCS + GADGETS + THE WEB

http://www.in.norton.com/support

http://www.blingaccessories.in

mailto:[email protected]

4 Computer active April 2013

WELCOME TO COMPUTERACTIVECONTENTS

All of us at some point or the other haveencountered unexpected errors while usingWindows. In our lead story we explain the causesand cures for many of these. People have mixedreactions about social networks, we put Twitterthrough it's paces. Besides these, this issue is full of

informative articles, news, workshops and more.Happy holidays!

Amit Tewari, Editor

[email protected]

From the Editor

10 LettersStay away from Linux

16 News round-upTrend Micro launches Worry-

Free Business Security

22 Norton 360 Premier Edition

23 Nokia Lumia 920

24 Plantronics Marque 2 M165

Plantronics Voyager Legend

26 HTC Butterfly Sandisk ReadyCache 32GB

28 Ashampoo WinOptimizer 10

Cowon EM1

30 Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos I9082Nuance PDF Converter Professional 8

31 F&D A111F

72 Game

WORKSHOPS56 Send form letters to different

people

60 Make Windows 8 work likeWindows 7

63 Make a never-ending mousepointer

64 Create 3D sculptures

68 Add colours to Windows folders

69 Hints & Tips

FEATURES32 Kick out PC gremlins

Unfortunately, encountering errorswhile using Windows can be afrequent occurrence. We explainthe causes and cures to dozens ofeveryday frustrations

42 You know the typeBeing a two-finger typist canbe slow going. We explore waysto speed up keyboard input

45 Strips easeFancy yourself as a web-comics creator? We explainhow you can create and shareyour own cartoons andanimations

48 Relocate your dataSwitching computers mayseem daunting. We explain howto transfer all your files, foldersand data seamlessly and safely

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

NEWS & VIEWS PROJECTS

FEATURES51 Chat in the dock

Many people think Twitter is full oftwaddle. Computeractive puts thesocial network for chatterboxes ontrial and explains how it works

74 No Problem

PROJECTS

REVIEWS

32PAGE

23PAGE

45PAGE

51PAGE

69PAGE


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YOUR FRIENDLY GUIDE TO PCS + GADGETS + THE WEB

Editor & Publisher

Amit Tewari

Senior Feature Writer

Anirban Roy

Contributors

Mark Wilson, Niall Magennis, Paul Townsend,

Paul Allen, Rob Beattie, Scott Colvey, Tim Smith

Creative Director & Head Production

Atul Bandekar

Design

Nandkishor Sawant

Image Desk

Deepak Narkar, Ravi Parmar

Illustrators

Ian Jackson, Nick Palmer, Tom Steyer,

Ajay Paradkar

Photography

Mahesh Reddy, Sharonjit Samrai

Product Manager

Perseus Master

Asstt. Operations Manager

Circulation

Sanjeev Roy

Asstt. Circulation Manager

Kapil Kaushik, Delhi

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DISCLAIMERReaders are reminded that the opinions expressed,

and the results published in connection with

reviews and/or laboratory test reports carried out on

computing systems and/or related items, are

confined to, and are representative of, only those

goods as supplied and should not be construed as a

recommendation to purchase. Whilst every

precaution is taken to ensure that reliability and

good business practices prevail, the Publisher

cannot be held responsible for the overall trading

activities of any supplier referred to, or advertising

within, this publication.

Next Gen Publishing Ltd. 2nd Floor, C Wing , Trade World, Kamala Mills

Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W),

Mumbai 400013

Tel: +91-22-43525252 Fax: +91-22-24955394

Email: [email protected]

© 2013 Dennis Publishing Ltd.

All rights reserved.

Published with the permission of Dennis Publishing

Ltd. Reproduction in any manner in any language in

whole or in part without prior written permission from

Dennis Publishing Ltd & NGPL with regard to their

respective content is prohibited.

Printed by Amit Tewari Next Gen Publishing Ltd.,

2nd Floor, C Wing, Trade World, Kamala Mills

Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W),

Mumbai 400013. Published by Amit Tewari on

behalf of Next Gen Publishing Ltd., 2nd Floor,

C Wing, Trade World, Kamala Mills Compound,

Senapati Bapat Mar, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai

400013. Printed at Kalajyothi Process Pvt. Ltd,

1-1-60/5 RTCX Roads, Hyderabad - 20.

Published at Next Gen Publishing Ltd.,

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Lower Parel (W), Mumbai 400013.

Editor: Amit Tewari

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Vol. 8 Issue 4Branch offices

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LETTERSNEWS & VUEWS

Bigger monitorWith regard to the letter in anearlier issue about

Computeractive’s coverage of AppleMac computers, I too would like morecoverage of alternative operatingsystems to Windows.

I’ve been using a borrowed pair of22in monitors on my PC for six monthsand have now returned them. I’vereally enjoyed using two screens andlike the extra size, so I’mcontemplating my options for buyingreplacements.

While a straight replacement wouldbe ok, it seems to me that the pricedifference between a 22in monitor anda 22in TV is very close, so is there anyreason why I shouldn’t buy one TV andone monitor, giving me the flexibilityof having a TV attached to my PC?

It appears that screen resolution andtechnical capability of a modern TV is

Have Your SayYour opinion counts! Join the debate

on any issue raised in Computeractive

Text to speechI am writing to you as adisabled person. I own an

old Kindle Keyboard and a friendof mine, who is also disabled, ownsa new Kindle. Unfortunately, heisn’t able to use the new Kindle ashe has difficulty reading due topoor eyesight and requires thetext-to-speech function on theKindle to read the books to him.While text to speech is availableon my Kindle Keyboard, it is noton his new Kindle – somethingthat you failed to mention in yourreview. Personally, I think thatAmazon has taken a big stepbackwards and removed a much-needed feature.

Rajveer Sing

I have to take issue with the notion

that Linux is easy to install and use.

I’m a retired IT professional; I was a

software-development team leader

for 20 years and have also been a

programmer and analyst.

I last worked as a support

programmer on various computer

systems.

I have an old Sony Vaio FX301

laptop, bought new in 2001, that still

works well enough. I decided to

install Linux (as a dual boot with

Windows XP) as I had read articles

suggesting that it would perform

better with this operating system. I

installed version 6 of Ubuntu and it

worked very well.

Then Ubuntu

suggested an upgrade to

version 11, which I allowed to

proceed. Big mistake!

This ‘improved’ version did not

install any drivers for the wireless

card, nor did it appear that any were

available. Is this the way to

encourage people to use free

software such as Ubuntu? No, it most

definitely is not. Windows is far and

away easier to use, in all respects.

Until it is as easy to get devices to

work on Ubuntu as it is on Windows, I

shall be staying away from Linux.

Harshada Khan

Stay away from LinuxSTAR

LETTER

CONTACT COMPUTERACTIVE

[email protected]

Letters,CA, Next Gen PublishingLtd., 2nd Floor, C Wing, TradeWorld, Kamala Mills Compound,Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel(W), Mumbai 400013 .

We cannot offer technical assistance or reply personally to

correspondence but all letters are read by our staff.

Letters and emails may be edited for publication on this page or on

our blog at www.computeractive.co.uk/blog. Please mark your

message ‘not for publication’ if you would prefer it not to be shared.

almost identical to a similar-sizedmonitor. Is that right or am I missingsomething?

Raghuveer Das

Cable tie-insI get furious when I readreviews in magazines and

online of perfectly good printers andpeople only give it four starsbecause there was no USB cable.Since when did printers include USBcables? None of the printers I havebought have included USB cablesand most people have USB cablesfrom old printers anyway. Fairenough for people buying a printerfor the first time, but can peoplestop taking stars off reviews justbecause it doesn’t include a USBcable?

Uday Desai

Last month’s winner:Ajita Kapoor


http://www.computeractive.co.uk/blog

http://www.iball.co.in


The decision of the judges will be final and binding and no queries shall be entertained. The employees of Abacus Peripherals and Next Gen Publishing cannot participate in this contest. Participants can also send their entries by

fax or photocopies at the Next Gen mailing address listed on colophon page. Winners will be decided by Lucky draw.Winner Will be awarded with 1GB PC667 DDR ZION RAM

1) Modern Computers represent characters and numbersinternally using one of the following number systems _______

a) Hexa �

b) Octal �

c) Binary �

d) None of the above �

2) Smallest storage unit of a computer is-a) Pixel �

b) Horse power �

c) Watt �

d) Bit �

3) Buy now Pay later is commonly used for-a) Visa card �

b) Master Card �

c) Debit Card �

d) None of the above �

WIN !

QUIZ 72

Name: _________________________________________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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&

CONGRATULATIONS!The winner of Quiz no.71 is Geetanjali Bose , Kolkata


Now, the fun at Computer Interactive gets even morerewarding! Take a crack at this ZION-ComputeractiveQuiz and win! The contents of this issue contain theanswers! So, read, find the answers and shoot before30th April 2013 win a zany ZION RAM.

Mail to [email protected] with the subject-line: ComputerInteractive Quiz No. 72


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NEWS ROUND-UPNEWS & VUEWS

McAfee recentlyannounced McAfeeApplication Control

for Android is the onlysecurity solution thatresides in the Androidkernel, embedded in theoperating system. McAfeeprovides protection from theinstallation or execution of amalicious application on anAndroid-based device.McAfee also providesprotection at the applicationlayer to Android devices.

The McAfee EmbeddedControl solution provides

SECURITY SUITE

CAMERA

Olympus adds 8 new cameras to its Stylus portfolio

tamper proof protection,superior operational controlof devices in the field andease of management withAndroid devices. Previously,embedded engineers hadonly a single operatingsystem option –Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux)–if they wanted to haveenforceable securitycapabilities for their

embeddedsystem.

Prior toMcAfeeEmbedded

Control, Android securityapplications only operated atthe user level, leavingdevices vulnerable tosystem-level attacks. McAfeeremoves this security gapwith a kernel residingsecurity solution to improvesecurity for the entireAndroid stack.

McAfee EmbeddedControl blocks unauthorized

applications and changes onfixed-function, point-of-service infrastructures,including retail devices,medical devices, industrialcontrol systems, officeequipment, gaming devices,automotive, and variousmilitary and aerospacedevices.

For more information onMcAfee Embedded Controlvisit:http://www.mcafee.com/us/products/embedded-control.aspx

OlympusImagingIndia

Private Limitedannounced thelaunch of 8 newcameras acrossits OlympusStylus brand.Adding XZ-2 andthe XZ-10 knownfor supremeimage quality,SZ-16 and theSH-50 known for brilliantperformance over varyingconditions of light, the VG-165, VG-180 and VG-190known for easy and funshooting for daily consumerusage and the muchapplauded and muchdiscussed Tough - TG-2 toIndian shelves, Olympusnow looks to define thisnewly emerging sector inimaging.

With the launch of these

cameras, Olympus hasshown that it is ready toadapt to changing times asthe compact camerasegment falls to thesmartphone camera. At sucha point of time, the advancedpoint-and-shoot, anadvanced breed of camerashas taken much of theimaging world by surprisewith superb imaging qualityat extremely competitiveprices.

MEMORRY

Sony PlayStation unleashes PS3 in threecolourful variants

Sony PlayStation,announces the launchof the PlayStation 3 in

three new body colours.Besides the principal charcoal

Black, PS3500 GB willsoon beavailable inClassicWhite,Garnet Redand AzuriteBlue. Theattractivecolourvariant comeswith anadditionalDualshockcontroller ofthe samebody colourfree of cost.Theseswanky newcolourvariants,

can be purchased for aspecial price of Rs. 23,490/- and is alreadyavailable at all leadingoutlets.

McAfee launches Security solution forAndroid Embedded Systems

http://www.mcafee.com/us/products/embedded-control.aspx



April 2013 Computer active 15

NEWS ROUND-UPNEWS & VIEWS

Google launchesofficial Hindi input appfor Android platform

IN BRIEF

Google launches the Google Hindi

Input app on Google Play. If you have

an Android smartphone or tablet,

Google Hindi Input is the quickest

and easiest way to compose emails,

send messages and post on social

networks using Devanagari script.

Google Hindi Input has two

methods for writing Hindi text. In

transliteration mode, you simply

type a Hindi word in English (like

namaste), and the app will

automatically convert the word to

Devanagari script.

security, users get high-end, enterpriseprotection without themanagement hassles orcosts

from Trend Micro SmartProtection Network tostop threats before theyreach users’ computers.With Worry-Free Business

STORAGE

Seagate celebrates two billion hard disk drives shipped

Trend MicroIncorporation, haslaunched

the latest edition of Worry-Free Business SecuritySolution that continues thesecurity promise andincorporates new featureswhich protects from webviruses, hackers, and cyberattacks.

Trend Micro Worry-FreeBusiness Security Advancedprovides fast, effective, andsimple-to-manageprotection, allowing usersto use PCs and Macswithout fear of interruptionor data loss. Trend Microhandles the onlineprotection so users and their employeescan focus on what they dobest, running their business.

Worry-Free means it runsquietly in the background sousers can focus on theirbusiness. It does this usingglobal threat intelligence

fueling theneed forstorage.Analystsestimate thatover 4 billionhours of user-generated

content is watched eachmonth on YouTube alone.While user generated high-definition camcorder video,still pictures, and smartphoneclip sharing storage needs areexpected to quadruple from2013 to 2015.

world, ittookSeagate 29years toreach onebillionunitsshippedand just four years toreach the second billionmilestone.

Digital content demandcontinues to stem from awide range of sources,including social mediaand mobile devices,

Sveagate Technology,announced it is thefirst hard disk drive

manufacturer to ship twobillion hard disk drives – astaggering number fueledby the explosive demandfor storage from mobileapplications, cloudinfrastructures, socialmedia, businessapplications and a widevariety of consumermarkets. A testament to thepivotal role played bystorage in today’s digital

SECURITY SUITE

Drag and drop To move an

item on screen by clicking it,

holding the left mouse button

down while moving the mouse,

then releasing the button where

you want it to be.

DVD A type of disc able to store

up to 8.5GB of video or data.

Memory key A type of memory

card made by Sony and used by

some of its products.

Operating system Governs

the way hardware and software

components in a computer work

together.

Router A device used to connect

more than one computer or other

device to the internet.

USB Universal Serial Bus. A

standard that allows quick and

easy connection of external

peripherals such as storage

devices to your PC. Devices can

be added or removed while your

PC is switched on.

JARGONBUSTERTechnobabble demystified...Trend Micro launches Worry-Free

Business Security



accelerate a suite of availablesoftware experiences that candramatically expand andenhance the user experience. Italso provides applications forface detection capability,

guesturecontrol, betterstreamingcapability andwirelesslytransfer yourcontent withany supportedTV or displaywith a DLNAreceiver, orwith other PCs.

Thisoptimized-for-

AMD software will come pre-loaded on select AMD Elite A-Series APU-based notebookslater this year and will bedownloadable fromwww.amd.com next month.

PROCESSOR

AMD unleashes A-Series APU

generation, and enhancedpower managementcapabilities on a single chip.

With faster performance1, 2and improved powermanagement in the sameplatform architecture as itspredecessor, coupled withAMD Radeon HD 8000 Seriesgraphics, the 2013 AMD EliteA-Series APUs build on theaward-winning history ofAMD’s original APU line-up tohelp users get the most out oftheir notebooks, whether atwork, at home or on-the-go.

The new AMD Elite A-Series APUs leverage thepower of the combinedcompute and graphics cores to

Toshiba launches its new range of 73.6 cm (29) LED TVs, speciallydesigned for India market

AMD announced the firstavailability of the AMDElite A-Series

Accelerated Processing Units(APUs), codenamed“Richland.” The new AMDElite A-Series APUs deliverinnovative user experienceslike facial log-in and gesturerecognition, improvedgraphics1 and computeperformance over the previous

Toshibarecentlystrengthened

its LED TVportfolio with thelaunch of its newrange of 73.6 cm(29) LED TVs inIndia. The newrange offers the 73.6cm (29) size fromToshiba’s twohighly popular LED TV series inIndia – PB200 andPU200 LED TVseries. The 29PB200and 29PU200models will beavailable acrossIndia at anintroductory price of Rs. 22,990/-, & Rs. 23,990/- respectively.

The new seriesamalgamate the key

make an informed purchasedecision – quality,performance, style, sound &power saving.

product attributes that are notonly highly advanced than aCRT TV, but whichconsumers think about, to

QNAP gets Technologyof the Year Award fromInfoWorld.com for NASTS-EC1279U-RP

IN BRIEF

QNAP, Inc. has been honored the 2013

Technology of the Year Award from

InfoWorld.com for its their flagship

device NAS TS-EC1279U-RP.

The TS-EC1279U-RP is a full-scale

business class network-attached

storage which incorporates an Quad-

core Intel Xeon E3-1225 3.1GHz

Processor, 4 GB DDR3 ECC RAM

(expandable RAM, up to 8GB), and can

house up to twelve hot-swappable and

lockable 3.5in or 2.5in SATA hard

drives, or SSD. The TS-EC1279U-RP

features 10GbE ready providing over

2,000 MB/s and 200,000 IOPS, and

delivers ultra-high performance

suitable for high-end SMBs and data

center environments demanding

efficient and large capacity storage

units and continuous up-time for

mission critical applications.

The TS-EC1279U-RP features

versatile applications for file storing,

sharing, backup and virtualization

solutions, paired with top-notch

hardware specifications. It supports

many critical business functions,

including Windows AD/LDAP Directory

Service, Windows ACL, iSCSI/IP-SAN

and NAS unified storage solution,

encrypted remote replication, Real-

Time Remote Replication (RTRR), cloud

storage backup, and more.

MONITOR

http://www.amd.com

http://InfoWorld.com

http://InfoWorld.com


http://www.dell.co.in/details


Zync, announced the muchawaited launch of threenew quad-core and dual-

core tablets in 7 inch, 8 inch, 9.7inch screen within the sub 14Krange all operating on the Jellybean 4.1 platform. Zync unveiledtwo quad core tablets namelyQuad 8.0 and Quad 9.7 that comewith a powerful 1.5Ghz processorand an internal 16GB memory,expandable to 32GB. The otherdual-core tablet namely Dual 7.0comes with a Dual coreprocessor along with otherfeatures such as Rechargeable

3000mAh LI-POBattery, Wifi,external storage,front and backcamera along with a 1.6Ghzprocessor.

The Zync Quad 9.7 comeswith an LED-backlit Super HDIPS Display and 10 point multitouch screen and is the onlyquad core tablet in India under

14K. The Quad 8.0 inch tabletwill be India’s first quad-

core tablet to hit themarket with a

powerful 1.5GHzprocessor. The tablet

has a 16GB internalmemory which is expandable

to 32GB. The other additionalfeatures present are 5 MP rearcamera, USB, external card slotetc are definitely going to addvalue to consumers. All thetablets offer add-on accessoriessuch as Earphones, USB DataCable & Charger with a one-yearwarranty.

TABLET

Nokia unveils two new phones- Lumia 720 & Lumia 520

wider viewing angles, andenhanced clarity in brightconditions thanks to softwareenhancements. Providing a richentertainment experience, NokiaLumia 720 includes Nokia Music,the HERE location suite, and theoption to add wireless chargingwith a snap-on wireless chargingcover.

The sleek and stylish NokiaLumia 720 delivers a high-endcamera performance at a mid-range price point. A large f/1.9aperture and exclusive Carl Zeissoptics are designed to deliverbright, sharp and clear picturesat any time of the day or night.The HD-quality 1.3 megapizelwide angle lens is perfect fortaking group portraits with

friends or makingvideo calls. Alongwith powerfulhardware andNokia digitalcamera lensesincluding

Cinemagraph, Smart Shoot andGlam Me, the Nokia Lumia 720makes it easy to capture andshare stunning pictures.

Available in 5 eye catchingcolours yellow, red, cyan, white,and black, the Nokia Lumia 720will be available in the market inmid April.

The Nokia Lumia 520 is Nokia'smost affordable Windows Phone8 smartphone, delivering richselection of innovations takenfrom the Nokia Lumia 920 andNokia Lumia 820. Powered byWindows Phone 8, this fun andcolorful addition to the NokiaLumia family contains many ofthe features as its high endsiblings including the samedigital camera lenses, as well asmaps and navigation from HERE,free music streaming and a fourinch super sensitive touchscreenfor a highly immersivesmartphone experience.

Digital camera lensestransform the 5-megapixel

autofocus camera on the NokiaLumia 520 into a fun way tocapture pictures and sharememories. Cinemagraph addsmotion to still images that canthen be shared with friends onFacebook, Twitter or via email.Smart Shoot lets people createthe perfect group picture, takingmultiple images and selecting thebest facial expressions fromeach, or even remove peoplefrom the shot. The easy to usePanorama lens captures super-wide-angled photos to take inmore of the scene.

Nokia Lumia 520 is available inyellow, red, cyan, white, andblack and with changeable shells,and is available in the marketfrom early April.

Nokia, launches two newadditions to its Lumiaseries, augmenting its

range of WP8 devices in Indiaacross price points.

Nokia Lumia 720 has anunibody design and is poweredby Qualcomm Snapdragon S4Plus mobile processor optimizedfor the Windows Phone 8experience. The highlyresponsive curved 4.3in ClearBlack Display with supersensitive touch brings aninnovative lamination process for

SMARTPHONE

Zync launches Dual 7.0, Quad 8.0 andQuad 9.7 on Android Jelly bean 4.1 underthe Sub 14k range

Hungama launchesMusic app acrossplatformsHungama.com launches a ‘Music

Application’ that is all set to change

the way users listen to and

experience music and videos across

devices.

The game changing app,

introduces for the first time, a Loyalty

feature that rewards you for every

action on the app. You can earn (and

redeem) points every time you watch

videos, play/share music, invite

friends or even create playlists.

Mood Discovery, another first,

finds and plays music to match your

mood. This feature allows you to

discover music based on your

preferences – Mood, Tempo,

Language, Genre or Era.

The free-to-download application

brings you an exhaustive catalogue

of music tracks & music videos from

over 2 million songs from Bollywood,

International, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Tamil,

Malayalam and other regional

content. The app offers a superior

user experience - better & faster play

of music and videos, great imagery

and a great search experience.

The Hungama music app is

available on the iOS, Android

platforms and a lite version is

available on the Blackberry 10.


http://Hungama.com


http://www.imsmercantiles.in

http://www.facebook.com/imsmercantiles



executive-stylemocha black, isjust 20millimeters thinand weighs amere 1.60 kgs.

It also offersan enhanceduser experiencewith 500GBstorage,UltraNavnavigation andmulti-touchscreen, 12.5in IPS350 nit high-definition multi-touch screenwith anti-scratch and anti-smudge Gorilla glass with awide viewing angle supportedby Dolby Home Theatre V4.

The ThinkPad Twist is

priced starting at INR 71,000(all inclusive Prices) and isavailable at Think ExclusiveStores and multi- brandoutlets across the country.

NOTEBOOK

Lenovo debuts Touch-enabled UltrabookThinkPad Twist in India

Lenovo India haslaunched theThinkPad Twist, a

stylish convertible from the‘Think’ line, which can beused as a tablet or a laptop.It also offers quickconversion to a stand or tentmode where the laptopbecomes a media presenter,giving an immersivemultimedia experience inthe boardroom or a coffeeshop. The Twist comes withWindows 8, loaded forenhanced performance andthe processors arepremeditated for lowerpower consumption that isideal for the requirementsof small and mediumbusinesses. The sleekThinkPad Twist available in

MODEM

TP-LINK Launches 300Mbps ADSL2+ Modem Router TD-W8968

TP-LINK, has announcedthe launch of the TD-W8968 300Mbps

Wireless N USB ADSL2+Modem Router in India, apowerful, multi-functionaland simple to install modemrouter featuring variousInternet access methods andversatile USB functions.

The 3-in-1 device combinesthe functions of a high speedDSL modem, an NAT routerand a wireless access point.With 4 LAN ports, it providesusers with a robust one-stopsolution to access and shareInternet connections wirelesslyat speeds of up to 300Mbps,allowing for seamless use ofbandwidth-sensitiveapplications such as HD Video

streaming, online gaming andInternet calls.

The device supports variousInternet access methods: ADSL,3G using the versatile USB portor Ethernet WAN (EWAN)connection using theinterchangeable LAN/WAN

port. It gives users thefreedom to choose theirpreferred Internet connectionfrom ADSL,VDSL/Cable/Fiber modemsand 3G modems. Users canselect 3G connectivity as anautomatic failover backupsolution if ADSL or EWANconnection is disconnected toensure that mission-criticaltasks are never interrupted.

With the TL-W8968’s multi-functional USB 2.0 port, userscan share printers, files or playmedia either throughout thenetwork at home with severaldifferent computers or evenaway, using the device’s FTPserver functions so that younever have to part with yourfiles.

Kingston DataTravelerSE9 honoured with iFProduct Design Award

Kingston, announced that the

Kingston DataTraveler SE9 USB

flash drive has received the

prestigious iF Product Design

Award for 2013. The award has

been globally recognised for

over 60 years as a trademark for

successful design of products in

different categories. The iF

International Forum Design

Hannover organizes the iF design

awards, and the iF design

awards mirror both current

trends in design and the

economic benefits delivered by

well-designed products.

The iF award-winning

DataTraveler SE9 USB flash drive

has a stylish metal casing with a

large key loop that lets users

easily attach the drive to a

lanyard or keyring.. The small

form factor makes it a great

accessory for notebooks like

Intel’s Ultrabook PCs, as well as

tablets that offer USB ports. Its

durable casing lets users

securely carry this drive

everywhere they go with their

new devices. DataTraveler SE9 is

available in capacities of up to

64GB. In addition to the existing

DataTraveler SE9, the drive also

comes with a 24-karat gold-

plated casing, called

DataTraveler GE9. DTGE9 was

designed by industrial designer

Arman Emami, who previously

won the product design award in

the widely recognised Red Dot

Industrial Design contest.



the ASUS P8Z77-IDELUXE and ASRockZ77 OC Formula. To hittheir rated speeds, themodules require a 3rd

VengeanceExtremememory kitsis the result ofa rigorousinternal four-stage hand-screeningprocessperformed byCorsairengineers.This processis passed by fewer thanone in 50 memory ICs.Performance qualificationis performed on selectIntel Z77 basedmotherboards, including

Corsair, announcednew VengeanceExtreme 8GB dual-

channel DDR3 memorykits rated at 3000MHz.Fitted with low profile"racing red" heatspreaders, the new 2x4GBmemory kits operate at3000MHz air-cooled, withlatency settings of 12-14-14-36, at 1.65V. A KingpinCooling memory cooler isincluded for overclockerswho want to use LN2(liquid nitrogen) to reachmemory speeds wellbeyond 3000MHz.

The extreme-speed3000MHz rating of the

MEMORY

Corsair Unleashes Vengeance ExtremePC Memory Kits

Generation Intel Coreunlocked processor withan Integrated MemoryController capable ofrunning 3000MHz.

http://www.asrock.com


TRIED & TESTEDREVIEWS

Our Buy It! stamp ofapproval is a sign that aproduct has exceededour high expectations inboth quality and value. If

you see the Buy It! logo you know we wereimpressed with the product and we thinkyou will be too. The Try It! Stamp is ourequivalent award for software and servicesthat are free of charge.

The prices we print are the suggested retailprices set by the manufacturer. Productscan often be found much cheaper on theinternet or in shops.

Computeractive’s reviewers follow strictguidelines to ensure the opinions expressed inthe magazine are fair, accurate andindependent. Every product or service we reviewis thoroughly examined and tested by experts.The manufacturer has no involvement in ourtests and is never told the result of a review priorto publication. Please note that our reviewsgrade products, not customer service. We welcome feedback on our reviews – send usan email to [email protected]

While we try to keep our reviews free fromtechnical language or jargon, it issometimes unavoidable. See the JargonBuster column for concise explanations ofhighlighted words.

We provide a clear verdict for every

product we review. Each verdict is

accompanied by a star rating.

Here’s what those stars mean:

AN EXCELLENT PURCHASE ��

A GOOD PURCHASE ��

OK BY US ��

BELOW AVERAGE QUALITY ��

VERY POOR QUALITY ��

OUR STAR RATINGS

OUR STAMP OF APPROVAL

HOW WE TEST

TECHNICAL TERMS AND JARGON

PRICES

Providing unobtrusive,all round protectionwith a stylish interface,

the Norton 360 has a new,slick and attractive Windows8-style appearance. However,the basic layout and functionshaven't changed dramaticallyfrom the previous version.

Norton 360 has a widerange of features for allplatforms including Windows,Mac, Android and iOS and isavailable as a three or fivedevice licence making it easyto manage all your gadgetsacross platforms. A fewfeatures, such as the NortonOnline Family parentalcontrols and the free onlinestorage have to be installedor activated separately. Thiscan be a bit of a convolutedprocess, involving multiplelogins and downloads fromthe Norton website.

Setup takes just over aminute – a far cry from thebloated installations ofyesteryear. It then downloadsupdates, which adds a coupleof minutes. In Windows 8, theNorton toolbar is installed inthe desktop version ofInternet Explorer 10. Thisprovides access to theimpressive Identity Safeservice, which can securelystore website login detailsand has lots of other identityprotection features as well.

A quick scan took justunder three minutes,

NORTON 360 PREMIER EDITION

KEY POINTS ��Although expensive, Norton 360 is an

excellent and unobtrusive programme

for those who prefer every security

angle covered in one product.

MORE INFORMATION

in.norton.com

occupying95MB ofmemory.Norton uses adatabase oftrustedprogrammes tospeed thingsup — this trustlevel can beadjusted ifneeded, butnot using it atall can slowscans downsignificantly.

The mainmenu is fairlyclear, but it issuitably hugetoaccommodatethe remarkableand wide arrayof options. Asilent mode isavailable forthose who need toconcentrate on a taskwithout being interrupted. Afree Windows Store App isalso available for Windows 8that shows security status ina live tile on the Start screen.

The comprehensive filebackup feature can schedulebackups to CD/DVD, harddisk or the 25 GB NortonOnline Backup storage thatcomes with the programme.Backed-up files can bebrowsed and restored fromwithin the programme or via a

web browser.The Norton Online Family

is a free programme(available to all, not just 360owners) that providescomprehensive parentalcontrols. An App fortracking, locking and wipingyour smartphone is alsoavailable for Android and iOSowners.

In addition, this App letsusers locate, lock, or wipe astolen phone by sending analready-installed textmessage. Its SIM card lockfeature prevents a thief fromchanging the phone's SIMcard. Norton Mobile Securitysteers users away fromphishing sites and can blockunwanted calls and texts. Adetailed App review willcoming up next.

SECURITY SUITE

Unobtrusive all round protection


http://in.norton.com



One of the firstsmartphones to useWindows Phone 8, the

Nokia Lumia 920 has somegreat features, and a heftyweight

The Nokia Lumia 920 is one ofthe first smartphones to use thenew Windows Phone 8operating system (OS). This isthe successor to the olderWindows Phone 7 and lookssimilar to the separate Windows8 desktop OS, but thatshouldn't necessarily put youoff.

There are plenty of newfeatures in Windows Phone 8.Live Tiles are no longer just onesingle, large size and can nowbe large, medium or small. Thishelps prevent the home screenfrom becoming unwieldy, butthe small size tiles are static anddon't show updatedinformation.

Parents will appreciate Kid'sCorner, a separate accountcontaining apps you'vespecifically chosen for yourchildren to use while your ownpassword-protected apps anddata remain cordoned off fromtheir curious fingers. To switchbetween Kid's Corner and thestandard home screen, go tothe lock screen and swipehorizontally. Rooms is a newfeature that allows you to sharephotos, calendars and noteswith selected contacts. You canhave separate Rooms fordifferent groups, such as yourcolleagues, friends or family butthey also have to use WindowsPhone 8 smartphones to get themost from Rooms. Unless theylog in to a special website, usersof other smartphones will onlysee a small selection of shared

useful apps of its ownwith the Lumia 920. Thegraphics in its Maps apparen't as attractive as thegraphics in Android'sGoogle Maps or in AppleMaps. However, it cansuccessfully save mapsfor offline use, whichsometimes stumpsGoogle Maps, and cansuccessfully finddirections for routes thatwould flummox AppleMaps.

Even less impressivewere the plug-ins

included for use with the Cameraapp. For example, the Panoramaplug-in for creating panoramicwidescreen landscape photoswas fussy to use and createdrelatively crude results. Similarpanorama features in Sony'sAndroid phones and Apple iOS 6worked far better.

The Nokia Lumia 920 is aflagship Windows Phone 8handset for good reason. It'scarved out of a single piece ofplastic so it feels robust yetstylish with a soft texture and isavailable in a variety of strikingcolours. However, it's alsochunky and heavy. At 185g it'snoticeably heavier than the 112giPhone 5 and the 133g SamsungGalaxy S3. This heft, combinedwith the large width of the 4.5inscreen, makes it awkward andtricky to use the 920 singlehanded – especially if you havesmall hands. We often struggledto stretch our fingers to reach theother side of the screen or theBack button on the far left handside of the phone.

There's no doubting thequality of the screen – it's brightand sharp. It has a resolution of1,280x720 pixels, although thelarge type used in the Windows

Phone 8 interface means yousometimes don't see that muchmore information onscreencompared to the substantiallylower 800x480 resolution ofolder Windows Phone 7 andAndroid handsets. Oneincredibly clever feature is theability to use the touchscreeneven when you are wearinggloves.

We were also impressed withthe 8.7 megapixel camera.Although it struggles to capturefine details in macro mode, it'svery adept at capturing imagesin low light. The Lumia 920captured surprisingly usableshots with reasonably accuratecolours and good levels of detailin dimly lit rooms and nightscenes that would stump othersmartphone cameras. The nextbest smartphone camera in lowlight is the iPhone 5. While itproduces photos that are stillusable, they are often noisier andnot as detailed.

Recorded video also looksgood with high levels of detailand vivid colours. The camera'simage stabilisation technologydoes an impressively good job atsmoothing out shaky videorecorded while running, in amoving vehicle or merely heldless than perfectly still. Cleverlythe Lumia 920 can connect tosupported speaker dockswirelessly, charging and playingmusic without attaching anycables.

The Lumia 920 has some greathardware and software features,but it's a very big and heavyphone. The continued barenessof the Windows Phone appmarketplace is also worrying –apps add considerable value to asmartphone and here the Lumiacontinues to lag behind theiPhone and Android phones.

NOKIA LUMIA 920

KEY POINTS ��Some marvellous features but

in a phone that's far too large

and heavy

MORE INFORMATION

www.nokia.com/in-en

SMARTPHONE

content, such as calendars.The lock screen can now

show data from apps, such asupcoming Facebook events ornew photos from Flickr.Microsoft has promised tightintegration with the Skypeinternet calling service, but atthe time of writing the promisedSkype Windows Phone 8 apphas yet to emerge.

Although the selection ofapps has grown since therelease of Windows Phone 7,it's still very meagre whencompared to the iPhone andAndroid. Notable omissionsinclude Spotify and Flipboardand many apps have yet to beupdated to take advantage ofnew Windows Phone 8 features,such as integration with the lockscreen.

We're also disappointed thatniggling flaws in the WindowsPhone interface have yet to beaddressed. The interface isalmost too minimalist for its owngood – useful information suchas the time and network signalstrength are hidden in mostapps, while switching betweenopen tabs in Internet Explorertakes far too many taps.

Nokia has included some

Windows 8 phone with some greatfeatures and h weight

http://www.nokia.com/in-en



ThePlantronicsVoyager

Legend is the newerversion of VoyagerPRO HD bluetoothheadset which wehave reviewedearlier. A championamong severalquality bluetoothheadsets, itremained ourfavourite for a longtime.

The latest Voyager Legendhas several useful additionslike noise reduction and amarathon battery life. It looksand feels premium and has arubberised body, it is easy touse and is comfortable evenwhen used for long periods oftime.

The Voyager Legend issignificantly bigger than theearlier version. The aluminiumfinished curved boom islonger and comes very closeto the mouth, resulting in acrisper sound. The boomfeatures two microphones likethe earlier version, but biggerfor better reception. Theboom can swivel 180 degrees,leading to higher levels ofcomfort.

The ear connector holds thein-built battery which ishidden behind the ear onceyou wear it. The ear connectorhas rubberised removable earcaps for a snug fit and is

PLANTRONICS VOYAGERLEGEND

available in three differentsizes. The headset weighsonly 18g. The headsetfeatures four control buttonsincluding the on/off latchand the call handling button,these are quite easy tooperate. The only thing wemissed is a uniform USBcharging port, Plantronicshas opted for a proprietarymagnetic charging portinstead.

We used the headset withthe Nokia Lumia 920, HTCButterfly, BlackBerry Z10and a Acer ultrabook duringtesting for VOIP and normalcalls. The reception was verygood, with no drops at all,the noise cancellation wasexcellent, even in extremelynoisy environments. Thevoice commands are easy touse. With a talk time and of 7hours and standby time of 11days, the headset delivereda stunning performance andis worth every penny.

Great design, expensive

KEY POINTS ��Ergonomic, accurate voice

commands, good battery life

MORE INFORMATION

www.plantronics.com/in

BLUETOOTHE

The Plantronics Marque 2M165 is a BluetoothHeadset that's easy to

use with both mobile phonesas well as computers. It comesbundled with it's own bluetoothdongle and cable for charging.

The unit is made of goodquality plastic and is available intwo colours; black and white.The finish is classy and theheadset iscomfortablein use.

TheMarque 2 hasfewercontrolscompared tohigher endmodels fromthe samemanufacturer.There is asliding powerswitch on topand a multifunctionbutton for receiving and endingcalls. It is easy to use andcomfortable even when usedfor long periods, the ear piecehas a gel ear strip which insertsfirmly into the ear withouthurting the ear canal.

The Marque 2 has a dual micdesign, this cancelsbackground noise effectively,providing smooth and clearsound.

It also has a new feature —DeepSleep — this puts theheadphone in to sleep mode if it

PLANTRONICS MARQUE 2M165

remains idle or not in range formore than 90 minutes. In thismode, the device battery canlast up to six months and 'wakeup' again whenever the phonecomes in range!

The Marque 2 uses A2DPstreaming for podcasts, musicor audiobooks. You can pair thisheadphone simultaneously withtwo devices. It also works with

the Plantronics Android app –Vocalyst, for listening to news,social updates, text to speechfor emails and text messages.Plantronics has also introduceda new app — MyHeadSet —which helps you find theheadset or displays batterystatus for phones running onAndroid ICS or JellyBean.

Available online for Rs 3,499,Plantronis offers a year ofVocalyst subscription along withthis headset, this we think is afair price given its versatility.

Versatile bluetooth headset

KEY POINTS ��Well designed, decent battery backup MORE INFORMATION

www.plantronics.com/in

BLUETOOTHE

http://www.plantronics.com/in

http://www.plantronics.com/in

http://www.kaspersky.co.in

http://www.sakri.in

http://www.kaspersky.co.in/trials

http://www.sakri.in


http://www.facebook.com/kasperskyindia

and activate the software. The software is easy to

handle but the manufacturerhas taken some clever steps tomake it smarter. It can map thedrive and clean up the entirecache.

We tested the SSD’sperformance and achieved awritespeed of112MB/sand areadspeed of233MB/s.

This iscertainly

not the fastestin the market, but it

is not bad keeping theper GB price in mind. Thedevice comes with an adapterfor fitting it inside a desktop PCand a three year warranty.

After the recentannouncement of theSamsung Galaxy 4, there

has been a lot of buzz about fullHD phone displays. However,the much-hyped Galaxy S4 isyet to launch while HTC alreadyhas a phone with full HDdisplay, with a pixel density of440ppi, the highest till date inthe Indian market. To put this inperspective, the Apple iPhone 5has 326ppi and the Galaxy S4will have 441 ppi.

Screen aside, the phone'sspecification are is remarkablefor the price. The front isdominated by a huge 5in'touchscreen with a high1080x1920 pixel resolution thatgives text and graphics razorsharpness. The screen is themost impressive we have comeacross in a smartphone. Thecolour reproduction, viewingangles and brightness are



unmatched. The design is

equally impressive.Measuring70.5x143x9.08mmand weighing 140g,the Butterfly feelsfeather like, similar tothe iPhone 4S. UnlikeHTC one’s unibodyaluminium design,the Butterfly isencased in sturdyplastic material. Forhigher durability, HTChas used edge toedge corning gorillaglass 2.

The Back andHome navigationbuttons are on-screen, rather thanactual physicalbuttons, this takes upsome screen space but allowsthe buttons to move as per the

phone'sorientation.However,the lockbuttons'position ontop, is a bitawkward,especiallywhile usingthe phoneone-handed.

HTCButterflyruns thelatestAndroidversionJellyBean4.1 withproprietaryHTC Sense

UI on top. The biggest pros ofthe Sense UI are its Sense

widgets which lend a smarterlook to the device.

During day to day use, theHTC Butterfly is fantasticallyquick and responsive. Much ofthis is explained by its powerfulquad-core processor and huge2GB of memory.

The Butterfly is impressive inother, less tangible ways aswell, being particularly quick tofix position via GPS, even whenindoors. We came toappreciate its loud, clear callquality and the high fidelitysound from its headphonesocket, and noticed thataccidental touches around thescreen edges were lessinclined to trigger on-screencontrols than its rivals.

All in all HTC Butterfly is agreat phone, we willrecommend it without anyqualms.

SMARTPHONEKEY POINTS ��

Decent built, great screen, average

camera

MORE INFORMATION

www.htc.com/in/

A high end smart phone with a full HDscreen

HTC BUTTERFLY

Sandisk is best known forits memory cards andflash based USB drives,

but the company also makes arange of other storage devicesincluding solid statedisks(SSDs). These alternativesto standard hard disks don’thave that much storagecapability but are ultra-fast andless prone to damages hencetake less time to boot and shutdown with better overallperformance.

Sandisk’s new Ready Cacheseries of SSDs is available in

32GB capacity with atheoretical top speed of 6Gbit/s.It uses a SATA connector toconnect to a computer. 32GBmeans it’s basically built to beinstalled as a primary drive foroperating system and otherapplications.

The SSD has a quoted readspeed of 480MB/s whilemanufacturer hasn't shared anyinformation about the writingspeed. After installing the SSDinto the system bay, you need todownload the ReadyCachesoftware from the web, install

SANDISK READYCACHE 32GBA decent high performance solid state disk

STORAGE

KEY POINTS��Decent performance MORE INFORMATION

www.sandisk.in

http://www.htc.com/in/

http://www.sandisk.in

http://www.tp-link.in



Buying budget earphones,that too for under-Rs1,000, was a bit of a

challenge till now. Despite brandslike Creative, Logitech, SoundMagic and Sony having manyproducts in the market, we were abit surprised (and sceptical) whenwe got the EM1 for review.Affordable at Rs 775 (onlinequote) for the mic less version (Rs400 more with the mic), it is a solidblack well-built earphone. Boththe 10mm drivers are encased insilver plastic, lending a stylishlook to the product. We wererather pleased to find threeseparate pairs of rubber

COWON EM1

attachments in the pack,catering to all ear sizes. Theflattened wires are a boon asthey prevent irritatingentanglements.

Our review unit came with amicrophone so we also lookedat mic quality. We coupled theearphones with a smartphoneand found the reception to becrisp and clear throughout. Themic output was equally good.

Don't be surprised by thesudden silence as soon as youplug these phones in your ears,this is because the ear phones

EARPHONES

KEY POINTS ��Decent wire quality, punchy output MORE INFORMATION

www.cowonindia.in

KEY POINTS ��Well laid interface, extensive

features.

MORE INFORMATION

www.ashampoo.com

SOFTWARE

ASHAMPOO WINOPTIMIZER 10

test lab which run its olderversion. The biggest changein the new versionis the interface. Itis neat with asimpler,uncluttered layout.

Ashampoo hasadded a few newmodules in thisversion, andretained some oldones. The newmodules areDuplicate Finder,Link Checker, FontManager, RestorePoint Manager andEnhanced Supportfor Windows 8systems. The mainwindow has threeoptions: Clean,

A comprehensive massive systemmanagement suite

You might have noticedyour system slowsdown after a few

months' usage. The culprit isusually improper removal ofprograms, leaving registryentries, temporary used filesand logs. The solution is toinstall a programme thatkeeps an eye on the entiresystem and removes thesefiles and free memory. Ofcourse there are free utilitiesavailable in the market whichare able to do the jobpartially, but getting asoftware suite witheverything together isdifficult.

This is where theAshampoo WinOptimizersteps in. A fantastic suite, westill have several PCs in our

Optimize and Protect.Below these are twobuttons — Fix now andRescan. While the firstoption removes alltemporary files and cookiesfrom the system, thesecond option removesredundant files from thesystem and the third deletesall expired and duplicateregistry entries. The entireoperation took 27 secondsfor our Windows 7 desktop.

After running theprogram, start up and shutdown was way faster.Ashampoo WinOptimizer 10is an impressive programmewith some great additionsover the previous version.

are a very snugfit and create a

seal in your ears. Start themusic, though, and the silenceis replaced by rich, powerfulbass and crisp higherfrequencies with no distortioneven as the volume isincreased. The sound qualitycan almost be compared to thatof a full-size studio headphone.

Apart from the near completeabsence of external noise, thenext thing you will notice is thatthey require a much lowervolume setting than aconventional set of earphones.

The EM1 is a goodrecommendation for urbancommuters and for those whovalue quality more than anythingelse.

Light, comfortable, great sound

http://www.cowonindia.in

http://www.ashampoo.com


http://www.virusbtn.com


http://www.esetindia.com



At first glance, theSamsung Galaxy Grandbears a startling

resemblance to its morepowerful and expensivecousin, SamsungGalaxy Note II.Both havebrightlycoloured,shiny cases,but there aresome markeddifferences.

Available in White and Blue,the Grand is a more affordablesmartphone with nearly all thesoftware features of the GalaxyS3 and the Galaxy Note 2. Themanufacturer has obviouslyskimped on some features tobring down the price, thedifference isn't that drastic.

Measuring 76.8x143.5x9.6mm and weighing 161g, theGalaxy Grand Duos feelsheavier and bigger — tough forsingle-handed use, especiallyfor those with small palms. Butthe 5in screen definitely hasseveral advantages oversmaller screens on the Androidplatform. The downside is therelatively low-resolution of480x800 pixels, but it's stillbright and reasonably crisp.

During our test, the SamsungTouchWiz 4.0 interface andvarious Apps worked smoothlythanks to the 1.2GHz dual coreprocessor. The 1GB RAM alsoplayed an important part in the

SAMSUNG GALAXYGRAND DUOS I9082

process.The eight-

megapixel rearcamera is quite decent;

photos captured in low-lightusing the LED are acceptable. Innormal light, the camera is asgood as any other sub 30ksmartphone. The front facingtwo-megapixel camera alsoperformed decently in well-litconditions.

Although this device missesout the NFC, it has two powerfulfeatures in its armour — dualSIM and the inclusion ofGLONASS support for fasterlocation detection. This devicealso has most of the softwarefeatures available in higher endgalaxy devices.

Samsung has madesurprisingly few compromiseswith the Galaxy Grand, makingit a good budget Androidphone. Although there are a fewcheaper handsets available withalmost similar configuration, wewould recommend this phonefor its integration of hardwareand software making it a greatphone with Android Jellybean.

KEY POINTS ��Good performance and software

features, average screen resolution

MORE INFORMATION

www.samsung.com/in

SMARTPHONE

Adobe’s PDF format isvery popular and hasbeen accepted as an

international standard.However, there are severalprograms, in addition to AdobeAcrobat, that can create andedit PDF files. A case in point isthe Nuance PDF Converter —the eighth version — which hasseveral additional usefulfeatures.

Installing the product is quiteeasy, the process takes just afew minutes in a step by stepinteractive procedure. Duringinstallation, we were asked toinstall Nuance CloudConnector and GaaihoCollaboration. The CloudConnector accords directaccess to remote storage onthe cloud and Gaaiho isnothing but an IM applicationthat includes VOIP facility.

The interface is neat, withlogically labeled toolbar iconsmaking it simple to operate.Apart from the earlier optionsof creating PDFs using printerdrivers or office suite’s macroutilities, the new version addsspoken notes, direct editingfacilities and transfers filesdirectly to and from cloudservices.

It can also directly drag anddrop files from the Dropbox,Evernote and Nuance’sproprietary PaperPort. Forusers' safety, the softwarelocks all PDF files once

NUANCE PDF CONVERTERPROFESSIONAL 8

opened, so the user has topress a key for editing the file,post which it is simple to edittext, change font, size orcolours including several other

utilities. You also can easilyresize a PDF to a much smallersize. In batch mode, appendingseveral PDF’s is also possible.

The product includes a lighterversion of Dragon Tools usingwhich you can easily dictateyour document and convertthem to PDF format later.

For security, the Nuance PDFconverter has plenty to offer, ithas options to protect filesusing 128 or 256 bit AESencryption. To protect a file, youneed to input a password whichwill encrypt the file using yourpassword as the key.

Overall, it's an excellent toolfor those who need to produceprofessional-lookingdocuments.

Best substitute for Adobe’s PDF suite

KEY POINTS ��Decent interface, voice dictation,

cloud support

MORE INFORMATION

NA

SOFTWARE

Great smartphone in a budget

http://www.samsung.com/in


F&D A111F

Now that legal musicdownload sites arecheap and plentiful,

and games feature suchrealistic sound, good qualityspeakers are an importantpart of the home PC set-up.

The F&D A111F 2.1speaker system contains asubwoofer unit along with twosatellite speakers. The entireunit has been designed verywell and requires very littlespace. The wooden chassisensures great soundreproduction.

Sporting a traditional boxydesign, the subwoofer unit isa bit big in size, and is betterkept under the table. Theback of the speaker featuresall the buttons and ports forconnectivity. Installing theunit was very simple and amatter of few minutes.

Though A111F is targetedtowards PC or laptop users, itcan be used by other devicestoo; there is a USB port along

with a card reader for directplug and play.

In our test we connected aUSB flash drive to the unitwhich was detectedinstantaneously. Though thelack of a display meant thatfinding a particular track was agame of hit and miss. Thesupplied remote control unitcomes very handy in thisscenario. A111F also featuresa FM Radio inside the unit soyou can use the speaker as aFM player too.

Sound quality is particularlyimpressive, with deep, richbass and unexpected clarityfrom such a small device. Allthe notes were prominentduring our test, and we werereally surprised with thecrispness of sound from sucha low priced speaker.

All in all A111F is a solidperformer for its price. Thoughpriced online at Rs. 2200, it isa great buy for several reasonsbesides it’s bargain price.

Great performer with loads of features.

SPEAKER

KEY POINTS ��FM radio, good bass output, external

ports.

MORE INFORMATION

www.fendaindia.com

http://www.fendaindia.com


http://www.milansoft.com


PROJECTSWINDOWS FIX PC ERRORS

The chances are that one or more ofthese components has either failed, beendislodged (have you moved the PCrecently?) or overheated due to the failureof a cooling fan. The only way to check isto open the PC’ s case and take a lookaround – sometimes removing andreplacing the graphics card or memorymodules will fix the problem. Check all thefans turn on when the power is turned on– a broken processor or graphics card fanis often to blame for overheating.The Computeractive videos and articles atwww.snipca.com/X2016,www.snipca.com/X2015 andwww.snipca.com/X3443 will help you findyour way around the PC or notebook’ sinsides.

Start-up error messagesCommon error messages just after switching on a PCinclude ‘ Missing operating system’ , ‘ Operating systemnot found’ , ‘ Non-system disk or disk error’ and‘ NTLDR is missing’ . If any of these pops up on yourPC’ s display, first, remove all CDs, DVDs, floppy disks,

USB drives and memory cards from the PC. The reason isthat it is likely the PC is trying to launch itself from a diskthat doesn’ t contain Windows.

If this doesn’ t fix the problem, it could be a harddisk failure or, more likely, a corrupted Windows

installation (and if the message ‘ Missing orcorrupt Windows root/system32/hal.dll’appears, it’ s almost certainly the latter).Windows 7 and Vista users should try fixingthis using the Startup Repair tool: start thePC with the Windows installation discinserted in the drive, choose a language andclick the ‘ Repair your computer’ option.Repairing a Windows XP installation is a littlemore complex and involves using theRecovery Console.

Blank displayIf there are no error messages or untowardnoises, the computer’ s status lights are onand the display is blank, you need to firstcheck that the monitor cable is connectedsecurely. On a laptop, check the display

Kick out PC gremlinsUnfortunately, encountering errors while usingWindows can be a frequent occurrence. We explain thecauses and cures to dozens of everyday frustrations

TROUBLESHOOTING WITH THE SYSTEMCONFIGURATION UTILITY

The System Configuration utility is useful

for many advanced troubleshooting tasks,

so it’s worth getting familiar with how it

works. Press the Windows key and R, type

msconfig into the Open box and press

Enter. Clicking on the Services and Startup

tabs will reveal lists of items, each with a

tick box at the left.

To prevent an item running when

Windows starts, remove the adjacent tick

(but don’t do this for Services unless

instructed). When changes have been

made, click Apply, click OK and click

Restart. (In XP, after the PC restarts the

program will launch automatically and

show a dialogue box – check the ‘Don’t

show this message...’ box and click OK).

To undo any changes, launch the utility

again and choose the Normal startup radio

button on the General tab, click Apply and

restart when prompted. Note that in the

Tools tab there are handy shortcuts to many

maintenance and troubleshooting tools,

such as System Restore.

Like a certain chocolate bar, PCs shouldhelp you work, rest and play. However,at times, they can seem like more of ahindrance than a help. Strange beeps,

incomprehensible error messages and other oddhappenings can be all too frequent, makingcomputing a frustrating experience. Theinternet isn’ t always much help either, as muchof the advice available is conflicting, unclear orjust plain wrong.

But help is at hand. In this article we willexplain how to eliminate dozens of common PCgremlins – the annoying error messages youencounter every day. We have split theproblems into four broad categories to covereverything from switching on your PC topowering down, along with a few unusualglitches. We have even included lots of generaltroubleshooting advice to aid the hunt for cures toproblems we haven’ t covered.

ERRORS AFTER POWERING ONTwo or more beepsSwitch a PC on and, when the start-up screen appears, ashort beep may be heard (though not in all cases).However, if there is more than a single beep, and the screenstays blank, there could be a problem. Typically, thisindicates a problem with the graphics card, memorymodules or the processor but regardless, turn off the PCimmediately.

▲ Startup beeps

can be caused by

loose cables,

graphics cards or

memory

modules


WINDOWSPROJECTS

FIX PC ERRORS

hasn’ t accidentally been turned off or switched toan external monitor: this is usually done by holding downthe Function (Fn) key and tapping another button, soreference the manual if need be.

Finally, if the PC has previously crashed or lost powerunexpectedly, expect to see the black-and-white WindowsError Recovery screen during start-up. This offers anumber of choices, though the precise line-up depends onthe version of Windows installed. Regardless, it is usuallybest to choose the Start Windows Normally. If this happensfrequently in normal use it could be because the PC is notbeing shut down correctly – see the last section of thisarticle for more on this.

ERRORS DURING WINDOWS STARTUPBlue screen during startupIf Windows displays a blue error screen with white textsaying ‘ A problem has been detected...’ at the top, or thePC freezes when starting up, it’ s possible that someimportant system files have been damaged. Try restartingthe PC and if the problem recurs, remove any attachedhardware and try again. If you still have no joy, then use theStartup Repair or the Recovery Consoles tools mentionedearlier.

Problem logging inSeeing the ‘ User name or password is incorrect’ (or‘ Did you forget your password?’ in XP) message whenlogging on to Windows can be quite worrying. However,there is usually a simple answer. Check, for example, thatthe Caps Lock or Number Lock (Num Lock) keys haven’ tbeen activated – these can lead to unintentionalcapitalisation or numbers being inserted when typing inyour password.

Also, similar effects can be caused by a dirty or defectivekeyboard or even dead or dying batteries if it’ s a wirelessmodel – so try a new set.

User profile won’ t loadA message saying ‘ Windows cannot load your profilebecause it may be corrupted’ when logging in couldbe due to a corrupted user profile (which itself could evenbe the result of a virus attack). In the first instance, restartthe PC and try logging on again – sometimes this error canbe caused by an anti-virus program working during the

login process.If this doesn’ t work, the good news is that a corrupted

user profile can sometimes be repaired. However, theprocess of doing so is rather complicated. To help,Microsoft maintains detailed instructions for Windows 7and Vista users at www.snipca.com/X3444; XP usersshould visit www.snipca.com/X3445.

If it proves impossible to fix it and there is no otheraccount on the PC, the only remedy is to re-installWindows. As a safeguard for this problem we recommendcreating at least one other administrator account on thePC, even if it never gets used: if the main user accountbecomes corrupted, this reserve account can be used to logon and recover data from the corrupt profile.

Software problemsA principal cause of startup and logon errors is programstrying to load automatically. As the errors can be of almostany type, the causes can be hard to narrow down (unlessthe error message names the offending program).However, if the error is always the same there’ s a goodchance a program is to blame.

Sometimes such startup errors are caused by a programtrying to start too early – a program trying to check forupdates before the internet is connected, for example.Starting the program manually after Windows has settled

▲ A corrupted

Windows

installation can

give this error


‘ Quick fixes’ box for more about theseautomated tools.

It’ s also worth bearing in mind that not allunusual messages are errors. The WindowsFirewall application, for example, is prettygood at doing its important job with aminimum of fuss. But if a program needs toaccept connections from the internet amessage will appear asking whether you wantto block it or not. If the program has just beeninstalled and/or launched, the chances arethat this is a genuine request and you shouldclick Allow access (or Unblock in XP). Butalways double-check the program namementioned in the dialogue box.

Online errorsWeb browsers are a wonderful source of error

messages. Mostpeople haveencountered the‘ Internet Explorercannot display thewebpage’ response.In the first instance,try visiting a fewdifferent websites. Ifall result in the samefailure message, tryrestarting the PC androuter. If this fails,it’ s worth checkingthe Ethernet cableconnecting the PC tothe router is pluggedin, or for notebooksdouble-check the Wifiswitch is turned on.As before, thediagnostics tools builtinto Windows can fixmany internetconnection problemsautomatically – seethe Quick Fixes box.

However, there issometimes a muchsimpler explanation –typing a search term

down may well cure it. Some anti-virusprograms display warnings immediately afterthe Windows Desktop appears, saying theyare turned off or out of date: they usually stopdoing this when an internet connection ismade.

To stop such programs loadingautomatically, click Start followed by AllPrograms, then click the Startup folder. Itemsin this folder can be safely deleted by right-clicking and choosing Delete, as no programswill be uninstalled – the entries here aremerely shortcuts that launch the associatedapplication when Windows loads.

Some programs, though, may not appear inthe Startup folder and yet still launch withWindows. To stop these, use the SystemConfiguration utility (see the box titledTroubleshooting with theSystem ConfigurationUtility). On the openingscreen, choose SelectiveStartup, remove the tick fromthe box labelled ‘ Loadstartup items’ . Click OK andrestart the PC. If the errorsare fixed, run the utility again,click the Startup tab andenable the startup items oneat a time, restarting the PCbetween each one (yes, it’ s atedious process, but wellworth it to get rid of naggingerrors). Once you haveidentified suspect programs,uninstall them or check forupdates on themanufacturer’ s website.

ERRORS DURINGEVERYDAY USESimple fixesMany everyday errors can befixed using Windows’ built-in diagnostics andtroubleshooting tools, or withthe help of the excellentMicrosoft Fix it SolutionCenter website – see the

Add-on Generic term for a piece of

software that adds extra features to

another program.

Crash What happens when a

computer program goes awry and

stops working. Some serious crashes

can require you to restart the

computer.

Dialogue box A window that pops up

to display or request information.

Driver A file that tells Windows how to

work with a peripheral device.

Ethernet A standard used for almost

all wired computer networks.

Firewall A piece of software or

hardware that prevents unauthorised

access to a computer over a network,

such as an internet.

Graphics card A component in a

computer that produces the image

shown on the screen.

Icon A small image used by Windows

to identify a file or program.

Memory The computer’s temporary

storage area, usually measured in

gigabytes (GB).

Motherboard The main circuit board

inside every PC into which all parts

connect.

Network A way of connecting several

computers and devices so they can

share information.

Operating system Governs the way

hardware and software components in

a computer work together.

Processor The chip that is the ‘brain’

of the computer.

Radio button A type of button where

only one choice can be made at any

time.

JARGONBU ST ERTechnobabble demystified...

▲ Anti-virus programs can sometimes give false alarms on startup, saying they are turned off or out of date

▲ Items in the Startup folder can often be deleted


http://www.lapcare.com


setting has been changed or newhardware or software has beeninstalled, first try uninstalling thenewcomer to see if that cures theproblem. If you’ re not sure whatmay be causing the problem butknow that it has occurred onlyrecently, try System Restore: thiscan undo any changes made withoutdamaging personal documents.Although Restore Points are createdautomatically from time to time –when a program installs drivers ormakes other important changes, forexample – it’ s a good idea tocreate one manually before

installing anything or changing Windowssettings. In XP, click Start followed by AllPrograms, then Accessories, System Tools andfinally System Restore. When it launches,

select the ‘ Create a new restore point’ radiobutton, click Next and follow the prompts. InWindows 7 or Vista, press the Windows keyand R, type sysdm.cpl in the Open box andpress Enter. Click the System Protection taband click the Create button, then follow theinstructions.

File-access errorsSometimes, when trying to open a particularfile or folder an ‘ Access denied’ messagewill be displayed. This means Windows istrying to prevent a conflict of some kind. Trysaving the file in a protected system folder, forexample, and you can expect to see this error– so double-check the location and try again. Itis also common on PCs that have beenupgraded from XP to Vista: try to openC:\Users\[your_username]\My Documents(or My Music, My Videos and My Pictures)using Windows Explorer and this error willappear. This is because the contents of thesefolders are moved to the equivalent Vistafolders (Documents, Videos, Music, Pictures)during the upgrade process, and the old foldersare locked.

(rather than a website address) in InternetExplorer’ s Address bar (the long box at thetop left) can cause this error. To search theweb, type the text in the smaller box at the topright of the Internet Explorerwindow. If the website is working,but the page you are trying to reachhas been removed (or the wrongaddress has been entered),depending on the site and thebrowser version you might see a‘ Page not found’ , ‘ File notfound’ or ‘ The page could not befound’ error, with thecode ‘ HTTP 404 Not found’displayed in the browser’ s title baror tab.

On a cautionary note, the online world isalso awash with fake error messages. Theseare web pages designed to look like realWindows error messages. For moreinformation about these, see Fake ErrorMessages on the next page.

Errors after program installations orhardware upgradesIf errors start to appear soon after a system

▲ Help avoid hefty data bills by setting usage alerts and limits

▲ If you see this type of error message you will need to check the network

is connected


Restore Point A Windows backup of

system files and settings.

Right-click While most actions in

Windows are performed by clicking

the left mouse button, clicking the

right mouse button displays a pop-up

menu with special functions and

options.

Router A device used to connect more

than one computer or other device to

the internet.

USB Universal Serial Bus. A standard

that allows quick and easy connection

of external peripherals such as

storage devices to your PC.

Virus A malicious computer program

designed to cause at best annoyance

and at worst damage to computer

data. Viruses sometimes spread from

computer to computer by email.

Wifi An umbrella term for various

standards for wireless networking.

Windows Explorer The graphical

interface to the Windows filing system.

Using images to represent files and

folders, it lets you manage documents

by moving them between folders and

deleting, copying or renaming them.

Wizard A step-by-step process that

helps you choose settings.


QUICK FIXES

Windows XP has a selection of diagnostic tools

– press F1 from the Windows Desktop to open

the Help and Support Center and click the

‘Fixing a problem’ link. To access the same

tools in Vista, press F1 and choose the

Troubleshooting link to see the built-in wizards.

Windows 7 has excellent automated

troubleshooters – click Start, then Control Panel

and type fix in the small search box at the top

right of the window. Click on the

Troubleshooting link to see a list of problem

categories – select the relevant wizard and

follow the step-by-step instructions.

Also, before you attempt to fix any problems

manually, novices are advised to search for

answers at Microsoft’s support website, at

www.snipca.com/ X3446. Or, pay a visit to

the Microsoft Fix it Solution Center website

(www.snipca.com/X3431).


http://www.snipca.com/

http://www.snipca.com/X3431

http://www.computextaipei.com.tw

Similarly, trying to access a shared network foldermight result in an error saying ‘ The network path wasnot found’ . This is normally caused by a disconnectednetwork cable, or the other computer being turned off.However, the computer or folder can still appear as ashortcut in Windows Explorer, which is where theconfusion starts.

When applications stop working‘ [Program name] has stopped working’ is never awelcome message. More to the point, the cause can bedifficult to diagnose. To solve this, try restarting thePC before running the program again, and try disablingprograms that launch with Windows (see the earlierinstructions on removing items from the Startup folder) incase there is a conflict with another running program. Also,ensure that both Windows and the program are up to date.

Likewise, seeing the ‘ Not responding’ message inthe title bar when you click on a program window isextremely annoying – the program freezes and it can’ t beaccessed or closed down. It is worth waiting a few minutesto see if this problem clears itself (it often does), or displaysa further message. Sometimes, ‘ Not responding’ errorsare caused by a program trying to open or save a file in alocation that is not accessible for some reason, like theshared network folders previously mentioned.

If Windows’ own system files become damaged(perhaps due to a virus infection or a crash), a wide varietyof mysterious errors or crashes can occur. To check for andrepair damaged files, navigate to the All Programs,Accessories folder, locate Command Prompt, right-click itand choose ‘ Run as administrator’ (in XP this isn’ tnecessary). Now type sfc /scannow and press Enter. Thislaunches a crude-looking tool called the WindowsResource Checker to check and repair any faulty files itmay find. The process will take several minutes tocomplete. If damaged files are found, the ResourceChecker may ask for the Windows installation disc to beinserted. Incidentally, to first check files without repairingthem, type sfc /verifyonly instead.

Blue screen of deathFinally, though no longer the everyday occurrencethey once were, so-called ‘ blue screen of death’ errors– when Windows suddenly disappears only to be replaced

by a blue screen with white text on top – are the operatingsystem’ s response to serious problems. Typically, theyare caused by dodgy drivers or malfunctioning hardware.In terms of drivers, those associated with graphics cardsare a common culprit. The commonest hardware causesare defective memory modules (as discussed earlier), anoverheating processor or power problems (has there beenan electricity blackout or brownout recently?). We havetracked down the cause of blue screen errors (and otherseemingly unrelated messages) to a defective cableconnecting the hard disk to the motherboard, so never ruleanything out.

Errors during shutdownThe correct way to turn off a Windows PC is to usethe Shut down button (or Turn Off Computer in XP) on theStart menu. Turning off at the mains or removing alaptop’ s battery can corrupt files.

Sometimes, though, you may have no choice: if the PCfreezes while shutting down, it can stay that way forever.But be aware that Windows could be installing updates, sowait 15 minutes before cutting the power. Check the harddisk status light: if it flashes regularly, the PC is still busytrying to shut down; but if it is off for a long time then thePC has probably crashed – so press the reset button orswitch off at the mains socket.

Such freezes can be a sign of a hard disk problem, so it’ sworth running a check. Open Computer from the Startmenu (My Computer in XP), right-click the hard disk’ sicon (usually C:) and choose Properties, then Tools. Click‘ Check now’ and ensure the ‘ Automatically fix filesystem errors’ box is ticked. Click Start and when you seethe error message click Yes to schedule a check the nexttime Windows starts. Restart the PC and the disk will bechecked before Windows starts.

The message is the mediumHopefully, we have helped demystify Windows’ mostannoying error messages. Remember, though, that themessage itself is not the real problem – it is whatever iscausing it. Armed with the information offered by themessage, a web search will often yield answers. Alwaysread messages carefully and avoid an impatient click OK orYes – such haste could exacerbate the problem.


FAKE ERROR MESSAGES

Many users just click OK to suppress

error messages, through impatience,

ignorance or fear. However, be warned

that fraudsters exploit this behaviour on

malicious web pages to con users into

installing malicious software.

These sites display fake error

messages, warning of virus infections or

the need to install a particular add-on.

Fake errors can be convincing and hard

to spot, but telltale signs are poor spelling

and punctuation, plus odd colour

schemes. If in any doubt, don’t click on it

– just close the window by pressing Alt

and F4, or via Task Manager by pressing

Control and Shift and Esc together (find

the program in the Applications tab and

click End Task).

▶ Fake error

messages are

not always easy

to spot – like this

one















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PROJECTS

SKILLS TYPE LIKE A PRO

Being a two-finger typist canbe slow going.We explore waysto speed upkeyboard input

Being able to use a computerkeyboard is all but essential in manyareas of modern life, so the fasterand more accurate your typing

is, the more productive you can be. Ifyou’re still a one or two-finger typist,doing almost anything on a computerwill seem more difficult and time-consuming than it really is.

In this article, we’ll look atnumerous practical ways to learn howto touch-type, including using freetools and games that will help youincrease your typing speed. With sometime, patience and practice, plus theresources explained here, you’ll be able totype more efficiently than ever before.

Get comfortableFirst, make sure your workstation is properly setup. Poor setups can cause injuries: eye strain canresult from sitting too close to a monitor, backand shoulder aches can be caused by wronglysized or poorly erected furniture, and elbow andwrist pain can be the upshot of a badly arrangeddesk. Using a mouse and keyboard can lead torepetitive-strain injuries (RSI).

The ideal setup lets you sit comfortably at thedesk, with feet flat on the floor and knees bent at90 degrees. The chair should be supportive (if itisn’t, use a cushion or rolled-up towel in thesmall of your back for lumbar support), and youshould always sit up straight, rather thanhunching forwards. The top of your PC monitorshould be at around the same height as youreyes, and the monitor should be about an arm’slength away.

Everything you need – keyboard, mouse,office phone, and whatever else you’re using –

should be within easy reach, and the keyboardshould be positioned so you can type with yourwrists straight, or bent downwards (but neverbent upwards). Be aware of the light sourcesaround the computer, and make sure that theydon’t make it difficult to see the screen.

Also, be sure to take regular breaks to stretch,move around and rest your eyes. For moreguidance, visit the NHS web page on avoidingRSI, at www.snipca.com/X4701. Wheneverything is set up correctly, it’s time to starttyping.

Starting to typeTouch-typing means typing without looking atthe keyboard, making use of all fingers, andusing the same digits to hit the same keys everytime. In this manner, with practice, you’ll be ableto type faster and reduce the likelihood ofdeveloping RSI.

There is no single ‘system’ for learning to type,so the best idea is to familiarise yourself with theposition of the keys and then use some simple


You know the type

▼ Download free typing-tutorsoftware to improve your skills


PROJECTSPROJECTS

SKILLS

exercises to practise building your skills andconfidence gradually. Specialist keyboards maybe useful in some cases (see the box at the end of

the article). But if you are using astandard Qwerty keyboard, and youhave no special requirements, thenbegin with your fingers resting on the

‘home’ keys. Your thumbs should beabove the space key, your left indexfinger on the F key, with the rest of yourleft hand sitting on the D, S and A keys.Your right index finger should be onthe J key, with the rest of your rightfingers on the K, L and ; (semi-

colon) keys. On many keyboards,the main home keys – that’s F

and J – feature small ridges, tohelp identification without

needing to look down.Begin by practising

typing straight acrossthe home row, using the

specified fingers to hiteach key: A with your left

little finger, S with your leftring finger, D with your left

middle finger, F and G with your leftindex finger, H and J with your right

index finger, K with your right middlefinger, L with your right ring finger and ;(semi-colon) with your right little finger.Type across that row, go in the oppositedirection, and repeat until it starts to feel

comfortable – it may take a while.The next row to master is the top row. Starting

from the home position, reach up with eachfinger in turn to the keys on the top row: leftlittle finger up to the Q key, left ring finger to W,and so on, with your index fingers used to tapkeys in the centre of the row (R, T, Y and U).Return your fingers to the home keys after eachstroke. The bottom row is the trickiest, but likeanything else, it gets easier with practice. Asbefore, start with your fingers on the home keys,and, one by one, practise typing along the keyson the bottom row: using your left little finger tohit the Z key.

Add-on Generic term for a piece

of software that adds extra

features to another program.

Browser Short for web browser.

A program used to view and

interact with websites.

Drag After clicking to select an

item on screen you can move the

mouse while keeping the button

held down to drag it elsewhere.

Icon A small image used by

Windows to identify a file or

program.

Qwerty keyboard The standard

English keyboard layout, so called

because the first six letters on the

top row of the keyboard are

QWERTY. Similarly, French

keyboards can be referred to as

AZERTY while some other

languages, including German, use

a QWERTZ keyboard layout.

Toolbar A strip of icons that runs

across the top of most Windows

applications. Used to provide quick

access to certain important

features, such as saving and

printing.

JARGONBUSTERTechnobabble demystified...

TYPING ASSISTANCE IN WINDOWS

Windows has built-in typing helpers.To see what’s

on offer in Windows 7 or Vista, open Control Panel

(from the Start menu), click the Ease of Access link

followed by Ease of Access Center.

In XP, again from the Control Panel, click the

Accessibility Options link followed by Accessibility

Options again.

There are many options to explore here. Sticky

Keys allows certain key combinations to be

performed sequentially, rather than simultaneously,

making things easier for those who struggle to hold

down multiple keys. So, for example, rather than

having to hold Control (Ctrl) and tap C to copy

something, you can press Control first and then tap

C. Toggle Keys, on the other hand, uses sound to

alert typists when they’ve hit the Caps Lock, Num

Lock or Scroll Lock keys – this is especially useful if

you regularly hit those keys by accident.

There is even an on-screen keyboard that can be

operated by the mouse alone, which may benefit

those with dexterity problems.

TYPE LIKE A PRO

▲ Typingweb provides a number of online lessons, nodownloads required

◀ Typing games provide a way to learnwhile having fun

Moving onBeyond letters, you will also need to learn howto touch-type symbols, capital letters andnumbers. These are easy to pick up, though: thecommonest punctuation marks are located atthe ends of the home and bottom rows. Tocapitalise letters, type the letter with the usualfinger, using the little finger of the other hand tohold down the opposite Shift key. To typenumbers, reach up from the home row to typeusing the number keys above the top row ofletters, or use the number pad for input of longerstrings.

The number pad present on some keyboardshas its own home row: your right index fingershould be placed on the 4, right middle finger on

Addictive Typing Lessons, for instance, lives inside Firefox,so it’s easy to dip into between browsing. To install it, visitwww.snipca.com/X4702, click the Add to Firefox button andfollow the prompts. Then, to make it easy to access at anytime, right-click the Firefox toolbar (at the top of the screen),choose Customize from the pop-up window, find theAddictive Typing icon in the Customize Toolbar dialogue boxand drag it to the toolbar. Now, to access the lessons, just clickthe little blue keyboard icon in the toolbar.

Offline typing softwareFor typing practice offline, try Rapidtyping: visitwww.rapidtyping.com to download the software, then followthe instructions to install it. (Be aware that while Rapidtypingis a legitimate tool, some adverts on the website look likedownload links – but in fact lead to unwanted tools and webservices.) When the site loads, click the green Rapidtypingbutton and, on the next screen, click on the green DownloadRapidtyping button on the right. Now click the DownloadSetup button. If the File Download Security Warning dialogue

box appears, click Save and choose a location for thedownloaded file. Firefox users should select Save File to savethe file to Firefox’s default download folder. Now locate anddouble-click the downloaded file and follow the prompts toinstall Rapidtyping on your PC.

Like Typingweb, Rapidtyping offers exercises to be workedthrough, beginning with combinations of letters on the homerow – but there’s no need to remain online in order to usethem. The lessons increase in difficulty until you are typingfully punctuated sentences; you can view speed and accuracyratings as you type, and you can compare typing speeds withother users.

We should probably sound a warning at this point: if you’vebeen typing for a long time using a different method – usingjust index fingers, say – learning to touch-type might feelunnatural, and you’ll likely type more slowly than usual. Don’tworry, and don’t give up: in time, with practice, you’ll get backup to speed, and get even faster. It’s important, though, to bepatient and concentrate on typing correctly. Get used to thenew positions and focus on typing accurately; the speed willcome, but if you try to go too fast, your accuracy may suffer.

the 5, and right ring finger on the 6. Like the main keyboard,reach up and down to hit other keys, returning your fingers tothe home keys after each keystroke. Since there are fewerkeys to learn, you should be able to pick this up quickly. The 5key usually has a ridge to aid identification by touch alone.

Online exercises and gamesWe’ve explained the basics and really, all that’s required nowis lots and lots of practice. To help, we have recommendedsome games and software to help you learn touch-typing. Aquick place to start is a browser-based typing tutor such asTypingweb, at www.typingweb.com. It isn’t necessary toregister for an account, but if you do, you will be able to trackprogress more easily. Click Start Typing and then, if you arenot prompted automatically to register, click the RegisterNow link on the left-hand side. Then, fill in the registrationform and click Register to finish.

Typingweb splits its lessons into beginner, intermediateand advanced courses and several further speciality lessonsbeyond that – just click the relevant ‘begin’ link to start. Ineach lesson, the characters to be typed are displayed at thetop of the screen; the coloured cursor moves along as youtype, and mistyped characters are highlighted in pink. Typingmore than one incorrect character in a row will cause thecursor to stop. To get it moving again, you will need to hit thecorrect key – it’s nicely done, and a fun, engaging way topractise touch-typing.

Next, start typing along the home row before moving onto other rows and short words. Accuracy and typing speed aredisplayed at the top of the screen. Underneath the typingexercise, on-screen prompts show the fingers to use for eachkey. Your typing must be at least 90 per cent accurate toprogress to the next lesson. There are speed drills andaccuracy drills, and Typingweb keeps track of regularmistakes, so you can practise problem keys in a separatelesson.

Typingweb also offers a selection of typing games,including Typing Ghosts, in which you must type the labelsaffixed to ghosts to stop them attacking you; Magic Library, inwhich you type letters on books falling from above, and TypeRevolution, which is based on the popular arcade gameDance Dance Revolution. These games help typing practicefeel less like work and more like fun.

Alternatively, if you use the Firefox web browser, there arevarious add-ons that can be used to improve typing skills.


▲ The free Rapidtyping program tracks progress

◀ Usetyping-tutoradd-ons forwebbrowsers,such asAddictiveTyping forFirefox

PROJECTS

SKILLS TYPE LIKE A PRO


PROJECTSPROJECTSDRAW & ANIMATE

Fancy yourself asa web-comicscreator? Weexplain how youcan create andshare your owncartoons andanimations

Producing comics and cartoons used tobe a laborious process. Skilled artistswould need to draw, ink and coloureverything by hand, frame by frame.

Even a short comic strip could take hours ordays to produce, while production times foranimations were measured in months or evenyears. Now, though, digital production tools canmake the whole process quicker and simpler,and it’s easier than ever to get started creatingyour own web comics or animations. In thisfeature, we’ll show how free image-creation andanimation software can be used to make comicsand moving cartoons. We’ll also explore ways toshow off your work to the world.

Drawing toolsWhether you want to make a static web comic ora hand-drawn animation, drawing software isrequired. Microsoft Paint is an obvious option,but it’s very basic and doesn’t support layeredimages. Instead, we would recommend using theGNU Image Manipulation Program, or Gimp for

short. So begin bydownloading the latestversion of Gimp fromwww.gimp.org/

downloads. Whendone, double-click thedownloaded file andwork through theinstallation wizard.Launch Gimp from theStart menu. When itstarts, three windowswill appear: the mainimage window and twopanels labelled Toolboxand Layers. Thesecontain all the tools

needed to create images. To start drawing, open ablank canvas by clicking File and choosing New.Select a canvas size and click OK; for thisworkshop, we’ll use a 640x400-pixel canvas.

The Toolbox panel contains a selection ofdrawing tools: there’s a pencil tool, a paintbrushtool, an eraser tool and a bucket-fill tool (for fillinglarge areas with colour). By default, the drawingtools are used to sketch freehand: click to select thepencil tool and try drawing on the canvas to seehow this works. To draw a straight line, hold downthe Shift key while drawing. To change the line’scolour, click on the coloured squares icon in theToolbox panel and click the colour you want(adjust it using the colour sliders if necessary).Click OK.

When a drawing tool is selected, more optionsrelating to that tool will be shown at the bottom ofthe Toolbox panel. There are also more advancedtools available in Toolbox, including smudge, tooland clone: these can create extra texture or detail inan image, so do try out some of these options. Anymistakes can be reversed by selecting Undo fromthe Edit menu, or pressing the Control (Ctrl) and Zkeys.

Simple is goodDon’t worry if you’re not that good at drawing:some of the most popular web comics are fairlysimple. The hugely respected XKCD(www.xckd.com), for example, uses mostly stickfigures.

With the basics of drawing in Gimp mastered,consider the plot of the comic or animation. In acomic strip, it’s likely that several scenes will be setin the same location; in an animation, you’ll oftenwant the background to stay the same while thecharacters move around. Gimp’s Layers panel cansave a lot of work here by putting the backgroundon one ‘layer’ and the action on another.

Strips ease

PRODUCE COMIC STRIPS AND ANIMATIONS

▼ Image-editing program Gimp can be used

to create both still and animated cartoons

http://www.gimp.org/downloads

http://www.gimp.org/downloads

http://www.xckd.com


PROJECTSDRAW & ANIMATE PRODUCE COMIC STRIPS AND ANIMATIONS

Layered approachWhen it’s created, a canvas only has one layer,named Background. Use this layer to draw inany background elements, then save the imageby selecting Save from the File menu. Thisbackground can now be reused whenevernecessary. To add characters or action, create anew layer by clicking on the New Layerbutton in the Layers window (or by right-clicking and choosing New Layer from the pop-up menu). It will automatically be the same sizeas the existing background layer and, by default,will have a transparent background. Draw thecharacters or action on to this layer. Movebetween layers by clicking on the relevant layerin the Layers panel; clicking on the eye-shapedicon in this panel will show or hide each layerindividually.

To make matters easier, we would suggestgiving each layer a fitting name: just double-click a layer in the Layers panel and type a newname. Each new element should be placed on anew layer as well – this will make it easier tochange individual elements later.

The layers need to be ‘flattened’ into one

Double-click To quickly press

and release a mouse button –

almost always the left – twice in

succession.






you want it to be.

Dropdown menu A list of

options that appears when you

click a menu name or button,

normally marked with a down-

pointing arrow.

Font A set of letters and

numbers in a particular style.

Popular Windows fonts include

Arial and Times New Roman.

Pixel Short for picture element,

which is the smallest part of an

image displayed on a monitor or

captured by a scanner or camera.

Right-click While most actions

in Windows are performed by

clicking the left mouse button,

clicking the right button displays

a pop-up menu with special

functions and options.

Slider A control that enables you

to change a setting by clicking

and ‘dragging’ a slider switch.

Tag A keyword used to describe

a file or web page. Many

programs use tags to organise

related information quickly.

Wizard A step-by-step process

that helps you choose settings.


EVEN EASIER ANIMATIONS

If creating animations one frame at a time seems like too

much hard work, an online tool such as Goanimate

(http://goanimate. com) can be used to animate ready-

made characters in preset backgrounds.

Just sign up for an account, choose a theme, pick

scenes and characters, type some dialogue and click to

create a finished animation. There are similar websites for

creating ready-drawn comics; try Strip Generator

(www.stripgenerator.com), which lets you drag and drop

artwork and text into panels. Tools like these give you quick

results and if you’re not very artistic, they provide ready-

made artwork that’s better than you could make yourself.

image to save a finished frame. Using thedropdown menu in the Save dialogue box, choosea file type: in this case JPEG, since we are makingimages for the web. Another dialogue box willpop up explaining that the image needs to beexported: click Export and Gimp will flatten theimage. If you plan to go back and edit thedifferent layers later, save the image as a Gimp.xcf file as this will keep all the layers separate(not flattened).

Dialogue can be added to comic-strip panelsusing speech bubbles. Click on the text tool in theToolbox panel (a large capital ‘A’) and type intothe box that opens. The font size and colour canbe changed via the Toolbox and text isautomatically placed on a new layer.

Now draw a box around the text using eitherthe Rectangle or Ellipse selection tool(depending on what shape you want the speechbubble to be). Then click on the Free selectiontool (it looks like a lasso) and, in the Free Selectmenu at the bottom of the Toolbox, choose ‘Addto current selection’. Draw a triangle to serve as astalk connected to the speech bubble; it willbecome part of the selected area, with a dotted

line going all the wayaround the shape.While it’s selected,apply someformatting to thespeech bubble. Todraw a line around it,open the Edit menuand choose StrokeSelection. In the

dialogue box that opens, set thecolour and pixel width of the line. Tofill the bubble with colour, use thebucket-fill tool.

Telling a storyNow use these techniques to createa series of images to tell a story.Remember that keeping everythingon different layers makes it easy tochange or reuse elements of previousimages. To put together a comic strip,save each panel as an individualimage, then open a new image in

▼ Gimp’s text, drawing and

selection tools can be used to

create speech bubbles

▶ Placing each character on a different

layer helps with either comic strips or

animations

http://goanimate.com

http://www.stripgenerator.com


create the next frame. By repeating this process over and over, a smooth animation

can be created. Keeping the background layer the same eachtime ensures that the only elements that move or change arethe things you want to animate. As we said, it does requireplenty of patience.

When all the frames have been created – ideally, createbetween 12 and 24 frames per second of animation – save themall to the same folder and name them sequentially (eg 001.jpg,002.jpg, and so on).

To transform the images into a video, use a program calledVirtualdub. (This is the same program we used in our articleon stop-motion animation in issue 346, which is now availableonline at www.computeractive. co.uk/2073037.) DownloadVirtualdub from www.virtualdub.sourceforge.net. Oncedownloaded, extract the zip file (right-click, choose Extractand follow the prompts) and run the program by double-clicking on the file named Virtualdub.exe in the unzippedfolder.

In Virtualdub, open the File menu, choose Open video fileand then navigate to the folder in which the animation imagesare stored. Click the first image, then select Image Sequencefrom the ‘Files of type’ dropdown menu and click Open. TheJPEG images comprising the animation can now be played as avideo. If it’s too fast or too slow, change the frame rate bychoosing Frame rate from the Video menu.

To add sound to an animation, click Audio, then click ‘Audiofrom another file’ and select the appropriate audio file. Bear inmind that most music is copyrighted, and animations will beremoved from sites like Youtube if they contain copyrightedmaterial.

Once the animation is finished, open the File menu and clickon Save as AVI. This will turn it into a video file that can beuploaded to the web, or watched in a media-player programsuch as Windows Media Player.

That’s all folksReally, that’s all there is to it – you just need some time,patience and free software to become a fully fledged animator.To create more elaborate artwork, consider investing in agraphics tablet: this will allow you to draw digital images usinga stylus instead of a mouse.

If this feature has inspired you to vtry creating your owncomics or cartoons, email us a link to your work [email protected] – we would love to see what youcan do.

Gimp by choosing New from the File menu. Use the size settingsto make a large image in the shape you want the finished page tobe. Now copy and paste the panels into this new image and usethe Move tool to put them in place. The size of any image can bechanged by right-clicking on it, hovering over Image and thenchoosing Scale Image. Adjust the image to the right size in thedialogue box that opens. When finished, save your comic as oneflattened image.

Making an animationCreating animations uses much the same techniques – butrequires a lot more patience. Using layers in Gimp can help toensure that each successive frame is only a little bit different fromthe previous one.

Start by creating a starting frame: make a background layer,then ideally a layer for each new element (this is especiallyimportant if a particular object is destined to move as part of theanimation).

Save the first frame as an image and then create another newlayer for the next frame in the sequence. Clicking the eye-shapedicon next to the previous layer will show or hide it beneath thenew layer – this helps to get things in the right position.

The Opacity slider in the Layers panel can be used toapproximate a traditional animation process known as ‘onionskinning’. When animation is done without the help ofcomputers, animators work on thin paper over a lightbox. Thelight shining through the paper lets them see the previous sheet,so they can ensure that everything on the next frame is in theright place.

By reducing the opacity of one layer, you can draw over it in anew layer, then delete the old layer and flatten the new layers to

◀ Programs

such as

Virtualdub can

be used to

stitch still

images

together to

form

animations

SHARING YOUR WORK

To show off an animation, upload it

to a video-sharing website. The

obvious site to use is Youtube: visit

www.youtube.com and sign up for

an account, then click Upload.

Follow the instructions and your

video will soon be available for

other people to watch.

Remember to give it an

appropriate title, add relevant tags

and choose Film and Animation

from the dropdown category

menu.

The quickest and easiest way to

share a web comic is to use a

blogging site like Blogger

(www.blogger. com), and insert

your comic strip images into blog

posts. Blogger is quick to set up,

easy to use and will make it easy

for readers to browse your

archives.

▶ The online

Strip

Generator

tool has a

selection of

ready-made

characters

PROJECTSPROJECTSDRAW & ANIMATEPRODUCE COMIC STRIPS AND ANIMATIONS

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/2073037

http://www.virtualdub.sourceforge.net


http://www.youtube.com

http://www.blogger.com

PROJECTSWINDOWS TWITTER ON TRIAL

Switchingcomputers mayseem daunting.We explain howto transfer all yourfiles, folders anddata seamlesslyand safely

Many people hang on to their PCs foryears, perhaps upgrading here andthere and staying on top of anymaintenance issues to ensure it

continues to run as well as possible. However,there comes a point when nothing more canbe done to revive an ageing computer – so it’stime for a new one.

Your shiny new PC will be faster and better inall sorts of ways, but switching to a newcomputer does leave you with the problem ofhow to transfer all the important stuff from theold PC to the new one – the innumerable filesand folders that store your digital photos, music

tracks, videos and who knows what else.Fortunately, this really isn’t as difficult

or irksome as you might imagine.However, there are several differentoptions available, depending on howmuch data needs to be transferred.They’re all fairly straightforward, butchoosing the right method will smooththe process. In this article we’ll explorea selection of the quickest and easiestoptions for transferring data from anold to a new Windows PC.

Be preparedSensible advice for any PC user is totake regular backups of important filesand data, preferably on to an externalhard disk. If you’re already doing thatthen transferring your files on to a newPC is a piece of cake: simply

disconnect the hard disk fromthe old computer, plug it in to

the new one and just copy thefiles on to the new computer. It might

take a little while, depending on how much datais stored on the hard disk, but this is certainlyone of the easiest options for transferring databetween any two computers. It’s also possible totake the hard disk from your old computer and

attach it to a new one (see the box on theopposite page for details).

Not everyone heeds that counsel though, so thetransfer process may need to begin from scratch.Of course, one option would to burn files on toone or more CDs or DVDs and then copy themacross by inserting the media into a new PC’sdrive. However, CDs and DVDs are a lot slowerthan hard disks, so this option could take quite awhile – especially if you have dozens of gigabytes’worth of music, photos and videos that need to betransferred.

Alternatively, if you have just a few importantfiles or photos then it may be feasible to do it allwith a plug-in USB memory key; these are verycheap nowadays, so could be a cheap-and-cheerful option for people who don’t have hugeamounts of data to shift.

Get networkedA more elegant alternative is to connect all yourcomputers together on your own home network.That might sound complicated, but many peoplewill already have all the necessary equipment –which essentially means a router of somedescription. It may be necessary to spend a fewrupees on a couple of Ethernet cables, but eventhat might not be necessary if both computershave got wireless-networking (Wifi) featuresbuilt into them.

Networking the old and new PCs together willallow you to transfer files by dragging anddropping the files. The actual transfer might takea little while, but once the network is set up, stuffcan be transferred whenever it’s convenient.

Admittedly, creating a network betweenWindows PCs became a little more confusingwith the introduction of Windows 7. It isn’tdifficult to get PCs running different versions ofthe operating system networked, but it iscomplicated by the fact that different approachesmust be taken in different versions of Windows.Microsoft has produced its own guide to getting


Relocate your data

▲ With a router such as this one files canbe transferred across a network


PROJECTSPROJECTSWINDOWS

all three recent versions of Windows networkand sharing files at www.snipca.com/X4845.

Fiddly filesUnfortunately, not all files and data can betransferred on to a new PC easily. Transferringmusic, photos and other types of files is






you want it to be.





pointing arrow.

DVD A type of disc able to store

up to 8.5GB of video or data.

Ethernet A standard used for

almost all wired computer

networks.

Memory key A type of memory

card made by Sony and used by

some of its products.

Network A way of connecting

several computers and devices so

they can share information.

Operating system Governs

the way hardware and software


together.




USB Universal Serial Bus. A

standard that allows quick and

easy connection of external

peripherals such as storage

devices to your PC. Devices can

be added or removed while your

PC is switched on.


CADDY SHACK

If dealing with several years’ worth of old music, photos

and video, work files and emails, one option that will help

you to transfer everything across from one computer to

another in one fell swoop is to extract the hard disk from

the old PC.

It can then be fitted to the new PC or, for ease, installed

into a dedicated ‘enclosure’ or ‘caddy’. This is essentially

an empty box with a USB port attached to it that turns the

hard disk into an external drive that can be quickly

attached to any PC.

TWITTER ON TRIAL

straightforward enough, but there are somethings that are a trickier to deal with.

Programs such as Microsoft Word or Excelcan’t simply be copied to a new PC. In mostcases, it will be necessary to reinstall suchapplications from scratch using the originalinstallation discs. Downloaded tools and utilitiescan simply be downloaded anew, of course; butany data they contain will remain on the old PC,so refer to the software’s instructions forguidance on shifting to a new PC. For morethoughts on this, read the box entitled‘Transferring applications’ on the next page.

Emails can be particularly tricky to deal with,especially as Microsoft decided not to includean email program as a standard feature in

▲ Windows Easy Transfer wizard offers selective controlover the files and folders that will make the journey fromone PC to another

Windows 7 (though the Windows Live Mail program can bedownloaded from www.snipca.com/ X4846. Similarly,transferring contacts, internet bookmarks and the countlessways you may have personalised Windows and its programsmay seem difficult or impossible.

However, there is a way to ease the transfer of such fiddlyfiles – and that’s Microsoft’s Windows Easy Transfer tool.This is included with Windows 7 and is designed to transferfiles from computers running Windows XP, Vista or, indeed,7 itself.

Windows Easy TransferAs the name implies, Windows Easy Transfer is probably thesimplest way for many people to make the move from one PCto another, and it offers various transport mechanisms –including a network connection, burning files to CD or DVD,copying them to a USB memory stick or a USB data-transfercable.

The cable method is the simplest, though you may need tobuy the cord. The wire may come with a CD containingWindows Easy Transfer tool, but if not, download it from atwww.snipca.com/X2229 (remember, it’s built into Windows 7,so this applies only to XP and Vista). Click the blueDownload button alongside the relevant version and followthe prompts to download and install the tool, accepting allthe default options.

Beginning at your (old) PC, click Start followed by AllPrograms, Accessories, System Tools and then Windows EasyTransfer. Now switch to the new (Windows 7) computer anddo the same. On both computers, when the Welcome toWindows Easy Transfer screen appears, click Next. The nextdialogue box asks how the files should be transferred: choose‘An Easy Transfer cable’ on both computers.

The old (Windows XP/Vista) PC will display only ‘This ismy old computer’ as an option – click it. On the Windows 7PC, choose ‘This is my new computer’ and you’ll be asked:‘Do you need to install Windows Easy Transfer on your oldcomputer?’. Choose ‘I already installed it on my oldcomputer’. Then click Next on both computers.

Now attach the Windows Easy Transfer cable between bothcomputers – each end simply needs to be inserted into a USBsocket. The Windows 7 computer will scan the oldcomputer’s contents and, after a short delay, display a list of


PROJECTSWINDOWS TWITTER ON TRIAL

TRANSFERRING APPLICATIONS

You may wonder why it isn’t

possible to transfer applications

such as Microsoft Word and

Excel at the same time as

personal files and folders. It’s a

fair question, but the simple

answer is that applications tend

to weave themselves into the

workings of Windows very

tightly, making transferring them

fraught with difficulty. There are

programs that claim to be able to

do this – such as PC Mover

(www.laplink.com/pcmover) –

but our experience with such

tools suggests

that a smooth transfer is far

from guaranteed. Indeed, we

would recommend forgetting the

idea of trying to transfer

applications automatically and

accept that most if not all will

have to be installed afresh on the

new PC.

▲ A USBmemory keycouldprovide aquick andeasy way totransfer justa few files

▶ It isn't usuallypossible to transferapplications butWindows Easy Transferwill produce a report ofwhat’s installed on yourold PC

user accounts, settings and files that can be transferred.Meanwhile, the old computer will display a ‘Transferring filesand settings…’, though note that nothing is actually beingtransferred just yet.

The new computer will display a ‘Choose what to transfer’window. Each available user account will be listed and tickedby default, so click to remove ticks if necessary. Alternatively,transfer selected items from each user account by clickingCustomize before making your selections. Note thatprograms and applications cannot be transferred and willneed to be installed afresh on the new computer.

It’s possible to tweak how transferred user accounts willappear when they arrive on the Windows 7 PC. When the oldcomputer displays the ‘Choose what to transfer’ dialogue box,click Advanced Options. By default the main account on theold computer will be transferred to the default account on thenew computer, even if their names differ. If this isn’tacceptable then choose Create User from the dropdownmenu here; this will force the creation of a new user accounton the Windows 7 PC. Give the new user account a name, tapin a password and click Create. Now click Save to exit theAdvanced Options dialogue box.

On the new Windows 7 computer, click the Transferbutton. A ‘Transferring files and settings to this computer’window appears, showing the progress of the various itemsselected for transfer. The process may take a long while,depending on the amount of data being transferred.Whatever else you do now, don’t interrupt the computers; ifeither computer is a laptop, ensure it is attached to mainspower.

Eventually, the ‘Your transfer is complete’ window willappear on the Windows 7 computer. Click the ‘See what wastransferred’ link if curious about the detail; subsequentlyclicking the ‘See a list of programs you might want to installon your new computer’ option will display a list ofapplications installed on the old PC. When finished,Windows Easy Transfer can be safely closed.

Give it a goWe’ve shown that transferring all your stuff to a newcomputer can be relatively straightforward. Indeed,transferring personal files and folders – and even personalsettings – may prove less irksome than reinstalling theapplications and tools you’ve likely added to Windows sincefirst setting up the PC. So fear of file transfers shouldn’t putyou off buying a new PC – it’s a lot easier than you think.

http://www.laplink.com/pcmover


PROJECTSPROJECTS

ONLINE

Many peoplethink Twitter is fullof twaddle.Computeractiveputs the socialnetwork forchatterboxes ontrial and explainshow it works

Rarely has a website had such an aptname as Twitter. The social network isall about chatter, and it’s seeminglytalked about incessantly everywhere

else. The hype can be tedious but lurking behindit, is there really a brilliant, entertaining,informative tool that you could be using? Amongthe millions of trivial messages published daily,are there some that you would find interesting?If so, how would you spot them?

In this article we’ll put Twitter on trial,offering a measured assessment of what’s goodand bad about it. We will explain what Twitter is,who’s using it and what for. And if you want totry tweeting, we’ll show you to how to join inand get the best from it.

What is Twitter?Simply put, Twitter is an online service thatallows users to create and read text messages ofno more than 140 characters. A user’s ‘tweets’, asthey’re known, are usually publicly visible ontheir profile webpage, although it is possible tolimit them to approved people or to send aprivate message to another user.

Twitter users see a ‘timeline’ of tweetspublished by themselves and the people they‘follow’. To follow someone, you simply visittheir profile page and click the ‘Follow’ button.

The service first appeared in 2006, initially asa way to communicate with a group of people

using a single SMS text message.Within a year there was

considerable enthusiasm forTwitter among technologyand media types. This earlypopularity encouragedothers to join but also leftmany people with the

impression that

Twitter was an ‘in-club’ for media professionalsand celebrities.

Even if this was true in its early days, Twitterhas now entered the mainstream. It claimed tohave 100 million active users at the last count,but they aren’t just the media darlings, teens andself-promoters you might fear.

Research conducted by the Pew ResearchCenter in America (www.pewinternet.org)suggests that Twitter is more popular withfemale internet users than males and that it isused by people of all ages. At the time of herdeath in 2010, the world’s oldest known Twitteruser, Ivy Bean, was 104. In short, Twitter’s usersare a broad cross-section of society.

What’s in a tweet?Just because there’s a mix of interesting peopleon Twitter, it doesn’t necessarily follow thattheir tweets will be of interest. This may be adisappointment for those following updatesfrom a favourite actor, musician or comedian,only to discover that they’re distinctly lessfascinating than expected. In 2009, Stephen Fry,perhaps the archetypal Twitter celebrity,famously threatened to quit the service after afollower confessed to finding his tweets “a bit…boring”. Perhaps inevitably, he didn’t leave andFry now has over three million Twitterfollowers.

While many do find Fry and other celebritiesworth following, it’s all too easy for any user topost inane or tedious updates about, say, anovercooked dinner or a visit to the shops. Afrequent criticism of Twitter is that even whenexercising self-restraint, it’s impossible to craftanything worthwhile from 140 characters.

Many tweets are bland or trivial. A 2009 study(www.snipca.com/X4911) labelled 40 per cent

Chat in the dock

TWITTER ON TRIAL

▲ Ivy Bean became Twitters’s oldest user at the age of104

http://www.pewinternet.org


PROJECTS

ONLINE TWITTER ON TRIAL

‘pointless babble’ and a further 38 per cent‘conversational’, but there are also historicallyinteresting tweets, such as Barack Obama’stweet following his 2008 presidential electionvictory: “We just made history. All of thishappened because you gave your time, talentand passion. All of this happened because of

you. Thanks.”The restricted length of tweets

means the medium is ideallysuited to the distribution of news,with just enough room for atypical headline or summaryalong with a web link leading to alonger article. Unlike Facebook,however, the service wasn’toriginally designed to handleimages or messages longer than140 characters, preventing tweetsfrom telling the full story. Whileit still isn’t possible to add animage directly to a tweet,

numerous services exist that let users uploadone to a webpage and include a short link to itinstead, making efficient use of the 140-character limit.

Importantly, you don’t need to have a Twitteraccount or be an active user to find news on thesite. Just visit www.twitter.com/search to lookfor a topic or trend of interest. Twitter’s search

Search engine A site on the

internet that indexes the names

and addresses of other sites. It

enables you to search for sites

containing certain key words.

Google is a search engine.

SMS Short Message Service.

More commonly called text

messaging.

Upload The process of

transferring information to

another computer on the internet.


BECOME A TWITTERER

If Twitter sounds like fun, it’s easy to get started.

Visit www.twitter.com and fill in the boxes under

the ‘New to Twitter?’ heading before clicking Sign

up. The next page confirms the information you

provided and automatically tries a user name based

on the email address. Choose another if this isn’t

free. Keeping it short makes it easier for others to

include you in conversations (remember, the length

of the @username will be included in the 140-

character limit of a tweet). Clicking the Create my

account button starts a tutorial explaining how to

use Twitter’s web interface. You’ll also receive a

confirmation email – respond to it to confirm the

account. Click your user name in the web page’s

top right-hand corner and click Settings to review

and edit your profile.

Twitter is best used with a desktop or smartphone

application, many of which have useful features.

Visit www.tweetdeck.com to download one of

the most popular: Tweetdeck is available for the PC,

Android smartphones and the iPhone.

engine will return relevant news, tweets, usersand images.

Most major news outlets now use Twitterfeeds to distribute headlines, such as the BBC’s@BBCBreaking account (we’ll explain moreabout the make-up of Twitter names a littlelater), but Twitter’s accessibility means thatsmaller news outlets and even individuals canuse it to circulate information.

Much has been made of this fast propagationof news and eyewitness accounts, with Twitter’sspeed and reach sometimes credited withhaving helped protesters to outmanoeuvreoppressive regimes. Alongside Facebook, thenetwork played a high-profile role in organisingand publicising the events of the Arab Spring –the wave of revolution in Arab nations thatbegan in December 2010.

Fast facts?However, without conventional journalism’shierarchy of writers and editors, the newsbroken on Twitter by independent sources maylack the verification, evidence and accuracyusually associated with major news outlets. Ajuicy-sounding tweet can be widely republished(‘retweeted’) even if it’s wrong, such as in July2011, when a story briefly broke that PiersMorgan had been suspended from his high-profile show on the CNN TV network inAmerica. In this case, as in many others, moreresponsible or better informed Twitter usersquickly reacted to debunk the story.

Such unverified tweets can be misleading, butit’s potentially worse when they’re libellous oreven in contempt of court – such as in May 2011,when a well-known footballer was named bymany thousands of Twitter users aftertraditional media outlets had been barred byinjunction from doing so.

But while such mass action could bedamaging, particularly when allegations areunfounded, it can also be constructive. Twitterhas been widely used to challenge so-called‘super-injunctions’ that bar both the reporting ofan event and the injunction’s own existence,which are seen by many as a threat to pressfreedom and freedom of speech.

▲ Search for a particular subject, such as‘Olympics’, to view related tweets

▲ Stephen Fry threatened to quit after his tweets weredubbed boring

http://www.twitter.com

http://www.tweetdeck.com


page and will automatically appear in the timeline of anyonewho follows them. Users can address public tweets to otherusers by adding @username (where username is anotherTwitter account-holder’s user name) – the recipient’s softwarewill typically alert them and sort the message into a speciallocation. Beginning a message with D username creates aprivate direct message that can be seen only by the addressee.

It’s worth emphasising that all tweets are public unless sentas a direct message, or unless the sender has protected theirfeed (see the Twitter Privacy panel, below left).

There are some other special characters, too; using the #(hash) character creates a ‘hashtag’ categorising the content ofa tweet. The hashtag can be clicked to display a list of tweetsfrom others with the same tag.

A typical tweet might combine a couple of these elements,for example: @Computeractive How many IT journalists doesit take to change a light bulb? #joke.

By using hashtags and addressing messages to relevantpeople with @, Twitter users can help their messages stand outamong the constant stream of conversations. Even so, theservice handles more than 50 million messages a day –following just a few active Twitter members can fill a user’stimeline with tens or even hundreds of tweets an hour.

The reality is that it’s not possible to read them all and it’sbest not to try. Get the most from Twitter by giving itoccasional attention and catching up on any messages that areaddressed to you while keeping an eye on what’s happening.

Using filters can hide tweets on dull subjects. On the flipside, in some Twitter software it’s possible to save a search fora hashtag that you find interesting, resulting in a constantlyupdating list of related tweets.

Time to tweetWith a fast turnover, precious little privacy and plenty of trivia,Twitter isn’t for everyone. However, it is far simpler than othersocial networks, making it easier to access and use.

With patience and some selective listening, it’s possible tofocus only on the best bits, which can be illuminating,educational or just entertaining.

Perhaps most importantly, you needn’t sign up if you justwant to see what the fuss is about, so there’s little to lose intaking a closer look. You may find Twitter a pointlessdistraction, but you may find it a source of ideas and news, oran exciting outlet for your own thoughts and opinions.

Facing competition from Twitter when it comes tobreaking news, conventional news outlets sometimes turn toit as a source – occasionally leading to embarrassing mistakes.In mid-2010, just after the iPhone 4 had launched to criticismabout mobile signal problems, the Daily Mail published astory stating that the phone might have to be recalled. Itnamed its source as the Twitter feed of Apple’s then chiefexecutive, the late Steve Jobs, without apparently realisingthat the account was a parody and the tweet a joke.

There are many such fake or parody ‘celebrity’ accounts onTwitter, some of which can be amusing while others arescathingly critical or offensive. Many of the former tweetcontemporary news in the style of famous people fromhistory, with a good example being @DrSamuelJohnson,while others, such as @TheTommyCooper, tweet jokes orphrases attributed to someone famous. While many accountsare based on people who are now dead, there are plenty thatparody living celebrities, such as @CherylKerl (a spoof ofCheryl Cole).

It’s often clear when a Twitter feed doesn’t belong to a realperson, and many celebrities or businesses greet parody withgood humour.

However, cases of mischievous third parties imitating abrand or famous person have prompted Twitter to introducea verification scheme. Names that appear with a white tick ina blue circle next to them are the official accounts that youwould expect them to be. If there’s no tick, they may not begenuine.

Easy accessTwitter’s early popularity among internet and mediaprofessionals might give the impression that it’s exclusive orhard to use, but in practice it’s easier than many othernetworks. Twitter is also remarkably open. While users mustsign up via the Twitter website (see the ‘Become a Twitterer’box on the previous page), they needn’t use the service fromthere afterwards. Twitter has encouraged third-partysoftware developers and provides a ‘back-end’ through whichsoftware programs can access the service. As a result, it’spossible to choose from many free Twitter applications,which between them support most computers and mobiledevices. Many are free of advertising, too.

Once signed up, there’s little more to Twitter than readingand creating messages in plain English. If a user tweets “Helloworld”, the message will be publicly visible on their profile

▲ Just enter a user name, email address and password to join

PRIVACY ON TWITTER

While profiles are public, they

need only contain a name, which

can be false.

Tweets are also public and,

unless you select ‘Protect my

Tweets’ from the account

settings, anyone can view them.

A regrettable tweet can be

deleted, but it’s practically

impossible to do so before one or

more followers have seen it.

Moreover, public tweets are

indexed by search engines such

as Google and may appear in

their results. It’s

best to regard Twitter as a

conversation in a public place;

if you wouldn’t say something

out loud on a busy train, don’t

tweet it.

PROJECTSPROJECTS

ONLINETWITTER ON TRIAL

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PROJECTS

69

WORKSHOPS SECTION

Send form letters to different peopleUse Excel and Word to send the same letter todifferent addresses

Make Windows 8 work like Windows7Find out how to get shot of Windows 8’s new Startscreen

Make a never-ending mouse pointerMousinity adds infinite movement to theWindows mouse pointer

Create 3D sculpturesMaking a 3D sculpture is easy with a free program

Add colours to Windows foldersWe explain how free software can make Windows’folders easier to navigate

Hints and tipsA Firefox add-on that helps you up your privacysettings and how to compress images in Word

Bug A mistake in an

application’s computer code

that leads to unintentional or

unexpected results.

Compression The process of

reducing the size of a file or

files by encoding the data

inside them. ZIP files are an

example of compression.

Cursor Can refer to the mouse

pointer on screen or a flashing

shape that shows where the

next letter you type will appear.

Dialogue box A window that

pops up to display or request

information.

Drag After clicking to select an

item on screen you can move

the mouse while keeping the

button held down to drag it

elsewhere.





pointing arrow.

Icon A small image used by

Windows to identify a file or

program.

Notification Area An area on

the bottom-right of the screen

that shows which programs are

running in Windows.

Radio button A button where

only one choice can be made at

a time.

Ribbon An interface for Word

that arranges related tools into

a series of tabs. The ribbon

replaces toolbars and was

introduced in Office 2007.

Slider A control that enables

you to change a setting by

clicking and ‘dragging’ a slider

switch.

Spreadsheet A software

application for creating sheets

of calculations, set out in rows

and columns. They may be used

for accounting and budgeting,

for example. Leading programs

include Microsoft Excel and

Open Office Calc.

Wizard A step-by-step process

that helps you choose settings.

Zip file A file that can contain

compressed documents or

files.


Jargon applies

to Workshops

WORKSHOPS | TIPS | GUIDES | PROBLEM SOLVING


WE ARE GOING TO USE Excel to store our names and

addresses, so let’s start with that. Launch Excel, then

create a simple spreadsheet with the following

headings, from left to right: First name, Surname, Street, Town,

County and Postcode. Enter the names and addresses of people

who might normally expect a letter at Christmas, when the family

has moved house or after any other important announcements. If

necessary, resize the columns to make the text fit by positioning the

pointer between the headings and double-clicking. Save the

spreadsheet. ▼

PROJECTSWORKSHOPS EX CEL MAIL-MERGE

Send form letters todifferent peopleDiscover how to send the same letter to more than oneaddress with Excel and Word

LEV EL | MEDIUM

CLOSE EXCEL and open Microsoft Word. Word

2007/2010 users, click the Mailings tab and then click

Start Mail Merge on the ribbon. Select Step by Step Mail

Merge Wizard from the dropdown menu. When the Mail

Merge panel appears on the right-hand side, make sure that Letters

is selected, then click the ‘Next: Starting document’ link at the

bottom of the panel. If you are using Word 2003, open the Tools

menu and choose Letters and Mailings, then Mail Merge. Make sure

Letters is selected and click the ‘Next: Starting document’ link. ▼

We are going to demonstratehow to create a list of names andaddresses using Microsoft Excel, then‘merge’ them into a letter created in Word.

By using Word’s mail-merge features,each recipient will get a letter with their

own name and address on it and asalutation that uses their first name. Wewill use Word 2010 for the screens but the2007 version works the same way. WhereWord 2003 does things differently, it isnoted in the text.

STEP

1

STEP

2


WORKSHOPSPROJECTS

EX CEL MAIL-MERGELEV EL | MEDIUM

DEPENDING ON HOW Word and Excel are set up, the

subsequent dialogue box may ask to be connected

to a new ‘Data Source’ or even to a new ‘SQL Server

Connection’. Fortunately, these rather arcane

references can be ignored because neither is necessary for what we

want to do. Instead, just use the Windows Explorer dialogue box to

find the spreadsheet that was created in Step 1 (ours is called

‘Addresses.xlsx’), click it and then click the Open button. ▼

THIS SUMMONS THE Mail Merge Recipients dialogue

box, which will display the names and addresses

created in Step 1. There are different ways to arrange,

include and exclude the information in the table using

the links under the ‘Refine recipient list’ heading – useful if there are

hundreds or thousands of addresses. From here, it is possible to

weed out duplicates or select recipients by using the Filter

command to, for example, include only people who live in Slough.

Our simple list will include everyone, so just click OK. ▼

STEP

4

STEP

6

AT THE NEXT SCREEN, it is possible to use one

of Word’s many supplied templates or to open an

existing document and use that. However, for the

purposes of this workshop, make sure the ‘Use the

current document’ item is selected and then click the ‘Next: Select

recipients’ link at the bottom of the panel to move on. At the next

screen, make sure that the ‘Use an existing list’ radio button is

selected and click the Browse link, about a third of the way down the

panel. ▼

STEP

3

AGAIN, DEPENDING ON HOW Word and Excel have

been configured, a dialogue box may appear asking to

confirm the data source. Just click OK. After a moment,

the Select Table dialogue box opens. By default, the

worksheet called ‘Sheet1’ will be selected, which is the one that

holds our addresses. What are the other ones? By default, Excel

creates tabbed worksheets called ‘Sheet1’, ‘Sheet2’, ‘Sheet3’ and so

on. Since ours is a simple one-sheet list of addresses, we have not

used any of the other worksheets. Make sure Sheet1 is selected and

click OK. ▼

STEP

5


PROJECTSWORKSHOPS EX CEL MAIL-MERGE LEV EL | MEDIUM

CLICK THE ‘Next: write your letter’ link at the foot of

the panel. Word 2007/2010 users, click the Insert tab,

choose Header from the ribbon and then select Blank

from the list. In Word 2003, open the View menu and

choose Header and Footer. Type your name and home address into

the empty space. Word 2007/2010 users should then click the

highlighted Header and Footer Tools tab and select Close Header

and Footer. In Word 2003 the Close command is already visible.

Then type the body of the letter, minus the salutation. ▼

HERE IS THE MATCH FIELDS dialogue box. Word has a

list of items that it looks for when inserting an address,

such as the Company, Address 1, State and so on. The

spreadsheet we created in Step 1 doesn’t include those

items, so we need to match the headings we did use with their

equivalents in Word’s list. Do not worry about Suffix and Company

but open the dropdown menu opposite Address 1 and choose

Street. ▼

STEP

7

CARRY ON MATCHING HEADINGS from the

spreadsheet address list to Word’s built-in ones

(City=Town, State=County, Postal Code=Post Code)

and then click OK. Back at the Insert Address Book

dialogue box, use the cursor (arrow) keys to preview each address

and make sure that the formatting is okay. Notice too that there are

various options that dictate the way the recipient’s name is

formatted – we are happy with the full name so we have left it. Click

OK to continue. ▼

STEP

10

STEP

9

ADD ANY OTHER BITS and pieces at the top and then

move the text-entry cursor down to where the

recipient’s address should appear. Roll the mouse

pointer over to the panel on the right and click the

Address block link. Word displays a preview of what the first address

from our Excel address list will look like when it is merged with the

letter. Unless a miracle has occurred, it is likely that the information

in the Preview panel is formatted incorrectly. We will fix that

now – click the Match Fields button. ▼

STEP

8


WORKSHOPSPROJECTS

EX CEL MAIL-MERGELEV EL | MEDIUM

FINALLY, WE HAVE included a sentence at the end of

our letter that includes space for the recipient’s name

to make it appear even more personal – it says ‘And

rest assured that when we’re settled in, [recipient’s

name], you’ll be one of the first people we invite round to dinner!’.

Click just before the comma and then press the space bar once.

Then, click the Greeting line link in the right-hand panel again. This

time, open the first dropdown menu and choose ‘(none)’, choose the

first name from the second dropdown menu, and ‘(none)’

again from the third. Then click OK. ▼

TO SEE WHAT THE FINISHED LETTER will look like,

click the ‘Next: Preview your letters’ link at the bottom

of the right-hand panel and the first letter in the

sequence will appear. The Address Block and Greeting

lines inserted in the previous step have been replaced by an actual

address and the first person’s name – not only as the salutation

but also inserted into that paragraph in the text. Although our

example is a simple one, using Excel and Word like this has plenty of

uses for families, clubs, schools and so on. ▼

IT IS POSSIBLE TO SCROLL through each letter to

check that everything is OK, or to find a specific

recipient, edit the main list or exclude the current

recipient (the one being browsed) from the mailout. To

finish, click the ‘Next: Complete the merge’ link at the bottom of the

right-hand panel and then click the Print link. Assuming that all the

letters need to be printed, ensure All is selected and click OK. Then,

at the Print dialogue box, click OK to print the merged letters. ●

STEP

12

STEP

13

STEP

14

WORD INSERTS THE ADDRESS BLOCK inside

double-arrowed brackets; we will demonstrate how

this works in a moment. For now, though, press Enter

a couple of times and then click the Greeting line link

in the right-hand panel. When the dialogue box appears, open the

dropdown menu that contains the different name variations and

choose one – we have gone for the person’s first name. Word will

display a preview to show how it will appear in the finished letter.

Click OK to continue. ▼

STEP

11


PROJECTSWORKSHOPS TWEAK WINDOWS 8 LEV EL | EASY

LAUNCH EITHER THE DESKTOP or Modern version of

Internet Explorer (IE) and visit http://classicshell.

sourceforge.net. Click Download Now, then click

Run when prompted. After accepting the licence

agreement, the Custom Setup dialogue box appears. Click the small

down arrows next to the Classic Explorer and Classic IE9 features

and select ‘Entire feature will be unavailable’. These features are

designed for Vista and Windows 7 and do not add anything useful to

Windows 8. Click Next, then Finish. ▼

Find out how to get rid of Windows 8’s new Startscreen and restore the traditional Start button

CLICK THE NEW START BUTTON at the left end of the

Taskbar and the Settings dialogue box will open. There

are three Start menu styles available: Windows Classic,

Windows XP and Windows Vista/7. Click the Vista/7

style. To reset all the settings for any particular style, click on the

dropdown menu labelled ‘Backup’ and choose ‘Reset all settings’. To

save all settings to a file, choose ‘Backup to XML file’. This file can be

opened later by using the ‘Load from XML file’ option. ▼

Windows 8’s new full-screen Start screencan be very frustrating for thoseaccustomed to previous versions ofWindows. To make the transition easier,Windows 8 can be made to work likeWindows 7 by using a free program called

Classic Start Menu. This restores thetraditional Start button and Windows 7-style Start menu, and also lets users logstraight in to the Windows Desktop,bypassing the new Start screen entirely.Here’s what to do.

STEP

1

STEP

2

Make Windows 8 work like Windows 7

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net


WORKSHOPSPROJECTS

TWEAK WINDOWS 8LEV EL | EASY

ON THE SKIN TAB, various cosmetic settings are

available, depending on which style is chosen in the

dropdown menu (Windows Aero is the Windows 7 style).

Feel free to experiment with these. After making a

change, click the Start button to see how it looks. To restore the

defaults, click the Reset skin button. Alternatively, click on the Start

Menu Style tab and click the Vista/7 style – although this will also

remove any custom menu items (see Step 7). ▼

CLICK THE BASIC SETTINGS tab to see some more

advanced settings. We recommend sticking with

defaults for now but scroll down to the bottom of the

list and make sure the two tickboxes labelled ‘Skip Metro Screen’

and ‘Enable Start Button’ are ticked. These disable the Windows 8

Start screen at login (it can still be opened by pressing and holding

the Shift key then tapping the Windows key). Click OK when done to

close the settings menu. ▼

THE LEFT SIDE of Classic Shell’s Start menu is blank at

first. When a Desktop app is run, it is added to the list of

recent apps in the top left portion of the Start menu.

From there it can be pinned to the Start menu by

dragging its icon with the mouse to the blank area between the

Programs link and the recent apps list. Modern apps cannot be

pinned to this menu. ▼

STEP

3

STEP

4

STEP

5

WINDOWS 8 HAS ‘active corners’ that open menus

when the mouse is pushed into a corner of the screen.

To enable or disable these, open the Settings menu

then click the All Settings radio button. Click the

Windows 8 Settings tab, then in the ‘Disable active corners’ section

choose All to make all active corners work normally, or None to

disable them all (as per Windows 7). The Windows 8 Start screen can

be opened by holding the Shift key while clicking the Classic Shell

Start button. ▼

STEP

6


PINNED PROGRAMS ARE LISTED in the order they were

added. To sort them alphabetically, click the Start

button, then right-click anywhere in the list of pinned

programs (the bottom-left half of the Start menu above

Programs). Choose Sort by Name to sort them alphabetically.

Unfortunately, choosing Auto Arrange prevents new items from

being pinned, which is a bug in the current version of the program, so

do not use this. Pinned programs can also be rearranged manually by

dragging their icons up or down the list. ▼

CLASSIC SHELL DOES NOT put a link to Videos on the

Start menu. To rectify this, open the Customize Start

Menu setting (see Step 7) and drag the User Files item

from the right to the left pane (put it under the

UserPicturesItem entry). Double-click UserFilesItem2 in the left

pane, and replace the text in the Command box by typing

%homepath%/Videos. Then type My Videos in the label box, and in

the Icon box type shell32.dll,224. Click OK. ▼

STEP

8

THE SEARCH BOX ON the Start menu finds Desktop

apps and settings, but not Modern apps or files. To

search for files, click the Search menu on the Start

menu and choose For Files and Folders. This launches a

search in File Explorer (Windows 8’s replacement for Windows

Explorer); the search box is at the top right of the window. To

uninstall Classic Shell, right-click the Start button and choose Exit.

Now press the Windows key and the letter key ‘I’ (not ‘L’) together,

then choose Control Panel. Click Uninstall a program, click Classic

Shell, then click Uninstall. ●

STEP

10

STEP

9

PROJECTSWORKSHOPS TWEAK WINDOWS 8 LEV EL | EASY

TO PERSONALISE THE START MENU, click the

Customize Start Menu tab in the All Settings menu. The

current layout is in the left pane, and available items are

in the right pane. To add Control Panel above Help and

Support, for example, find the Control Panel item in the right pane,

then click and drag it to sit just above HelpItem in the left pane. To

remove an item, right-click it in the left pane and choose Delete or, to

discard all changes, choose Reset Start menu. ▼

STEP

7


WORKSHOPSPROJECTS

NON-STOP POINTINGLEV EL | EASY

Make a never-endingmouse pointerMousinity adds infinite movement to the Windows pointer toavoid moving the mouse too much

Anyone who sits at a small desk and uses alarge monitor will be familiar with thedabbing movement required to move themouse pointer from one side of the screento the other. Mousinity is a free tool that

fixes the problem by removing the notionalboundaries of the screen edges so thatwhen the pointer is moved to the top, itreappears at the bottom; roll it to the leftedge and it reappears at the right, and so on.

LAUNCH A WEB BROWSER and visit

www.snipca.com/7223. When the web page loads, scroll

down to the Mousinity.zip link and click it. When the File

Download dialogue box appears, click the Save button,

choose a destination – such as the Desktop – and then click Save

again. Find the Mousinity folder on the desktop, right-click it and

choose Extract All from the pop-up menu. Follow the instructions to

extract the files and then open the resulting folder and double-click

the Mousinity icon to start. ▼

IF WINDOWS DISPLAYS a security warning, ignore

it and click Run. On the face of it, nothing will happen,

but behind the scenes, Mousinity has launched and

is ready to use. There are no settings, and no icon

is placed in the Notification Area – Mousinity just works. Try

rolling the pointer up to the top of the screen and instead of

stopping at the edge it will reappear at the bottom. Move left or

right and the same thing happens. This is obviously difficult for

us to illustrate in a picture. ▼

STEP

1

MOUSINITY IS USEFUL for anyone who is working on a

large screen (and perhaps a small desk) where there

are lots of physical hand movements involved in getting

the mouse pointer from one side of the screen to

another. It does take a little getting used to, though, and if things do

not work out, double-click the Mousinity icon again and a little

dialogue box pops up at the bottom right of the screen asking ‘Do

you want to close Mousinity?’. Click Yes and the program will quit. ●

STEP

3

STEP

2

http://www.snipca.com/7223


LAUNCH A WEB BROWSER and visit www.pixologic.

com/sculptris. When the website appears, click the Free

Download button. At the next screen, click to select the

relevant version (Windows, in our case), fill in the short

form, including a valid email address, and click Submit. Now fire up

your email program and find the confirmation from Sculptris – click

the ‘Download WIN Here’ link in the body of the email. Follow the

instructions to download the program. Choosing the Windows

Desktop as the download destination will help you find the

installation file later. When the download has finished, right-click on

the Sculptris folder and choose Extract All. ▼

PROJECTSWORKSHOPS CREATE 3D SCULPTURES

Sculptris enables you to craft on-screen creations with a ballof virtual clay, using your mouse

LEV EL | EASY

WHEN THE WIZARD STARTS, select the Desktop as

the destination for the folder and click the Extract

button. After the folder has been created and opened,

double-click the ‘Sculptris Alpha 6.exe’ icon to start the

installation. Follow the wizard through, accepting the licensing

agreement and all the defaults. When it is done, click the Finish

button. Now launch Sculptris by clicking Start followed by All

Programs, then Pixologic, Sculptris Alpha 6 and then Sculptris Alpha

6. The program launches to display a new, empty sphere in the

centre – think of this as a ball of clay. ▼

Sculpting in the real world is messy andhard to master but, fortunately, sculptingin the virtual world is not.

In this workshop we will explain how todownload, install and then use a fantasticfree program called Sculptris. It letsanyone use their mouse to push, pull and

otherwise mould a ball of virtual clay intoall manner of shapes, then texture it, addshadows, dimples, cracks and crevicesbefore finishing it off with a spot of virtualpaint. We will be using a Windows PC butthe program is also available forApple Mac computers.

STEP

1

STEP

2

Make 3D sculptures with free software

http://www.pixologic.com/sculptris

http://www.pixologic.com/sculptris


WORKSHOPSPROJECTS

CREATE 3D SCULPTURESLEV EL | EASY

HOLD DOWN THE Control (Ctrl) key and press Z to

undo (remove) both circles. Now, to replace them with

smaller circles, roll the pointer up to the Size slider at

the top and drag it to the left. Move the pointer back

over the sphere and draw another circle. This time keep going round

the circle until it has been drawn 20 times. Then stop. Next, right-

click on the sphere and, still holding down the mouse button, move

the mouse up and down to rotate the sphere. Notice that by drawing

the circle multiple times we have actually created two raised circles.

▼

NEXT, CHOOSE THE CREASE tool at the very top-

left (hovering the pointer over each button reveals a

description of each one) and experiment with that.

Here we have used it to created a sort of mouth. Then

try the Inflate button on the ‘chin’ underneath the mouth to produce

a sort of bulge. Then have another go with the Draw button to

produce a sort of nose. To finish, here is a neat trick that will always

centre the sphere – hold down the Shift key and right-click on it. ▼

NOW LET’S MAKE SOMETHING PEOPLE will recognise:

a lemon. Select New Sphere from the buttons on the left

(it has a little sphere on it) and when the dialogue box

appears, click New Scene and then click OK. Now we are

going to use a new tool – Grab, which has an icon with a four-headed

cross on it. Use the slider to increase the size to about halfway and

then move the pointer slowly in from the left about halfway down the

sphere and stop when the orange circle appears, as shown in our

picture. ▼

STEP

4

STEP

5

STEP

6

ROLL THE MOUSE POINTER over the left half of the

sphere so that an orange circle appears around it. Hold

down the left mouse button and drag to draw out a

circle. Sculptris creates a soft, raised circle underneath

the pointer. Because the Symmetry button is active – that is the one

with the two horizontal arrows pointing left and right – Sculptris

creates a duplicate on the other side of the sphere. This simple

control makes it easy to sculpt broadly symmetrical shapes of all

description. ▼

STEP

3


PROJECTSWORKSHOPS CREATE 3D SCULPTURES LEV EL | EASY

CLICK AND THEN – still holding down the mouse

button – drag left to elongate that section of the shape.

It may be necessary to do this a couple of times and also

experiment with the size of the Grab tool using the

slider. In the end it should look like our screenshot. Next, choose the

Crease tool (top-left on the button bar) move the Size slider to

halfway and then begin to single click around the left side of the

sphere to produce a series of dimples. ▼

BECAUSE THIS IS a 3D sculpture, it will be necessary to

roll the sphere round and do the rear side. To finish off,

click on the Material icon (top-middle of the screen) to

open the materials palette. Experiment by choosing

different textures to ‘colour’ the sculpture. The one we would

suggest using is JGSpecial_01, which will complete our 3D drawing

of a lemon rather nicely. Sculptris takes care of all the lighting

effects automatically. ▼

SCULPTRIS CAN SAVE FILES in its own unique format

to retain the full 3D shape but it is also possible to save

a 3D drawing like this as a flat,

two-dimensional image, which is useful for showing off

your work outside of Sculptris. Click the Options button at the top

and then, when the dialogue box opens, click the small Save Image

button (at the top-right). Navigate to where the file is going to be

stored and then open the ‘Save as type’ dropdown menu and choose

JPEG. Give the file a name, click Save and then click OK. Here is the

same file opened in an image editor. ▼

STEP

7

STEP

8

CLICK THE SAVE BUTTON on the left and type

a memorable name for the image file. Now we will show

just how easily one sculpture can be turned into

another – by making a fish, say. Choose the Grab tool

again and move the Size slider all the way to the right. Find a point at

about two o’clock on the lemon, left-click there and drag inwards.

There will come a point when the shape begins to burst through

itself. When that happens just drag back up a bit. Next, rotate the

sphere until it is sideways on, then grab the front and elongate it,

as shown here. It looks a bit like a radioactive turkey crown. ▼

STEP

10

STEP

9


WORKSHOPSPROJECTS

CREATE 3D SCULPTURESLEV EL | EASY

PULL THE OTHER END out in the same way to form a

sort of ellipsoid shape. Then reduce the Size slider again

and draw out some spines down the back of the shape.

Then using the same tool (and Slider size) grab one of

what used to be the ends of the lemon and tease that out to form two

small flippers. Here we have returned to the front of our shape and

then angled it slightly to create a better look. ▼

KEEP THE SAME SIZE tool but switch to Draw and

create a couple of raised circles for the eyes (see Step

3), then roll the shape so the underside is visible. Switch

to the Crease tool and create a shark-like mouth for our

developing sea creature. Finally, click the Material button at the top

again and this time select JGDrink-01, which gives a balloon animal-

style effect. Save the sculpture, then click the Paint button and then

click OK in the dialogue box. ▼

ONCE IN PAINTING MODE, you can’t go back and

sculpt, but there are plenty more effects available here

to explore. For example, click the Material button again,

scroll down and choose Strong Rim. Next, try clicking

the Texture button and then clicking New. Navigate to where the

Sculptris program is stored – it will be inside the My Programs

folder, inside another folder called Pixologic. You will find the

Textures folder there. Choose one of the rock textures and click

Open. Then select it from the palette to return to the main screen. ▼

STEP

11

STEP

12

MAKE SURE ENABLE is active under the Textures

thumbnail by clicking it and then start to paint the

texture onto the shape. We will end up with something

that looks like a statue that could sit happily next to a

garden pond. This workshop has barely scratched the surface of

what this extraordinary free program has to offer and we would

heartily recommend that you experiment further, watch some of the

videos on the Sculptris website and check out the example

artworks. ●

STEP

14

STEP

13


PROJECTSWORKSHOPS COLOUR WINDOWS FOLDERS LEV EL | EASY

LAUNCH A WEB BROWSER and visit

www.snipca.com/7222, home to Rainbow Folders. When

the site appears, scroll to the very bottom of the page

and click the Download program link there. Follow the

instructions to save the file to the Windows Desktop – in Internet

Explorer 9, for example, this involves selecting Save As, choosing the

Desktop and clicking Save. When the download finishes, right-click

the ‘rf.zip’ file icon and choose Extract All to expand the contents of

the compressed Zip file. Now double-click the Rainbow Folders.exe

file and follow the installation wizard. Click Finish at the end. ▼

We explain how a free downloadable program can make Windows folders easier to navigate

LAUNCH WINDOWS EXPLORER (holding down the

Windows key and tapping E is a quick way to do this)

and navigate to a folder that could do with a colour

change to make it stand out from the rest – then right-

click it and choose Rainbow Folders from the pop-up menu. We have

a folder called ‘Bluetooth Exchange Folder’, so it makes sense to

colour it blue but first, open the dropdown menu in the Style section

and choose Modern. Next, pick a strong blue shade by clicking on

the Hue palette and then adjust the Saturation slider to get a nice

royal blue. Then click the Colorize button. You may need to refresh

the folder view to see the change (choose Refresh from the View

menu, or press F5 on the keyboard). ▼

AND THAT IS pretty much all there is to it. There are

options in the dialogue box to choose a random colour or

save one to use again somewhere else by clicking the

Favourites button and giving it a name; and if a colour

doesn’t work it is possible to replace it with a new colour, as we did in

Step 2, or click the Decolorize button and return it to the original

colour. There is also a dedicated Uninstall program so Rainbow

Folders can be removed if it is not needed any more – find it in the

Rainbow Folders group on the Start menu. ●

Windows is all about folders but they cansoon become hard to navigate. Witheven just a handful of personal folders onthe Windows Desktop, identifying theright folder can be difficult when theyall look the same.

In this short workshop, we will walkthrough Rainbow Folders, a small, freeprogram that adds an extra option to theright-click menu in Windows Explorer tochange the colour of any selected folderin a couple of moments.

STEP

1

STEP

2

STEP

3

Add colours to Windows folders

http://www.snipca.com/7222

FIREFOX ADD-ON

I found a useful tool for

getting a summary of your

online privacy settings – a

Firefox add-on called

Privacyfix. It is easy to use

and shows areas that

might need attention on

sites such as Facebook

and Google Plus.

Start Firefox, go to

www.privacyfix.com/start

and click on the blue Get

Privacyfix button. Click

on Allow in the message

that appears and then

Install Now in the

Software Installation

window that appears.

Once it has been installed, Privacyfix

will scan your Facebook and

Google accounts as long as you

are logged in. This can take a minute

or two.

The summary of your privacy settings

is broken down into tabs for Facebook,

Google, websites and tracking.

Problems are shown in orange and

there will be a blue fix button that will

open a new tab on the relevant settings

page so you can fix it. A rather clever

trick is that if there are several

settings on the page,

Privacyfix will highlight the

particular setting that needs

to be changed.

The Websites tab will show a

list of websites known to

Privacyfix. This reveals which

recently visited sites share data

or may retain personal data

even after you have closed your

account. Privacyfix also comes

with a toolbar that can

be enabled from the

Healthbar tab that will appear as a button

near the Address Bar. If Privacyfix has

information about the site, this button

will be in colour. Click on the button to

see a summary of any privacy concerns

with that site.

TWITTER

Handy hints and tips from fellow readers

▲ Privacyfix shows how strong the privacy settings on your online accounts really are

Privacyfix

Anyone who uses Twitter can become

overwhelmed with updates quite quickly. Follow

too many people and the barrage of updates

risks hiding the posts that interest you most. The

solution is to create lists of people that you follow.

These can be public or private.

Log in to Twitter and click on the gear

icon, next to the new tweet button at the

top right of the page. Click on Lists and

then Create List. Give the list a name

and description and then decide whether you

want it to be private or open for others

to subscribe to. Click Save list. Click in the

Search box in the main part of the window to

search for people to add to the new list. It may

be easier to click on the link to your Following

page. Click on the down arrow in a row and then

on Add or remove from lists… Select a list and

then close the box.

To view updates from list members, click on the

Lists option on the left and then on the list you

want to follow. Lists can also be opened in third-

party programs such as Tweetdeck.

Create lists of favourite tweetersAdjust post visibility

FACEBOOK MOBILE

When you post on Facebook in a

web browser, the dropdown

menu to the left of the Post

button can change how visible

the post is. It can be public, just

for your friends, a custom list of

friends, or private, for you only.

This option will not appear when

using Facebook on a mobile

phone.

Log in to Facebook, click the

down arrow next to Home at the

top-right corner and choose

Privacy Settings. There will be

three icons for selecting who

should see your posts.


HINTS & TIPSPROJECTS

http://www.privacyfix.com/start


PROJECTSHINTS & TIPS

Prevent accidental mobilepurchases

GOOGLE PLAY

If you let children play games on an

Android phone, there is a risk they

might make in-game purchases, either

deliberately or by accident. It is

possible to stop this by adding a PIN

number to your phone.

Start Google Play and open the

menu using the icon at the top right

with three dots. Tap on Settings, scroll

down to the option ‘Set or change PIN’.

Enter a four-digit number, and tap OK

and confirm. The option above ‘Use PIN

for purchases’ will now become active.

Tap on it and a blue tick will appear to

show the option has been selected.

Update via Wifi

GOOGLE PLAY

If you are worried about going over your

data allowance, it is possible to set

Android phones to only download

updates when they are connected to

Wifi.

Start the Google Play App and tap on

the icon with three squares in a column

at the top-right corner of the screen. Tap

Settings. Swipe through the options until

you find one that says ‘Update over WiFi

only’. Tap the right-hand side of this row

so that a blue tick appears.

I have found that adding images to Word

documents has increased the size of the

document far more than I expected. This is

because, even if an image has been resized

to be much smaller than its original, Word

keeps the file as it was. The advantage of

this is that it means you can undo any

changes made to the document but it can

cause problems if you want to email the

image.

Word can update the image to reflect

changes in size or to discard areas that have

been cropped out. Once all the images in

the document have been resized and

cropped, click on one of them to make the

Picture Tools tab appear in the Ribbon. Click

the Format tab and then select the

Compress Pictures button. It is the top-right

icon in the Adjust section of the Ribbon. The

message that appears will vary, depending

on whether you are working with a .doc or

.docx document, although the options are

the same. Opt to apply the changes

to all images in the document and

choose a resolution depending on

whether the document will be

printed.

If you want to undo any

changes made to an image before

compressing it, click on the image

and then the Format tab in the

Ribbon underneath Picture Tools.

Click on the Reset Picture button. As this is

not possible after the image has been

compressed, I recommend making a

backup copy of the Word document before

compressing the images. This tool is also

available in Powerpoint and Excel.

Compress images

To save on system resources, Sony Vegas

video editors will close videos when you

switch to a different program. This should

make the other programs feel more

responsive but it can lead to stress when

you switch back to Vegas.

Some of the media clips will be listed as

Media Offline and will not play properly. The

short-term fix is to just to wait for Vegas to

reload the files. The Media Offline message

will then disappear.

It is possible to stop Vegas from doing

this and force it to keep all the videos

loaded at all times. Click on the Options

menu and then on Preferences. Select

the option ‘Close media files when not

the active application’ so that the tick

disappears. Click on OK to save the change

you have made.

Keep media loaded

VEGAS MOVIE STUDIO

There may be times when you want to adjust

the speed of a video. It is easier than it sounds

in Sony Vegas as you do not have to work out

exactly how much faster it needs to be.

Instead, you can resize the clip to the length

you want.

First, make sure you have split the video

section you want to speed up from the rest of

the video. Click where the section should start

and press S to split the video. Repeat at the

end of the clip. Hold down Ctrl and move the

cursor to the right-hand edge of the clip.

Notice that the resize icon now has a

wavy line at the bottom. Click and drag the

edge of the clip to make it longer or shorter

and the speed of the video will be adjusted to

match. If there is audio in the track this

will also be adjusted, although the pitch will

stay the same.

Speed up clips

VEGAS MOVIE STUDIO

WORD 2010◀ Reduce the size of images in a Word

document to make emailing the file easier

◀ Resize

video clips to

the length

you want in

Sony Vegas


BEST OF THE WEBTRIED & TESTED

All the latest tools and apps tried and tested

DICOM PORTABLESpeed up your typing with thistext completion utility. As youtype, Dicom suggests up to 10words that it thinks you want.Press a Function key to select andcomplete the word.

NA

WORDPRESS

SPYBOT SEARCH AND DESTROY It’s not just viruses that can causeproblems online. Spybot Search andDestroy can find and remove othertypes of nuisance software,improving performance and privacy.It can detect and block trackingcookies and other annoyances, suchas changes to your computersettings.

www.safer-networking.org/

Wordpress is an excellent systemfor running a website, whetherit’s a personal blog ora community site. Rather thankeeping and editing the files onyour computer and uploadingthem when ready, Wordpressincludes all the tools you need onthe site itself. This means it iseasy to update from anycomputer and other people canhelp out.

There is some extra workrequired to set up a Wordpresssite – your webhost mustsupport a technology called PHPand provide a MySQL database.Both of these are provided on allbut the cheapest webhosts sothis is rarely a problem. Once thefiles are uploaded and thedatabase details obtained (many

web hosts will email these to you)the installation wizard normallytakes less than the five minutesclaimed by Wordpress .

New articles can be createdthrough a web browser, sent in byemail or using software such as

Windows Live Writer.Although it comes with all the

tools needed for a full website, itis possible to add morewith plugins.

wordpress.com/

HABOHabo is an app for iPhone and iPad thatwill automatically create playlists basedon your mood. It’s quick and there are100 hundred moods to choose from.

NA

SUPERPENGUINSThis fun gamefor iOSdevices hasyou steering apenguintrying torescue hisfriends fromthe eviloctopuses bytilting yourdevice. It is good fun and thereare plenty of ways to customisethe game.

NA

THE ALTERNATIVE

GETSIMPLE

GetSimple is more basic thanWordpress. It is easy to backup because it doesn’t use aMySQL database and severalpeople can work on a site atonce. It is a better startingpoint for designing your owntemplates as it usesfewer commands.

get-simple.info/

PODCAST GENERATORPodcast Generator is a free, easy way topublish a podcast to iTunes, which caninclude pictures and categories.

NA

http://www.safer-networking.org/

http://plugins.wordpress.com/

http://plugins.wordpress.com/



As you might expectfrom a racing game,the aim in Need for

Speed Most Wanted is todrive fast, win lots of racesand unlock more cars. Thebig difference is that MostWanted has a large openworld to explore instead oflinear racetracks and you canunlock almost all of the 30-odd licensed vehicles in thegame simply by finding them.

There's a loose plot to helppropel you forward; the city ofFairhaven plays host to 10top drivers and to becomethe ‘most wanted' you'll needto beat each of them in astreet race. Before you cando so, however, you will needto ratchet up enough SpeedPoints, which can beachieved by fulfilling certaingoals, such as smashingthrough billboards or blastingpast speed cameras, and bycompeting in race events.

Each of thediscoverable carsprovides its ownselection of uniquestreet races. Reachingtop positions will earnmore Speed Pointsand provide usefulvehicle upgrades.You'll need to watchout for the cops,though, who willactively pursue andarrest you if theywitness your wantondisregard for theHighway Code.

Both Fairview and itsvehicular populationare rendered insumptuous detail.Lighting effects, inparticular, are really

quite spectacular. Vehicle handling physicsaren't as artificial as those employed by otherarcade racers, but the emphasis here is onadrenaline rush rather than realism.

Cleverly, most of the game's menus are allintegrated into themain display; youdon't need to exitor pause play inorder to find yournext race or modyour car, forexample. Apolishedmultiplayercomponent allowsyou to complete aseries of group

challenges around the cityand keep tabs on how yourank alongside your fellowracers.

Not everyone will love thegame's unstructuredapproach and it's easy to feela little lost, particularly earlyon. The range of race types isalso somewhat limited andthe continual policeintervention can sometimesfeel like an annoyance. At itsbest, however, Need forSpeed Most Wanted isbeautiful to look at andtremendously enjoyable toplay.

NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED Drive yourself silly with this open-world street racer

GAME

KEY POINTS ��A slick package that offers plenty of high-speed thrills for both single and

multi-player racers, though those who prefer traditional racing games

may be left cold by Most Wanted's open world.



In the world of videogames, assassinationis the new zombies -

it's everywhere. Longbefore Dishonored orAssassin's Creed,gamers who wanted theirfix of silent-but-deadlyaction would turn to theHitman series. Now, aftera six-year hiatus, thefranchise is back withHitman Absolution.

The game sees thereturn of bald, barcodedantihero Agent 47, ahighly trained killer whoworks for an off-the-books organisationknown as ‘The Agency'.At the beginning of thegame, 47 is sent toassassinate his formerhandler. But when thisdoesn't go entirely toplan, 47 goes rogue andattempts to uncover a darkconspiracy whilst on the runfrom both criminalorganisations and hiserstwhile employers.

This storyline issomething of a diversion forthe series, which, up untilAbsolution, has tended torelegate plot in favour of amore level-like structure.Here, there aren't alwaysspecific targets to eliminatein each mission. Often youwill, instead, find yourselfeither infiltrating an area inorder to glean informationor trying to escape alocation undetected.

In practice, gameplay ismore or less the same asbefore. You are droppedinto a situation and yourroute through each missionis left up to you. You mightuse a disguise to get past

cupboard or dumpster. Eachaction you take has its ownscore - the non-lethal,stealthier approachgenerally scores higher than

the path ofwantonslaughter.

HitmanAbsolution iscertainly amoreaccessiblegame than itspredecessors,whilst stillofferingplayers plenty

of opportunity to discovertheir own solutions. However,the story-led approach oftenfeels at odds with the centralgameplay mechanics and anumber of key flaws let theside down. An irregular andflawed checkpoint systemmakes it hard to reload yourlast save should you wish toretry a specific section of yourmission, for example.Meanwhile, the universallyunlikeable cast of charactersand unrelentingly grime-ridden environments make fora largely charm-freeexperience.

HITMAN ABSOLUTION Make a quiet killing as the original computer game assassin

GAME

KEY POINTS ��Agent 47's return is something of a mixed success; Hitman Absolution

has its moments but other similar games - most notably the recent

Dishonored - are better executed.

guards, for example, or youmight distract them andsneak past in the shadows. Oryou could pick them off andhide their bodies in a nearby


PROJECTSNO PROBLEM! noproblem@nextgenpubl ishing.net

STAR LETTERAO&

How do I remove toolbars from aweb browser?

Q|I have collected numerousunneeded and unwanted toolbars

across the top of my internet screen. Iwould like to be able to delete some ofthem but although they seem very goodat telling me how useful they are, theyare hopeless at telling me how to getrid of them. I’ve found that if I press theF11 key this clears them temporarilybut I then lose the ability to see thestatus bar at the bottom of the screen.Can you help?

Arun Kumar

A|Unwanted toolbars like these areadept at working their way into web

browsers, apparently uninvited. In fact,in many cases they arrive as part of othersoftware that you have voluntarily installed.A program’ s installation wizard may haveincluded a discreet tick box that signalledyour agreement to install this, that or theother browser toolbar. By failing to click toremove the tick (understandable, as youmay not even have noticed it), the programgoes ahead and adds a toolbar. Thoughsome can be helpful – such as the GoogleToolbar – others are just plain annoyingand serve mainly to benefit the developer(through data collection, advertising orboth). Pressing F11 switches the browserinto fullscreen mode: this effectively hidesthe toolbars (and everything else, asyou’ ve discovered), but doesn’ t disableor remove them.

Fortunately, in most cases disabling

and/or removing browser toolbars isstraightforward. You didn’ t tell us anythingabout your computer, so we don’ t knowwhich web browser or operating systemyou’ re using. However, we’ ll guess that itwill be a Windows PC and that you’ re usingInternet Explorer. Assuming this is the case,then to disable (and thus hide) a toolbar,open the Tools menu (or click the Toolsbutton), point to Toolbars and click toremove the tick from the offender. Repeatfor each toolbar you’ d like to hide.

Versions of Internet Explorer 6 onwards(so any edition released in the past decade)can also run add-ons, some of which mayalso affect the browser in unwanted orotherwise annoying ways. To view andmanage installed add-ons, click the Toolsmenu and choose Manage Add-ons (inversions earlier than Internet Explorer 8 youwill also need to click Enable or Disable Add-ons from the submenu). Theprecise appearance of andoptions available in theManage Add-ons windowsthat appears varies betweenbrowser versions, butusually you can click on anentry for more informationand click the Disable (orEnable) button asappropriate.

Note, though, that whilethese methods will disable(and therefore hide) specifictoolbars and add-ons,they’ re not actually

deleted from your PC. To do that, in Vistaand Windows 7, click Start followed byControl Panel and click Programs followedby Programs and Features. In XP, click Addor Remove Programs. Now scroll throughthe program list to find the offending entry,click to highlight it and then click theUninstall (Change/Remove in XP) buttonand follow the prompts.

Finally, we should say that some toolbarsare resistant to removal attempts. Indeed,you may go through all of the above stepsonly to find that a toolbar reappears thenext time the browser is launched.Obviously, we can’ t give specificinstructions here because we have no ideawhich toolbars are the cause of yourfrustrations. However, if you do confrontproblems when tackling an unwantedtoolbar then use a search site such asGoogle to look for guidance. There’ s

Our experts solve your computer,software & internet problems

▲ In most cases disabling or removing toolbars is straightforward



NO PROBLEM!PROJECTS

noproblem@nextgenpubl ishing.net

a Back-to-Basics guide toweb searching on page 60.

Can’t logon with Autologon

Q|I am having trouble withthe Microsoft Autologon

program, recommended in anarticle in Computeractive. AsI’m the only user of myWindows 7 PC I thought theability to log on withouttyping a username orpassword would suit me down to theground. That was a great mistake. Iinstalled Autologon, as instructed, andall seemed fine. The program said thatthe changes would take effect afterrestarting my PC. However, I’m nowunable to get past the Windows loginscreen, as the computer tells me thatthe password is not recognised andtells me to try again. I have had onlyone password in use since buying thePC and it has always worked withouttrouble. As a result, I’m now unable touse my computer. Do you knowwhy this has happened and can youhelp?

Leena Joy

A|We think you may have inadvertentlysupplied the incorrect password to

Autologon when first setting it up – thiswould lead to the described symptoms.This can happen, for example, if the CapsLock key is enabled when typing thepassword. Regardless, we’ d advisedisabling Autologon and either trying againor leaving it disabled.

Obviously, you can’ t currently log intoyour computer, so this might seemimpossible. However, Autologin can betemporarily disabled by holding down theShift key on the keyboard after switchingon your computer – keep it held down untilthe Windows login screen appears.

Now log into your PC as usual (checkingthat the Caps Lock key is disabled, if yourpassword is all in lowercase), launchAutologon again and click the Disablebutton. If you can’ t find the Autologonprogram file, download it again fromwww.snipca.com/X4606. Now restartyour PC and your login experience shouldbe back to how it was before.

Can I use my dongle?

Q|I am considering buying an AsusEee Pad Transformer to use

when in Spain. Will I be able to use myexisting Spanish dongle (with its localSim) on this tablet computer? Or will Ineed to buy a different laptop to getonline?

Jatin Sayad

A|By ‘ dongle’ we assume you mean a3G broadband modem that connects to

a computer via USB? If so then the shortanswer to your first question is probably not.The existing Eee Pad Transformer productdoes indeed have a couple of USB socketsbut, without modification, the Androidoperating system that it runs would notrecognise a 3G broadband modem. So whileyou could plug your 3G dongle in, the EeePad Transformer wouldn’ t know what todo with it – though it may recognise andmake available any spare storage thathappens it happens to find on the device (as3G broadband modems often double as USBmemory keys).

All that said, we do know that some cleverdevelopers have managed to ‘ hack’ theEee Pad Transformer (and other Androidtablets for that matter) to recognise andwork with 3G broadband USB modemsconnected via USB, but the techniquesinvolved would be beyond most mortalusers.

However, if you’ re really keen then thereare a couple of other options. The first

would be to buy a mobile Wifi device andpop your Spanish 3G Sim into that: theseessentially work in the same was as a 3Gbroadband modem but project their ownWifi signal so that the connection can beshared. As the current Eee Pad Transformermodel has built-in Wifi, this will allow youto get online via a 3G connection. TheHuawei E585 is a popular example of amobile Wifi device – it costs around £65(www.snipca. com/X4656).

Alternatively, just wait a while longer.Asus has said it intends to release a 3Gversion of the Eee Pad Transformer sooneror later. However, this product revision’ slaunch is already well overdue so whenprecisely it may arrive is anyone’ s guess.

Should I switch off kit when awayfrom home?

Q|I have two questions. The firstrelates to my four computers that

are connected to a wireless router andmodem.

I’m planning to be away from homefor several weeks in the near future somy question is: should I leave all thisequipment switched on? The secondquestion is: one of my laptops is noweight years old, so I was wondering ifthere is a program out there that wouldenable it to make use of Readyboost?

Rupa Rathod

A|As a courtesy we’ ve changed yourname, because we don’ t want to

broadcast the fact that your home will beempty for a prolonged period.

To answer your first question, unless youhave good reason for leaving everythingpowered then we’ d advise you switch offall your computing equipment – router andall.

While it’ s unlikely that any harm willarise from leaving all your devices powered(after all, you told us that they’ re currentlyall powered continuously anyway),switching off non-essential applianceswhen you are away from home for longperiods is just commonsense. It will alsosave you a few pounds in electricity costs.

When you get home, just switcheverything back on again, starting with themodem and router (because it may take afew minutes to renegotiate an internetconnection with your internet serviceprovider – but this is automated).

As for your second question, we’ llassume that the eight-year-old laptop isrunning Windows XP. If that is the case

▲ Autologin can be temporarily disabled in order that you can reset

passwords

▼ Some developers

have managed to

hack into the Eee Pad

Transformer



PROJECTSNO PROBLEM! noproblem@nextgenpubl ishing.net

3G A mobile phone technology that

allows for fast mobile internet

access.

Bandwidth A measure of how

much information can be

transferred through a connection

at one time.

Broadband A fast, permanently

connected internet connection

such as ADSL or cable internet.

CD-R A type of CD that can be

written to once.

Dialogue box A window that pops

up to display or request

information.

Memory key A generic term for

small memory storage devices that

plug directly into a USB port.

Modem A device that allows two

computers to communicate via a

phone line.

Operating system Governs the

way hardware and software


together.




Sim Subscriber Identity Module.

The smart card used by all digital

mobile phones.

Tablet A type of computer with a

touch-sensitive screen instead of a

keyboard that can be written on,

like a writing pad.


then making use of Readyboost will not bepossible. For the benefit of other readers,Readyboost is a Microsoft technology thatuses spare space on USB memory keys tospeed up Windows a little. Readyboost wasintroduced with Windows Vista and doesnot and will never exist for Windows XP.

Some opportunistic developers havecreated similar commercial programs thatare compatible with XP, which claim to domuch the same job – such as Eboostr, whichis available at www.eboostr.com. But wehave not tried these and therefore cannotvouch for them. However, we can say thatspending more than a few pounds trying toimprove the performance of such an ageinglaptop would be unwise. So you shouldconsider any such purchase carefully.

Can I stop Chrome fromdownloading updates?

Q|I use and like Google’s Chromeweb browser, because it works

pretty quickly on my ageing laptop.However, recently I noticed that datause on my 3G broadband modem hadshot up, amounting to hundreds ofmegabytes in one day. I was perplexed,because I hadn’t done anything unusual– I had only dealt with a few emails anddone a bit of casual web surfing – andI’m always careful to avoid watchingonline videos and stuff like that whenusing the 3G broadband connection.

Later, a friend told me that Chromeupdates itself automatically in thebackground and it occurred to me thatthis might be the cause. Also, oneassumes it slows down my Windows 7PC while it’s doing it (though admittedlyI’ve not noticed any slowdown).However, I can find no mention of thisfacility in Chrome’s menus and no wayto disable it. Can you tell me how to doit?

Chitra Menon

A|Chrome does indeed update itselfautomatically, with no effective user

control over the process. Worse, Chromedoesn’ t even tell the user when it’ s doingthis so, as you’ ve discovered, it can use uplarge amounts of bandwidth without yourknowledge.

It is one of Chrome’ s weakest points andan issue Chrome users regularly complainabout.

In fact, this is a problem that to a greateror lesser extent affects several other Googleprograms and it is caused by an invisiblesoftware component called Google Update

(not to be confused with Google Updater,which comes with both Google Pack andGoogle Earth and is generally lessbothersome). Surprisingly, it is not possibleto uninstall Google Update by itself. If youwant to remove it, then Google’ s advice isto uninstall all Google applications and waitfor “ approximately an hour” . During thistime Google Update “ should be uninstalledautomatically” . While all of that may betrue, it isn’ t terribly helpful – few peoplewould want to have to uninstall all Google-related programs just to stop theircomputers auto-updating. Similarly,Google’ s statement that Google Update“ should be uninstalled automatically”isn’ t terribly reassuring (no confirmationis ever given that it has been removed).

It is possible to disable Google Update,though obviously Google would rather youdidn’ t and therefore offers no adviceon this point. Fortunately, it is prettystraightforward using Microsoft’ s SystemConfiguration utility (sometimes calledMSConfig, for reasons that will becomeplain in just a moment). To do this in anyversion of Windows, click Start followed byRun, type msconfig into the Open field andclick OK.

When the application window appears,click to select the Services tab and click theManufacturer heading to sort the Servicelist accordingly. Now scroll down to findthose services with Google in theManufacturer column and click to removethe ticks from those labelled ‘ GoogleUpdate Service’ (both, ‘ gupdate’ and‘ gupdatem’ , if listed). You may also wishto remove the tick from Google SoftwareUpdater, but remember this isn’ t the causeof Chrome’ s silent updates. Click OK andclick Restart to affect the changes

▲ It is possible to disable Google Update, though obviously Google

would rather you didn’t


http://www.eboostr.com


NO PROBLEM!PROJECTS

noproblem@nextgenpubl ishing.net

future will bring, assuming the world as weknow it continues to exist then the onlineaspect of it is not going away any time soon.Of course, particular services may comeand go but with good stewardship, there’ sno reason for any person’ s online photocollection should ever become inaccessible– even after they’ ve passed away.

In fact, we’ ll be exploring the questionof what happens to online data aftersomeone’ s death in the very next issue, solook out for it.

immediately (or you should click Exitwithout restart if you want to wait until itis convenient for you to shut down yourPC).

Remember, some of your Googleprograms will no longer updateautomatically, so you may wishperiodically to check if newer versions areavailable. To do this in Chrome, click thespanner icon at the top right and choosethe About Google Chrome option. If thedialogue box that appears detects that anupdated version is available, click thespanner icon again and this time youshould choose Update Google Chrome.

Should I install a free uninstaller?

Q|The hard disk on my WindowsVista PC is filling up. I have

several applications that I no longeruse, so I decided that I should removethem – but I’m not sure how. I usedGoogle to search for free uninstalltools and foundwww.freeuninstalltool.com. Will thisdo what I want?

Harish Lad

A|In most cases, removing applicationsfrom a Windows PC is easy and

requires no additional software. In Vista,for example, click Start followed byControl Panel and choose Programsfollowed by Programs and Features.Windows will take a few moments toprepare an audit of all the programs onyour PC that it knows about and willdisplay the results in a list, sortedalphabetically by name. Just scroll throughthis list to find a program you no longerneed, click to highlight it, click theUninstall button and follow the prompts(note that some applications may offeradditional options, such as Repair).

As for installing specialist uninstallersoftware, we’ d generally say it’ s notworth the bother. People who regularlyadd or remove applications may find suchtools beneficial because, once they arethemselves installed, some uninstallerprograms keep a closer eye than Windowson what files are put where, making forcleaner uninstallations later.

However, in regard to the specificprogram you mention, we’ d steer clear: itgets very poor (red-flag) ratings from thecommunity-powered Web of Trust service(see www.mywot.com or the workshoppublished in Computeractive issue 315),which is never a good sign. We’ d also

recommend avoiding use of Google as amethod of finding free software full stop,because authors of malicious softwaretake full advantage of this kind of naivety.It’ s far safer to look for free softwarefrom trusted sources

What are the best CD-Rs for savingimages in the longterm?

Q|I have recently transferred all myphotos to CD-Rs, with one disc

for each topic. How long can I storethem like this before transferring themto new discs?

Having seen floppies becomeunusable over time, how do I ensurethat there will always be a medium andmethod of saving these photos forposterity?

Deepak Joshi

A|This is a question that is all butimpossible to answer with any

confidence because it depends on so manyfactors, such as the media quality, storagelocation and atmospheric conditions.Store a very cheaply manufactured CD-Rin direct sunlight, for example, and thedisc’ s plastic surface may bow or bend inthe heat and become unusable withinhours. Conversely, package the discscarefully and store them in anenvironment with moderate andconsistent heating, and minimalillumination, and they could last for manydecades – or even centuries. Indeed, somemanufacturers claim their optical discmedia have shelf lives of up to 300 years(see these ‘ Gold Archive’ CD-Rs onAmazon, for example –www.snipca.com/X4657).

Alternatively – or perhaps additionally– you could consider storing the photosonline.

While no-one can say for sure what the

SOLVING YOUR PROBLEMS

Our team of experts is on hand tohelp solve PC problems. Read on tofind out how

Please note that we can only reply through

the No Problem page – we can’t reply

personally by email, telephone or letter.

Before sending in your query, please

consider the following points as clear

preparation helps us identify and resolve

problems much more quickly.

� The operating system and model number of

the PC you are using.

� Be specific about the problem – what

exactly has gone wrong?

� Include details of anything that changed

around the time that the fault developed –

have you recently installed new software or

hardware?

� Make an exact note of any error messages

the PC displays.

� Include screengrabs to show us what is on

screen when the problem occurs.

Email:[email protected]

www.computeractive.co.uk/1907310

Write:Computeractive,

Next Gen Publishing Ltd., 2nd Floor, C Wing,

Trade World, Kamala Mills Compound,

Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W),

Mumbai 400013 .

▲ Not all free uninstaller programs are created equal, so

check what you are downloading


http://www.freeuninstalltool.com

http://www.mywot.com

Now, the fun at Computer Interactive gets

even more rewarding! Take a crack at

this IMS-Computeractive Quiz and win!

Find the answers on page X and shoot

before 30th April 2013 to win a Digitek Handy

Scanner or Envie Speedster.

Mail to [email protected].

The decision of the judges will be fi nal and binding and no queries shall be entertained. The employees of IMS Mercantiles and Next Gen Publishing cannot participate in this contest. Participants can also send their entries by fax or photocopies at the Next Gen mailing address listed on colophon page. Winners will be decided by Lucky draw.

Name: ___________________________________________Address: ___________________________________________________________________________________________City: __________________ Pin Code: _______________Tel. No. __________________________________________ Mobile: __________________________________________ Email: ___________________________________________Subscription No. (For subscribers only) _________________

&

Quiz # 22

Winner!Quiz # 21

Girish Chand, Bihar, (Digitek Handy Scanner)

Ramkishan T V, Kerala, (Envie Speedster)

1) The basic purpose of software is turn

data into

a) Website

b) Information

c) Object

d) None of these

2) Nano, Shuffl e, Classic and Touch are

variations of _?

a) Apple iPod

b) Apple iPhone

c) Samsung Galaxy

d) None of the above

3) A program written in a high level

language is referred to as ______

a) Object Code

b) Source Code

c) Machine Code

d) None of the above



http://www.qhmpl.com

http://www.qhmplsecurity.com



http://indiaantivirus.com



http://www.newfoltolife.com


http://www.xproworld.co.in

http://storage.toshiba.com



http://www.rptechindia.com


http://www.ttek.in

84

RNI No. MAHENG/2006/17942

http://in.creative.com

Computer Active - April 2013

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