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Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Top 10 Cloud Computing PlateForms in 2022




Cloud resources are typically  offered with on demand plug and-play capabilities, allowing individuals and businesses to use only  what they need, when they need it. This  flexibility to build, manage, and deliver  small and large scale web and mobile  applications on the cloud has seen  an explosion of adoption from the  hyperscalers to startups. With virtual server hosting, cloud  providers bring diverse resources over  the internet, such as big data analytics,  IoT, compute, and more to streamline  development and generally make  lives easier. Here, we take a look at the main  players solving common issues with  outstanding user-friendliness and ever agile product offerings. 


10. Dropbox
Founded: 2007
CEO: Drew Houston
Dropbox is a smart workspace  company that provides secure file  sharing, collaboration, and cloud based storage solutions. Designed  for various business sizes to store  files and documents, saved data or  content can be accessed from any  device with an internet connection. Dropbox was formed due  to Drew Houston’s bad habit  of forgetting his USB drives,  culminating in a crashed hard drive  with no backup. Houston created  his own personal server and wrote  a program that would allow him to  access the server and its data from  any location.

9. Adobe
Founded: 2012
CEO: Shatanu Narayan
Adobe Creative Cloud is unlike the  other vendors, primarily focusing  on the creative aspect of cloud  computing. With a Software-as a-Service (SaaS) offering, Adobe  provides an array of tools geared  towards graphic design, video  editing, photography, and more. CEO Shantanu Naryan told  Forbes: “You can argue that the  most important thing on the  internet now is authentication  of content. When we create the  world’s content, we have to help  with the authenticity of that  content, or the provenance of  that content.” 



8. Dell Tech Cloud
Founded: 2019
CEO: Michael Dell
Dell Technology combines the  capacity of VMware software and  Dell Technologies' infrastructure  to provide an integrated multi￾cloud approach. As a hybrid,  multi-cloud provider, Dell focuses  its core offering around storage  and data protection. Addressing Dell Technologies  World 2022 in his keynote speech,  CEO Michael Dell highlighted  the company’s “US$101bn multicloud vision, its developer future  and support for Ukraine during the  current conflict with Russia.



7. Digital Ocean
Founded: 2011
CEO: Yancey Spruill
Digital Ocean is designed to meet  developers’ needs for deploying  and scaling applications that  run simultaneously on multiple  computers. As the third-largest  hosting company globally, Digital  Ocean has two primary product  offerings: compute and storage. “The cloud market is one  massive opportunity,” explained  Yancey Spruill, CEO, to CEO  Magazine. “There are 14 million  new companies created every  year. That’s 50 million software  engineers. Today, those groups  spend about US$50bn on the  cloud; tomorrow, that’s going to  be US$100bn.”



6. IBM Cloud
Founded: 2005
CEO: Arvind Krishna
IBM has an abundance of services  to help simplify many software  development tasks, blending PaaS  with IaaS to provide a holistic  cloud experience. In February, IBM announced  a hybrid cloud partnership with  enterprise software firm SAP and  at a recent summit, Chairman  and CEO Arvind Krishna said:  “Everyone wants to use multiple  public clouds. People are still  going to use on-premise; people  are still going to worry about data  sovereignty. People want flexibility  of deployment, they want speed,  and they want value.


5. Salesforce
Founded: 2009
CEO: Brett Taylor, Marc Benoiff
Salesforce offers cloud-based  CRM, customer service, marketing  automation, sales, and more. Their  customer relationship tools suite  help businesses grasp a data driven approach and their reach is,  in this respect, prolific. Speaking to Silicon Valley  Business Journal, Brett Taylor,  co-CEO of Salesforce, said: “You can  start companies from anywhere.  You can hire from anywhere. Silicon  Valley is now in the cloud." Adding to this dialogue over  the importance of cloud  infrastructure, Marc Benioff,  co-CEO, told a company  conference in New York that  "office mandates are never  going to work", according to  Yahoo Finance.



4. Alibaba Cloud
Founded: 2009
CEO: Jeff Zhang
Alibaba is a global leader in the  cloud with a focus on security and  artificial intelligence. The Alibaba  Cloud is the second-largest cloud  service provider around the  world, powering almost half of  China’s 4.97 million websites. “The rapid increase in data  volume and scale, together with  higher demand for lower latency,  calls for the creation of new tech  infrastructure,” said Alibaba Cloud  Intelligence President Jeff Zhang in  a release regarding Alibaba’s Cloud  Infrastructure Processing Units  (CIPU), their latest ‘homegrown  silicon’ venture.


3. Google Cloud Platform
Founded: 2008
CEO: Sundar Pichai
The Google Cloud Platform (GCP)  is an assemblage of services  that operate on the same  infrastructure used to power  Google Search, Youtube, and  several other offerings. CEO of Google and Alphabet  Sundar Pichai recently announced  plans to invest US$9.5bn in data  centres and offices across the U.S. “One of our state-of-the-art  data centres is in Mayes County,  Oklahoma. I’m excited to announce  that, there, we are launching the  world’s largest publicly-available  machine learning hub for our  Google Cloud customers.” 



2. Microsoft Azure
Founded: 2008
CEO: Satya Nadella
Microsoft Azure Founded: 2008 CEO: Satya Nadella Microsoft Azure offers an abundance  of on-demand computing services  designed for efficient building in the  cloud, with four different kinds of  cloud computing: infrastructure as a  service (IaaS), platform as a service  (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS),  and serverless. A Microsoft spokesperson told  Data Centre Dynamics: “Across the  globe, we have seen unprecedented  growth in the cloud. With this surge,  coupled with macro trends impacting  the whole industry, we’ve taken steps  to address customer increases in  capacity while also expediting server  deployment in our data centres. "Our priority remains ensuring  business continuity for customers. In  addition to managing and planning  for growth, we actively load balance  as needed. If it does become  necessary to put capacity restrictions  in place, we will first restrict trials  and internal workloads to prioritise  growth of existing customers.” 



1. AWS
Founded: 2006
CEO: Adam Selipsky
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is  the world-leading cloud vendor,  boasting over 200 integrated  features and services, in addition  to 30% of the total cloud market  share. Offering a free tier cloud  option, AWS enables businesses to  test various services free of charge  and without any commitments.  Amazon’s cloud unit grew 36.5%  year-on-year in the first quarter of  2022, slightly faster than analysts  projected. AWS revenue totaled  US$18.44bn in the quarter, above  the US$18.27bn consensus among  analysts polled by StreetAccount.  That works out to about 16% of  Amazon’s total revenue, according  to CNBC. At Mobile World Congress  2022, AWS CEO Adam Selipsky  referenced several partnerships  with telecoms firms including  Telia, T-mobile, Vodacom and Bell.  “There is a lot of innovation across  the industry, but we’re seeing  cloud infrastructure being used  for more – including to transform  core systems.” 

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

How Can Force YouTube To Play Videos at 4K or 8K resolution




YouTube automatically adjusts the streaming quality of videos, based on the current speed of your internet connection. If it’s really slow, you may only get standard definition (360p or 480p), but otherwise the default quality is 720p high definition. You can change this manually by clicking the cog icon below a video and selecting a resolution option from the Quality menu. However, you may decide that you always want to stream at the highest quality. 

There are lots of extensions that let you override YouTube’s settings to stream in 4K or even 8K, where available, but our favourite is ‘Auto HD/4k/8k for YouTube’. Install this add-on in your Chromium browser (https://bit.ly/3SpzL5I) or Firefox (https://bit.ly/3SpzL5I), then click its toolbar button and set your preferred quality for YouTube videos. The options go up to 4320p, or 8K (see screenshot below), but note that the quality will default to 1080p (HD) on videos where 4K or 8K aren’t available.

Click ‘Auto’ to return to using YouTube’sa automatic setting. The brilliant extension Enhancer for YouTube’ (see page 53) has a similar option - click its Options cog,tick the ‘Automatically select a playback quality’ box in the ‘Playback quality’ section and set your preference, up to 8K.You can increase the video quality in




YouTube’s mobile apps by tapping your profile picture and choosing Settings then‘Video quality preferences’. Select ‘Higher picture quality’ for Wi-Fi and for mobile networks - though bear in mind that this will use more data. To set a specific resolution, tap the Settings cog in the top-right corner of a video and choose Quality, then Advanced.

Sunday, July 31, 2022

50 Best Free Apps For Windows 10


Because Windows is packed with so many features, which have been honed over years of development, you could be forgiven for thinking Microsoft must have now covered every base and satisfied every need. The reality is different, however. Windows 10 may include anti-virus as standard, for example, but it’s pretty basic and outclassed by third-party tools. Other core features such as a DVD movie player have been dropped, while other apps like Word and Excel, aren’t included with Windows. 

Thankfully, there are many free options just as good as paid-for programs. Extra programs are a tempting way to improve Windows, but there are also plenty of improvements you can make to the core Windows tools. So, as well as sharing the best free software, we’ll also show you how to fine-tune the tools Windows already has. From calibrating your display settings to produce more accurate colours on your monitor to reducing unnecessary visual effects to speed up performance, there’ll be something here for you. 

So stop putting up with a disorderly desktop and struggling to find errant files. Here’s our guide to some of the best apps around to help you get the best experience, many of which work in all versions of Windows, not just Windows 10.

                                             Internet and security
Try a newweb browser 
If Edge or Internet Explorer don’t particularly take your fancy, chances are you’re trying one of its main rivals: Google Chrome (www.google.com/chrome) is currently themost used browser on the market while Firefox (www.mozilla.org/firefox) is also popular. Another alternative worth considering is Opera (www.opera.com). Its Opera Turbo feature will appeal to those with slow or capped internet connections, compressing web pages before they’re delivered to your PC, for example. But if you’re frustrated by today’s web browsers in their rush to simplify things and reduce user choice, give Vivaldi (vivaldi.com) a go. It’s packed with customisable features, allowing you to tailor it to exactly the way youwant it.

Ensure virus immunity
Windows 10 and 8 before it comes with basic anti-malware protection in the form of Windows Defender. It’s a rebadged version of Microsoft Security Essentials, which is okay for protecting your PC out of the box, but it’s best replaced by Panda Free Antivirus 2016, which has a better malware detection rate and additional features. Download Panda from www.pandasecurity.com scroll to the bottom of the page and select ‘Free Antivirus 2016’ under ‘Home Users Solutions’. Untick the boxes to change search engine and home page during installation, and choose ‘Basic Protection to get it. Thankfully there’s no other software bundled with it another reason choose Panda over other free anti-virus tools that may carry unwanted payloads. 

Set up a firewall
Windows comes with its own firewall to help protect you from cyber intruders, and the likelihood is your router also comes with a built-in hardware firewall for additional protection. The problem with the Windows Firewall is it’s not (by default) set up to block outgoing connections, so while it protects against attacks originated on the internet, it won’t block malware from “phoning home” to wreak more havoc. Again, there are plenty of free, thirdparty firewalls that close this gap, but the same warning applies as with free anti-virus software – many now attempt to install extra programs and make changes to your browser settings. One that doesn’t is Windows 10 Firewall Control (www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista), which adds extra functionality to the
existing Windows Firewall (and works with earlier versions of Windows too). Advanced users may like to try Privatefirewall (www.privacyware.com) instead, but be warned it has a steep learning curve.

Protect your computer from malicious software
A powerful firewall and up-to-date antivirus package are definitely the two cornerstones of a well-protected PC, but your antivirus tool isn’t infallible, so gain a second opinion as well as the ability to remove browser hijackers and other PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) by downloading and installing the free version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (www.malwarebytes.org). It’s designed to sit alongside your antivirus tool, but the free version offers no real-time protection, so remind yourself to use it to scan for possible threats at least once a month. It’ll let you review its findings, and all suspicious items are quarantined, so you can restore them if it wrongly flags any entries.

Encrypt important files
What if your laptop and the personal documents it contains were to fall prey to a light-fingered lout? A Windows password may give some intruders the slip, but it’s easily foiled. Microsoft’s answer is BitLocker  a brilliant tool that encrypts all the data on your hard drive. Unfortunately it’s only included with the most expensive versions of Windows 7 and 8, but there are alternatives. VeraCrypt (https://veracrypt.codeplex.com) is an open-source app based on the renowned TrueCrypt application that can protect internal or external hard disks, and even USB flash drives. It’s not the easiest software to use though, so take some time to read through the documentation on the main page, and take a full system backup before you begin just in case.

Install specialist email software
Third-party mail clients not only speed up your communication, but give you plenty of other time-saving features too. Mozilla’s Thunderbird (www.mozilla.org/en-GB/thunderbird) supports a wide range of email accounts (including Microsoft, Gmail and Yahoo!) and boasts all the functionality you could need. Alternatively, eM Client (www.emclient.com) provides you with an Outlook-style user interface and built-in support for calendars and contacts. And if you’re juggling accounts, take a look at Mailbird Lite (www.getmailbird.com) with its super-minimalist interface. 

Take remote control of your PC 
Wouldn’t it be great if you could access your PC remotely from anywhere with an internet connection? That’s exactly what TeamViewer (www.teamviewer.com) can do, letting you browse your computer from another Windows PC, Mac or mobile device. You don’t even need to leave your PC powered up all day either, as most can be woken remotely from sleep mode. With a fast internet connection, this nifty app will have you zipping around your files as if you were at your desk. 

Share files quickly and easily What do you do if you want to send a big batch of holiday photos or even a video  to a friend? Free image-sharing websites often impose strict upload restrictions, and most videos will be too large to send as email attachments. Uploading to the cloud is the answer. In this sense, the ‘cloud’ is basically a term that refers to internet-based storage, and Microsoft’s OneDrive (onedrive.com) is one of the most convenient providers. The client’s built into Windows 10, while those using Windows 8 or earlier can download it from https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-gb/download/. You get 5GB of free storage, which is
more than enough to share a large number of videos or full-resolution photos and you can always upgrade for more storage (you also get 1TB storage with an Office 365 subscription). Just log in with your Microsoft username and password at onedrive.com, and you’re ready to go.

Make free phone calls with your PC, Skype and a microphone
Skype is an excellent free app that lets you chat with other Skype users for free via your internet connection, saving you money on your phone bill. Skype is now owned by Microsoft, but it’s not included with Windows, so you’ll need to download it from www.skype.com. Then it’s just a matter of setting up a Skype account so you can connect to friends and family who use Skype too. You will, of course, need a PC microphone to be heard, plus an optional webcam if you’d like to be seen too.

Back up your files, programs and Windows
Backing up your files is the best way to protect them from viruses, as well as hard-drive failure. Windows 10 comes with File History for file-based back-ups switch it on by pressing [Win]+[Q], typing File History and clicking ‘File History’. If you’d like to take an exact imagebased backup of your PC, you’ll find the ‘System Image Backup’ option available here too, but a more flexible tool for taking complete backups is Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx). It’s very easy to use, and not only allows you to back up and restore your entire drive, you can even browse drive images to recover individual files and folders too.

                                        Entertainment and media
Consider your codecs
Ever found thatWindows throws a wobbly when asked to play a downloaded video? Chances are Windows Media Player isn’t to blame the issue is more likely to be down to missing codecs. These files tell Windows how to decode the compression methods used to reduce the size of files. Thankfully, Windows can be upgraded with a huge range of codecs that will ensure slick playback of even the most modern or obscure video file formats. Just download and install the Combined Community Codec Pack from www.cccp-project.net.

Windows Media Player alternatives
Once you’ve installed codecs, you’d think Windows Media Player would be up for anything, but even with these upgrades, it’s still not immune to issues. It can no longer play DVD movies, for example. Supplementing it with other video players such as Media Player Classic (www.mpc-hc.org) or VLC (www.videolan.org/vlc) is a wise move. Both players will handle pretty much any video file format, including DVDs and, in the case of VLC Media Player, some Blu-ray discs too, but it’s their extra features that really give them the edge over Windows Media Player. Extensive subtitle, video aspect ratio and frame rate options are all useful tools, as is VLC’s ability to alter audio synchronisation so you don’t have to put up with inaccurate lip-syncing.

Grow your thumbnails
Now you can play pretty much any video file, but you might find Windows Explorer runs into problems when you’re browsing through your video collection. It will only generate previews for certain file types, and will turn its virtual nose up at more recent video file formats, such as the new MKV standard. You can broaden Windows’ thumbnail generating horizons using Icaros (www.videohelp.com/tools/Icaros). Simply install the software, open it and select the video formats that you’d like to generate thumbnails. Once that’s done, click the large ‘Activate Icaros’ button and hey presto, extra video thumbnails in Windows Explorer!

Edit your photos for free
Windows’ built-in image-editing tool, Paint, gains small improvements with every release, but even in Windows 8 it’s still not really fit for purpose, particularly when it comes to editing your photos. Thankfully, you’re spoiled for choice as there’s a host of free tools on offer. One of our favourites is Paint.NET (www.getpaint.net), which includes a host of powerful image-editing tools, while its support for plug-ins allows you to add extra tools such as a Shadows and Highlights recovery tool (see http://bit.ly/200WNl8) or the BoltBait Plugins Pack (www.boltbait.com/pdn/).

View photos in style
Windows 10 ships with a new Photos app that attempts to organise and display your photos for you, but if we’re honest it’s still a long way short of third-party photo management tools. The obvious alternative is Google Picasa, but many users have reported issues running it in Windows 10. Instead, you might want to take a look at XnView MP (www.xnview.com/en/xnviewmp/). Its file browser makes it particularly easy to customise your viewing preferences and organise photos and videos, plus you can integrate it with Paint.NET. There are nifty batch convert and rename tools too.

Mobile media
Smartphones and tablets make it easy to watch videos on the go, but many devices will only play a handful of the dozens of video formats out there. Fortunately, HandBrake (http://handbrake.fr) will re-encode most types of video file into a mobile-friendly format, though slower computers could need an hour or two to process a feature film. If you’re planning to watch videos on the move, you should choose the MP4 video format to ensure compatibility with Apple and Android hardware. While you’re at it, you could also shrink the video frame size of HD footage so it takes up less storage space on your device.

Music to your ears
Playing music on your computer is usually no trouble thanks to Windows Media Player, and it’ll even help you organise a fairly sizable album collection. However, if your digital jukebox is rather unwieldy, it can start
to struggle. A popular alternative is Apple’s iTunes (www.apple.com/itunes), which is mandatory if you own Apple hardware, but it’s lost its way of lateand can be quite buggy. Other free music players to look at include MediaMonkey (www.mediamonkey.com), as well as Kodi (http://kodi.tv), which can handle your music library too. See below for more details.

Take screenshots easily
When it comes to capturing screenshots of your PC desktop, Windows 10 allows you to hold [Win]+[PrtScr] to save a grab directly into your Pictures\Screenshots folder. The Snipping Tool offers a few more options, but it’s a faff to use. Evernote users should take a look at Skitch (www.evernote.com/skitch), which
dovetails perfectly with the note-taking app and functions as a serviceable screen capture tool in its own right. If you want more flexibility with your screen captures such as being able to grab specific windows or parts of the screen, save images to a specific folder or edit your image after capturing it then PicPick (www.nteworks.com/picpick/).

Record, organise and share notes
Got a great idea? Forgotten it 24 hours later? Install OneNote (www.onenote.com) and you’ll never have to worry about your faulty memory again. This brilliant note-taking tool stores all your notes securely in the cloud, so you can access them on the go from your mobile or any internet-connected computer’s web browser. Notes can consist of text, images and other file attachments, and can be tagged and organised into folders and notebooks for easy retrieval. Install the web clipper plug-in on your browser to capture useful web pages, and even share your notes with friends, family and colleagues too.

Get productive with improved office apps
Okay, office software isn’t everyone’s idea of entertainment, but getting a free alternative to Microsoft’s Office package should put a smile on your face. Windows only comes with the WordPad app as standard, which isn’t much good if you’re used to more comprehensive wordprocessing software. If you’re a fan of the newer ribbonbased interface, then Kingsoft Office Free (www.ksosoft.com/product/office-free.html) gives you powerful, free alternatives to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. If you need additional tools including a database and drawing tool and prefer the old menu-based interface of Office 2003 and earlier, then check out LibreOffice (www.libreoffice.org) instead.

Disc-o inferno
Writable CDs and DVDs just can’t match the convenience of a USB flash drive when it comes to carrying your files and folders around, but there are times when you may want to burn something like an audio CD, or even a replacement Windows installation DVD. However Windows’ own disc-burning tools are rudimentary at best. Next time you need to make a disc, give ImgBurn a go (www.imgburn.com). It’s a free, uncluttered tool that makes light work of burning all kinds of disc content. Check out the ImgBurn forums for detailed guides explaining how to get the best out of it.

Watch your TV on your PC
Once upon a time, Windows Media Center provided the perfect TV-friendly tool for browsing your media (music, photos or movies) and watching and recording live TV through your PC. Sadly, it’s been dropped from Windows, but there’s no need to shed a tear. Instead, install Kodi (www.kodi.tv), which is a more than adequate replacement you can alter its appearance to match your personal tastes and extend its functionality with add-ons such as BBC iPlayer. Pair it with Next PVR (www.nextpvr.com) and a USB TV tuner (around £25 $35 online) if you want to watch and record live TV through it remember, you’ll need a TV license if you’re watching live broadcasts. Check out issue 117’s lead feature for a comprehensive guide.

Zip it
When you’re downloading files from the internet, sooner or later you’ll come across a compressed file archive, commonly known as a ZIP file. However, there are many ways of compressing files together and compressing them for internet transfer, and not all forms can be extracted by Windows alone. You’ll need to upgrade to something smarter, like 7-Zip (www.7-zip.org). This will extract files contained not just in ZIP archives, but also the popular RAR format, plus many other compression formats. 7-Zip will also allow you to zip up your own files, with the output archive often being compressed into a smaller space than Windows could manage.


                                                             Performance

Make sure you have the latest hardware drivers
Drivers are pieces of software that tell Windows how to communicate with each item of hardware in your computer, but Windows Update doesn’t always give you the latest driver versions, so sometimes you need to do it yourself. You might also struggle to source drivers for older hardware too often, drivers for older versions of Windows will work fine inWindows 10, just make sure you source the right type (32-bit or 64-bit depending on your version of Windows). If you’re struggling to track down updates or even compatible drivers, employ the services of IOBit Driver Booster (www.iobit.com/en/driverbooster.php). The free version has all the functionality you need  make sure you untick ‘Yes, install Advanced SystemCare Free’ during set-up to avoid any additional programs being installed.

Speedy file searches
Go to www.listary.com to download and install Listary. It’s an add-on that doesn’t just speed up file searches, but is accessible from both File Explorer as well as programopen/save dialogues. It also works with third-party tools like XYplorer Free, FileZilla and 7zip. Once installed, open a File Explorer window or program’s Open/Save dialogue box and start typing the name of a file or folder you’re looking for a list of matching items will appear. Click a folder to jump to that directory, or click a file to to open it. Alternatively, right-click an entry reveal theWindows contextmenu, as well as additional options, such as copying or moving the item to the current folder. You’ll see three icons in the Listary search box the heart folder is a list of Favourite folders, while the stopwatch lets you access recent items. The lightning button reveals more useful options, such as disabling Listary for the current application or jumping to the application folder.

Unleash ReadyBoost to give your
PC more virtual RAM Lower powered PCs those with 2GB or less of RAM, and not being powered by a solid-state (SSD) hard drive may benefit from this tweak. You’ll need a spare USB drive to make it work. The ReadyBoost feature stores frequently used files on the USB flash drive rather than your PC’s hard drive,
helping to speed up loading times. Not just any old flash drive will do, though you’ll need a fairly nippy one with a capacity of at least 256MB for ReadyBoost to work. To see if you’ve already got something suitably quick, make sure the drive is blank, then click ‘Start >Computer’ and right-click on the drive’s icon. Select ‘Properties’, followed by the ‘ReadyBoost’ tab.

Defrag your drive for more speed
As files are copied, moved and deleted on your hard drive, they end up scattered about the drive. Defragmentation is the process whereby these files are tidied up to improve performance and reduce wear on your hard drive. The Windows defrag tool is perfectly capable of keeping your files in order, but if you’d like more options – such as being able to defrag individual files or folders then check out Defraggler (www.piriform.com/defraggler). Note fragmentation has no effect on SSD drive performance, and defragging can actually reduce the drive’s life, so never defrag your SSD drive.

Tweak the Registry for faster
Taskbar previews Let’s reduce the delay between you hovering over a taskbar icon and a preview window appearing. Click ‘Start’, type regedit in the search box and press [Enter]. Using the foldermenu pane on the left, double-click ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER’, then select ‘Control Panel’ and click ‘Mouse’. Now find ‘MouseHoverTime’ in the list displayed in the right-hand pane and double click it to reveal a new window. The number 400 in the ‘Value data’ box defines the delay until a preview window pops up, so decreasing this to 100 will speed things up nicely. Click ‘OK’, then restart your computer and things should be much snappier.

Partition your drive to protect data
It’s no substitute for storing your data on a separate drive to Windows, but partitioning your drive does add an extra layer of protection for your documents and other files.While Windows is capable of constructing a partition, upgrading to a free app such as MiniTool Partition Wizard (www.partitionwizard.com) will make the job easier and give you more options to play with. Just be sure to back up any important files before you start the partitioning process, as messing with the layout of your hard drive does carry a small risk of potential data loss.

Download the all-in-one Windows repair gadget
Fill in the gaps with Windows’ built-in repair tools with the essential Tweaking.com Windows Repair tool, which can fix both minor and major problems. It could speed up the time it takes getting your PC back into working order by saving you the time and hassle of a full-blown reinstall. Download and install it from www.tweaking.com. A step-by-step tabbed interface guides you through initial scans and essential backups before proceeding to the Start Repairs tab. Review the list of available repairs by clicking on each one for a description, then choose those relevant to your problem before hitting ‘Start’ to set the wheels in motion.

Beat the heat by keeping fans and vents clear
You can upgrade Windows and your other software as much as you like, but it’s important to also give your computer’s hardware some love and attention from time to time. You don’t necessarily need to throw money at it in the form of costly component upgrades though all you really need is some common sense, and maybe a vacuum cleaner! Excessive heat can slow a computer down and even damage its sensitive components, so try not to run your laptop nestled in a cushion or duvet where its air intake vents will be blocked. Likewise, it
doesn’t take long for the fans in a desktop PC to become clogged with dust, so it’s worth vacuuming the dirt from its vents from time to time.

Downgrade appearance to upgrade performance
On the following pages you’ll discover some clever ways you can make Windows look more beautiful. That’s all well and good, but older computers won’t thank you for slowing them down with additional visual frills. In fact, if your PC is getting on in years, you’re better off losing a little style to gain some speed. Type windows performance into the Search box and press [Enter]. Selecting the ‘Adjust for best performance’ option will disable all visual effects to give you the biggest performance boost. Click ‘Apply’. If you come across something that looks a little too crude, such as jagged font edges, you can always return to this menu and readjust the offending the option.

Want your PC to perform even better than new?
Disabling speed-sapping features will help unleash a sluggish PC, but it may also be possible to give your computer processor a new lease of life using an advanced tuning process called overclocking. This can be achieved via free desktop software or through the PC’s BIOS, but it’s not for the faint hearted and is unlikely to work with laptops. Alter the wrong setting or try boosting things too far and your PC could crash or overheat, and don’t expect a warranty to pick up the pieces. Research is essential for successful overclocking and to avoid damaging your PC, so for more information check out our sister website, www.techradar.com.

                                                               Customisation
Calibrate your monitor
Calibrating yourmonitormeans adjusting its colour output so it’s as accurate as possible. You can splash out big bucks on a special device to do the job, but Windows actually includes its own calibration tool. It’s well hidden, though. To find it, type calibrate into the Search box and then click ‘Calibrate display colour’. Follow the simple wizard to adjust your monitor’s brightness and contrast, plus the all-important colour balance. Don’t expect dazzling image-quality improvements, but if you’re a keen photographer and want to view your snaps at their best, calibration is essential.

Ditch the Taskbar for the dock
The Windows Taskbar is perfectly functional, but if you’re yearning for something a little more dynamic and attractive on the eye, why not replace it with a dock? Winstep Nexus (www.winstep.net/nexus.asp) is one of the best free ones out there it floats on top of the desktop, allowing you to place it anywhere on the screen and works in a similar way to the Taskbar with easy access to your programs, files and Taskbar Notification area. You can also populate it with widgets offering extra features such as a clock, local weather forecast and network activity.

Add Windows 10 features to earlier versions of Windows
Still running Windows 7 or earlier? Wondering how Windows 10 might work, but don’t want to upgrade just yet? With just a few clicks, WinMetro (free from www.iobit.com/iobit-winmetro.php) transforms your existing Start menu into something similar to the Windows 10 Start menu in tablet mode. Add News, Weather, Finance and Photos apps, which display live updates straight to your Start screen, or add search and social media web links. The only thing missing is Windows 10’s dedicated app store, but that’s easily fixed using All My Apps (http://allmyapps.com). Reverting back to the standard Start menu is easy too, so there’s no harm in giving this upgrade a try.

Create a desktop slideshow
Windows allows you to replace your single desktop background with a slideshow of photos, but you need to provide the images yourself. John’s Background Switcher (http://johnsad.ventures/software/) is a free tool that allows you to pull images direct from a variety of web services. Once installed, it’ll pop up automatically, or you can right-click its Taskbar Notification area icon and choose ‘Settings’ to get started. Click ‘Add’ to select one of the online sources, such as Flickr, Instagram or a media RSS feed, then follow the prompts to choose what to display. JBS changes the background every hour use the ‘Change every’ dropdown menu to alter this. Click the ‘Picture mode’ button to choose how pictures are displayed on your desktop, then click ‘OK’ to transform your background wallpaper.

Faster filing
Ah, filing. It’s a chore in the real world, and not much fun in Windows either. At least MyFolders (www.coretechnologies.com/products/MyFolders) can simplify the process for you. Install the app, then right-click on a file you’d like to organise and find the menu entry entitled ‘MyFolders’. Click it to reveal ‘Copy to’ and ‘Move to’ options, from where you can specify the folder you’d like to shift the file to. It’s also a good idea to accept MyFolders’ suggestion to add this folder of choice to its favourites list, making it even easier in future to move files favourite locations where you can specify the folder you’d like to shift the file to. It’s also a good idea to accept MyFolders’ suggestion to add this folder of choice to its favourites list,
making it even easier in future to move files favourite locations.

Make over your desktop
Windows 10 drops support for gadgets those handy tools that float over the desktop such as the calendar, news feed or weather. If you want these, Rainmeter (www.rainmeter.net) restores gadgets to your desktop, plus offers many more including integrated app shortcuts. Everything is customisable, but it won’t alter any crucial Windows files. If you want to get stuck in, click ‘Rainmeter 101’ at the end of the installation process
for more information.

Desktop in order
Just as your real-life desk can easily descend into chaos, so too can the Windows desktop. We fill it with program shortcuts and downloaded files, but Windows doesn’t offer much in the way of desktop organisation. That’s where Nimi Places (http://mynimi.net/Projects/Nimi-Places/) comes in. This free tool allows you to place special containers on your desktop that point to folders elsewhere on your system. These can be moved, resized and tweaked according to your needs.

Restore the Start menu
Windows 10 sees the Start menu make its long-awaited return, but it’s not quite as you remember it. If the change is too radical for you, download and install the Classic Start portion of Classic Shell (www.classicshell.net), and it’ll give you a choice of Start menu (‘classic’ Windows XP or Windows 7), blended perfectly in with the new Windows 10 desktop style. And like all good apps, it’s customisable to the nth degree although in most cases the default settings will be perfect. There’s even a shortcut to the Windows 10 Start menu should you want to mix and match.

Copy files faster
Windows 10’s file-copy dialogue is a huge improvement on early versions of Windows the ability to pause and resume file transfers being one obvious advantage. But there’s still room for improvement, so if you want to take things to the next level, you need Copy Handler (www.copyhandler.com). Advanced features include being able to queue up multiple file transfers, support for restarting file transfers after cancelling them (or even rebooting Windows), and the promise of faster file transfers, particularly when moving data between two partitions on the same physical hard drive. You can use it alongside Windows’ existing copy tools for occasional use, or use it in place of the native tools.

Build your own Jump List
The Jump List is a great time-saving feature, giving you access to recently opened documents via application
shortcuts on the Taskbar and in the Start menu. It’s just a shame you can’t build your own custom Jump List with all the apps and files you frequently accessed… Except you can, with Jumplist-Launcher (http://en.www.ali.dj/jumplist-launcher/). Use 7zip to extract JumplistLauncher. exe to a suitable location, then launch the program. Right-click the new Taskbar icon and choose ‘Pin this program to taskbar’, then click it to start adding your choice of file or folder shortcuts (up to a maximum of 60), which can be organised into groups to make them easier to access.

One monitor, multiple desktops
Even with a well-organised desktop, you could still be struggling for space. If only there could be more than one desktop! Windows 10 supports up to four virtual desktops, but Dexpot (www.dexpot.de) goes even further by supporting up to 20 virtual desktops. Apart from customising each one with dedicated wallpaper and the icons of your choice, you can also set certain programs to open in a particular desktop. It almost gives the illusion of multiple computers all hooked up to the same monitor, and is great for separating work and play. All it takes to switch between each desktop is a quick tap of a customisable hotkey.

Ultimate Windows Tweaker
What if you’re not a fan of mini-preview thumbnails that appear when you hover over a taskbar icon, or you’d like more control over how Internet Explorer uses tabs? Easy, just search www.thewindowsclub.com for Ultimate Windows Tweaker (version 4 for Windows 10, version 3 for Windows 8/8.1 and version 2.2 for Windows 7). Download the program and you’ll be able to install and tweak settings like these and many more using one simple program. Many of these settings can, of course, be altered using the standard Windows Control Panel, but finding the right section can often be frustratingly slow. Although most tweaks
can be disabled, steer clear of altering anything you’re not familiar with.

Brush up on the basics
It’s easy to overlook some of Windows’s own customisation features. One of the most useful is Snap. Drag a window to the left or right of your monitor and it’ll expand to fill half the screen. Or drag it to the top to maximise the window. If you’re swamped with open windows, give the one you’d like to focus on a quick shake by clicking and holding on to its uppermost title bar, and watch as the other windows minimise. Another shake restores them to where they were before.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Will Microsoft kill off hard drives next year? 2022




Visit Microsoft’s page listing the system requirements for Windows 11 bit.ly/3zfrqsj and you’ll see that you need a storage device that’s 64GB or larger. But nowhere does it specify what kind of drive that needs to be. 

As long as it’s big enough, why should Microsoft care whether you’ve got a hard drive or asolid-state drive (SSD)? Well, it seems that Microsoft might be developing an interest in what’s under the bonnet of your computer. A report by Trendfocus, analysts for the data-storage industry, says that PC manufacturers claim Microsoft is asking themto ditch hard drives for SSDs as the primary boot drive in all their machines, starting next year.


Microsoft didn’t comment on the report, but it’s not hard to see why the company would want all Windows 11 computers to have SSDs. They have many advantages over hard drives, being faster, quieter and smaller, as well as lasting longer and consuming less energy. From Microsoft’ sperspective, why wouldn’t you choose an SSD? 

The faster your computer, the smoother Windows will run. Many laptops and PCs already come with an SSD for the boot drive, with some using a secondary hard drive for storing large files, such as photos, music and videos. But this extra speed comes at a cost. SSDs are getting cheaper all the time, but typically they are still much more expensive per gigabyte than hard drives. 

You’ll notice this difference if you shop for drives online. Our current favourite SSD, Corsair’s MP600  costs £85 for 500GB (https://www.amazon.in/s?k). For that price you could buy almost three 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard drives (from https://amzn.to/3PJNdzg). It’s why many users stick with hard drives, sacrificing speed for


Manufacturers have to make the same cost calculations when deciding which components to fit inside their computers. Trendfocus Vice President John Chen told our sister site Tom’s Hardware that to keep costs the same, PC builders would have to downsize from a 1TB hard drive to a 256GB SSD and most don’t consider that to be enough capacity for many users. Chen added that building a computer with a 512GB SSD would “break the budget” for manylower-end machines.Unsurprisingly,m anufacturers have knocked back Microsoft’s demand. 

Chen claims that originally Microsoft wanted to push it through this year, but was persuaded to delay it to the second half of 2023. If that date sticks, it’ll probably be for laptops only, with PCs following in 2024, though he said “things are still in flux”. What does all this mean for you? Whether or not Microsoft gets its own way, you should take it as another sign that SSDs will eventually replace all hard drives. If you can afford one for your current machine, we’d suggest upgrading. And if you’re looking to buy a new computer, choosing one with an SSD as the boot drive should ensure it lasts longer. But we can’t see Microsoft changing its system requirements to force SSDs on existing users. Yes, there are two features in Windows 11 that do require an SSD  Direct Storage (makes games load faster) and the Windows Subsystem for Android (lets Android apps run in the operating system) but neither are essential. Microsoft’s more pressing concern is getting people to upgrade in the first place.

Saturday, July 23, 2022

10 Most Useful Command Prompt Commands For Windows 10

The Windows Command Prompt (‘command line’) is your PC’s last living link to MS-DOS. It’s barely aged a day and remains one of Windows’ most powerful tools, but it’s sorely under-used. No surprise, really: it’s stuffed with jargon and looks like something a nostalgic hacker would dream about.

Windows 10 will make the command line a little more user-friendly by letting you paste text into it. But whatever version of Windows you’re using, this age-old tool makes life easier by giving you quick control of tasks that would otherwise involve lots of clicking around in the Control Panel – anything from shutting down your PC to copying multiple files from one directory to another.

Open it by typing cmd into Start and pressing Enter. Type a ‘command’ at the ‘prompt’ (the line of text that starts with ‘C:’ and ends with ‘>’) and then press Enter to carry out your chosen task. Over the next few issues we’ll reveal some truly powerful and inventive commands, but first here are the 10 Command(ments) for finding your way around the Command Prompt.

1. See a list of commands
Type help at the prompt and press Enter to instantly generate a list of common commands, along with brief details. The list is in capital letters, but you can type commands in lower case (or even a mix)
the command line isn’t case-sensitive.

2. Copy results to the clipboard
Your next instinct may be to save this list of commands to your Desktop for easy reference. However, there’s no File menu and no support for copy and paste (pre-Windows 10, at least), so you can’t just press Ctrl+A then copy and paste everything to Notepad. But here’s a trick: type space, then | clip after any command, and the results will be automatically copied to your clipboard. For example, type help | clip and press Enter, then open Notepad and press Ctrl+V to paste the list of commands.

3. Find out what a command does
Type a command, then a space, then /?and press Enter to see a description. In some cases you need to type ?/ instead of /?; try both.

4. Command your whole PC
By default, the Command Prompt accesses ‘C:\Users\your name’. To access your entire hard drive instead, type cd\ and press Enter to get a new prompt: ‘C:\>’. Alternatively, specify a directory to work in. For example, type cd\windows\system32 to move the prompt to the ‘system32’ folder, where hidden system files are kept, even in 64bit PCs.

5. See directory contents
Type dir and press Enter to see folders in the current directory. If you’re at the ‘Users’ prompt, for example, you’ll see a list including Desktop, Downloads and Searches, along with modification dates.

6. See all directory contents
Type tree to see a visual tree of every file in your selected directory. If your prompt is ‘C:\>’ and you’ve had your computer for years, you may need to go and make a cup of tea while the tree populates but don’t wander far, because it’s fascinating to watch.

7. Get a new prompt
Type cmd or command to generate a new prompt at the same location as your previous prompt. So if you’d been at ‘C:\>’, the new prompt will also be ‘C:\>’. To go back to default, close Command Prompt and start again.

8. Open a new window
Type start to open a second Command Prompt window, showing the same prompt as in the first window.

9. See recent commands
Type doskey /history to see all the commands you’ve typed in the current session.

10. Clear the command window
Type cls to remove everything from the window except the prompt.

Friday, July 22, 2022

Listen to music on YouTube without the videos



Although Google’s official music streaming service is now YouTube Music( https://music.youtube.com), most of us still use the main YouTube website to find and listen to old and new songs on our computers. Indeed, the site has more listeners than Spotify and Apple Music combined. The trouble is that when you only want to listen to music in the background, the accompanying videos can be distracting and many aren’t worth viewing especially when they’re just a photo or a cobbled-together collage.


You can hide these unnecessary visuals and turn YouTube into the biggest and best jukebox in the world by installing an extension called ‘Music Mode for YouTube’ (https://bit.ly/3RSh4qN) in Chrome and other Chromium browsers. This blocks videos so that only the audio plays. It can also hide the thumbnail images for videos and skip ads, saving you bandwidth and preventing interruptions to your listening.




Music Mode also works on YouTube Music and on YouTube videos embedded in other sites. You can switch it on and off easily by clicking the ‘Show/Hide the video’ icon that the extension adds to the YouTube player’s controls (see screenshot above) or by clicking its toolbar button.

How To Stop YouTube videos buffering 100% Solution



If YouTube videos often ‘buffer’ which means the video freezes during playback because the data stream can’t keep up the problem may be a slow internet connection or a lack of memory or processing power on your PC. 

Reducing the video quality using one of the methods described in the previous tip can help prevent buffering, but if not, Enhanced h264ify(https://bit.ly/3zqyjZ2)may do the trick. Available for Chromium browsers and, this extension stops YouTube using VP8 and VP9 codecs to stream videos, and makes it use a format called H.264 instead (see screenshot ). 



This format is ‘hardware accelerated’ by GPUs to deliver smooth video playback using less processor power, which is especially useful on older, lower-spec PCs. It also lets you stop videos playing at 60 frames per second (fps), which can cause problems on less powerful computers. 

To check whether a video is likely to cause buffering problems, right-click it and choose ‘Stats for nerds’. A panel will open revealing your current connection speed and your ‘Buffer Health’, which

shows how much data YouTube is preloading to prevent playback hitches. If videos keep buffering on your phone or tablet, try switching to ‘Data saver’ mode on the ‘Video quality preferences’ screen. This will reduce the picture quality but make streaming smoother You can set this mode to activate automatically when your connection is slow by tapping ‘Data saving’ in Settings and enabling ‘Data-saving mode’.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

How To Embed a map into Microsoft sway


Sway is the latest addition to the Office suite, which works or online as well as via mobile apps. Using it, you can create scrolling presentations, which Microsoft calls ‘sways’ (see the ‘Make presentations using Microsoft Sway’.You can now embed online content (such as videos, audio and maps) into your sways. We’ll show you how to embed a map of your chosen location using Google Maps.

First, go to www.sway.com, click ‘Sign in’ at the top right and log in with your Microsoft (Outlook or Hotmail) account. Click My Sways at the top right and select the sway you want to add the map to. Alternatively, click the three dots at the top right and click Create New. To add a new Embed field (where you will place the map), click the ‘+’symbol at the bottom left of any section, then click Embed. A section will appear containing the text ‘Paste an embed code here’ (see screenshot).

Now open Google Maps (www.google.com/maps) and type the address you want in the top-left search field. Click the cog icon at the bottom right, then ‘Share or embed map’. Next, click the ‘Embed map’ tab and copy the link at the top (which is the embed code) by clicking it, then pressing Ctrl+C. Open your sway, click the ‘Paste an embed code here’ text, then press Ctrl+V to paste the code. Click anywhere on the right hand pane to preview how the map looks in your sway.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

How To Download High-Resolution Mp4 Youtube Videos in one Click 2022


Google won’t let you download videos from YouTube unless you subscribe to YouTube Premium, which is perhaps not surprising when you consider how much money the site makes from ads. Its terms  of service forbid you to download content  without permission from YouTube or the   respective rights holder, and Google hasbanned YouTube-downloading extensions from the Chrome Web Store (though there are plenty of tools for grabbing videos from other sites).

However, there’s lots of content on YouTube that you are permitted to  download, such as public domain videos that aren’t copyrighted, clips covered by a

Creative Commons licence (https://bit.ly/3zgreKw) and homemade videos that friends have shared with you. You can download such videos in Chrome using an extension called Tampermonkey and a script called Local YouTube Downloader. Install Tampermonkey from the Chrome Web Store (https://bit.ly/3v0PTAh) then head to the Local Video Downloader page on the user-script site Greasy Fork: (https://bit.ly/3Pi4G1R). Click the Install this script’ button, select ‘I already have a user script manager, let me installit!’ and click Install.

Now when you open a YouTube video page, you should see a ‘Download high-resolution mp4 in one click’ link below the player ignore the official Download button, which prompts you to subscribe to YouTube Premium. Click this link and, after a short delay, Local Video Downloader will merge the video and audio, and download the result as an MP4 file. If that sounds like too much hassle, you may prefer to use a browser that supports YouTube downloading extensions, such as Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express for Edge (https://bit.ly/3zjiqDX) and Firefox (https://mzl.la/3yR5R15). 

 This places a Download As button below YouTube videos that lets you grab videos in MP4 format (though to download in Full HD 1080p you must upgrade to the Pro version). You can also save just the audio as an MP3. An alternative is to download YouTube videos using a third-party program such as 4K Video Downloader (https://bit.ly/3ofbvVW). This lets you copy and paste the URLs of YouTube videos, then download them in a choice of resolutions and formats.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

How To Batch-Rotate Photos Quickly On Windows 7,8.1,10

'When saving photos from a digital camera or mobile device, one common problem is some photos being saved in the wrong orientation. The easiest way to batch-rotate a lot of photos is keeping the Shift key pressed click to select the photos you want to rotate in a particular direction (clockwise, for example). Now right-click any of the selected photos and click ‘Rotate clockwise’ (or ‘Rotate counterclockwise’).

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

How To Recover Delete Whatsapp Messages on Android or iPhone



If you’ve ever accidentallyd eleted or lost an important WhatsApp message, then you may havewished there was a magic button to bringit back. Well, there is sort of. The process is fiddly and there are conditions you’ll need to bear in mind before you proceed (we’ll get to these later).


First, you’ll need to make sure that automatic backup is switched on  this makes regular backups to iCloud in iOS or Google Drive in Android. From the Chats screen, tap Settings (iOS) or the three-dot menu, then Settings (Android).

Tap ‘Chats’, ‘Chat backup’. On an Android device, tap ‘Back up to GoogleDrive’, on an iPhone, tap Auto Backup.




In both cases, select how often you want

to back up Daily, Weekly or Monthly

(see screenshot above).


Assuming backup has been enabled, restoring lost messages involves uninstalling WhatsApp from your device, then reinstalling it from yourapp store. During the initial setup process, you’ll be prompted to restore from a backup, if one is available.

Do so to restore all your messages including the lost ones. There are a couple of big caveats, however. Firstly, you can only restore messages that have been deleted since the last backup was made you’ll see the date and time of the latest WhatsApp backup on the ‘Chat backup’ page. Additionally, if you’ve received messages lose these during the restore process. As such, we’d only recommend using this method in emergency situations, where restoring a lost message is essential.



Thursday, June 30, 2022

How to manage calls texts and data on a dual-SIM phone

Something we’ve noticed when shopping for dual-SIM phones is that the manufacturer very rarely provides any information about the functionality other than it exists. It doesn’t tell you how dual-SIM works in practice, nor whether both SIMs support 3G, or even what size SIM cards they accept. As we’ve learned, you can never assume: you’ll need to contact the manufacturer or check spec tables, reviews or forums to find out this information.

For that latter concern, as technology journalists who are always having to swap SIMs between the various phones we have in for review, we have found the best solution is to adopt a nano-SIM for our
personal smartphone, then pair it with an adaptor when we need to use it in a phone that supports full-size- or micro-SIMs. SIM adaptors are very cheap, but some are better than others. We like the MediaDevil Simdevil, which comes with nano to micro, nano-to mini and micro to Mini adaptors, plus a SIM tray ejector tool. It costs £3.97 from Amazon. If you’re planning to stick with the phone,
however, you can always request a new SIM of the correct size for free from your network operator, then swap over your number.

In all the dual-SIM phones we’ve tested both SIMs are on standby at all times (known as dual-standby phones), but you can actively use only one SIM at a time. This means that either SIM can accept a phone call or text at any time, without you having to actively swap between them or reboot the phone. However, if you get a call on one number while a call is active on the other, it won’t start ringing in your ear or give you the option to put the first caller on hold  the call will simply not be successful.

Dual-active SIM phones also exist, however, which use two modems and allow you to receive calls on both numbers at once. We’ve not tested any dual-active phones, but some more recent examples allegedly include the dual-SIM variants of the HTC One M8, Sony Xperia Z3 and Samsung Galaxy S5 mini. (Always check before you buy, of course.)

If it’s you who wants to make a call or send a text, Android has a standard SIM Management menu that lets you specify which SIM should be used for voice calls, video calls, messages and mobile data. You can either specify a particular SIM for each of these tasks, or leave the setting at Always ask. If you choose the latter, the next time you want to make a call or send a text, you will be asked which SIM you want to use. Motorola improves on this with its dual- SIM Moto G, with its Automatic SIM selection able to track your SIM usage and then suggest or automatically use a particular SIM for a certain mode of contact. The data connection is where there seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to dual-SIM phones. Whereas both SIM slots on some dual-SIM phones are capable of supporting 3G connections (for example, the Elephone P5000 reviewed on page), you can use 3G on only one SIM at a time.

Calls and texts the data connection can’t be on standby for both SIMs: you must specify which SIM you want to use rather than select one when prompted. Of course, this isn’t always the case, and
the ZTE Blade S6 (read our review on page  supports 3G/4G only on its first SIM slot, and you can’t change the data connection for browsing the web or making video calls. You can still specify which SIM should be used for calls and texts, although things look a bit different in Lollipop. By default, when you are using the data connection on one SIM and a phone call comes in to the other it will pause the data connection on the first. In the Moto G, you’ll find a Connection priority menu, which allows you to specify that calls should instead go to voicemail instead of interrupting your browsing. There is no such option on the other dual-SIM phones we’ve tested, but it’s not something we’d be likely to change in any case.

The Elephone P5000 momentarily threw us when we attempted to switch the data connection from one SIM to the other. When we tried to change the data connection from O2 to Vodafone, it displayed a message suggesting that 3G wasn’t supported by the Vodafone SIM. We knew it was, which suggested that the second SIM slot it resided in was capable of 2G only. In fact, we found
that if we first changed the Video call setting from O2 to Vodafone we could then change the data connection without issue. (Note that if your data connection is ‘Off’ this is because your Wi-Fi is switched on.) Which SIM is configured to use the data connection is instantly evident from the navigation bar, with the SIM in slot 1 displayed in blue and the SIM in slot 2 displayed in green. One will be marked with G and the other 3G.

You can change these colours and whether or not the phone number is displayed within the SIM Management menu to make it more instantly obvious which is which. Both the Moto G and ZTE
Blade S6 also allow you to change the SIM card name. Another issue when using dual-SIM phones is where your contacts are stored. We found that by default the contacts from both SIM cards are stored in the phone book. If you’d rather see the contacts from only one SIM, tap the three dots icon at the bottom right of the screen (within the Contacts app) and choose ‘Contacts to display’. You can then select All contacts, Gmail contacts, phone contacts or one of your two SIMs. Usually when you add a contact you get a pop-up menu asking whether you want to store the contact on your phone memory,
your SIM or your Google account. Here you’ll now see two SIMs in the list rather than one. A quick way to turn this off and prevent you always having to choose is to open the SIM management menu, select Contact binding and then select a specific SIM.

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

5 Top Secret Tips Of The Free VLC Media Player

Improve video quality, record your Windows Desktop and use a smartphone or tablet as a remote control.

Play or save online videos
VLC lets you download videos hosted by sites like YouTube. Simply copy the video‘s web address, then go to VLC and choose ‘Convert/ Save’ from the Media menu. Select the Network tab, click in the ‘Please enter a network URL’ field and press Ctrl+V to paste the video’s address. Click the down arrow on the button at the bottom and select ‘Convert/ Save‘, then click the button again. Click Convert and choose the desired video-file format from the Profile dropdown menu. Click Browse. select a destination, type a name for the saved video and click Start, and then wait for the video to download.

Use your phone and tablet as remote controls
You can control VLC’s playback using your smartphone or tablet and the device’s browser. First, you need to tweak a few settings in VLC on your PC. Click Tools then Preferences. and then select the All button. Click ‘Main interfaces’ and tick Web. then expand ‘Main interfaces’ by double-clicking it, then click Lua. Type a password of your choice in the Password box, click Save and restart VLC.

If a firewall warning appears, grant permission. Type cmd into Start and press Enter. In the Command Prompt window that appears, type ipconfig and press Enter. Make a note of the IPv4 address (it’ll be something like ‘192.168.1.4’) then close the Command Prompt window.

Finally, go to the browser on your phone or tablet and type the IPv4 address, adding :8080 to the end (so you type 192.168.1.4:8080. for example). When prompted to enter a usemame and password, leave the username field blank and type your password. Now you should be in remote control of VLC.

Screen-record your Desktop
VLC includes a tool for capturing whatever happens on your screen. This means you can record streaming video or make PC tutorials for friends.

Click Media followed by Convert/ Save, then select the Capture Device tab. Leave ‘Capture mode’ and the Device Selections as they are. Next, click the Convert/Save button, choose the video type from the Profile dropdown menu, click Browse, choose a location, type the file name and then click Save. Now click Start to begin recording. To stop the recording, return to VLC and click the red cross to close it.

Use the keyboard to control playback
There are loads of handy keyboard shortcuts in VLC. For example, hitting the plus (+) or minus (-) keys speeds up or slows down playback. The left and right square brackets ([ and ]) do the same thing but in smaller increments (one tenth). Press F for full screen, M to mute the audio, Ctrl +arrows (up or down) to change the volume, and the space bar to switch between pause and play. There’s a full list of shortcuts on the VLC wiki sitc (bit.ly/1eVZajj).

Improve video quality
VLC can work magic by smoothing out rough edges when you're watching low-resolution videos. Play your video, then go to the Tools menu and click ‘Post processing’, then choose a level from 1 (least processing) to 6 (most). Depending on the power of your PC, more processing may result in jerkier video playback, so experiment with different levels to find the best balance.