Table of contents for March 2017 in Computer Shopper

2016 HAS FINALLY come to a close, and it certainly felt like a longer and more tumultuous year than normal. Here in the UK, we voted in favour of Brexit, a surprise result that saddened half of us while thrilling the other half. Across the pond saw Donald Trump winning the US election, another surprise result that saddened half of us while thrilling the rest. The world of technology had its own year of shocks and surprises, though none quite as momentous as the above. Samsung was on fire this year, unfortunately in the literal rather than metaphorical sense, with its selfcombusting Galaxy Note 7, while Apple burned its chances of record iPhone 7 sales by ditching the headphone jack. Microsoft’s generous/cynical offer of a free upgrade to Windows 10…

1984 revisited So the Investigatory Powers (IP) Bill, or Snoopers’ Charter, passes into law without a murmur of discontent from MPs or the media. The UK is sleep-walking into a dystopian future of mass surveillance from government agencies under the ruse of ‘if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear’. This is total rubbish, of course, and time will tell. Any Whitehall department will be able to access our browsing habits. Some are still using Windows XP, would you believe? We all hear about hacking of the public sector, such as local government and NHS systems. We don’t hear about hacking government – Official Secrets Act, I wonder? How safe is our data, especially with the recent revelations about TalkTalk, Tesco and the like? We now have CCTV and…

WE’RE ALL FAMILIAR with telephone scams, where someone phones up pretending to be from Microsoft support (or similar), with the intention of getting you to install malware or divulge private details. The problem is that legitimate companies will phone you and ask for the same information. Just the other day, I had a phone call from a big pay-TV provider (of which I’m a customer). After introducing herself, the customer service person said that before she could continue, she just needed to run through a few verification questions. “What’s your date of birth?” came the first question. I refused to give this private information. “Can you give me the telephone password on the account?” came the next question. Again, I politely refused, saying that I didn’t want to give out…

▶ For the den Amazon’s Alexa quickly became our favourite digital assistant after debuting in the Echo speaker/smart home controller, and now she’s found a new home in the smaller, cheaper Echo Dot. This costs just £50, a third of what the Echo will set you back, but does many of the same things: it can accurately pick up and respond to voice commands, play music and learn Skills to serve even more uses, such as setting your thermostat or dimming your lights. The Echo Dot does lack the Dot’s powerful 360-degree speaker, but you can always pair it with something less tinny via Bluetooth. (Page 42) ▶ For the wallet Nvidia’s GTX 10-series of GPUs looks unbeatable at the moment, particularly when partner cards such as the Gigabyte GeForce…

£550 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT This compact 2-in-1 takes on the Surface Pro 3, but a high price and poor keyboard hold it back THE TRANSFORMER MINI is a compact Windows 10 device, at just 259x170x14mm and with a net weight of just 790g including the keyboard. Nonetheless, there’s a plethora of ports, including a Micro USB charging port, Mini HDMI, a USB3 port, a microSD slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack – all you need for everyday usage. There’s even a volume rocker to control the volume of the surprisingly decent dual-stereo speakers. Around the back, there’s a circular fingerprint sensor – useful for quick unlocking – and on the front is a 2-megapixel webcam. It’s fine for basic video calls, but don’t expect good low-light performance. There’s also…

★★★★★ £399 • From oneplus.net/uk VERDICT The OnePlus 3T is a small upgrade with a big price increase, but it’s still fantastic value BAD NEWS: the outstanding OnePlus 3 (Shopper 344) is being replaced by an updated model that costs £70 more. Now the good news: the OnePlus 3T is still a bargain, introducing a number of subtle improvements for a price that’s still lower than those of the flagships it competes with. The OnePlus 3T comes in at £399 for the 64GB model, or £439 for the 128GB model. Processing duties are now handled by the 2.35GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, a straight upgrade to the 2.15GHz Snapdragon 820 in the OnePlus 3, while battery size has grown from 3,000mAh to 3,400mAh, complemented by the new Dash Charge system,…

£299 • From www.samsung.com/uk VERDICT A frightfully expensive curved monitor, but outstanding Quantum Dot-powered image quality makes it worth the outlay LET’S MAKE THIS clear: £299 is a huge chunk of change for a 23.5in, 1,920x1,080 monitor, even a curved, gaming-focused one like Samsung’s C24FG70FQU. For that money you could get the excellent 2K AOC Q2781PQ (Shopper 345), and you’d be just a few pounds short of the 4K Iiyama G-Master GB2888UHSU Gold Phoenix (Shopper 342). The C24FG70FQU, then, needs more than a few points in its favour to justify that kind of expense. Fortunately, it gets off to a strong start with its build quality: the stand, which looks like a car-building robot, offers full adjustability – height, tilt, pivot, swivel, it does it all, firmly and securely. The…

£220 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT No frills, but the Nikon B500 serves a useful purpose for a reasonable price COMPACT CAMERAS ARE in decline with the rise of smartphones, but there aren’t any smartphones with a 40x zoom. As such, Nikon may be on to something with the budgetfriendly B500. It doesn’t bother with enthusiast features such as a viewfinder, manual exposure or RAW shooting, but at £220, it’s a viable gift or impulse purchase for people who want something more capable than their phone camera. The B500 won’t always outperform a smartphone, though. With its small sensor and unremarkable lens aperture, it’s no better when shooting in low light. The difference is in its ability to zoom from a super-wide-angle 22.5mm (equivalent) focal length to a paparazzi-like 900mm. This…

£50 • From store.nintendo.co.uk VERDICT The Nintendo Classic Mini NES is a great collector’s item in a cute retro package WITH THE HALF-CONSOLE, half-handheld Switch still not out, Nintendo is passing the time with a full-on nostalgia offensive: a pint-sized Nintendo Entertainment System. Dubbed the Nintendo Classic Mini NES, this teeny plastic console has been completely retooled for the modern age, allowing you to play its 30 pre-loaded games over HDMI. There’s a pretty good selection to be found here, from the classic Super Mario Bros and Legend of Zelda games to more obscure titles such as StarTropics and Kid Icarus. However, don’t expect Nintendo to be adding any more games to the Classic Mini in the future. Much to our disappointment, that cartridge flap on the front is firmly…

Ever felt like someone’s watching you? For once, your paranoia could be right. The so-called Snooper’s Charter has just been passed into law, giving the UK government unparalleled permission to track its citizens’ online behaviour. Meanwhile, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in May 2018: designed to protect individuals’ personal data, its impact will be wide-ranging for anyone running a business. So here’s the question: what practical steps do you need to take? “Encryption is more important than ever,” said Kev Jefcoate, Marketing Director at iStorage Limited, on the same day that Yahoo! revealed one billion of its accounts were hacked. “Hackers are getting better at taking small chunks of personal data and then, with the aid of social profiling, gathering more information to enable them…

Chat and Communication Evernote 6.4.2.3788 Store your notes, ideas and plans in the cloud, and synchronise them between computers. Mailbird 2.3.32 A free desktop email client for Windows. UPDATED Miranda IM 0.10.63 Chat with friends across multiple messaging platforms, including AIM, Facebook, IRC and MSN, all from one simple interface. UPDATED Skype for Windows 7.30.0.105 Make internet voice and video calls for free, and buy credit to make calls to mobiles and landlines. Trillian 5.6 Use all your instant-messaging accounts with one application. Supports Windows Live!, AIM, Yahoo! and Google Talk. UPDATED WhatsApp Desktop 0.2.2478 A free PC and Mac version of the popular messaging app, allowing you to chat straight from your desktop instead of using the web app. Customisation iolo System Mechanic Free 15.5 Speed up your system…

£35 • From www.ceratech.co.uk VERDICT A respectable entry-level board, made better with added USB2 connectivity THE ACCURATUS 260 Hub’s affordable price points to it being very much a breadand-butter office keyboard – no pizzazz, no fancy key mechanisms or solar-powered battery systems: just an everyday wired workhorse for hammering out documents and emails. That’s true for the most part, at least. Ceratech’s all-black board does have a couple of handy additions, the first being the dual USB2 connectors that put the ‘Hub’ in the name. Perched at the very top of the chassis, above the Scroll Lock key, these ports are an extremely convenient inclusion, even if your PC is kept quite close. Of course, having USB connectivity on a keyboard is far from an original concept, but the fact…

£61 • From www.ebuyer.com VERDICT Microsoft’s curving, injury-preventing keyboard has a few rough edges FOR SOMETHING WITH the sensible goal of reducing strain, this is one mad-looking keyboard. It’s almost dome-shaped, rising to a point in the middle with the keys sloping away from you – especially if you add the magnetic clip-on stand, which, unusually, goes underneath the front of the board. The split design also means there’s a huge cut-away gap down the middle, ostensibly so that the two sections of keys can be set at a more comfortable angle for each hand than a simple straight layout would allow. To Microsoft’s credit, it does largely work at maximising comfort. We could lay the bottoms of our palms on the soft, padded wrist rest and reach every single…

£77 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Light and compact, but much better keyboards cost only a little more THE ULTOR IS a tenkeyless mechanical keyboard (TKL), meaning it has a full-size layout with the exception of a number pad. This allows it to remain remarkably light and compact, even compared to the HyperX Alloy FPS. Besides the portability benefits, this also reduces the chances of accidentally slamming your mouse into the side of it while focused on playing (something we’ve done in our more energetic gaming sessions). The Ultor uses Kaihua Kailh Red key switches. These have a similar linear design to Cherry MX Reds, albeit with slightly higher actuation force of 50 N to the Cherry switches’ 45 N. Otherwise, they work and feel largely the same, with responsive input,…

£14 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Cheap doesn’t mean cheerful for this uncomfortable, unreliable silicone keyboard THIS DIRT-CHEAP Bluetooth keyboard is all about flexibility, in terms of both the range of supported devices and its physical form. As well as a plastic compartment on the far left, where the rechargeable battery resides, the Pretty Portable Flexible Wireless is made from soft silicone, so it can fold over or roll up. When fully wrapped, it’s no larger than a pack of tissues, making it even more portable than the Microsoft Universal Folding Keyboard. Sadly, typing on it is utterly miserable. The main character keys are tiny and the function keys are half their size, making touch-typing next to impossible. Even when keeping an eye on the keyboard, mistakes are easily made, either…

£130 • From www.ceratech.co.uk VERDICT Even with its built-in card reader, the Accuratus S100B is firmly stuck in the past WE WANTED TO include a few specialistpurpose keyboards in this group test, and the Ceratech Accuratus S100B might be the most specialised of all: it’s an electronic point of sale (EPOS) keyboard with an integrated magnetic stripe reader (MSR). In other words, this is a keyboard staff might have at a service counter in order to process customer sales. Right off the bat, there’s an issue – does anyone use the magstripe on their credit cards any more? With the superior security of chip and PIN and the convenience offered by contactless payments, making payments via swiping has fallen out of fashion. Indeed, this very much looks and feels like…

THE DIAGNOSIS RAM problems can be really annoying, and the effects can vary depending on the issue. When RAM has a major problem, your computer may not turn on at all, or the fans may spin, but your monitor will stay dark. This kind of error is comparatively rare and, usually, dodgy RAM will cause intermittent and seemingly inexplicable crashes. Fortunately, both kinds of problems are fairly straightforward to fix. If your computer doesn’t turn on at all, then you need to jump straight to the fix section below. If you’re experiencing random crashes, you need to run a memory diagnostic. Fortunately, Windows has a built-in tool that can help. Click Start and type ‘memory’, then select Windows Memory Diagnostic. In the dialog box that appears, click ‘Restart now and…

THE DIAGNOSIS It’s rare for a processor, or CPU, to break completely. When one does, your motherboard will usually make a beeping noise: check the manufacturer’s website or the motherboard manual to see what the beep code means. If your PC won’t turn on at all and doesn’t make a noise, then it could be the motherboard, so check the diagnosis opposite first. If you’re not having any luck, follow the guide below to remove your CPU and then turn on your PC; if it beeps, then it’s probably your CPU; if it doesn’t, the motherboard has most likely failed. For both Intel and AMD coolers, make sure that the fan’s power cable is plugged into the CPU power header on the motherboard THE FIX Replacing a CPU is straightforward,…

THE DIAGNOSIS If your computer can’t find the right boot hard disk, it’s overly noisy or you get a ‘checksum error’ when you turn it on, your BIOS may not be set up correctly. This is particularly true after you’ve had a motherboard battery failure (see below). THE FIX Restart your computer and enter the BIOS. Your motherboard’s manual will tell you which key to press, but Delete, F2 and F10 are all common choices. Every BIOS has a slightly different layout and modern ones have a graphical interface that you can control with a mouse. However, most have similar names for settings, so you can follow our advice, but you may have to refer to your motherboard’s manual for the exact instructions. First, check your boot device priority, which…

THE DIAGNOSIS USB ports (front and rear) that won’t recognise any device most probably have a problem with corrupted drivers. THE FIX The solution is to get Windows to redetect your hardware. First, save any open files and shut down all open applications. Type ‘device’ into the Start menu and run the Device Manager. Expand the Universal Serial Bus section and look for anything with ‘Host Controller’ in its name, as these are the devices that control your PC’s USB ports. Right-click a USB controller and select Uninstall, then click OK in the dialog box to confirm. Make a note of which one you’ve removed. Repeat for all USB controllers. When you remove the USB controller that your keyboard and mouse are connected to, they will no longer work, and…

THE DIAGNOSIS If your computer is slow to shut down, slower to boot up and, in some cases, freezes or crashes on startup, then the problem could be a Windows feature called fast startup. This is usually confirmed with a simple test: if you’re getting problems when you first hit the power button, but a reboot works, fast startup is likely the issue. THE FIX Introduced with Windows 8, but continuing in Windows 10, is a feature called fast startup. Enabled by default, it saves loaded device drivers and part of the main Windows system to your hard disk when you shut down. Fast startup is similar to the hibernation feature, but it closes your applications. The theory is that this feature makes your computer faster to turn on…

CLOCK SPEED Starting off with the easy bit: clock speeds these days are measured in gigahertz (GHz) and represent the speed at which a microprocessor can execute instructions. The faster the clock speed, the more instructions a CPU can execute per second; a 2GHz CPU can perform two billion instruction cycles every second. And with the wonders of overclocking, base clock speeds can be boosted, although that comes at the risk of frying the chip with excessive heat. But clock speed is not the be-all and end-all of CPU performance. You also need to take into account the amount of cores the processor has, how many threads go to those cores, and how efficient the chip is at putting its computational horsepower to work. CACHE CPUs contain caches of onboard…

Send your problems to help@computershopper.co.uk Why can’t I hibernate? I generally like to use Windows’ hibernate feature rather than turning my PCs on and off. Not long before the free Windows 10 upgrade offer expired, I dug out my old Samsung N210 netbook and updated it to the latest version of Windows, but it’s only lately that I’ve tried using it again and discovered a few issues, most significant of which is that there’s no longer a hibernate option in the Power menu. I thought this would be a quick fix if I entered the ‘powercfg -h on’ command from an elevated Command Prompt, but nothing changed. I tried editing the relevant Registry key only to discover that hibernation was enabled, and verified this with ‘powercfg -a’. I could actually…

YOU CAN SAVE even more money on your heating bill by controlling when each radiator in your home turns on. Even better, by upgrading the radiator controller to a smart electronic thermostatic radiator valve (eTRV) you can set different temperatures during the day to create a warm, comfortable home without huge bills. Upgrading your radiators shouldn’t even require tools, and you won’t have to drain your heating system, either – as long as your radiators have TRVs, you’re only changing the tops. With reasonable energy consumption savings of 25%, what’s stopping you?…

MEET THE TEAM Madeline Bennett Donald Trump starts World War III with a tweet David Ludlow Apple, without the slightest hint of irony, will announce that it’s invented the smartphone again with the iPhone 8 Nathan Spendelow Given the mess we made in 2016, our IoT homes hold us hostage. All hail our smart home lighting overlords James Archer A paranoid Samsung creates such a well-cooled phablet it causes users’ hands to freeze and shatter Dave Neal A self-learning, autonomous, cloud-based armed defence virtual-reality simulator orders a Meccano set off Amazon Lee Bell The rise of autonomous machines and messaging bots, and the crash and burn of humans thinking for themselves Nicole Kobie Robots take over the planet, but after 2016 was so messed up by humans, we actually welcome…

❱❱Let us entertain you We round up the best home entertainment kit out there, from TVs and Blu-ray players, to soundbars and smart control systems ❱❱Transport transformed Hyperloop is set for construction, smart robots are trundling over our streets to deliver groceries and we’re all just assuming we’ll have driverless cars in the next few years. Find out about the future transport technologies set to shake up our lives in the not-too-distant future ❱❱How far can hacks go? We investigate some of the more unusual and unreported techniques used by hackers, including a smartphone that can listen into the sounds a processor makes to work out the encryption in use COMPUTER SHOPPER ISSUE 350 ON SALE IN NEWSAGENTS FROM 9th FEBRUARY…

Mel Croucher RAVES THIS COLUMN IS in praise of lying. To be specific, this column is in praise of lies peddled as news. People who blame Facebook for feeding fake news to the masses are missing the point. Computers are merely a faster mechanism for spreading old lies to new masses. Years ago I had a sideline in forgery. For a modest fee, I supplied my clients with fake photographic images of themselves gladhanding celebrities and gangsters they had never actually met. This was way before the days of Photoshop, you understand, and the process involved double exposure on rolls of Kodak Tri-X film stock. I stole the idea from Stalin, who was a dab hand at faking news media, with all his foes airbrushed out. He in turn stole…

1 Uber The nu-taxi firm has been accused of spying on personalities and consumers, and of tracking users post-journey via its app 2Theft A Californian man has been charged with embezzling around £3m from his employer in order to fund the strategy software title Game of War. He faces up to 20 years in prison 3Galaxy Note 7 devices Samsung is to finish off lingering devices with an update that kills the recharge function 4Faith in police technology The Met Police is still running Windows XP on 19,000 PCs, despite intentions to upgrade…

Supercapacitors could revolutionise smartphone and smart car charging RESEARCH CARRIED out by the University of Surrey, the University of Bristol and a company called Augmented Optics has suggested that high-density supercapacitors might soon be the most common and efficient manner of charging devices such as mobile phones. Researchers claim it could turn charging a device into a process that takes just a couple of seconds. The team suggests that this will create a seismic change in the way of doing things, and could lead to wide use on phones and even self-driving electric cars, where power and charging has long been a problem. “While this research has potentially opened the route to very high-density supercapacitors, these polymers have many other possible uses in which tough, flexible conducting materials are desirable,…

YOUR TRUSTED GUIDE TO WHAT’S NEW ★★★★★ £369 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Even with strong competition, the Moto Z Play’s stupendous battery life and modular design make it a great buy YOU NORMALLY HAVE to fork out buckets of cash to get the very best smartphone features, but Motorola’s mid-range Moto Z Play is one handset that manages to buck this trend in spectacular fashion. In a similar vein to the OnePlus 3 (Shopper 347), the Moto Z Play offers great value while trumping many of its top-tier rivals – including Motorola’s own flagship handset, the Moto Z (Shopper 348). Take the Moto Z Play’s longevity – with a large 3,510mAh battery inside, the Moto Z Play instantly has a huge advantage over the comparatively modest 2,600mAh battery found inside…

£430 • From www.very.co.uk VERDICT It’s cheap, but terrible battery life and sluggish performance make the Yoga 500 one to avoid LENOVO HAS BEEN enjoying much praise recently for its 2-in-1 hybrids, but the Yoga 500 cuts short the company’s run of top-form products. This £430 laptop is one of the cheaper 360˚ convertibles you can currently buy, but it still isn’t worth the money or effort – there are far better flippable laptops out there, both at a similar price and for considerably less. It’s a shame, really, since it certainly looks the part of a sleek hybrid laptop. Our particular review model had a striking white chassis, and its classy hairline finish offers a significant step up from the cheaper and rather more plasticky Asus Transformer Book Flip…

£598 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT It’s fast and has a fantastic screen, but poor battery life means the 5.9in Mate 9 doesn’t quite measure up SAMSUNG’S DECISION to halt production of the Galaxy Note 7, due to a handful of exploding battery incidents, has left a rather large hole for would-be phablet owners. One smartphone attempting to fill that void is Huawei’s Mate 9, its latest flagship. This phone has one huge display, measuring 5.9in from corner to corner. It only has a resolution of 1,080x1,920, but what the Mate 9 lacks in pixel density, it makes up for elsewhere, including a dual 20-megapixel camera, a big 4,000mAh battery and a beautiful all-metal chassis. Its matt finish looks particularly classy, and its neat cluster of rear sensors and subtle antenna…

£230 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Superlative noise cancellation and good sound quality, but there’s too much wrong with the design THE QUIETCONTROL 30 is Bose’s second set of wireless, noise-cancelling headphones released recently, the first being the QuietComfort 35 (Shopper 344). This is a very different pair of headphones, however. Instead of a full-on, over-the-ear design, these are in-ear headphones of the neck-bud style. There are a couple of advantages innate to this design; first, it’s far more compact than over-ear headphones. If you’re travelling light and you travel a lot, that’s an important consideration. Second, it’s usually more comfortable to wear than the sort of wireless active noisecancelling headphones that dangle the battery compartment from one ear or simply rest it on the back of your neck. NECK WRECK…

£47 • From www.overclockers.co.uk VERDICT Matched with the right motherboard, the Aviator V has a lot to offer at a relatively small price THE AVIATOR V is an updated version of Kolink’s standard Aviator mid-tower chassis. That’s already one of the better-equipped budget PC cases, costing £45 for such features as three pre-installed fans, toolless optical drive bays and red LED decoration, and for a modest bump up to £47 the Aviator V offers one rather tempting addition. That extra £2 will buy you a full-size (it covers the entire left side of the case) acrylic side window, so you can peer into every inch of your custom-built PC. It doesn’t have the premium sheen or feel of proper glass, as you get on more expensive cases, but it should…

£350 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT It’s the most powerful PlayStation you can buy today, but existing PS4 owners should be wary about upgrading IT’S BEEN THREE years since the launch of the PS4, and it would normally be around now that we’d start looking toward what Sony has in store for its next gaming console – the inevitable PlayStation 5, so to speak. Indeed, Microsoft has already taken its first steps toward gearing up for its sort-of next console release, finally announcing its 4K-capable and VR-ready Project Scorpio machine at E3 2016, which is due in time for Christmas 2017. Sony is treading a different path, however, with all talk about what’s next for the console giant geared firmly toward the PS4 Pro and no mention of any next-gen console.…

£128 • From www.ballicom.co.uk VERDICT Durable, backlit and responsive, Cherry’s keyboard proves it can make more than just the switches CHERRY’S SWITCH DESIGNS dominate the mechanical keyboard space, but its own, fully built keyboards aren’t nearly as prolific. That’s not to say they’re bad. In fact, there’s a lot to like about this flagship model, the MX Board 6.0, as soon as you unbox it. For starters, it’s built like a tank, with a heavy aluminium chassis that’s as solid as any keyboard construction work we’ve seen. Even the unfolding feet, perhaps the most common structural weakness of keyboards in general, are surprisingly sturdy, and provide almost as much grip as the static rubber feet. It all comes with a wide, soft-touch wrist rest, too. This easily snaps on and…

£50 • From www.overclockers.co.uk VERDICT Garish lighting aside, the Deathfire EX is a decent, affordable hybrid switch keyboard and mouse combo THE BIG STORY about this cut-price keyboard is its eight-colour backlighting, which can produce a range of rainbow-like effects. We’ll confess, however, that this kind of glowing ostentatiousness isn’t exactly to our tastes, and unlike true RGB peripherals, you can’t customise the exact shade that you want. You get eight different lighting effects, switchable by the Fn and number keys, but most of these suffer from the same core issue: with all eight colours in play, they’re gaudy to look at in isolation and can be actively distracting when trying to type or play games. That said, there are some exceptions. The third effect is a relatively subtle ‘breathing’…

£100 • From www.box.co.uk VERDICT Genuine Cherry MX Red key switches make the Apex M500 a joy to use STEELSERIES IS AS experienced as they come in terms of gaming peripherals, so any £100 keyboard with its name on is an interesting prospect. Nevertheless, the Apex M500 is quite stripped back, with unassuming matt black looks and a completely standard layout. In other words, there are no dedicated macro keys, no USB ports and no RGB lighting – just a straightforward QWERTY board with solely blue illumination. Still, you can’t say it doesn’t cover all the basics. The casing is plastic but impressively tough, the whole thing being reassuringly weighty. There’s loads of grip, too, even using the fold-out plastic legs. You also get a number pad and full suite…

£34 • From www.logitech.com VERDICT The Keys-To-Go is soft to the touch and hard to beat as a smartphone or tablet partner LOGITECH’S 6mm-THIN keyboard comes in two flavours: one for Android and Windows, the other for iOS devices (as well as Apple TV). As far as we can tell, the difference is largely limited to the included shortcut keys, which are tailored for specific platforms. Indeed, our review unit – the iOS model – had no problem connecting to an Android smartphone, so for basic typing, either will do in a pinch. A few of the shortcuts didn’t work, though, with the camera shortcut sending our Android handset to the lock screen instead. The media controls worked fine, at least. The fabric covering is pleasingly spillresistant, and can be…

£30 • From www.keyboardco.com VERDICT It’s not perfect, but this hi-vis keyboard could be a huge help for the partially sighted GEEMARC SPECIALISES IN peripherals and accessories for the less abled, from amplified wireless TV headsets to phones with built-in SOS buttons. This keyboard isn’t such a high-stakes piece of hardware, but does cater for the partially sighted, with its massive lettering and high-contrast yellow keycaps – which, it should be said, are no bigger or more unwieldy than on a standard keyboard. Happily, it works as intended. Seen through the (uncorrected) eyes of someone with both high short-sightedness and moderate astigmatism, the vast majority of keys are legible at a normal sitting position, with only smaller symbols proving difficult to make out without peering in closer. Compared to a…

THE DIAGNOSIS Fatal hard disk errors are usually easy to diagnose, as your computer will fail to detect the disk or Windows will not boot. A ‘kerchunk, kerchunk’ noise from a mechanical disk is another tell-tale sign. In this situation, there’s nothing you can do, and the old myth about putting your disk in the freezer won’t change anything. You’ll need to buy a new hard disk, restore a backup of your data, and reinstall Windows. If you don’t have a backup and you’ve lost some important files, you’ll need to send your disk to a recovery specialist; be warned, this can be expensive. If your hard disk is working, it doesn’t mean it won’t break soon, and there are some audible tell-tale signs of impending disaster that you can…

THE DIAGNOSIS Cables inside your computer are generally well held in by friction, but vibration and general use can work them loose over time. If you’re getting intermittent faults or find that a device isn’t always detected, a loose cable could be the reason. THE FIX Power down your computer and take the side off the case. Trace all of the cables coming from the power supply and push them into their sockets. Use only gentle force so you don’t cause any damage. These cables will include two power leads for the motherboard, power cables for hard disks and optical drives and, potentially, a power cable for the graphics card. Next, move to the SATA data cables. These connect at one end to the motherboard and, at the other, to…

THE DIAGNOSIS For some reason, PC manufacturers have never seen fit to make a BIOS with persistent storage. Instead, there’s a battery that keeps your BIOS settings stable. When this runs out of power, you’ll most likely get a ‘checksum error’ message when you turn on your computer. You’ll also see a message asking you to configure your BIOS settings manually. THE FIX This problem is very easy to fix, as all you need to do is change the battery, and it’s a simple and inexpensive job. Practically every motherboard we’ve seen uses a CR2032 battery, which cost £1.25 for two on www.amazon.co.uk. Open the side of your PC’s case and look for the motherboard battery. There are two types of holder. Most common is one with a sprung tab.…

THE DIAGNOSIS If Windows Update won’t run, then your computer may become unstable and crash regularly. If you go to Control Panel, Windows Update and see that it’s stuck downloading updates, even after leaving your computer for hours, then this is your problem. THE FIX First, we advise giving updates time to install, as big updates can sit part completed for quite a while. However, if your updates have been stuck for more than an hour or so, there’s something wrong. One of the first things to try is to repair corrupt system files (see opposite). If Windows still won’t download updates, the issue is likely to be with file corruption elsewhere. The easiest way to try to fix such problems is with the Windows Update Troubleshooter (bit.ly/WindowsUpdateTroubleshooter). Download and…

letters@computershopper.co.uk Where was AVG? In the review of anti-virus software (Shopper 348) you do not include AVG in the listing or testing. I have AVG, and it used to be very popular (and still is, as far as I am aware). Is there some reason you didn’t appear to test it, and is it still OK? Leonard Harrison As we were working out what to review, it was announced that Avast had decided to buy AVG. While both brands will continue, the underlying engine will use features from both products, and features will be shared. A joint new product will be available later in the year. As a result, until further details are announced, we decided to run reviews of just two free products: Avast (currently the best choice) and Windows…

Software and systems developer letters@computershopper.co.uk FIRST, THANKS TO all the readers who wrote in mourning the end of the column. Your kind comments were much appreciated. You’ll be pleased to learn that, even when the fat lady has at last sung, there will be at least one future appearance. Editor Madeline is planning a 30th anniversary issue and has asked me to do something for that, for which I’m grateful. So to begin a review of a few of the best stories. A theme that runs through many is that of a boss who will spend tens of thousands on a fancy car that does nothing for the company’s efficiency, yet will cut every corner, and more, when it’s time to invest in its IT infrastructure. One example from way…

2016 in review WHAT A YEAR. We’ve had breaches, balloon internet, Bluetooth 5, and Amazon Prime in blue jeans as it embraced Jeremy Clarkson and a rebooted Top Gear. In fact, we had so much significant news to recall that the first and most immediate task was choosing which ones not to cover. Choosing which order to do them in was easy, though – we’re taking them on a calendar basis. So here’s our look back at all the key moments from the tech world in 2016. JANUARY The first month of the year was, and always is, all about the CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas. Everything and anything that we might have wanted to buy went on early display, with the big focus in 2016 on…

AMD HASN’T BEEN able to compete with Intel at the performance end of the market for years, but that’s about to change with the launch of its first CPU to use the Zen architecture. Due for launch in Q1 2017, the new processor, called Ryzen, sees AMD start from scratch, creating an efficient and scalable architecture. “2017 is going to be a really great year for AMD. It’s our best roadmap in 10 years plus,” says Kevin Lensing, corporate vicepresident and general manger of AMD’s Client Business Unit. “[Zen] allows us to bring innovation and competition back to the market.” Although AMD has talked about Zen in the past, the Ryzen announcement was the first time that we had any confirmed details: the flagship CPU will have eight cores (capable…

France Radical departure A French man has been jailed for visiting pro-ISIS websites, following a crackdown on terrorism content and its access. According to reports, the unidentified 32-year-old had been visiting pro-ISIS sites for some two years, but this was only discovered during a raid on his house. The police also reportedly found that he had pro-ISIS wallpaper on his PC, and a collection of ISIS-related videos and other material. Denmark Cell phone delivery A drone has been flown into a Danish prison with an illicit cargo of a mobile phone and a saw blade. The audacious pilot managed to fly the drone into a cell via its window. Prison guards spotted the drop as it went down, but were unable to get their hands on the drone or its…

“The primary reasons for the downturn were an ageing line-up and an unintuitive user interface. Though both issues have been addressed with the latest generation watches” IDC laments Apple’s weak Watch sales “Nintendo will pay rewards to the first reporter of qualifying vulnerability information ranging from $100 to $20,000” Nintendo kicks off a hacker bounty award for its 3DS “We commit to the creation of a shared industry database of ‘hashes’ – unique digital fingerprints – for violent terrorist imagery or terrorist recruitment videos we have removed from our services” Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Twitter unite to tackle terrorism “The design and validation process for a new product is challenging. Samsung took a deliberate step towards danger, and their existing test infrastructure and design validation process failed them” Hardware engineers…

£1,800 • From www.game.co.uk VERDICT It’s small, stylish and speedy, but at £1,800 the updated ROG G20CB offers questionable value ASUS’S TEENY GAMING desktop is back: the ROG G20CB has been refreshed with Nvidia’s latest Pascal-based GPUs, and we tried out the top-of-the-line GeForce GTX 1080 model. Regardless of the internals, the G20CB is still a striking small form factor (SFF) PC. At just 108mm across and 340mm deep, it has a tiny footprint, perfect for the most cramped of desks. It looks superb as well, with its sharp angles and rune-like plastic mesh panels. At the front, these are given even more flair with RGB lighting, with another illuminated area on the underside. You can choose which colour you want each individual lighting area to show, and there’s a…

£189 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT An attractive metal smartphone for under £200, but the Swift 2 Plus just isn’t as fleet-footed as its budget rivals WHEN BRITISH SMARTPHONE manufacturer Wileyfox launched its inaugural Swift handset last year, it gave our then favourite budget smartphone, the 3rd Gen Motorola Moto G, a run for its money. Now, Wileyfox is back with the £159 Swift 2 and the £189 Swift 2 Plus, the latter of which we were sent for review. Both are more expensive than last year’s model, but you can immediately see why: both of these all-metal beauties represent a significant step up in overall build quality and style. The Swift 2 is still relatively chunky, at 8.6mm thick, but its curved edges and lightly chamfered sides make it highly…

£70 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT Despite a few annoyances, the Fitbit Flex 2 is a great affordable fitness tracker DESPITE BEING ONE of the biggest names in fitness trackers, Fitbit has shied away from waterproofing its products in the past. That’s now changed, with the affordable Flex 2 fitness tracker. It’s a well-rounded wearable, with the waterproofing paired with some welcome added extras such as the ability to keep track of how many (or how few) lengths you just swam in the pool. The best thing is that absolutely everything (other than food intake) is tracked automatically, thanks to the built-in SmartTrack tech. Simply take part in that activity for 15 minutes or more, be it cycling or your weekly gym session, and it will log all the necessary info.…

£350 • From www.box.co.uk VERDICT Incredibly fast, this wireless router shows what the future of wireless is, but the lack of WiGig devices and poor range hold it back WIRELESS NETWORKING is hugely convenient but has lagged behind Gigabit Ethernet for speed – until now, with the TP-Link Talon AD7200. This is the first router to use the 802.11ad wireless standard, also known as WiGig. Using the 60GHz band, this router has a maximum throughput of 4,600Mbit/s. This dramatically outstrips the maximum speed of Gigabit Ethernet, which is 1,000Mbit/s. However, it’s fair to point out that Ethernet uses duplex networking technology, which means it can transmit and receive at the same time at the maximum speed. Wi-Fi uses shared bandwidth, so that 4,600Mbit/s has to be divided between transmitting and…

GETTING STARTED The download instructions on the card insert (opposite) show you how to connect to the download site. Make sure you type in the web address exactly as shown. You’ll need your coupon code the first time you log on to the site. ANY PROBLEMS If you need help with any of the software this month, please send an email to support@creativemark.co.uk. We check this inbox regularly. Please include the issue number of the magazine and your coupon code. WHY DOWNLOADS In order to provide us with free software, publishers now require us to offer the applications as a download and require online registration. You need to use the unique code printed in the box on the card insert to register and download the software in this issue. The…

WORKING CHERRY MX Board 6.0 Yes, it’s expensive at £128, but you can feel the difference in the MX Board 6.0. Besides the strikingly sturdy chassis, it uses Cherry’s own MX Red key switches, so it’s reasonably quiet for a mechanical keyboard while still providing the crisp typing experience that makes them so good for extended working periods. It’s as responsive as any keyboard we’ve ever used, so you rarely have to worry about missing a stroke when typing at speed, and your joints will thank you for the broad, soft-touch wrist rest as well. All in all, a fantastic feature for any office or study. GAMING HYPERX Alloy FPS It’s a toss-up between this and SteelSeries’ lovely Apex M500, but the Alloy FPS edges ahead by virtue of its…

£55 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT A slimline, wireless board that harnesses the power of the sun, but suffers from undersized keys WIRELESS KEYBOARDS CAN be handy even in an office setting, but with most Bluetooth models you’ll still be at the mercy of a finite battery life. Logitech’s K750 appears to offer a convincing alternative; this eco-warrior is powered entirely by light, capable of topping up from both natural solar rays and standard indoor lighting. In theory, as long as you’re typing away in at least a moderately lit room, the K750 should keep going indefinitely By installing Logitech’s Solar App on your PC, you can get the full details on energy usage, including exactly how many Lux units are being absorbed and the amount of power remaining. Expect this…

£60 • From www.ceratech.co.uk VERDICT A decent portable Windows keyboard, but the tiny backspace key is annoying LEAVE YOUR ANDROID or iOS tablet at the door; Ceratech’s Accuratus Curve, which opts for 2.4GHz radio and a USB receiver over Bluetooth connectivity, is focused intently on Windows. While this means most handheld devices aren’t compatible, it could potentially be a good mate for a Windows 2-in-1, a home media PC in a living room or just a very small laptop, where the built-in keys might be even more tightly packed than on this 295mm-wide device. In terms of design, the Accuratus Curve is clearly inspired by the now-discontinued Microsoft Arc, which is to say it shamelessly mimics it. Flat and thin at the bottom, it rises up towards the top of…

£58 • From www.ebuyer.com VERDICT Microsoft’s wallet-sized keyboard is an impressive bit of engineering, but the design causes problems too YOU CAN’T ACCUSE Microsoft of false advertising; the Universal Foldable Keyboard is a universal Bluetooth keyboard that folds. Specifically, it folds in half along a vertical fabric strip, making it just about small enough to fit in a jeans pocket. Otherwise, the design is inspired by the Surface 2-in-1 range’s Type Covers, particularly the older, pre-Surface Pro 4 models that didn’t separate their keys. It shares the fabric finish, spill resistance and almost-flat key shape, so anyone who’s spent a lot of time typing on a Surface could find themselves right at home here. We say ‘could’, because there’s one issue, and it’s precisely 24mm wide. That’s the chasm of…

£156 • From www.keyboardco.com VERDICT 128-bit encryption gets top billing, but the quiet mechanical key switches steal the show IF YOU’RE GOING to pay a wallet-busting £156 for a keyboard – and a compact keyboard at that, since there’s no number pad or dedicated macro buttons on the Matias Secure Pro – it’s fair to expect at least a few special tricks. Chief among the Secure Pro’s repertoire is the 128-bit encryption applied to its wireless connection. This is intended to combat keyboard eavesdropping, in which an attacker targets and intercepts the data a keyboard enters, in order to steal passwords, bank details or other sensitive information. To Matias’ credit, 128-bit encryption is an effective safeguard against this type of attack, both in theory and in practice. There are so…

THE DIAGNOSIS Power supply units (PSUs) often go with a loud pop and an acrid smell pouring out of them. They can also break with a whimper, and a PSU can just stop working without any real signs of damage. Common to both scenarios is that your PC will no longer turn on. With a laptop, you can usually tell if the power supply has gone, because you won’t see a light on the external box. Try changing the cable that plugs into the wall first; if you get no luck, you can just buy a new adaptor from the manufacturer. For desktop PCs, before you rip out the PSU, try changing the power cable, just in case the fuse in that has blown. Diagnosis beyond this is a little…

THE DIAGNOSIS A motherboard fault is one of the hardest to detect, as the symptoms are often the same as for other problems. Typically, if there’s something wrong with your motherboard, your PC will either not turn on, or you’ll just get a black screen. Given that replacing the motherboard is a fairly significant task, it’s best to rule out other problems first. Following our advice in this feature, you should check your RAM, power supply unit, graphics card, processor and monitor. If none of these fixes your issue, then you may well have a motherboard problem. Before you buy any motherboard, visit the manufacturer’s website to ensure that the model you have chosen is compatible with the model of CPU you have THE FIX First, try opening the side…

THE DIAGNOSIS If your monitor won’t turn on but you can hear your PC power up, you’ve got one of the most irritating problems. Without the display, you can’t see any error messages or get any help. The fault can be with your monitor or your PC. Check that your monitor has a power light first. If it doesn’t, try switching power leads. When the monitor turns on, try plugging it into a different PC, such as a friend’s computer. If it doesn’t work there, try a different monitor cable. If you’ve still had no luck, you’ll need a new monitor. If the monitor and cable are fine, the problem is with your PC. THE FIX A loose connection inside your PC’s case could cause a problem (see above). While…

THE DIAGNOSIS Front-mounted USB ports on a PC case are convenient but can cause problems, for example if they no longer detect inserted USB devices. Front ports can have problems with high-power devices, such as hard disks. To check, plug a low-power device such as a mouse into one of your front ports. If it doesn’t work, but your rear USB ports are fine, then the most likely cause is an internal connection issue. THE FIX Shut down your PC and then turn it off at the mains socket. Press the PC’s power button to discharge any residual power and then touch the unpainted part of a radiator to discharge any static build up. Remove the side of your PC’s case and look for the USB cable, which will plug…

THE DIAGNOSIS Corrupt startup files are usually easy to spot as your computer will crash on startup and may enter a loop, starting, crashing and then restarting. But corruption with these files can also cause your PC to become unreliable, crashing at random. If you’ve already ruled out other components, then it’s worth trying to fix your system files. THE FIX Windows will automatically load the Startup Repair tool after two failed attempts to boot. If this doesn’t work or your computer boots but is unstable, you can manually repair your system by making a recovery drive. If your computer isn’t working, you can create the recovery drive using another computer running the same version of Windows. For Windows 10, you need a blank USB drive. The size you need…

Send your problems to businesshelp@computershopper.co.uk Let me count the days I’ve been trying to get a report working in Access showing the number of days our conference rooms have been booked by various departments. We’re just setting up internal charging by department for use of facilities, and the plan is that departments will only be charged for working days when they’ve used the rooms and equipment. However, the bookings in the calendar sometimes run across several weeks when departments have booked particular rooms for blocks of time. My problem is to find a way to work out how many working days that represents. I’ve been trying to do this using DateDiff with the ‘w’ option for weekdays, but I’m getting very odd results. What’s going on? Chris Whitehead This is…

clive@computershopper.co.uk LAST MONTH WE showed you how to install and set up a third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat. This device turns on your heat only when you need it, and only for as long as you need it, to create a consistently warm and comfortable home. However, the Nest can only turn your boiler on and off, heating your entire home. Even a Grand Designs, open-plan house has separate bedrooms that don’t need to be heated during the day; conventional houses could benefit even more from per-room heating control. Making the main radiators of your house smart gives each room its own heating schedule (though remember that if the boiler is off, the radiators can’t warm up). To upgrade your radiators, you won’t have to remove them, replace them, or even…

ben@computershopper.co.uk Breathe life into photos with creative use of shadows Carefully placing props between a light source and your subject can raise your photography to new heights. Ben Pitt shines a light on some illuminating techniques PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY is all about light and shadow. It’s what gives definition and solidity to the subject, but it can go further, adding atmosphere, giving a sense of occasion and environment, and helping to tell a story. Most of the time we think of light and shadow simply in terms of the position of a light source and which parts of the subject are illuminated from that position. Lights don’t necessarily fire in all directions, though. Sunlight through a window will create a defined area of light that mirrors the shape of the window.…