Computer Act!ve articles from May 2009

Computer Act!ve archives from May 2009

Downloads.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tim Smith Try an alternative operating system, find program updates automatically and edit photo slideshows Update Notifier Update Notifier scans your computer's software to find out which programs need updating. ...

Best of the web.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tim Smith Work out your carbon footprint, organise to do lists, find free software and give as you search Nizmlab nizmlab.com There are so many videos on Youtube it can be hard to find the good ones. Nizmlab is a...

Keep a program on top of all others.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Rob Beattie Keep a program on top of all others Need to keep a program where it's always visible? Use Deskpins to 'pin' it One of the best things about Windows is that it's possible to do lots of things at the same...

Personalise the Windows Desktop by adding photos.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Rob Beattie Personalise the Windows Desktop by adding photos Drag and drop photos wherever you like and even have them change automatically While Windows makes it easy to change the main Desktop image with another one...

Add Wikipedia entries to Google search results.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Rob Beattie Add Wikipedia entries to Google search results Firefox web browser users can add Wikipedia entries to Google search results automatically One of the benefits of the free Firefox web browser is that there...

Workshop intro.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Mark Wilson Share, backup and synchronise files easily Find out how a free tool called Syncplicity can keep all your portable documents in check p36 Keep track of bookmarks visually Instead of keeping favourite...

Share, back up and synchronise files easily.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Mark Wilson Share, back up and synchronise files easily Find out how a free tool called Syncplicity can keep your portable documents in check Online storage is nothing new but it's only in recent years that it has...

Keep track of favourite websites visually.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Rob Beattie Keep track of favourite websites visually Instead of keeping bookmarks or favourites in a menu, why not display them as thumbnails? Although web browsers make it easy to add favourite websites to a list of...

First class broadband.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Nigel and Emil, rewritten First class broadband Blast slow broadband speeds into the past and give your internet data the power to achieve its terminal velocity with this simple, problem-solving guide Broadband internet...

Tune up XP Downloads.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Nigel and Emil, rewritten Tune up XP Downloads Sometimes making a simple tweak to your computer's settings can produce a surprising broadband speed boost. TCP Optimizer (www.snipurl.com/a3mdy) is a small utility that edits...

Firmware fix.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Nigel and Emil, rewritten Firmware fix Firmware is the software that runs inside a router, making it tick, and upgrading to the latest version can fix many problems. It's a tricky process, though, so only confident users should...

Diagnosis checklist.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Nigel and Emil, rewritten Diagnosis checklist If you are having trouble with ADSL broadband, follow our five point checklist to identify the problem: 1) Can't access web pages? Check the basics first: is the modem or...

Cable broadband.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Nigel and Emil, rewritten Cable broadband Most of the tips in this article are designed for ADSL broadband users. If you have cable broadband supplied by Virgin Media then the troubleshooting options are fewer and simpler. ...

Best buddies.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn Best buddies We show you how to get working with widgets In the old days, if you wanted to run even the simplest of applications -- a clock or calculator, say -- you'd have to hunt through your Start menu...

10 of the best.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... 10 of the best Top 5 Vista Gadgets: BBC Radio Player www.snipurl.com/gj1hx Instantly tune in to the BBC's digital radio stations with this essential Gadget. All Search www.snipurl.com/gj1n5 Instant desktop...

Novatech Ion Fusion.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Novatech Ion Fusion Don't need a full-size desktop computer? Consider this The Novatech Ion Fusion is a net-top computer, so called because it's similar in power to the more common mini-notebook or...

Cyberpower Gamer Infinity Yin.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Cyberpower Gamer Infinity Yin A powerful PC that is suitable for everyone In issue 291 we looked at Cyberpower's Gamer Infinity Yang (www.computeractive.co.uk/ 2239739), a [pounds sterling]549...

Sapphire HD 4550 512MB DDR3.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tom Royal Sapphire HD 4550 512MB DDR3 A graphics card for videos, not games Most of the time the only reason to add a new graphics card to your PC is to play new games. Nowadays, though, they're beginning to have other...

Acer K10 Projector.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Simon Williams Acer K10 Projector A new kind of projector A typical projector uses a very bright light that's beamed through what's effectively a translucent screen. That bright lamp is usually the projector's major...

Sony Vaio RT2SY.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Sony Vaio RT2SY A powerful computer and big screen in one box We've looked at all-in-one computers before, particularly the iMac range from Apple (see issue 292 for the most recent of those), but Sony's...

Planon Docupen RC850.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Andrew Zarkesh Planon Docupen RC850 The Docupen RC850 is a compact handheld scanning device that can scan images and text at a resolution of up to 400 dots per inch. It's powered by an internal battery (using the same USB...

Prints charming.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Andrea Petrou Prints Charming If you've converted a photo into a beautiful work of art, why not hang it on the wall? Several services, including Snapfish (www.snapfish.co.uk) and Jessops (www.jessops.com) will print digital...

Get arty.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Andrea Petrou Get arty Turn your digital photos into art with our guide With digital cameras getting better and cheaper every day and memory cards that can store hundreds of photos, many of us are taking more pictures than...

Expert PDF 6.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Paul Lester Expert PDF 6 Make PDFs without fuss PDF files are an excellent way to distribute documents by email or on the web as they preserve your fonts, formatting and pictures in a way that, say, Word doesn't. But the...

avanquest Device Defender.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Paul Lester avanquest Device Defender Protect your storage devices from prying eyes Device Defender, an encryption tool for storage devices, can make sure that your USB memory keys, external hard disks and optical discs...

Avanquest System Suite 9.(Product/service evaluation)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Simon Williams Avanquest System Suite 9 An all-in-one security and maintenance suite There are plenty of computer maintenance tools that don't do anything useful. For instance some will claim that every cookie on a...

The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena.(Product/service evaluation)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena A second helping of porridge for the beady-eyed antihero Info: www.atari.com/riddick PEGI age rating: 16+ Also consider: Fear 2; Crysis Warhead; Far Cry 2...

Kaspersky Internet Security 2009.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tom Royal Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 Full security protection from Russia When picking security software most people choose between an anti-virus package or a complete security suite that includes a firewall and...

Ion Film2SD.(Product/service evaluation)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Ion Film2SD Scan photo negatives and slides straight to a memory card Cheap film scanners such as the Ion Film2SD are not really scanners at all -- instead they are really small digital cameras. When you...

Make an impression.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tim Smith Make an impression Make your documents shine with new fonts and images The templates supplied with Microsoft Office and other suites are a great way to give documents a polished look but they can be a little...

how to install a font.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tim Smith how to install a font 1We downloaded the Starguides font from www.dafont.com/starguides.font. Open the compressed zip file when it has downloaded. Copy the font file somewhere that you can find it later: maybe create...

Copyright for images.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tim Smith Copyright for images Frustrating as it may be, you can't just use the first image or font that takes your fancy without checking if you have the right to do so. Many artworks represent a significant amount of...

Lindy USB to DVI Adapter.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Laurence Gunn Lindy USB to DVI Adapter A handy device for adding an extra screen There are some times when it can be useful to have a second computer screen to give extra space on the computer's desktop. In order to...

Ricoh CX1.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Laurence Gunn Ricoh CX1 More than just a happy snapper A decent digital camera can now be picked up for about [pounds sterling]150. At twice that -- and in a recession -- the Ricoh CX1 needs to impress. There are good...

One For All XSight Colour.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Laurence Gunn One For All XSight Colour One remote control for all of your devices Over the last 30 years, the number of electronic devices in most homes has increased and the pile of remote controls has grown. Several...

Free your music and video.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Free your music and video Our selection of media-streaming devices will take music and films from your computer and play them using your hi-fi or television 1 Pure Digital Avanti Flow In addition to...

Free online games.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Free online games Hero's Arms Like an old-fashioned console adventure game, Hero's Arms is a hack-and-slash affair in which your character, the hero, has to battle his way through all sorts of weird and...

Games news.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Games news Empire falls Games publisher Empire Interactive is the latest British games industry company to go into administration with the loss of several jobs, reports trade magazine MCV. This follows...

Free download.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran Save 30 per cent on Hard Disk Manager 2009 Suite Upgrade to Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009 Suite and you will be able to exclude files from backup images, with dual-boot backup capsules giving you more chance...

Free download.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF paragon hard disk manager 9.5 se 1To install Paragon Hard Disk manager, follow the instructions above. It's a large file and you should not attempt to download it if you are using a...

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 9.5 SE.
May 14, 2009... Paragon Hard Disk Manager 9.5 SE System requirements: Windows 2000, XP or Vista Download from: www.computeractive.co.uk/hdman/index Registration: Required -- see below File size: 317MB Estimated download time:...

Ultrasone.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tom Royal Ultrasone HFI-450 The tiny in-ear headphones included with portable music players might suffice for listening on the bus, but if you want to get the best from music then a proper set of over-ear headphones is the best...

Leyio makes file-swaps flipping easy.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Leyio makes file-swaps flipping easy The Leyio portable storage device, possibly the oddest IT product for a decade, finally shipped last month. Promotional material showed fashionable youths flicking files to each other with the...

New BT broadband mobile deal.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Andrea Petrou nnew bT mobile broadband deal BT has launched a landline and mobile broadband bundle BT Total Broadband, that gives users wireless landline speeds of up to 8Mbits/sec and 1GB of downloads for mobile broadband per...

Tool clears up Moneyspeak The public sector information website Directgov has launched an application that demystifies financial terms and phrases. Moneyspeak is a free interactive tool that can be shared through social-networking sites such as Facebook.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Dinah Greek Tool clears up Moneyspeak The public sector information website Directgov has launched an application that demystifies financial terms and phrases. Moneyspeak is a free interactive tool that can be shared...

Sites set up to identify WWI dead.(Commonwealth War Graves Commission)(Fromelles.net)(fromelles.org)(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Andrea Petrou Sites set up to identify WWI dead The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has set up two websites to trace the families of men who died at Fromelles in the First World War. 1,700 British soldiers and 5,500...

Satellites i?1/2keyi?1/2 to access.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Dinah Greek Satellites 'key' to access Satellite technology may be key in providing rural and remote areas with affordable, faster broadband services if expensive set-up fees can be addressed. Some parts of the UK still...

RAC plugs scenic routes.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Andrea Petrou RAC plugs scenic routes The RAC and Expedia have teamed up to encourage people to use scenic routes and avoid motorways. Congested motorways cause travel misery at peak times and bank holidays as up to 11...

Web child abuse images worsening.
May 14, 2009... nweb child abuse images worsening Commercial websites hosting child abuse images are remaining difficult to trace and hosting more severe content. In its second annual report the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said the number of...

New Firefox test version Mozilla has launched a trial version of its next Firefox web browser, promising a number of new features and performance gains. Firefox 3.5 has a Private Browsing feature, which lets users surf the web without leaving information.
May 14, 2009... New Firefox test version Mozilla has launched a trial version of its next Firefox web browser, promising a number of new features and performance gains. Firefox 3.5 has a Private Browsing feature, which lets users surf the web without...

Phorm site targets critics.(Stop Phoul Play )(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tom Royal Phorm site targets critics Online advertising company Phorm has set up a website that accuses its critics of orchestrating a "smear campaign" to "distort the truth and misrepresent" its technology. The Stop Phoul...

Latest Windows 7 test version made available to all.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tom Royal Latest Windows 7 test version made available to all Microsoft has released what should be the final testing version of its new Windows 7 operating system and has made it available to everyone. Microsoft's John...

How to complain to your ISP effectively.(internet service providers)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Dinah Greek How to complain to your ISP effectively Consumer complaints about internet service providers (ISPs), phone companies, or companies that are both, have risen steadily over the last four years. They now form the...

Enter characters easily.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tim Smth Enter characters easily I have an alternative way of inserting foreign characters into a document that I think is easier than adding them individually using the Insert Symbol window. To make this work, you will need...

Hints and tips.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tim Smth Internet Explorer in Firefox There are times when websites demand Internet Explorer, even if they might work fine with Firefox. There is a solution to this problem in the form of an add-on called IE-Tab. Start Firefox...

Smith alters prying plans.(Internet Service Providers' Association)(Jacqui Smith)(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Dinah Greek Smith alters prying plans The Government has ruled out creating a super database of emails, phone calls, text messages and internet usage, and said it is looking at other ways to store this information. The...

Chip and Pin goes on trial A trial that could prove to be a test case for the security of chip-and-Pin card technology has started. Alain Job is suing Halifax, claiming that a fraudster withdrew i?1/22,100 from his account at cash machines despite the fact th.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: staff Chip and Pin goes on trial A trial that could prove to be a test case for the security of chip-and-Pin card technology has started. Alain Job is suing Halifax, claiming that a fraudster withdrew [pounds sterling]2,100...

EC anger over e-crime failings.
May 14, 2009... Byline: staff nec anger over e-crime failings The European Commission has criticised member states for failing to work together on a joint e-crime plan, and has called for the appointment of a security tsar to coordinate an...

Second EU i?1/2noni?1/2 for French piracy rules.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Dave Bailey and Dinah Greek Second EU 'non' for French piracy rules French plans to impose controversial three-strikes internet usage rules across Europe have been foiled for a second time. The European Parliament Committee...

Readers to the rescue.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tim Smith, Anthony Dhanendran Readers to the rescue Q|I sometimes get a balloon on the taskbar telling me that my Virtual Memory is low and that Windows is increasing it. What does all this mean? I am using Windows XP...

Record number of PCs hijacked.(briefs)(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: staff nrecord number of pcs hijacked The number of computers infected for use in botnets has soared in recent months, according to McAfee. The company said in its recent quarterly threat report that the number of IP addresses...

Readers to the Rescue Wei?1/2ve freshened up our Readers to the Rescue forum to help you find answers to PC problems quickly and easily. If you haveni?1/2t tried the forum before then visit www.computeractive.co.uk/ forums; you can browse through thousands of to.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Paul Allen Readers to the Rescue We've freshened up our Readers to the Rescue forum to help you find answers to PC problems quickly and easily. If you haven't tried the forum before then visit www.computeractive.co.uk/ ...

NHS trusts to up security.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tom Young NHS trusts to up security Four NHS trusts have agreed to encrypt and password-protect all mobile devices after being found in breach of the Data Protection Act by the Information Commissioner's Office. The NHS...

Delays hit police fraud centre.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Dinah Greek Delays hit police fraud centre National Fraud Reporting Centre still a year or more away, top officer reveals The public will have to wait until next summer at the earliest before the National Fraud Reporting...

Europe challenges US web domination.(Brief article)
May 14, 2009... Byline: Dinah Greek Europe challenges US web domination European officials are trying to end what they see as the United States' overriding control of the internet. In what she called "a moment of truth", Viviane Reding, the...

Video reviews.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Tim Smith Discover more about Nintendo's new DSi and find out how music is promoting world peace Nintendo DSi review This is the third version of Nintendo's popular DS handheld games console. It's a little bigger than the...

Win DVD and Blu-ray playback software from Cyberlink.
May 14, 2009... Byline: Andrea Petrou Win DVD and Blu-ray playback software from Cyberlink 15 copies of Power DVD 9 Ultra worth [pounds sterling]60 each to give away Computeractive has teamed up with Cyberlink to give 15 readers the chance to win...

Government expected to rethink DNA retention.
May 14, 2009... Byline: staff Government expected to rethink DNA retention Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was expected to announce a Government climb down over the retention of DNA data on the Police National Database, as Computer-active went to press....

Internet comes first in downturn.
May 14, 2009... Byline: andrea petrou ninternet comes first in downturn Brits would rather spend their money on internet access than on food and utility bills during the credit crunch, according to research by O2. In a survey of 500 families the...