PC Pro May 2020

SSSHH. I’M TYPING this in the Quiet Zone of one of Chiltern Railways’ posher trains, and I’m keenly aware of each sound produced by the keys. The reason I’m so aware sits opposite me: a city gent with his own laptop, and he’s not so much tapping the keyboard as bashing it like a bongo player who’s been told this is his last bongo session. No one in our hived-off area of supposed serenity has said anything, but then most people are too busy seeking dopamine thrills via their smartphones. Sadly, there’s no Debrett’s Etiquette Guide for Noisy Keyboard Users (yes, I checked). And all the train carriage sign says is: “Please turn any electronic devices to silent and keep any conversation to a low minimum”. Nothing about how hard…

Darien Graham-Smith Chances are that your Windows startup routine is full of clutter that’s slowing you down. Darien reveals how to take back control on p28 Carly Page While Tim’s predictions about the future shape of PCs are pure guesswork, Carly spoke to the experts and analysts for a more educated view. See p34 Barry Collins Barry tells us he’s been “researching” games-streaming services these past few months, and he finally delivers his verdict on the big four from p40 Davey Winder Remote support offers many benefits to workers and to businesses but, as Davey explains from p104, there are plenty of dangers too…

PARENTS, CAMPAIGNERS AND politicians have hit out at Google for incentivising schools so that the company can collect data from primary schoolchildren. Google’s data grab came to light when a parent of an eight-year-old child at Rokesly Junior School in Haringey, London, queried whether they should sign a permission agreement that came home from the school about upcoming events. The documentation provided little information about the specifics of the project, but asked parents to allow children to take part in a workshop that would film pupils interacting with a prototype, with any footage belonging to Google, globally and in perpetuity. “Parents have contacted me concerning the release of their children’s data to Google for educational purposes,” said Catherine West, the Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green. “The intrusion of…

1 Microsoft calls time on Windows10’sugly duckling Microsoft has told users on its much-maligned Windows 10 version 1809 to upgrade to newer versions, with the company planning to end support for the vexed version on 12 May 2020. Version 1809 landed like an uncooked sausage in 2018, when installation caused a rash of errors, including lost files and crashed PCs. The move sees Microsoft close the embarrassing chapter on an update that forced it to rethink its entire update process. 2 UK splashes £1.2 billion on forecasting supercomputer The UK is hoping to weather the storm of climate change by investing £1.2 billion in a supercomputer the government claims will be a world leader. The Met Office said it would replace its current trio of Cray XC40 machines and their…

Honor 9X Pro PRICE To be confirmed AVAILABLE To be confirmed As with its parent brand Huawei, Honor isn’t allowed access to the Play Store on its phones – despite the fact they run Android. This “Pro” model is actually a midrange offering, with a Kirin 810 chip, 6GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It’s also an IPS rather than AMOLED screen, but our first impressions are that it’s no worse for that – and note the triple-camera array on the rear. Add what’s likely to be an aggressive price and this phone could still tempt, despite the lack of Play Store support. Sony Xperia L4 PRICE Around £200 AVAILABLE Early spring Sony’s “MWC” announcements covered all price ranges, thanks to this budget phone. Replacing the £169 L3, we…

Stringent funding cuts are threatening the safety of prosecutions based on digital evidence, experts have told PC Pro. Police officers failing to understand complex digital evidence, a huge backlog in evidence processing and a lack of legal aid for expert defence witnesses are all contributing to miscarriages of justice. Digital devices, particularly mobile phones and PCs, are routinely used in criminal cases and can provide detailed, time-stamped evidence that’s useful to prosecutors and defence teams, but what happens when the system fails? “Simultaneous budget cuts and reorganisation, together with exponential growth in the need for new services such as digital evidence, have put forensic science providers under extreme pressure,” a House of Lords select committee said in its Forensic science and the criminal justice system: a blueprint for change report…