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13 January 2011 5

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The best new and relaunched sites

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33 New weather tools

Eight sites and apps for free forecasts

22 PC and web shortcuts

100 keyboard shortcuts for websites,

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Group Test: Internet security suites

Our biggest-ever test of anti-virus

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53 Competition – Win 1 of 6 Sandberg

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71 Best Broadband

72 Essentials Directory

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38 Double your gadgets’ battery life

15 tips for boosting the battery

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56 Practical Feature

Upgrade home videos to HD quality

58 Expert Tips

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63 Ask the Experts

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64 Readers’ Helpdesk

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66 Get the Most From…

Windows Live Mail 2011

68 How To...

Make your PC more energy efficient

– Part 2

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HARDWARE

PRACTICAL HELP

ISSUE 257 13 JANUARY 2011

Stay safe in 2011

When it comes to

choosing anti-virus

software, the question

uppermost in your mind will be:

“Is free software as effective as

paid-for?” In this issue’s cover

feature (page 46) we’ve set out

to answer that with our biggest

ever test of security software.

What makes this test so

effective is that we’ve exposed

the software to real viruses that

are currently causing havoc on

the web, rather than artificial

viruses that most other

magazines use for test

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protection for the web as you

use it every day.

Elsewhere in this issue, you’ll

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browser add-ons and eight

expert Registry tips

to make Windows

faster.

Daniel Booth

Acting Editor

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@dennis.co.uk

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NEWSReports, opinion and analysis on everything that matters

webuser@dennis.co.uk

The internet telephony firm

promises that it will take steps to

prevent a repeat of the service’s

24-hour failure in late December

Skype has insisted that it’s learnt

lessons from the technical problems

that brought the service down for

more than 24 hours just before Christmas.

The failure was caused by a bug in an

out-of-date version of Skype that is still

used by millions of people. The bug

caused one of the telephony service's

peer-to-peer (P2P) networks to become

unstable, pushing large amounts of

traffic onto parts of the network that

hadn’t been affected by the initial crash

and overloading them.

On the company’s official blog, Skype’s

chief information officer Lars Rabbe said:

“We are learning the lessons we can from

this incident and reviewing our processes

and procedures, looking in particular for

ways in which we can detect problems

more quickly to potentially avoid such

outages altogether, and ways to recover

the system more rapidly after a

failure.”

Skype’s free services

include instant messaging

and free video calls

between two computers

with Skype installed. It

also offers low-cost calls

to phones on conventional

telecommunication

networks worldwide.

As compensation for the outage,

Skype pre-pay customers were offered $1

(about 64p) of call credit and subscribers

were offered a free week of service.

Customer angerBut some Skype users were unsatisfied

by both the explanation and the

compensation. “After that lengthy

explanation, which probably

99.99 per cent of people will

not understand, you are giving

your loyal customers a whole

$1 credit to compensate us for

the outage. Wow – that’s

incredible! One whole dollar,”

commented a user at the end

of Rabbe’s statement.

Other posts pointed out that the

problems could have been avoided if

computers running Skype had been

forced to update to the latest version, to

protect against bugs in older versions. “All

this could have been prevented if Skype’s

auto-update actually worked. Every

update I’ve ever got for my Skype client

was through a manual upgrade check.”

Many others, though, praised Skype

and Rabbe for their honesty. “Thank you

for acknowledging the problem, taking

responsibility for it (although technology

failure is impossible to avoid completely),

and giving customers a credit voucher. It

shows you remember who keeps you in

business; a lesson some big companies

have yet to learn!” a customer wrote on

the blog.

http://blogs.skype.com/en

6 13 January 2011

Skype failure:‘Lessonswill belearned’

after a

l

outage

compens

explan

99.

no

yo

$1

th

in

com

of Ra

Other

problems co

At peak times,there are up to 23million peopleusing Skype’s

services

23million

How Skype’s network worksInstead of using centralised servers to route calls between computers, Skype uses

peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. Though P2P has become synonymous with illegal

file-sharing, it has numerous legitimate applications on the web and is perfect for

a system such as Skype. Any computer that runs Skype becomes a peer – or

‘node’ – in the Skype P2P network. This means that it could potentially play a small

part in routing data from one Skype user to another, even if the computer in

question is idle at the time. By using this system, Skype doesn’t need to invest in

central servers to handle the masses of traffic sent over the network, but simply

spreads it out over all available ‘nodes’. However, if large numbers of nodes use

out-of-date versions of Skype, as happened in this case, it can result in instability

and cause major problems for the entire network.

www.downmagaz.com

NEWS

Inbrief

FIRST LOOK

BT has received criticism from supporters

of net neutrality after launching its

Content Connect service that lets ISPs

using BT’s cables charge websites to deliver

faster video.

Opponents of the move claim that it creates

a two-speed service which will severely harm

competition and creativity on the internet and

lead to the end of net neutrality – the principle

that ISPs should treat all web traffic equally,

not offer preferential treatment to companies

who pay for it.

Jim Killock from the Open Rights Group said

that Content Connect represents a symbolic

move away from the understanding that net

neutrality is an integral cornerstone of the web:

“It is essentially them [BT] saying: ‘Rather than

delivering whatever content is on the internet

as best we can, here are our services that we

will deliver through our own network,” he said.

However, BT defended the plans by saying

that the service could actually speed up

downloads across its network by easing

congestion. A spokesman toldWeb User: “BT

supports the concept of net neutrality, but

believes that service providers should also be

free to strike commercial deals, should content

owners want a higher quality or assured

service delivery.”

www.contentconnect.bt.com

www.openrightsgroup.org

Two tools that translate

text from one language

into another have been

released for the iPhone. Word

Lens (see image, above) is a

free download from the App

Store, but you need to spend

£5.99 per language pack.

Once installed, open the

iPhone’s camera app and

Word Lens will translate the

text of a menu, road sign or

whatever else you point it at.

TransLens (see image,

bottom-right) works on a

similar principle – point the

camera at the text and the

app will translate it. It costs

£1.19, and you don’t have to

buy any language packs, but

you will need an internet

connection to use it, which

may incur big roaming costs.

Word Lens and TransLens

both require either the

iPhone 3GS or the iPhone 4

to work – older iPhones lack

the auto-focusing camera

required for text recognition.

However, the apps work with

the latest iPod Touch, which

has an auto-focusing camera.

Both do a decent job and

are easy to use. The price of

TransLens – £1.19 for the app,

with no further charges – is

good if you travel a lot, but is

let down by the need for an

internet connection. It also

boasts more languages – 16

at the last count. Word Lens

currently has four (English,

German, French, Spanish),

but more will be added.

Word Lens is better if you

just want translations for one

language – you’ll rack up a

big bill by downloading

different packs at £5.99 a

pop. But as you don’t require

an internet connection for it

to work, Word Lens can be

used wherever you are.

Word Lens for iPhone http://bit.ly/wordlens257TransLens for iPhone http://bit.ly/translens257

BT’s ‘two-speed web’ plans slammed

Firefox ‘most used

browser in Europe’

Figures from

StatCounter show

that Firefox is

now the most

used browser in

Europe. The

analyst firm said that

Internet Explorer’s market

share shrunk to 37.5 per

cent in December, while

Firefox’s grew to 38.1 per

cent. However, IE is still

the UK's top dog, boasting

a 50.4 per cent share,

more than double Firefox’s

23.3 per cent.

http://gs.statcounter.com

Spam’s Christmas break

Normally, spam levels are

higher in the holidays than

the rest of the year, but

technology firm Cisco said

the amount of unsolicited

email in circulation

dropped by a third

between September and

December 2010. Figures

from rival firm Commtouch

also showed a 30 per cent

drop over the same

period. Neither company

explained why there had

been such a sharp fall.

www.cisco.com/uk

www.commtouch.com

BT’s Infinity winners

The winners of BT’s Race

to Infinity campaign, a

competition to bring

fibre-optic broadband to

smaller communities in the

UK, have been announced.

More than 360,000 votes

were cast via BT’s website,

resulting in a six-way tie

between the villages of

Baschurch (Shropshire),

Blewbury (Oxfordshire),

Caxton (Cambridgeshire),

Innerleithen (Scottish

Borders), Madingley

(Cambridgeshire) and

Whitchurch (Hampshire).

BT has pledged to connect

the six communities to its

super-fast broadband

network by early 2012.

www.racetoinfinity.bt.com

WHAT COULD THIS MEAN FOR USERS?

An end to net neutrality could have serious

consequences. If websites pay ISPs for a

better service, they may pass on these

costs to users, making previously free sites

only available to paying members.

Companies may also have to increase the

amount of advertising on their sites to

meet these costs. Opponents of net

neutrality argue that surfers will benefit

because ISPs will be able to spend the

money received from websites on

broadband infrastructure.

Fig

St

use

Eur

Discuss web news at www.webuser.co.uk/forums 13 January 2011 7

8 13 January 2011

VIEWPOINT Daniel Booth

Acting EditorOur opinion on the latest web issues

VIEWPOINT

This is the time of year when tech experts risk

ridicule by predicting trends for the year

ahead, so I hereby take the plunge: My big

bet for 2011 is that the launch of YouView

(www.youview.com) will finally bring the

concept of watching the web on your TV into

the mainstream.

Many of you already use devices like the

Boxee to watch the internet on your TV sets,

but the majority of people will have been put

off by the extra cost and perceived hassle.

YouView set-top boxes might not be cheaper

than what’s already available when the

service launches later this year, but I think the

EastEnders-watching masses will feel more

comfortable parting with £200 for a service

that is being backed by the major TV

channels – specifically, the BBC.

Despite regular whinges about repeats and

dumbing down, the British public still loves

and trusts the BBC and a service that comes

with Auntie Beeb’s endorsement will convince

the average web user – people who will watch

the iPlayer but don’t feel confident enough to

hook up a media-streaming device to their TV

– that accessing the web on your TV has

become safe, easy and reliable. In other

words, it has become normal.

Of course, feel free to email me this time

next year if I’m proved embarrassingly wrong!

As a kid in the Eighties, my Christmas

Day involved all kinds of electronic

gadgetry, from my beloved ZX

Spectrum to my portable Frogger

game. Now, my eight-year-old nephew

looks back on that pre-internet age

with the same pity I once reserved for

Dickensian orphans happy with a

satsuma in a Christmas stocking.

Yet there’s still a sneaking feeling

that using the web on Christmas Day

is a bit, well, un-festive. As if by going

online you’re deliberately sabotaging

your family’s seasonal joy. This

Christmas, a member of my family

accused me of being anti-social,

saying “Can’t you just turn off your

laptop for five minutes?” as she

settled down to watch the Doctor

Who special on her own. Why is

television considered a hallowed piece

of Christmas entertainment, but the

web sneered at as being a bit sad?

Perhaps my nephew’s generation

will manage to rewrite Christmas

tradition so it’s as much about festive

messages on Twitter as it is about yet

another Morecambe and Wise repeat.

Christmas is better with the web

Facebook friends aren’t all foolsTime magazine’s decision to name

Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg its

Person of the Year for 2010 set the

media dinosaurs scoffing in disgust.

The reaction of Giles Coren in The

Times was particularly extreme, accusing

Zuckerberg of impoverishing humanity

and turning us into babbling idiots. It’s

an old and tired argument: Facebook

transforms dazzling wits and raconteurs

into prattling buffoons at one glimpse of

an empty status-update box.

This is complete nonsense. In my

experience, people who bore their

friends to distraction about

The X Factor in face-to-

face conversation are just

as annoyingly shallow on

Facebook. But friends who are funny,

perceptive and cultured in real life are no

less sharp and amusing on Facebook.

Boring people are boring on

Facebook. Interesting people are

interesting on Facebook. It’s

as simple as that. Maybe Giles

Coren just needs to find a

better class of friend.

No easy answer to net neutralityYou might expect me to be strongly in

favour of net neutrality and react with

horror to BT’s new Content Connect

service (see page 7), yet my feelings

are actually rather divided. My

web-loving side sees how a two-

speed internet would create a conflict

of interest between ISPs and websites,

but the real-world pragmatist in me

wonders whether our broadband

infrastructure might be better off if

ISPs could invest revenue received

from websites.

I’m fascinated by the debate

because it goes right to the heart of

what the internet is for. Is it a utility

that should be universally available? Is

it a resource so uniquely important

that it should be protected from

market forces that affect other media?

Does the web really “belong to the

people”, or is that a flawed view that

will hold back progress on the web?

There’s no easy answer and I predict

that the outcome will be an imperfect

compromise – an “open internet” that

will leave both sides unhappy.

We’ll all be watchingYouView in 2011

www.downmagaz.com

NEWS

13 January 2011 9Discussweb news atwww.webuser.co.uk/forums

Microsoft insists Hotmailglitch is fixed

Microsoft has announced that

all emails that were

accidentally deleted

from some Hotmail users’ inboxes

have now been restored.

The problem, which began on 30

December, came to light when dozens

of Hotmail users posted messages on

Microsoft’s forums and Twitter

complaining that emails were missing

from their account. In all, there were

476 pages of complaints about missing

emails in Microsoft’s forums.

“This morning when I logged into my

account, all my email is gone. There should

be 1600+ messages in my account. I need

it recovered ASAP. I have critical

business information in my

email. I have since then

changed my password

but I need my account

recovered please,” wrote

one angry Hotmail user.

Microsoft acknowledged the problems

but said in a statement that only a

limited number of the 360 million active

Hotmail accounts had been affected. The

DUAL-TOUCHSCREEN LINUX TABLETLAUNCHED

Adual-screen tablet running Linux OS was one of the first

new gadgets to be shown off at the 2011 Consumer

Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Simply known as the Kno – pronounced ‘no’ – the device is

aimed at the education and home markets. Both screens,

which measure 14.1in each, are operated by the touch of either

your fingers or a stylus. It weighs a hefty 2.5kg, though, which

may limit its portability.

Rather than running the Android OS, like many other recent

tablet devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Dell

Streak, the Kno runs a version of the Linux operating system –

Ubuntu 9.10.

It comes with either 16GB or 32GB of flash memory, and

costs $899 (around £580) in the US. A launch date for the UK

has not been set yet.

www.kno.com

SNAPSHOT

Nintendo warns of3D eye damageNintendo has warned that

the eyesight of children

under six years old could

be harmed by its

forthcoming Nintendo 3DS

handheld device. The 3DS

projects two images - one

for the left eye, another for

the right – to create a 3D

effect. However, the 3D

games should only be

played in 2D mode by

young children, Nintendo

said. The Nintendo 3DS is

due to be released in

March 2011.

www.nintendo.co.uk

One million kidshave no web accessA million UK children have

no access to the internet

at home, according to the

E-Learning Foundation.

Citing figures taken from

the latest government

spending survey, the

foundation said that

children from the poorest

families are two-and-a-half

times less likely to have

web access at home

compared to those from

well-off families.

www.e-learningfoundation

.com

Inbrief

You can submit a request to Microsoft to find

out whether the company is able to recover

any emails you may have accidentally deleted.

However, there is no guarantee of success,

especially if you deleted the messages more

than 24 hours ago. Requests can be made at

the URL listed above. Don’t forget that

Hotmail accounts become inactive if they

haven’t been accessed for 270 days, so make

sure you check your inbox frequently.

Users with third-party email-filtering

software installed should check that the

settings aren’t so strict that some legitimate

emails aren’t getting through.

How to recover deleted Hotmail emails

company later insisted that the

problems had been fixed, but did not

elaborate on what had caused the loss

of emails.

“We have restored the emails to

those who were effected [sic]. If

you are still missing your emails,

please post your issue here with as much

detailed information as possible. We sincerely

apologise and thank you for your continued

patience,” a Microsoft employee called Roopa S

wrote on the forum.

https://windowslivehelp.com

ts $899 (around £580) in the US. A launch date for the UK

not been set yet.

w.kno.com

t

for the UK

10 13 January 2011

Apple and the publishers of several

popular iPhone and iPad apps are being

sued for passing on data about users to

third parties, such as advertisers, without

consent.

Two separate lawsuits have been filed in the

US alleging that data that could be used to

identify an individual was routinely being

passed on by apps created by The Weather

Channel, Dictionary.com and Backflip Studios.

The lawsuits were filed after an investigation by

theWall Street Journal found that the practice

was widespread among apps running on both

Apple’s iOS platform and the Google-backed,

open-source Android OS.

Lawyers representing one of the claimants

SECURITY

ALERT!

ISPs have criticised government plans to

force them to block all online pornography

from UK broadband connections unless

customers specifically request access to the

content.

The proposals, outlined by Culture Minister

Ed Vaizey in December, are

designed to stop children

either accidentally or

deliberately accessing adult

material online, but have

been called impractical by

critics. Vaizey said that

the government didn’t

want to introduce

legislation, but

instead hoped that

ISPs would take the

initiative.

The Internet Service

Providers’ Association

(ISPA), which represents

the interests of UK ISPs,

argued that the definition

of what constitutes

pornography was fluid,

meaning that the

ISPs unite againstporn-blocking plans

Mozilla passwordblunderThe passwords of

thousands of users of the

Firefox Add-Ons website

(https://addons.mozilla

.org) were inadvertently

revealed in December. The

passwords were kept on

an unencrypted public

server and contained

details of 44,000 inactive

users of the site. Mozilla,

creator of Firefox, insisted

that the blunder “posed

minimal risk to users”.

www.mozilla.org

Malicious Androidapp warningUsers of Android-based

smartphones have been

warned to watch out for

Geinimi malware, which

has been spotted hiding in

some game apps available

via the Android Market. A

Geinimi-infected handset

will send personal data to

cybercriminal gangs.

http://blog.mylookout.com

Malware willtarget Macs in 2011Devices running Mac OS

and Apple’s mobile

operating system iOS,

such as the iPhone and

iPad, will be targeted by

cybercriminals this year.

Security firm McAfee said

that the rising popularity

of Apple’s products made

them a more attractive

target for hackers.

www.mcafee.com/uk

ISPs investigatedover DDoS attacksTwo US ISPs are under

investigation by the FBI on

suspicion of aiding the

DDoS (distributed

denial-of-service) attacks

organised by Anonymous,

a pro-WikiLeaks group of

hackers. Companies

targeted in the DDoS

attacks include PayPal,

Mastercard and Visa.

www.fbi.gov

Apple sued over ‘data-leaking’ appsallege that Apple does not do enough to

enforce its privacy policy and said that they are

considering bringing similar action against

Google. “Consumers are paying with their

information and not realising that,” said Dave

Stampley, a lawyer at the

KamberLaw firm. KamberLaw’s

privacy action against

Facebook’s Beacon system in

2008 was one of the key

factors that lead to Facebook

scrapping the controversial

advertising feature the

following year.

www.apple.com/uk/iphone

www.kamberlaw.com

As critics of the plan have pointed out,

there is so much pornography on the web

that blocking it all would be very difficult. If

the system involved drawing up a massive

blacklist of websites, pornographers could

easily set up new sites to host the material.

Critics also argue that an opt-in system,

where people have to specifically request

access to adult material, unnecessarily

stigmatises those who wish to view

pornographic content that in most cases is

perfectly legal. This could lead to legal

challenges from both consumers and

publishers of adult material.

government’s plans would leave ISPs with a

lot of tricky decisions to make. “Child abuse

content, which is illegal and widely regarded

as abhorrent, is blocked by the majority of

ISPs. Deciding on lawful pornography

content to block is less clear cut and will lead

to the blocking of access to legitimate

content,” said Nicholas Lansman, secretary

general of ISPA.

The Open Rights Group (ORG),

which campaigns for digital

rights, added its voice to

the criticism saying that

such a system could

provide a back door for

government censorship.

“If the government controlled

a web blacklist, you can bet that

WikiLeaks would be on it. This is

not about pornography, it is about

generalised censorship through

the back door,” said Jim Killock,

executive director of the ORG.

www.culture.gov.uk

www.ispa.org.uk

www.openrightsgroup

.org

Could the porn-blocking plans really work?

www.downmagaz.com

NEWS

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wwe

13 January 2011 11

Onlineshoppingin 2010

WE LIKE...

Universal chargers for mobiles

A group of mobile phone

manufacturers including Nokia,

RIM, Samsung and Apple have

pledged to make chargers that

can be used on any type of

smartphone in the near future.

Miles Jacobson OBE

Jacobson, who created the

hugely popular Championship

Manager series of games, was one

of the few members of the

technology industry to be

recognised in the New Year

Honours list.

WikiLeaks Task Force

It’s not the CIA setting up a

special force to investigate WikiLeaks

that we like per se. It is the name of the

force that has us giggling, as the

abbreviation – WTF – shows that

even the CIA has a sense of humour.

WE DON’T LIKE...

Google TV delays

Google’s plans to launch

software for specially built TV

sets, reported in Issue 256 of

Web User, have reportedly fallen

behind schedule.

Carphone Warehouse

Carphone

Warehouse

recently

claimed in an ad

that its staff did not earn commission.

However, the Advertising Standards

Authority decided that this claim was

dishonest and delivered a deserved slap on

the wrist.

Online abuse

There’s no excuse for it, so

make it a New Year’s resolution

to remember your manners

when online. If you are about

to post a comment, first think to

yourself – would I say this to

someone’s face?

The number of Brits who shopped online

on Christmas Day 2010, according to

IMRG estimates.

NUMBER OF THE FORTNIGHT4.8million

les

hehe

2010’s online spend beats 2009’s

2010 was a good year for UK web retailers,

with shoppers spending £8bn more online

than in 2009.

Busiest online shops at ChristmaseBay received 12 per cent of all UK visits to retail websites this

Christmas Day, according to Hitwise (www.hitwise.com). £153m

was spent on 25 December, 2010, up from £120m in 2009.

● eBay

● Amazon

● Argos

● Next

● Apple

● M&S

● All others

71.95%

12.08%

6.94%3.69%

1.88%

1.78%

1.68%

*All figures taken from the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), www.imrg.org

� � "� $�

December 2009 £5.5bn

October to December 2009 £15bn

Overall online shopping total 2009 £49.8bn

December 2010 £6.4bn

October to December 2010 £17.4bn

Overall online shopping total 2010 £57.8bn

£Bn

Onshohin 2

NEWS INNUMBERS

NENENU

RELAUNCHRELAUNCH

NEWNEW

NEWNEW

12 13 January 2011 Reviews by Robert Irvine and VickyWoollaston

Whistlewww.whistle.co.uk

Politicalwebsites areoftendryandpreachy so it’s apleasant

surprise todiscoveroneasengagingasWhistle. The site’s aim

is tomakepolitics ‘open, clear and relevant’ byproviding

individual profiles for allMPs. These includeabriefCV, contact

details and links toblogsandsocial-networkingaccounts,

givingyou themeans to interactwithpoliticiansdirectly and

rate their performance.Weparticularly like thewayyoucan

findMPsusingaGooglemapof theUK. Just click thenameof a

party todisplay itsmembersonamapandclick aperson to

viewmore informationabout them.Whistle also lets you

discuss important issues in theCauses section, voteon the

topicsof theday in thePolls areaandcreateyourownpolls. If

you thinkyoucoulddoabetter job than thepoliticians featured

here, youcanevenuse the site to start anelectioncampaign.

With its excellentdesignandgreat community tools,which

rewardyou forparticipation,we thinkWhistle reallyworks.

WEBSITE OF THE FORTNIGHT

Buymycardirect.comwww.buymycardirect.com

This site makes it easy to sell your car

online and, unlike placing an advert in

the paper, it won’t cost you a penny.

Create your free advert, watch the

offers come in, then accept the best

one and meet the winning buyer.

We love Buymycardirect.com’s smart,

streamlined design and the

straightforward sales system. The site’s

network of buyers consists of car

dealers rather than individuals but your

advert is shared anonymously so that no

one has access to your personal details.

That said, we’d like to see some

examples of recent sales.

MOTORING

Germany isWunderbarwww.germanyiswunderbar.com

If you’re thinking of taking a European holiday this year, Germany is Wunderbar

could push you in the direction of Deutschland. The site has been launched by a

British travel writer and a German journalist to promote this ‘overlooked and

undersold’ nation and stress that there’s more to Germany than Berlin and

Oktoberfest. You can explore each German region by type of holiday; find out how

to travel to and around the country; and get details of relevant tour operators.

There’s lots of useful information here, from blog posts by Germanophiles to a map

of notable destinations, and it’s all presented in an interesting, insightful manner.

TRAVEL

BESTNEWWEBSITESWe review this fortnight’s best new and relaunched websites

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POLITICS

www.downmagaz.com

Good. Lacks some

functionality. Have a look if

the subject interests you

Go

fun

the3

4

5

Web User looks at hundreds of

websites, but only those we award

three stars or higher appear in Best

New Websites

Superb. Impossible to fault in

terms of design, content and

features. Bookmark it now!

Very good. Combines a smart

design with appealing content.

Definitely worth a visit

RATINGSGUIDE

NEWNEW NEWNEWNEWNEW

BESTNEWWEBSITES

13 January 2011 13

Resolution Revolutionwww.resolution-revolution

.org.ukEven if you’ve already abandoned your

New Year’s resolutions, this site could

help get you motivated in 2011.

Resolution Revolution has been

launched by the British Humanist

Association to encourage us to think

about other people. The idea is to sign

up to share a ‘social resolution’.

Examples include volunteering for a

local charity, giving blood and holding a

street party. The site has a friendly

design, but of course it’s still a lot easier

to post a do-gooding resolution online

than it is to stick to one offline.

SOCIALBOOKS

Any New Books?www.anynewbooks.com

Bookworms who want to stay on top of

the latest releases will appreciate this

service. Sign up with Any New Books?,

then specify your favourite subjects

from the available categories to be sent

a weekly email with details of relevant

new books. You can then click through

to Amazon to purchase them. It’s hardly

a revolutionary idea but we like that the

books are chosen by a dedicated team

and that you can browse previous

recommendations and staff picks on the

site. However, it would be good to have

more editorial content to supplement

the rarely updated blog.

SwisticMingwww.swisticming.com

SwisticMing (a spoonerism of ‘Mystic

Swing’) is an online entertainment guide

for London, covering everything from

pubs and clubs to concerts and literary

events. SwisticMing aims to offer a

personalised service delivering ‘well-

researched content and opinions with

integrity’, and is updated daily. We like

the lively, offbeat design, and the way

that listings not only tell you the nearest

Tube station to each venue but include a

journey planner. You can easily find out

what’s on over the next seven days and

sign up for a SwisticMing discount card

to save money on events across London.

ENTERTAINMENT

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NEWNEWNEWNEW RELAUNCHRELAUNCH

RELAUNCHRELAUNCH

NEWNEW

14 13 January 2011

National Trust AncientTree Walkswww.nationaltrust.org.uk/ancienttreewalksNature lovers will love the new Ancient

Tree Walks section of the National Trust

site. This provides details of 10 short

walks in the UK that will let you soak in

the splendour of old oaks, maples,

hornbeams and more, while spotting

wildlife and enjoying some peace and

quiet. Each walk is less than five miles

long and is available as a PDF download

with directions, maps and things to look

out for. The scenic locations include

Croft Castle in Herefordshire and

Hatfield Forest in Essex, but it’s a shame

there’s only 10 of them.

TweetJockeywww.tweetjockey.co.uk

TweetJockey is a pointless but addictive

site that lets you compare the popularity

of Twitter search terms. Enter up to four

words, separated by a space, and each

will be assigned a racehorse. When

someone posts a tweet containing one

of your terms, the relevant horse will

move forward. A word needs to be

tweeted 50 times to cross the finish line

and you can re-run a race if you’re not

satisfied. It sounds silly but the results

can be surprising. We watched London

thrash Paris and Tokyo, ‘happy’ triumph

over ‘sad’ and Apple beat Google by a

nose. TweetJockey is harmless fun,

provided you don’t start placing bets!

WALKING

BINGO

TWITTER

BetterWorldBooks.co.ukwww.betterworldbooks.co.uk

With recent concerns about literacy levels in schools, BetterWorldBooks.co.uk has

picked a good time to launch its UK site. This ‘socially responsible online bookseller’

collects and sells books to raise money for literacy causes and libraries – when we

visited, this totalled more than £135,300. You might expect a recycled-book store to

be full of obscure titles, but there are loads of new releases, and all books are graded

by condition. Because BetterWorldBooks.co.uk is based on a US site, you’ll notice a

slight American bias but this is sure to change over time. We were impressed by the

clean, well-organised design, friendly editorial content and free UK delivery.

BOOKS

PC Checkerwww.pcchecker.co.uk

This site compares the prices of a wide

range of desktop and laptop PCs. PC

Checker covers all the big manufacturers,

from Acer to Viewsonic, and lets you

filter your search results by criteria such

as amount of memory, hard disk size and

screen options. Each computer is given a

rating out of 100 based on the quality of

its components, which is invaluable if you

don’t know much about different makes

and models. We also like the way that

voucher codes are automatically applied

when you click through to a retailer, and

that you can instantly see the best deals

at specific stores. If you’re looking for a

new PC, start here.

COMPUTING

Bingo Loopywww.bingoloopy.com

Our favourite thing about this revamped

bingo site is the ways the two eyes in the

word ‘loopy’ follow your mouse cursor

around the screen. Aside from that, it’s

business as usual for online bingo, with a

garish pink-and-purple design and

plenty of games to play. The relaunched

Bingo Loopy puts more emphasis on

free games for those times when you

want to play but don’t want to gamble.

You need to register and provide your

card details whichever games you play,

but you get a generous £25 credit when

you deposit your first £10. With lots of

other promotions and a live-help facility,

Bingo Loopy is worth a look.

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NEWNEWRELAUNCHRELAUNCH RELAUNCHRELAUNCH

NEWNEW

NEWNEW

BESTNEWWEBSITES

13 January 2011 15

Drunken DisorderlyInnwww.drunkendisorderlyinn.comStay overnight or for the whole weekend

at the Drunken Disorderly Inn and enjoy

award-winning accommodation with

wipe-clean mattresses and sturdy locks.

This spoof site from Greater Manchester

Police aims to discourage excessive

drinking and anti-social behaviour.

Check out the facilities – (CC)TV and

telephone (one call per guest) – and the

rates (up to £5,000). Or book a room

for a friend (you grass). With its witty

attention to detail – there are brochures

of various ‘inns’ – this is a fun way of

getting the message across.

Ain’t It Cool Newswww.aintitcool.com

Movie-gossip site AICN has lost

influence and popularity over the last

decade and this redesign is unlikely to

help. The new layout is tidier than the

sprawling mess of old, with sections for

film news, reviews and coaxial (home

entertainment) articles, but the

presentation remains poor. There’s too

much white space, the text style is

inconsistent, and pages seem to scroll

forever. AICN has also kept its awful

colour scheme while letting adverts

slow down page-loading. Hopefully,

webmaster Harry Knowles will take

heed of the many negative comments

and relaunch the site again soon.

TrustedHousesitters.comwww.trustedhousesitters.com

If you’re going away and want to keep burglars at bay, why not post photos of your

home online, specify the dates you’ll be gone and get a complete stranger to look

after the place? The concept sounds a bit dodgy but the keyword at this site is

‘trusted’. Would-be house- and pet-sitters are vetted and police-checked, and must

pay £38.56 per year to advertise their services, while home-owners must also pay

from £9.64 per month. The site benefits from a smart layout and a clearly explained

system, along with simple tools for creating listings. There’s a system for rating sitters

but we worry that too much information is publicly available about certain houses.

PROPERTY

FILM CRIME

National GeographicTravellerwww.natgeotraveller.co.ukThe online home of National Geographic

Traveller is a bit of a disappointment,

considering the large amount of money

behind the travel and lifestyle magazine,

which has just launched in the UK. We

were hoping to enjoy some exclusive

pictures and videos, or engage in some

discussions, but these elements have

been relegated to the linked social-

networking pages. On the plus side, the

site features a 26-page e-zine of the

current issue, which gives you a taste of

its aspirational articles and stunning

photography. More editorial content on

the site itself would improve things.

TRAVEL

MSNGameshttp://games.msn.com

Microsoft has relaunched its online

games portal to make it more sociable.

You can sign in using your Facebook or

Windows Live login, challenge your

friends to beat you at your favourite

games and compete to appear on the

community leader boards. MSN Games

also lets you see what your friends have

been playing and connect your account

to Windows Live Messenger. All this

social stuff would be pretty pointless if

the games were rubbish but there are

plenty of good ones here including

Bejeweled, Bloons and Monkey Kick Off,

and competitive types will relish the

ability to show off their high scores.

GAMES

Readmore site reviews atwww.webuser.co.uk/websites

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NEWNEW NEWNEW

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RELAUNCHRELAUNCH

16 13 January 2011

SOCIAL INTERNET SPORT

Pirelliwww.pirelli.co.uk

This revamped website from tyre-manufacturer Pirelli makes excellent use of

multimedia to create an interactive experience. To find the perfect tyre for your

vehicle, you choose a (rather smug-looking) male or female avatar who asks you

about your driving style, where you most frequently drive and your annual mileage.

You then specify the make, model and version of your vehicle to get tyre

suggestions, for which you can read reviews and even take a virtual test drive to see

how they fare in different weather conditions. Pirelli has also packed this impressive

site with videos, photos and details of its tasteful calendar of nudes.

MOTORING

BEST NEW WEBSITES

Sedogowww.sedogo.com

Sedogo applies the concept of New

Year’s resolutions to your whole life and,

in keeping with current trends, makes the

whole thing social. Register with the site

and you can set yourself goals for the

next few years and beyond – anything

from holidaying in a dream destination to

overcoming a phobia – and add them to

a timeline. The fun comes from sharing

your goals with the community so you

can connect with others and achieve

your dreams together. Sedogo has a

simple, attractive design and lets you

browse goals by category or timeline.

It’s just a shame some members aim no

higher than to “meet Cheryl Cole”.

Asda – The Brewhousehttp://bit.ly/asda257

Asda has launched this micro-site to

promote the supermarket’s range of

beers. The Brewhouse promises to be a

one-stop shop for all you’ve ever wanted

to know about beer and, although it falls

short of that claim, it’s not a bad effort.

We like the tasting notes and videos

hosted by Asda’s ‘resident Brewmaster’,

Kristy McCready. Although many

familiar beers crop up, The Brewhouse

is keen to highlight lesser-known ales

and lagers, and suggests the best

matches for specific meals. The site is

integrated with the main store so you

can browse for booze while you shop

and there are plenty of special offers.

Get Someone Onlinewww.get-someone-online.comThis campaign has been launched by

Microsoft in support of Race Online

2012, which wants to get millions of

people in the UK online by 2012. You

can do your bit by donating an old PC

or laptop to an Age UK shop or training

centre, or ‘gifting’ someone a new or

refurbished web-ready PC. The site also

suggests ways you can become a digital

champion, such as sharing your skills

with net newbies, taking part in training

events and writing to your MP. There are

videos of people describing their first

time online, but we’d like to have seen

more content and scope for interaction.

Skiclub.co.ukwww.skiclub.co.uk

The Ski Club of Great Britain has

relaunched its online home to give it

more of a community feel. Although the

site is a work in progress, there’s plenty

to see and do, from checking the

weather conditions at different resorts

via webcams to watching video tutorials

and reading resort guides. You’ll need

to become a Ski Club member to get

the most from the site – this costs from

£56 per year and includes discounts on

holidays, equipment and lessons, and

access to the site’s forums. Even if you

don’t sign up, you’ll enjoy the free

content, which is presented in a swish,

easy-to-navigate layout. }

FOOD & DRINK

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Iwas delighted to see in the last

issue ofWeb User that more people

are using Google Chrome (News In

Numbers, Issue 256). I’m one of those

people, having moved from Firefox to

Chrome (www.google.co.uk/chrome)

a few months ago. I never thought that

I would find a better browser than

Firefox, but Chrome has so many

features that make it a must-have

browser. I love the simple-to-use

interface, which makes you realise how

cluttered other browser pages are.

It’s typical Google – nothing is there

unless it serves a specific purpose.

The main reason I switched from

Internet Explorer to Firefox a few

years ago was because I was attracted

by all the add-ons. Fortunately,

Chrome also has loads of extensions.

One of my favourites is the brilliant

Google Mail Checker

Plus (http://bit.ly/

chrome257),

which lets

you do

loads of

things

with your

messages

in Gmail,

such as setting sound

notifications for new

messages. For a bit of fun,

I sometimes play the Virtual Piano

extension, too (http://bit.ly/piano257).

But probably the best thing about

Chrome is how fast it is. When I first

read about it, I couldn’t see how much

difference a few seconds could make.

But it really has transformed how I

browse online, and it’s been a

revelation to see how quickly photos

load and how fast web pages appear.

Which brings me to my last point – can

we see more about Google Chrome in

Web User please? It seems that you

have loads of features on IE and

Firefox, but I can’t remember the last

time you did something on Chrome.

Paul Spiller, via email

Web User replies:We agree Paul that

Chrome is an excellent browser and

that many of our readers are switching

to it. That’s why our next cover feature

will be a Chrome special. We’ll look at

ways you can unlock its full potential,

making it work better and faster.

Meanwhile, there are some Chrome

extensions on pages 36 and 41 to keep

you happy until the next issue.

Share your views!

STAR EMAIL

Google Chrome rules

Do you still use Yahoo’s services?

I pay for Yahoo Mail’s premium service

to help support it. I hope Yahoo sticks

around!

Chris Armstrong

I have used Yahoo Mail forever. Even

though I have loads of other email

addresses, I always automatically give

out my Yahoo address.

Gill Hodson

I have an email address with them.

But for searching, I prefer Google.

Heather Husler

I know almost everyone hates Yahoo,

but it is probably one of the best

email services around. Now that the

beta has come out, it is even better.

Matteo Paparoni Pizzaa

What do you think of government

plans to get ISPs to ask users

to ‘opt in’ to receive pornography?

Misguided. It’d be like shopping at

Morrisons and asking for permission

to use the world-foods aisle.

Mark Woffenden

Why is this an ISP issue? Browsers

have parental controls. Aren’t there

plenty of Net Nanny-type programs?

As if ISPs haven’t got enough trouble

just getting the ISP bit right.

Mike Hudson

Appalled at the government’s attempt

to nanny the populace. Scientific

evidence shows that limiting access to

porn does more harm than good.

Jason Feather

What has this got to do with the

government? They have no business

sticking their nose where it does not

belong!

James McGinnis

What yousay...

INBOX

£25

winner

Praise for online forumsIn Issue 255, Pete IDE was promoting his

idea of licensing web users. What a ball

some government department would

have with that scheme! It would fit in

nicely with the proposal to monitor all

website connections, and of course every

user would have to pay a license fee.

He was also disparaging about forums,

saying they were amateur and

unprofessional. I use forums a great deal

and recently found out how to repair a

Ryobi chainsaw, my central-heating

control system, a Dyson cleaner and

various computer bugs. Any of the above

problems would have cost a fortune for a

professional to repair – £200 for a

printed-circuit board for the heating

controller as opposed to £2 for a

replacement component, as diagnosed

by an ‘amateur’! Who’s bothered by

syntax and grammatical errors if the fix is

good? Forums are one of the greatest

assets of the web.

Derek Minns, via email

Online shopping can’tbeat the snowI wonder if Mark Bethell enjoyed

shopping online this Christmas as much

as in previous years (‘It’s best to shop

online’, Inbox, Issue 255)? At least when

you struggle through the traffic on a

Saturday you can physically buy and own

presents, and don’t have to endure a

nervous wait to see if they arrive in time

for Christmas Day. This year, the failure of

the postal system to cope with the snow

completely put me off relying on

Amazon for presents. I ordered a book

on 27 November. It should’ve arrived four

days later. It took two weeks! I swore to

never again shop at Amazon until Britain

was basking in tropical sunshine and all

18 13 January 2011

www.downmagaz.com

INBOXINBOX

Air your views, write to us at webuser@dennis.co.uk

Your Shout

33%24%

14%

7%

3%

NEXT FORTNIGHT…

Which gadget would you most like to see launch in 2011?

Vote online at www.webuser.co.uk

BBC.co.uk

Facebook

YouTube

Amazon

eBay

Wikipedia

Twitter

.uk

ONWEBUSER.CO.UK THIS FORTNIGHTWE ASKED…

Which of these

websites did you

spend most time

on in 2010?

CONTACT USYou can let us know your views and opinions via webuser@dennis.co.uk,

www.facebook.com/webusermagazine, www.twitter.com/webusermagazine,

www.webuser.co.uk/forums or via Comments at www.webuser.co.uk

the snowmen had melted into slushy

puddles.

David Medlycott, via email

Spoilt by Skype?I was one of the millions of people who

was frustrated with Skype on 23

December (see page 6), when it decided

to collapse completely. I was chatting to

my son in Australia, wishing him a merry

Christmas, and it suddenly went kaput. It

made me realise how much we take for

granted in this era of fast broadband and

speedy, seamless global communications.

Just 10 years ago, I would’ve been

amazed if someone showed me how I

could speak to my son live on video. Now

it’s something I do once a week, and it’s

become such a regular part of my life

that I find it incredibly annoying when it

fails. Is that my fault or Skype’s? Am I

spoilt, or should I now expect services

like Skype to run without any glitches?

Answers on a Skype video call, please.

Fred Cromwell, via email

UK broadband a ‘rip off’So rip-off Britain strikes again (‘British

broadband is poor value for money’,

News, Issue 255). It doesn’t surprise me

at all to see that we’re 24th in the

broadband league table for fair value – I

pay £13.79 per month for a supposedly

12Mbps connection with BE Broadband

(www.bethere.co.uk), but it rarely gets

above 3Mbps. How does that represent

fair value for money? It depresses me

that countries with a worse infrastructure

than the UK, such as Latvia and Romania,

should be able to offer their citizens

much faster speeds for a better price. But

short of emigrating to Riga or Bucharest,

what can I do? Until we get higher

speeds in Britain, we’ll always be paying

over the odds for a substandard service.

Andy Smith, via email

Hooray for silver surfersI was delighted to see that the number of

silver surfers is growing in the UK. I count

myself as one (I turned 57 last year –

some life left in the old dog yet), but so

10%9%

EDITORIALActing Editor Daniel BoothFeatures Editor Robert IrvineTechnical & Reviews Editor Andy ShawStaff Writer Vicky WoollastonSenior Designer Jenny HuynhChief Sub Editor Miki BerenyiEditorial Tel: 020 3148 4327Visit www.webuser.co.uk/forumsfor technical and buying advice

ADVERTISINGTel: 020 7907 6000Group Advertising Director Julie PriceAdvertising Manager Andrea MasonSales Executive Lucy ReddinOnline Advertising Manager Gary Rayneau

ADVERTISING PRODUCTIONFax: 020 7907 6066Group Production ManagerStephen Catherall,020 7907 6054Production ControllerKerem Kolcak, 020 7907 6059

MARKETINGMarketing and Editorial Executive Emily HodgesMarketing and Editorial Intern Kathleen O’FarrellSubscriptions Manager Sarah AldridgeMarketing Production Manager Gemma Hills

MANAGEMENTTel: 020 7907 6000Deputy MD John GarewalManaging Director – Motoring and TechnologyDivision Ian WestwoodMD of Advertising Julian Lloyd-EvansCommercial and Retail Director Martin BelsonCOO Brett ReynoldsGroup Finance Director Ian LeggettChief Executive James TyeChairman Felix Dennis

PHOTOGRAPHYDanny Bird

SYNDICATIONSyndication Manager Anj Dosaj-HalaiTel: +00 44 20 7907 6134Email: anj_dosaj-halai@dennis.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONSTel: 0844 322 1289Email:webuser@servicehelpline.co.ukWeb User, the UK’s best-selling internet magazine,is bursting with easy-to-understand practicaladvice, the latest music and film downloads andbrilliant new websites every fortnight. Asubscription to Web User for one year costs £52 forUK subscribers, £102.87 for Europe and £107.10 forthe rest of the world. Call 0844 322 1289 to get thenext issue, delivered free to your door.

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REPRINTSWeb User operates an efficient commercialreprints service. For details contact: 020 7907 6620

PRODUCTS & EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONSWeb User welcomes all information on new andupgraded products for possible coverage withinthe news and reviews pages. However, thepublisher respectfully points out that themagazine is not obliged to review or returnunsolicited products. The Editor is always pleasedto receive ideas for articles, preferably sent first inoutline form, with details of the author’sbackground and, where available, samples ofpreviously published work. We cannot, however,accept responsibility for unsolicited copy and itmay take time for us to reply.

PERMISSIONSMaterial may not be reproduced in any formwithout the written consent of the publisher. Please

address such requests to: John Garewal DennisPublishing, 30 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JD

LIABILITYWhile every care was taken preparing thismagazine, the publishers cannot be heldresponsible for the accuracy of the information orany consequence arising from it. All judgmentsare based on equipment available to Web User atthe time of review. ‘Value for money’ commentsare based on UK prices at time of review. WebUser takes no responsibility for the content ofexternal websites whose addresses are publishedin the magazine.

A DENNIS PUBLICATIONWeb User is published monthly by DennisPublishing Ltd, 30 Cleveland Street, London W1T4JD. Company registered in England. All material© Dennis Publishing Limited licensed by Felden2010, and may not be reproduced in whole or partwithout the consent of the publishers.ISSN 1473-7094

13 January 2011 19

Subscribe toWeb User’s newsletter at www.webuser.co.uk/newsletter

Lovehttp://bit.ly/love257

In this game, you risk getting hurt

to achieve happiness. Guide your

white square as close as you can to

the black spinning squares without

actually touching them. If you do

make physical contact, you’ll die.

Can you beat our score of 935? If

so, email the proof to robert_

irvine@dennis.co.uk and we’ll

honour the best in Issue 259.

Congratulations to Dave Carter of

Aylesbury whose 47 was the

highest score we received for Catch

the Presents (http://bit.ly/

catch255), the game featured in

Issue 255.

You can revisit previous Beat

Web User games and high scores at

www.webuser.co.uk/beatwebuser.

CAN YOU BEATWEB USER?

YOURONLINE

RIGHTS

Arecent spate of complaints against

hotel-booking websites has

highlighted the rights of people

whose bookings are not honoured or

recognised. Increasing numbers of

customers are arriving at hotels having

booked and paid for a room through a

hotel-booking site, rather than directly

with the hotel, and are being turned away

because the hotel has no record of the

booking. This happens because the

website fails to pass on the reservation to

the hotel. In many cases, customers have

even received a booking confirmation –

only to be told when they arrive at the

hotel that the reference isn’t valid.

Citizens Advice Bureau (www.

citizensadvice.org.uk) toldWeb User to

always confirm reservations made with

the hotel before you travel and to always

check terms and conditions. But if you get

to the hotel to find you don’t have a

booking, you are covered by certain rights.

Firstly, problems with accommodation

have to be dealt with by the provider of

the booking – in this case, the third-party

site. It must refund you the full cost of

your booking, or arrange somewhere else

for you to stay, so you should contact the

site immediately.

Any alternative accommodation must be

of a similar standard to the one booked. If

you choose to accept an alternative but

are not happy with it, you may be able to

claim compensation. However, you’ll only

win this if the new room doesn’t meet

specific criteria clearly stated on the

original booking, such as having

wheelchair access or being near a specific

location. Also, in order to be entitled to

claim for compensation, you must make it

absolutely clear you’re accepting the new

accommodation ‘under protest’.

However, you are only entitled to these

rights if you pay upfront for the booking.

If you don’t pay anything upfront, then the

site has no duty to help you find an

alternative or offer compensation.

SEND YOUR EMAILS TOWEBUSER@DENNIS.CO.UK

Always confirmhotel bookingsdirectly

Vicky Woollaston answers

all your consumer questions

C

INBOX

does my mum, who finally went online

a few months ago (aged 82!). It took

me a while to persuade her of the

benefits – talking to her grandchildren

on Facebook, buying cheap books on

Amazon Marketplace – but I can’t get

her off it now. It’s incredible to see

how she’s changed! In a weird way it

reminds me of teaching my children

to read – there’s a similar sense of

pleasure and satisfaction watching her

discovering new things.

We should do more to encourage

older people to get online. The

government should emphasise more

enthusiastically how online access can

help bring people and communities

together. The creation of a ‘big

society’ in the real world will be

boosted by a ‘big society’ on the web.

Derek Thorne, via email

Weather websites

I agree with Andy Shaw that weather

websites have been invaluable during

the last two months (‘Online weather

watching is a must’, Viewpoint, Issue

256). I live in remote Norfolk, and I’ve

relied on the BBC’s excellent website

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather) and

the detailed advice from the Met

Office (www.metoffice.gov.uk). By

studying both websites every day, I’ve

been prepared for the heavy snowfalls

– buying shovels, wellies, etc. I recall

sthe dark old days of having to rely on

radio weather reports, not knowing

when they’d be broadcast. Give me

immediate web forecasts any day.

Simon Archibald, via email

Web User replies:While the weather

torments us further, we can happily

point you to a round-up of the best

weather sites and tools on page 33.

Bye-bye HotmailRight, that it’s – I’m leaving Hotmail.

News of loads of emails going missing

from Hotmail folders has made my

mind up (see page 9). I’ve become

very fed up with Hotmail since last

year’s horrible relaunch. Now I’ll give

Gmail a try.

I don’t know what’s gone wrong at

Microsoft. Hotmail has been a joke for

ages now. I’ve been using it since I

first start going online, because I used

Internet Explorer and thought Hotmail

would be more compatible. I’m not as

naïve as that anymore. Microsoft can’t

expect to mess around with Hotmail

and not lose people as a result. There

are so many alternatives out there.

Gmail is just one. If I don’t like that, I’ll

swap to another – maybe Yahoo Mail.

Microsoft should realise that it doesn’t

dominate the internet as it used to and

should stop taking people for granted.

One good thing that may come out

of thousands of people abandoning

Hotmail is that it will force Microsoft

to look at what went wrong, and

never make the same mistakes again.

I’d consider going back to Hotmail,

but it needs to convince me that it’s

as safe and as easy to use as it was.

Andy Purnell, via email

20 13 January 2011

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22 13 January 2011

Keyboard shortcuts let you speed up your daily web and computer

activities while taking the strain off your mouse-clicking wrist.Wayne

Williams presents a bumper collection of time-saving tricks

BEST web & PCkeyboard shortcuts

100

www.downmagaz.com

13 January 2011 23

WEB & PC SHORTCUTS

Most of the following keyboard

shortcuts are universal and will

work in and across most Windows

programs, as well as the different

versions of Microsoft’s operating

system. You’ll probably know some

of these but it’s always handy to be

reminded of their usefulness.

F1Get help

If you need

help in

Windows, or

assistance

with a

particular

program, hit

this key to

bring up the

relevant

support

option. The

results vary

depending on what program you’re

using because some software doesn’t

have dedicated help pages. If pressing

F1 doesn’t do anything, make sure the

Function lock on the keyboard is on.

F2Rename items

Trying to rename items can often lead

to launching them instead. Select a file

or folder, press the F2 key and you’ll be

able to rename that item instantly.

F5Refresh your viewRefreshes the currently selected

window or web page. Useful, for

example, if you’ve added a file to a

folder but the view hasn’t updated for

some reason.

F10Open menu options

This function key activates the menu bar

options. Press F10 followed by any

underlined letter (T for Tools for

example) to open that menu. Alt does

the same thing.

Shift+F10View right-click menuSelect a file or folder, and press this

keyboard combination to view the

context menu. It’s the keyboard

equivalent of right-clicking an item.

Ctrl+CCopy contentAlong with Ctrl+V, this shortcut is one

of the most useful to know. Select

anything – some text or a file on the

Desktop for example – and hit these two

buttons to copy the content to the

Windows clipboard.

Ctrl+XCut contentThis works in the same way as Ctrl+C

except it moves the selected item to the

clipboard instead of copying it.

Ctrl+VPaste contentUsed in conjunction with Ctrl+C/Ctrl+X,

this shortcut will paste the copied

content to wherever your cursor is

positioned.

Ctrl+ZUndo actionWhen you make a mistake in an

application, this keyboard combination

will undo the last action. Keep hitting Z

while holding down the Control key and

consecutive actions will continue to

undo.

Ctrl+YRedo actionIf you undo an action using Ctrl+Z but

then change your mind, press these

buttons to replace what you’ve undone.

Ctrl+ASelect all

This shortcut will select all the items in

a folder, or all the text/graphics in a

document or on a web page.

Alt+TabSwitch between windows

Hold down Alt and hit the Tab key to

open the Windows program switcher.

With Alt still pressed, keep tapping Tab

to move through the list of open

windows. Let go of the keys when you

reach the application you want.

Ctrl+Windows key+TabSwitch between windows in 3DFlip 3D is an alternative task switcher

available in Windows 7 and Vista

ESSENTIALWINDOWSSHORTCUTS

Most of the following keyboard

shortcuts are universal and will

work in and across most Windows

programs, as well as the different

versions of Microsoft’s operating

system. You’ll probably know some

of these but it’s always handy to be

reminded of their usefulness.

F1Get help

If you need

help in

example, if you’ve added a file to a

folder but the view hasn’t updated f

some reason.

F10Open menu options

ESSENTIALWINDOWSSHORTCUTSESSENTIALWINDOWSSHORTCUTS

Performing common web and PC tasks with your

keyboard instead of your mouse can save you a

surprising amount of time. There are handy keyboard

shortcuts available for everything from editing content to

controlling programs and navigating web pages. For

example, you can use shortcuts to save half-written

messages in Gmail, add links to Word documents and

bookmark interesting websites.

Aside from helping you get things done faster and more

efficiently, keyboard shortcuts can also significantly reduce

the number of mouse-clicks you need to make, so you’re less

likely to develop repetitive strain injury (RSI). In this feature,

we present 100 of the most useful web, PC and Mac

shortcuts to save you time and effort when performing tasks

at your computer. We also show you how to create your own

shortcuts in our Mini Workshop on page 27.

24 13 January 2011

ADVANCEDWINDOWSSHORTCUTS

(provided you’re running Aero). Tap Tab

to flick through the open windows in 3D.

Ctrl+Alt+DelRestart WindowsKnown as the three-fingered salute, this

shortcut can be used to restart

Windows, launch the Task Manager, lock

the computer, switch users and change

your password.

Alt+F4Close programThis shortcut saves you having to move

your mouse to click the red ‘x’ in the

top-right corner of the window.

Ctrl+F4Close windowUseful if you have several different

documents open in a program and want

to close one of them.

Shift+DeleteDelete file permanentlyBypass the Recycle Bin by holding down

Shift when you delete an unwanted file

or folder.

Alt+F6Switch between programwindowsLets you switch between multiple

windows in the same program. If you

have more than one instance of your

web browser open, for example.

Alt+EnterView PropertiesSelect a file or folder and then use this

combination to open the Properties box

for it.

Windows key+RLaunch RunOpens the Run box, which lets you

launch system features such as the

Registry Editor (by typing in ‘regedit’

– without the quotes) and the System

Configuration Utility (by typing in

‘msconfig’ – without the quotes).

Windows key+ELaunch Windows ExplorerIf your keyboard has a Windows key,

pressing this combination will launch

Windows Explorer.

Windows key+DView DesktopA useful shortcut for when you need

quick access to the Desktop. Press it

once and Windows will instantly

minimise all the open programs and

folders. Press it again to restore them.

There are shortcuts for most

Windows tasks, including plenty

you may not even be aware of.

Here are some of the lesser-known

time-savers.

Ctrl+Shift+EscClose programsThe Windows Task Manager gives you

access to some useful information and

lets you

close

unresponsive

programs.

You can

launch it by

right-clicking

the Taskbar

and

selecting

Start Task

Manager, but

this keyboard combination is a much

quicker alternative.

Shift x5Turn on Sticky KeysPress the Shift key five times in quick

succession to activate the Sticky Keys

function. This feature is designed to

make it easier to use the keyboard with

one hand because key combinations

can be entered one key at a time, rather

than being held down simultaneously.

Alt+Windows key+EnterLaunch Windows Media CenterPress these three keys together to

launch the Windows Media Center in

Vista or Windows 7. Press Alt+F4 to

close the program and return to your

Desktop.

Alt+Shift+Num LockTurn on Mouse Keys

Mouse Keys lets you control your mouse

pointer using the numeric keypad on

your keyboard. You can toggle the

feature on or off using this shortcut.

Windows key+Shift+Left/RightMove between monitorsThis is a useful shortcut for anyone

running dual monitors in Windows 7 or

Vista. Select a window and press the

shortcut to move it from one screen to

the other.

www.downmagaz.com

13 January 2011 25

WEB & PC SHORTCUTS

WEBBROWSERSHORTCUTS

Most of the following browser

shortcuts will work in Internet

Explorer, Firefox and Chrome and

can significantly speed up your

online tasks.

Ctrl+TOpen tabOpens a new tab in your browser.

Ctrl+WClose tabAutomatically closes the current tab.

Ctrl+Shift+TReopen tabIf you close a tab by mistake, use this

shortcut to open it again.

Ctrl+Alt+F4Close all but one tabThis Internet Explorer-only shortcut

closes all open tabs with the exception

of the one you’re viewing.

Ctrl+TabSwitch tabJump from one open tab to another

without needing to click each one

individually.

Ctrl+1-9Select tab 1 to 9Hold down Ctrl and press the relevant

number to jump to a specific open tab.

For example, Ctrl+3 will open the third

tab from the left.

Ctrl+Shift+QView tab listDisplays your open tabs in a list – useful

if you’ve got so many open that you can

no longer see which pages they contain.

Ctrl+FFind

If you’re looking for a word or phrase on

a web page, this shortcut calls up the

Find box. Enter your search term to find

instances of it on the page. The same

shortcut also works in Microsoft Office.

Alt+NFind nextOnce you’ve found a searched-for word

with Find, this shortcut skips through

every instance of it on the page. This

only works in Firefox.

Ctrl+LAddress bar/OpenMoves the focus to the address bar in

Firefox and Chrome and highlights the

current URL. In Internet Explorer, it will

display the Open box.

Ctrl+IView bookmarks

Opens your Bookmarks in Firefox and

Favorites in Internet Explorer. There is

no equivalent shortcut in Chrome.

Ctrl+HView HistoryOpens your browsing history so you can

access sites you’ve visited previously.

Ctrl+DBookmark pageLets you bookmark the web page you

are viewing.

SpaceScroll downPress Space on a website to scroll down

the screen one page at a time. Press

Shift+Space to scroll upwards.

Ctrl+EnterComplete web addressType a website’s name into the Address

bar and hit the keyboard combo. This

adds ‘http://www’ to the start of the

address and ‘.com’ to the end of it. For

another variation, try Ctrl+Shift+Enter.

This will add a preset (and possibly

different) suffix. You can change the

suffix in Firefox using the add-on URL

suffix (http://bit.ly/url257).

Ctrl++ZoomHold down Ctrl and press the ‘+’ key to

zoom in. Press ‘-’ to zoom out again.

Ctrl+Shift+PBrowse in PrivateTurns on In Private Browsing in IE and

Private Browsing in Firefox. This stops

the browser storing your web activities.

Ctrl+F5Hard refreshThis causes your browser to reload a

page and download all the elements

again instead of simply pulling them

from the cache. This means you get the

most recent version of the page, with the

latest content, rather than a stored one.

EscStopStops the current page from loading

and freezes animated GIFs so you don’t

have to wait for every element of the

page to load when you only want to

check a certain part.

Alt+HomeGo HomeLoads your choice of browser

homepage in the current tab.

Ctrl+JView downloads or feedsOpens the download manager in Firefox

and Chrome, or the RSS web feeds list

in Internet Explorer.

F7Launch Caret BrowsingTurns on Caret Browsing in Firefox and

Internet Explorer (not Chrome). This

means that instead of browsing web

pages with your mouse, you can place a

cursor on the web page and navigate

around the text using the arrow keys on

your keyboard. It’s particularly useful if

you suffer from usability issues because

it takes the pressure off your wrist.

26 13 January 2011

Google’s webmail service

(http://mail.google.com) supports

keyboard shortcuts. You can turn

them on or off by going to Settings,

checking Keyboard Shortcuts

under the General tab and clicking

Save Changes.

CComposePress the C key while in any mailbox to

open the Compose Mail window.

Shift+CCompose in new window

Use this shortcut to open the Compose

Mail box in a new window. You’ll need to

allow pop-ups for Gmail for this work.

RReplyWhen you’ve finished reading a

message, hit the R key to reply to

the sender.

AReply to allIf you’d prefer to reply to all, hit the

letter A instead and your message will

be addressed to everyone in the thread.

FForwardYou can forward a message to someone

by pressing F and then entering the

recipients’ addresses in the To: box.

/SearchTo find a message in your Inbox, hit

the forward-slash key to jump to the

search bar and then start typing a

sender’s name, or part of the message

subject or content.

!Send to Spam folderIf a piece of junk mail makes it through

to your Inbox, select it and hit the

exclamation mark key to move it to the

spam folder.

SStar conversationTo star a conversation for later viewing,

select it and press S. If you have the

Superstars Labs feature enabled (you

can find this in the Labs section),

repeatedly tapping the key will cycle

through the available star icons.

YRemove from viewSelect one or more emails and press Y

to archive them (this removes them

from your Inbox, but they’ll still be

accessible in All Mail). The shortcut can

also be used to remove a star when

you’re in the Starred mailbox.

MMuteThis mutes a conversation. It will archive

the thread and prevent future replies

appearing in the Inbox unless expressly

sent to you.

+MarkIf you’re using the Priority Inbox feature,

you can use this shortcut to mark any

email as important.

-UnmarkSimilarly, if Gmail promotes an

insignificant message in Priority Inbox,

you can demote its standing using the

minus key.

#DeleteSelect a message and hit hash to delete

it. The key can also be used to remove

unwanted contacts.

G+SGo to Starred

Press G and then S to go to the Starred

mailbox. This will show all the messages

you’ve marked with a star.

G+CGo to ContactsThis will display your saved contacts.

You’ll be able to import, export or edit

them.

Tab+EnterSend messageOnce you’ve composed a message,

press these two keys in sequence to

send it.

?View shortcutsThere are loads more shortcuts for

Gmail. To see them all, hit the question-

mark button (shift+/) and they’ll appear

in a smart overlay window.

GOOGLEREADERSHORTCUTS

Google’s RSS reader (www.google

.co.uk/reader) also supports

keyboard shortcuts. The following

shortcuts make using the service,

and sharing items with friends,

much easier.

J/KNavigate itemsThese keys step you through items one

at a time. J takes you to older stories

and K up to newer ones.

EEmail itemWhen you see a story you like, press this

key to email the summary and link to

your friends. Just enter their addresses

and an optional note.

Shift+SShare itemYou can share an item that interests

you through Reader. Anyone who is

following you will be able to see and

comment on it. You’ll be able to add

a comment of your own too.

GMAIL SHORTCUTS

Shift+DAnnotate and shareThis combination lets you add a note to

a story and optionally add it to your

shared items (with or without tags).

www.downmagaz.com

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13 January 2011 27

WEB & PC SHORTCUTS

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1Windows lets you assign

shortcuts to your favourite

programs, folders and web

pages, so you can launch

and open them using your

keyboard. To begin, we’ll

show you how to do this with

any program shortcut on

your Desktop, but the steps

will also work with items in

the Start menu. Right-click

a shortcut and select

Properties. 1

3Click Apply and then OK.

Now, when you press

that keyboard combination,

the program will start. To

open a folder using your

keyboard, first create a

shortcut to it on your

Desktop. Right-click the

original folder and select

‘Send to’, 1 ‘Desktop (create

shortcut)’. 2 Right-click the

new shortcut, select

Properties and repeat Step 2.

2The window should open

on the Shortcut tab. 1

Click inside the ‘Shortcut key’

box 2 and press any letter

on the keyboard. Make it

something that relates to the

program you’re launching –

C for CCleaner, for example.

The rest of the shortcut will

be automatically filled in for

you, avoiding potential

conflicts with existing

combinations.

4To create a shortcut to a

website, right-click your

Desktop and select New,

Shortcut. The Create

Shortcut wizard will open.

Enter the URL of the site 1

and click Next. Give the new

shortcut a name, then

right-click it and select

Properties. Click the Web

Document tab 2 and enter

the shortcut key you want

to use. 3

MINI WORKSHOP ❘ Create your own keyboard shortcuts

28 13 January 2011

The following keyboard shortcuts

work in the Microsoft Office (http://

office.microsoft.com) programsWord

and Excel. Some will also work in

OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org).

Ctrl+NOpen newCreates a blank document in a new

window. This will use your default

template settings.

Ctrl+OOpen savedLets you open a previously saved

document. Automatically opens the last

folder you saved to.

Ctrl+SSaveSaves the document you have open.

If it hasn’t been saved before, you’ll

be prompted to enter a name for the

file. This keyboard shortcut also works

in Gmail.

Ctrl+BBoldSelect some text and then press this key

combination to bold it. Press it again to

remove the formatting.

Ctrl+IItaliciseSelect some text and then press this key

combination to italicise it.

Ctrl+UUnderlineSelect some text and then press this key

combination to underline it.

Ctrl+KInsert link

Use this keyboard combination to post a

hyperlink into a Word document. You

can choose the text to display.

Shift+F3Change caseSelect one or more words and use this

shortcut to change the case, cycling

through sentence, upper and lower case.

Ctrl+[ or ]Change sizeSelect some text and use this keyboard

combination to increase or decrease the

size of it in one-point steps.

Ctrl+Shift+EView changesTurns on the revision marks feature so

you can see what changes have been

made to a document.

Ctrl+PPrint

Opens the print window. This shortcut

also works in web browsers and any

other program with a print feature.

Shift+End then DeleteDelete sectionA handy shortcut you can use to delete

part of a line of text. Position your

cursor at the point you want to keep

and press Shift+End to select the

unwanted section, and then hit Delete

(or Backspace) to remove it.

F7Spell check

Hit this function key and Word will run a

spelling and grammar check using the

default dictionary.

Shift+F7Use the thesaurus

Select a word and then press these two

keys to look it up in the program’s

built-in thesaurus.

Ctrl+SpaceRemove formattingSelect some text and use this shortcut to

remove any formatting from it (bold,

italics, hyperlinks and so on). The text will

also revert back to the default typeface.

Alt+Ctrl+SSplit windowSplits the window so you can view

different parts of a long document or

complicated spreadsheet at the same

time. To remove the split window, press

Alt+Shift+C.

Ctrl+;Insert date

Select a blank cell in Excel and press

this keyboard combination to insert the

current date.

Ctrl+Shift+;Insert timeAs with the above shortcut, select a

blank cell and press this keyboard

combination to enter the urrent time.

Ctrl+9Hide dataYou can hide rows of data in Excel if you

want to keep them private from anyone

nearby with this simple keyboard

shortcut. Just click on a cell in the row,

and press the key combo. The data will

still be there, just hidden.

Ctrl+Shift+9Unhide dataOnce you’ve hidden a row, you may

want to see it again at some point.

Click and drag to select the rows either

side of the hidden one (you can select

as many rows as you like, which is useful

if you can’t remember exactly where the

hidden one is), then hit this shortcut.

OFFICE SHORTCUTS

www.downmagaz.com

13 January 2011 29

WEB & PC SHORTCUTS

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free music-streaming service

Many of these Windows shortcuts

will work on Macs – just use the

Apple key (Command) instead of

Ctrl. but there are also plenty of

keyboard shortcuts specific to OS X.

Apple+Shift +Option+DeleteEmpty TrashIf you want to empty the Trash, use this

keyboard combination and it will clear

out your unwanted files without

prompting you for confirmation first.

Apple+Shift+Option+EscForce quitIf you’re having problems with a

misbehaving application that refuses to

go quietly, use this keyboard shortcut to

force it to quit, no confirmation required.

The following shortcuts are all for

Ubuntu – the most popular version

of Linux for home users – but they

will work in other distros of the

open-source operating system, too.

Alt+F1Launch Applications

Apple+Option+YView photo slideshowYou can view photos on your hard disk

in a full-screen slideshow by selecting

them and hitting this shortcut. You’ll

need to be running OS X 10.5 or later.

Apple+Shift+UOpen UtilitiesUse this handy shortcut to open the

Hit this key combination to open the

Applications menu, which gives you

access to all your programs, games and

multimedia.

Ctrl+Alt+TOpen terminal window

Hit this key combination to bring up

the Linux console so you can enter

commands.

Ctrl+Alt+Left/RightNavigate workspacesThis handy shortcut lets you quickly

Utilities folder. This contains such useful

tools as screen-grabbing program Grab,

voice-control tool Voiceover Utility and

Activity Monitor.

Apple+Shift+Option+QLog outYou can initiate an immediate force

log-out using this keyboard combo.

You won’t need to confirm the action.

step your way through the four available

workspaces.

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left/RightMove windowMoves the selected window one

workspace to the left or right.

Alt+F10Maximise windowThis shortcut maximises an open

window. You can restore it to its original

size by pressing Alt+F5. }

MACOSXSHORTCUTS

LINUXSHORTCUTS

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HEADTOHEAD

WINNERWWIINNNNEERR

WINNERWWWWWWIINNNNEERRWW

VS

20 1� January 2�11

In terms of basic cartography, there’s not a lot between the two

services. Bing Maps offers a broader variety of map types and

employs more intelligence in applying them. When displaying

London, a colourful A-Z-style street map is used; for countryside

excursions, you can view Ordnance Survey maps. Its Bird’s Eye

view provides a raised-level perspective as captured by

low-flying aircraft, so you can ‘fly’ around buildings and scenery.

Bing’s transitions between the various view types are handled

more smoothly than with Google Maps, yet the latter trumps all

this with Street View. Drag the little orange pegman onto the

map and where roads or locations turn blue, you get eye-level

panoramic photography. This includes almost all UK roads and

many other countries and cities. It’s a remarkable resource that

secures Google Maps’ victory in this round. Bing Maps is testing

a similar service, called Streetside (www.microsoft.com/maps/

streetside.aspx), but this remains in beta and has only a

fraction of the imagery that’s available in Street View.

WINNER: Google Maps

ROUND �: FEATURES

ROUND 1: EASE OF USE

Google Maps is the most popular online mapping tool, but doesBing Maps actually offer a superior service? Scott Colvey takes atour of the strengths and weaknesses of the two sites

Which is best? Google Maps vs Bing Maps

Both Google Maps (http://maps.google.co.uk) and Bing Maps

(www.bing.com/maps) are flexible enough to perform all

manner of mapping searches, from postcodes to precise

geographic co-ordinates. If this round was based purely on

simplicity and speed, the result would be a dead heat. However,

for getting directions and finding nearby facilities, Google Maps

is the better option. The problem with Bing is that the

interface’s design doesn’t clearly distinguish between the

different areas of the page or group its options sensibly: some

controls are in the bottom-left of the page, others in the middle

or above the map itself.

To be fair, Google Maps is far from perfect on this score –

sometimes displaying nothing but a drop-down menu when

there’s an acre of white space floating below – but the links,

controls and icons are generally easier to pick out, so Google

wins this first round.

WINNER: Google Maps

www.downmagaz.com

WINNERRRWWIINNNNEERR

WINNERWWIINNNNEERR

WINNERWWIINNNNEERR

WINNERWWWIINNNNEERRW

13 January 2011 31Tell uswhat you think atwww.webuser.co.uk/forums

GOOGLEMAPS VS BINGMAPS

ROUND 3: PRESENTATION

ROUND 4: INFORMATION ROUND 5: EXTRAS

Save for presentation, Google Maps is the clear winner

of this Head to Head. This is because, whereas

Microsoft has focused on style with Bing Maps,

Google Maps concentrates on usability – and is

all the better for it.

Bing Maps has some innovative ideas, such as

the Bird’s Eye viewing mode, and Microsoft is working

on some tools that should make the service a more

attractive alternative to Google Maps. But, for the

moment, the latter is your best choice for

getting from A to B and beyond.

WINNER: Google Maps

Tell uswhat you

pr

of this

Micros

Google

all the

BingVERDICT

Head-

to-Head

Bing Maps is consistently more attractive than Google Maps,

with the latter exhibiting the search giant’s minimal, if familiar

and functional, interface. Bing’s ‘What’s new?’ panel, for

instance, brightens up the homepage no end. But being

consistently more attractive does not equate to a consistent

interface. And here, despite a recent overhaul, Bing Maps falls

down. The mix of drop-downs, buttons and links is just

confusing, with the compass dial being particularly hard to pick

out from the background. Indeed, we’d go so far as to say that

Bing’s new interface is actually worse than the one it replaced

– not a good sign.

However, Google Maps’ presentation leaves plenty to be

desired: the maps themselves employ a lifeless colour scheme

of pastel greens and blues, and white streets on beige

backgrounds can be difficult to read. Despite its recent changes,

we think Bing Maps has the aesthetic edge in this round.

WINNER: Bing Maps

Google has access to so much information that it would be

strange if its Maps service didn’t secure victory in this round

– and so it does. Type a postcode into Google Maps, for

example, and you’ll find information layers to show

geographically relevant user-submitted photos, worldwide

webcams, YouTube videos, Wikipedia articles, properties for

sale and even traffic conditions on most major roads around

the world. It also offers turn-by-turn navigation for GPS devices.

Save for route directions – where it’s on a par – Bing Maps is

sadly lacking: there’s a layer for the London Tube map, which is

useful, but traffic information is only available in a few

locations. Where possible or relevant, Bing Maps will plot

search results on the map (but this is the least we expect from

an online map). In short, this round is a hands-down win for

Google Maps and Bing Maps has a very long way to go to

before it has any chance of catching up.

WINNER: Google Maps

As ever with Google, some of the best Google Maps extras are

to be found by clicking the little green Labs phial at the

top-right of the screen. These include a measuring tool and the

ability to navigate maps by popular locations. Google Maps is

also widely available for mobile devices. As well as being

integrated into Apple iOS devices such as the iPad and iPhone,

it has an app for BlackBerry, Android, Symbian and Windows

Phone handsets.

For its part, Bing Maps is available as a web app for use on

most handsets, but this mobile browser-based version of the

tool isn’t a patch on Google Maps’ various platform-specific

apps. That said, the Bing Maps app for Microsoft’s own

Windows Phone platform is very good. To its credit, Bing is

adding new features all the time but Google Maps’ current

line-up of functions and tools is simply better.

WINNER: Google Maps

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NEWWEATHER TOOLS

13 January 2011 33Find more free software at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

HTC Home 2.0www.htchome.org

If you’ve got

an HTC

handset, you’ll

be familiar with

the excellent

clock-and-

weather app,

which provides

a five-day forecast based on your

current location. HTC Home 2.0 brings

the same at-a-glance functionality to

your Desktop and, if you run Windows 7,

the widget will also display the

temperature in your Taskbar.

The Weather Landwww.theweatherland.com

When you visit The Weather Land, the

site will automatically detect where you

are and generate a Google Map showing

the current temperature, wind speed

and precipitation. To find out how the

weather will change over the next seven

days, hover your mouse over one of the

time periods at the top of the page and

the map will adjust accordingly.

Earth Alertshttp://earthalerts.manyjourneys.com/web

If the British weather isn’t interesting

enough, log on to Earth Alerts to track

natural-hazard events around the world.

This new web version of the service uses

Google Maps to show you cyclones,

tsunamis and more, with details of how

serious they are. Click the Update Map

option to load the latest data.

AeroWeatherhttp://spikex.net

This tool makes the Aero interface in

Vista and Windows 7 change colour

according to either the temperature or

the weather conditions in your location.

For example, your windows will turn

grey if it’s cloudy, blue if it’s sunny, white

if it’s snowing and dark grey if it’s

raining. There’s also a Night Mode that

dims the Aero colours when the sun sets.

Weather Quickiewww.weatherquickie.com

Often you don’t need a full forecast, just

whether it will be colder or warmer than

yesterday. That’s exactly what Weather

Quickie offers – though you can get full

information from parent site Weather

Underground (www.wunderground

.com). An iPhone app is also available.

AccuWeatherWeather Appwww.accuweather.com

This powerful and popular service offers

all manner of ways to get your weather

– from email alerts and RSS feeds to

browser add-ons and Desktop widgets.

The just-updated AccuWeather iPhone

app version 4 (http://bit.ly/accu257)

has interactive

Google Maps,

detailed 24-hour

forecasts and

general 15-day

predictions.

UKsnowMaphttp://

uksnowmap.com

UKsnow Map

launched during the heavy snow of early

2010, inviting Twitter users to tweet and

rate their local snowfall. The relaunched

site lets you include the depth of snow, a

description (crunchy, slushy, slippy) and

a photo in your tweet to create a more

Stay on top of the weather this winter withthe help of the web. Robert Irvine pickseight brilliant new weather tools that giveyou accurate forecasts for free

BESTNEWweather tools

accurate overview of snowy Britain than

you’ll get from the media.

AniWeatherwww.aniweather.com

AniWeather’s forecasts use ‘appealing

animations’ that bring even the dullest

weather conditions to life. It’s available

as a browser add-on for Firefox and

Chrome, and now as an iPhone and iPad

app. You can get animated hour-by-

hour reports on 10-day forecasts.

What you say...Web User readers tell us about

their favourite weather apps.

The AccuWeather app shows my

small town (Hedge End). Not sure

it’s as accurate as it used to be.

Jack8, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

I use Metcheck.com (www.

metcheck.com), but the forecast

seems to change every time I look.

Shirazee, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

I check the BBC (http://news.bbc.

co.uk/weather), pop my postcode

into the box and a five-day forecast

is provided for the nearest town.

George, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

BBC Weather and Metcheck.com,

but neither were correct recently.

Caroline Sharman, via Facebook

I use the AniWeather extension on

Chrome and the Met Office (www.

metoffice.gov.uk) for confirmation.

Iain Lewis, via Facebook

34 13 January 2011

FIREFOX

Grooveshark Remote Controlhttp://bit.ly/grooveshark257

If you’re a fan of free music-streaming

service Grooveshark (www.grooveshark

.com), which won the Gold Award in

Web User’s music-streaming Group Test

in September, then this new Firefox

add-on is essential. It puts Grooveshark

playback controls at the foot of your

browser, so they’re accessible from any

tab – not just the one displaying

Grooveshark – and you can listen to

music wherever you are on the web.

Link Togglerhttp://bit.ly/linktoggler257

Some web pages are littered with

hyperlinks, which can make copying and

pasting text from them something of a

pain. One slip with your mouse and

you’ll find you’ve launched another web

page instead of selecting the item you

want to copy. To avoid this, the new Link

Toggler add-on temporarily disables all

hyperlinks on a page, so you can copy

and paste without annoyance.

Barlesquehttp://bit.ly/barlesque257

One of the most interesting new

features in Firefox 4 is the Add-on Bar,

BESTNEWBROWSERADD�ONSFOR 2011Boost your browser in the year ahead by

installing the most useful new add-ons.

Scott Colvey selects 20 essential extensions

for Firefox, IE, Chrome and Opera

which sits at the bottom of the browser

window providing a place for add-ons to

display useful icons. However, by

default, this bar takes up the full width

of the window, even if it only contains a

couple of icons. While the Add-on Bar

can be easily disabled, Barlesque more

usefully shrinks it down so that the bar

takes up minimum space, leaving more

room to display web pages.

Save Your Facebook Contenthttp://bit.ly/savefacebook257

While it’s very easy to post photos,

videos and web links on Facebook

(www.facebook.com), it’s not so simple

which sits at the bottom of the browser

With Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9 due to

launch soon, the browser wars look set to rage

on in 2011, with developers continuing to add

and modify features. However, for many years the real

browser battleground has been in add-ons and extensions

– those handy extra functions and features that you can

bolt on at will. There are thousands of add-ons available

for Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Opera, ranging

from invaluable to worthless.

Inevitably, many of us end up installing the same handful

of add-ons that bubble around the top of the ‘most

popular’ charts on the download pages, which means that

interesting newcomers can be easily overlooked.

In this feature, we hunt down the latest and greatest new

browser add-ons for 2011. Turn to page 41 for three more

must-try Chrome add-ons, bringing this issue’s total to 23.

www.downmagaz.com

13 January 2011 35Find more add-ons at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

BROWSER ADD�ONS FOR 2011

to save content from the social network

for use elsewhere. The Save Your

Facebook Content add-on puts a Save

link alongside all Facebook posts and

pictures that you view in Firefox, so you

can grab stuff from the site with a single

click. Then, just click the Saved Items

button to manage your clippings. The

add-on is also available for Chrome.

Prospector Instant Previewhttp://mozillalabs.com/prospector

So new that it only works with the beta

versions of Firefox 4, this add-on could

prove a big time-saver if you upgrade to

the latest version of the browser.

Highlight a web address or search query

in the AwesomeBar and the page will

instantly be displayed in the main

browser window without you needing

to click the link. This means you can

scroll through and view a long list of

results without needing to open the

individual sites. It’s similar in some ways

to Google Instant.

History Deleterhttp://bit.ly/history257

This handy add-on gives you more

control over the history-deletion feature

in Firefox. Rather than clearing your

cache of all stored pages, it lets you

remove only

entries that

contain specific

keywords in their

title, delete all

pages from

within a set time

period and get

rid of any dead

links the browser

is storing. History

Deleter also

shows you how many times you’ve

visited a particular page since you last

cleared your history.

INTERNETEXPLORER

Windows 7 CompatibilitySearchhttp://bit.ly/windows257

Truth be told, the choice of add-ons

available for Internet Explorer is very

disappointing. Hopefully, this will

change when Internet Explorer 9 finally

comes out of beta later this year. For

now, one of the latest and most useful

add-ons for IE8 is the Windows 7

Compatibility Search. Basically, this

add-on will tell you whether products

you’re searching for will work in the

latest version of Microsoft’s operating

system.

Add to Amazon Wish ListButtonhttp://bit.ly/amazonwishlist257

Very simply, this new add-on, which is

also available for Firefox (http://bit.ly/

amazonff257) puts an Amazon button

in the Internet Explorer toolbar.

Whenever you’re viewing a product

you’d like to buy – even if you’re not on

the Amazon website – just click this

button and the item will be added to

your Amazon Wish List. The IE add-on

version is designed for use with

Amazon.com but hopefully an Amazon

.co.uk version will be launched soon.

File Host Link Checkerhttp://bit.ly/filehostlink257

File Host Link Checker is a great add-on

for keen downloaders that will save you

time when following links that lead to

file-hosting sites such as RapidShare

(www.rapidshare.com) and Megaupload

(www.megaupload.com). Rather than

visiting the host sites and then clicking

to see if the links work, File Host Link

Checker will do the job for you and alert

you to any faulty links.

Diff-IE

http://bit.ly/diffie257

This useful IE

add-on lets you

see at a glance

which parts of a

web page have

been updated

since your last

visit. Diff-IE

highlights sections

of text, images,

prices and

anything else

that’s different to the most recent

version of the page stored in your

browser cache. It will also show you

which forum boards or threads have

been active since you last viewed them.

By default, the add-on indicates new

content in yellow, but you can change

this to the colour of your choice. You

can also compare the current page to a

cached version from a specific date.

FlashCatch Video Downloaderhttp://bit.ly/flashcatch257

Installing the FlashCatch Video

Downloader into IE will give you the

ability to download footage from any

site with Flash video (including

YouTube, obviously). The add-on is very

easy to use – just start the video

playing, click the FlashCatch button and

choose your download option. You can

even download an entire YouTube

channel in one go.

So th t it onl k with th b t

re

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36 13 January 2011

BROWSER ADD�ONS FOR 2011

CHROME

AppJumphttp://bit.ly/appjump257

Chrome has a built-in extensions

manager, of course, but AppJump

improves and augments this by giving

you one-click access to your favourite

web apps. There’s also a community

element to this new extension because

it lets Chrome users create groups to

manage a large collection of web apps

and add-ons more easily.

Facebook Photo Zoomhttp://bit.ly/photozoom257

You may have used the revamped

Google Image search (http://images

.google.co.uk), where larger versions of

pictures appear when you hover your

mouse pointer over a thumbnail. Well,

this extension bestows the same

magnifying magic onto Facebook

photos. A similar add-on exists for

Firefox, but by a different developer (get

it from http://bit.ly/zoomfirefox257).

Comment Savehttp://bit.ly/comment257

If you often post comments on web

forums, blogs and social-networking

sites, this Chrome extension could prove

handy. Comment Save keeps track of

everything you write and stores it locally

for future reference, although you can

delete specific comments if you want.

It’s very useful if you ever go online

after a few drinks and forget where you

posted a comment and what you said!

Google Mail Checker Plushttp://bit.ly/googlemail257

If you’re a Google fan and use GMail in

Chrome, then you need Google Mail

Checker Plus. Once installed, a button is

added to your toolbar that will show a

live count of unread emails and you’ll be

alerted to new incoming messages via a

pop-up. Firefox users wanting similar

functionality should check out the

Gmail Notifier add-on (http://bit.ly/

gmailfire257). And, if you use Google

Calendar, we’d also suggest installing

the Google Calendar Checker extension

(http://bit.ly/calendarchecker257).

Chrome TVhttp://bit.ly/chrometv257

Watching television via the internet isn’t

exactly a new idea but the Chrome TV

extension puts you within easy reach of

over 3,000 worldwide channels,

including plenty of UK stations. It’s easy

to use, too, as no registration is required

– just sit yourself down, install Chrome

TV and start watching.

Ozonehttp://bit.ly/ozone257

Chrome’s Omnibar doubles up as a web

address field and search box. The new

Ozone add-on focuses search results on

the services and sites you use the most,

categorising the results as you browse.

So, rather than simply producing a list of

Google hits, a search query will lead to

a list of results under headings such as

Google, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook

and so on. It’s a very useful and

effective tool. Turn to page 41 for more

Chrome extensions.

OPERA

Remember The Milk Taskshttp://bit.ly/rememberthemilk257

Since its launch a couple of years ago,

Remember The Milk has grown quickly

to become the favourite scheduling and

to-do list manager for millions of web

users. This new extension for Opera

puts Remember The Milk right in the

browser, letting you view your schedule

and add tasks with a click or two.

AdvancedPopuphttp://bit.ly/advancedpopup257

In common with all modern browsers,

Opera has built-in protection against

unwanted pop-up windows. The

AdvancedPopup add-on bolsters this by

offering site-level control over pop-ups,

including the option to override settings

with keyboard shortcuts. This first

version is a little tricky to use but it’s

new, so certainly one to watch over the

coming year.

Tab Vaulthttp://bit.ly/tabvault257

While tab-manager extensions are

ten-a-penny, the new Tab Vault tool for

Opera has an elegant simplicity. The

add-on acts as a kind of bookmarks

notepad, where tabs can be easily

dragged, dropped, reordered, deleted

and restored. }

pop up Firefox users wanting similar

Since its launch a couple of years ago

While tab manager extensions are

p://b y/p

Yo ha d th d

In with ll d b

www.downmagaz.com

38 13 January 2011

MOBILE PHONE

Only use 3G and Wi-Fiwhen necessaryWi-Fi and 3G let you browse the web

and download data quickly but they’re

likely to run down your handset’s

battery in a few hours if left on

constantly. Turning one or both of these

off in your phone settings until you need

them could double your battery life. To

turn off Wi-Fi and 3G on an iPhone, go

to Settings and set Wi-Fi to Off, then go

to General, Network and set the Enable

3G slider to Off. On an Android device,

go into Settings, Wireless & Networks

(or similar)

and turn

off Wi-Fi

and 3G

from

there.

Bluetooth

is another

big power

drain so

disable

that, too,

when not

in use. If you’re in a low- or no-coverage

area, you can use your phone’s Airplane

Mode to cut all your connections

instantly, although you won’t be able to

make or receive calls.

Sync data less frequentlyCertain mobile apps – particularly those

for email and social networking –

regularly (or even constantly) check for

new data,

which can

significantly

sap your

phone’s

power. Try

changing

how

frequently

these apps

sync with

their servers. For the Mail app on an

iPhone, for example, go to Settings,

press the Mail, Contacts, Calendars

option, then go to Fetch New Data and

tap either Hourly or Manually. On an

HTC Android phone, go to Settings,

Accounts & sync, turn off the

‘Background data’ option and set the

sync frequency for your individual

accounts.

Adjust your backlightThe brighter your phone’s backlight, the

more power it consumes. Play around

with the brightness settings to dim your

screen while maintaining readability.

The iPhone also has an Auto-Brightness

option that adjusts the backlight

according to your current lighting

conditions. Go to Settings, Brightness

and set Auto-Brightness to On.

If your gadgets keep running out of juice,

don’t despair. Robert Irvine recommends

15 ways you can significantly improve the

battery life of your devices

Shut down third-partyappsApps that continue to run in the

background when you’ve finished with

them are big battery hogs, especially on

Android devices. Fortunately, you can

shut down all background apps in one

go using tools

such as

Advanced

Task Killer

and Battery

Saver, which

are both

available for

free from

Android

Market (www.

android.com/

market).

LAPTOP

Reduce your screenbrightnessMost laptop

displays are far

brighter than

they need to be

and cause a

bigger drain on

your battery

than anything

else. Typically, the way to dim your

screen is to hold down the Fn key in the

bottom-left corner of your keyboard

and use the down-arrow key to

decrease the brightness. Press the

up-arrow key to increase it again.

don’t despair. Robert Irvine recommends

DOUBLEYOUR

battery life

15 WAYS TO15 WAYS TO

www.downmagaz.com

BATTERY�LIFE TIPS

Find more practical advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forums 13 January 2011 39

Adjust your powerscheme

You can maximise your battery life by

turning off your screen and hard disk

when they’re not in use. Right-click the

battery icon in your System Tray and

choose Adjust Power Properties to open

the Power Options Properties box. On

the Power Schemes tab, use the

drop-down menus in the ‘Running on

batteries’ column to select how long to

wait before putting your monitor and

hard disk into standby.

Play downloads insteadof discsIf you like to listen to music and watch

movies while on the move, you should

play audio and video files that you’ve

ripped or downloaded to your hard disk

rather than CDs and DVDs. Optical

drives consume more power and may

use up your battery before you reach

the end of the album or film.

Use Hibernate notstandby

If you’re not going to be using your

laptop for a while, put it into Hibernate

mode rather than standby. This

completely shuts down your hard disk

so that it won’t use any power at all. To

activate this function, open the Power

Options Properties box, click the

Hibernate tab and select ‘Enable

hibernation’.

DIGITALCAMERA

Use your viewfinder moreYour camera’s display screen is a big

battery guzzler so, where possible, use

your optical viewfinder to frame shots

instead. If you must use the screen, try

dimming the brightness to make it

consume less power. You should also

reduce the length of time that the

picture preview is displayed after you’ve

taken a shot – one second will usually

suffice.

Keep your finger off theshutter buttonEvery time you press the shutter button

halfway down, your camera goes

through various processes – such as

focusing the lens and warming up the

flash – to prepare for a shot. If you then

release the button without taking a

picture, you’ve effectively wasted

precious energy. Try to keep your finger

off the shutter button until it’s time to

capture the photo.

Turn off continuous focusContinuous focus – which lets you keep

your camera trained on a moving object

– is a useful feature for capturing action

shots – but it also drains your battery.

Go into your camera’s settings menu to

turn off continuous focus and switch to

single focus instead.

Wait to delete photosAlthough it’s always tempting to review

and delete shots while on the go, this

consumes battery power you could be

using to capture new photos. Wait until

you’ve

connected

your camera to

your PC

to delete

unwanted

images. If you

find yourself

running out

of space,

invest in a

larger-

capacity

memory card – you can buy an 8GB

SanDisk SDHC card from Amazon

(www.amazon.co.uk) for less than a

tenner.

IPOD

Create playlistsIt might sound obvious but skipping

back and forth to find specific songs on

your iPod, and browsing through long

menus of artists and albums, can put a

real strain on your battery. Conserve

power by creating playlists of your

favourite songs in iTunes (www.apple

.com/uk/itunes) and syncing your iPod

with your PC. You can also generate

smart playlists that group tracks

according to their artist, album, year,

genre, rating, composer or other

criteria. Just go to File, New Smart

Playlist to compile one.

Turn off the equaliserBecause your iPod’s equaliser functions

need to adjust the sound for each

individual track you play, they can eat

up considerable battery power while

you’re on the move. Unless you really

need to apply Bass Booster or ‘Rock

mode’ to your music, turn off the

equaliser by going to Settings, EQ and

selecting Off.

Cut the backlightAs with phones and laptops, turning off

your iPod’s backlight will substantially

improve your battery life. On an older

iPod, go to Settings, Backlight Timer

and choose Off. On an iPod Touch, go to

Settings, General. Alternatively, you can

dim the backlight by going to Settings,

Brightness and choosing the minimum

brightness setting.

40 13 January 2011

BEST FREE SOFTWAREThis fortnight’s top FREE software downloads

VirtualDJ is a very polished audio-mixing program that lets

you combine tracks, add effects, samples and loops, and save

the finished results in MP3 format. To get started, simply drag

your tracks onto the turntables. As well as mixing audio, the

software can now handle videos.

http://invaders.manuelvandyck.com

Min requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7 or Mac OS X

File size: 10.6MB

VirtualDJ Homewww.virtualdj.com

Min requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7 or Mac OS X

File size: 28.6MB

GAME

Before you can begin playing this game, you’ll need to enter a

combination of letters and/or numbers to act as a ‘core-seed’.

This is used to generate the look of your ship and the

incoming invaders, and also to determine their attack

patterns. The object is simply to survive for as long as you

can, defeating swarm after swarm of alien invaders with the

aid of power-ups you collect along the way.

AUDIO�MIXING TOOL

SECURITY

Microsoft Security Essentials 2

Microsoft’s excellent free

anti-virus program has been

updated to make it even

better at detecting and

removing threats. While the

previous release focused on

recognised viruses, the

addition of a heuristics-

scanning engine means

Microsoft Security Essentials

can now identify unknown

malware by its behaviour.

The software offers

real-time, on-demand and

scheduled scanning, and is a

lot lighter on resources than

many similar programs. In the

unlikely event that MSE does

cause your PC to slow to a

crawl during a scan, you can

manually lower its maximum

already active, and a PC

running Internet Explorer will

benefit from improved

protection against web-

based threats.

The new network-

inspection feature can detect

and block network-based

exploits, but you’ll need to be

running Windows 7 or Vista

processor usage to solve the

problem.

The Advanced settings let

you configure the program to

include removable drives

when running a full sweep,

and you can create a restore

point before removing any

potential threats. By default,

all users can view

quarantined items, but you

can limit this to just those

with administrator accounts,

if you prefer.

The software now

integrates with Windows

features to provide a greater

degree of security. When you

first install it, you’ll be

prompted to turn on the

Windows Firewall if it’s not

to use the feature because it

requires the Windows

Filtering Platform (WFP) and

this isn’t available in XP.

If you’re looking for a

reliable, free anti-virus

program, Microsoft Security

Essentials should definitely

be somewhere near the top

of your list.

Invaders: Corruption

17 FREEDOWNLOADS

www.microsoft.com/security_essentials

Min requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7

File size: 9.5MB

www.downmagaz.com

Disconnecthttp://bit.ly/disconnect257

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/7

File size: 80KB

Disconnect prevents websites including

Facebook, Google and Twitter from

tracking your activities. The add-on

blocks cookies and requests from third

parties, and shows you the results in

real time.

Cortexhttp://cortexapp.com

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/7

File size: 1.31MB

Cortex provides a simple means of

sharing links, videos, images and more

with friends via social-networking sites.

Just hold down your mouse button and

select a sharing option from the circle

that pops up.

BEST FREE SOFTWARE

13 January 2011 41Discover more free downloads at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

THREE OF A KIND

Available to buy now priced £16.95, BullGuard

Backup 10 is the latest and much-improved

version of the standalone back-up program.

BullGuard Backup 10 is quick, easy, secure and

flexible – it comes with an intuitive user interface,

while boasting extremely high upload speeds.

We’ve got 10 10GB copies (one year, five PCs) to

give away in this competition.

For more information about BullGuard Backup

10, visit www.bullguard.com.

COMPETITION

BullGuard Backup 10

CHROME EXTENSIONS

www.webuser.co.uk/win

CLOUD�COMPUTING TOOL

Install the Spoon plug-in and you’ll be able to run many popular applications

directly from the cloud, without needing to have them installed on your hard

disk. The apps available include Firefox, Chrome, VLC Media Player,

Thunderbird and TweetDeck. The process is seamless and, although Spoon

can take a little while to load a program, once the software is up and running

you really won’t be able to tell that it’s being ‘virtualised’.

Spoon

The official WWF format is an environmentally friendly alternative to PDF that

has been launched by the World Wildlife Fund. Files saved in the format can

be viewed on screen, emailed and shared, but not printed – thereby avoiding

paper waste. WWF documents can be opened using any standard PDF reader.

PDF�ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM

Save as WWFwww.saveaswwf.com/en

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/7 or Mac OS X File size: 6.7MB

WIN1OF 10COPIES!

http://spoon.net

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/7 File size: 3.7MB

Boomerang for Gmailhttp://boomeranggmail.com

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/7

or Mac OS X File size: 95.3KB

This add-on lets you delay and schedule

the sending of emails through Gmail, as

well as redelivering (‘boomeranging’)

messages back into your Inbox for

whenever you actually need them.

42 13 January 2011

www.taskcoach.org

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/

Mac OS X or Linux File size: 9.31MB

Task Coach is a simple but effective open-

source to-do tool that lets you keep track of

ongoing projects and forthcoming events.

Usefully, you can create sub-tasks – for

example ‘buy card’, ‘buy present’ and ‘send

text message’ within a birthday task – so that

the main tasks can be marked as being

partially completed where necessary. Task

Coach colour-codes entries for easy

reference, lets you specify a date, time and

priority for each task, and offers categories

for speedy organisation. You can even enter

budget details and set up reminder alarms.

Task Coach is also available in a portable

version and as an iPhone app.

TWITTER TOOL

This Adobe AIR-based app is a combined

Twitter client and RSS feed reader. Lazyscope

lets you view links and photos contained in

tweets without leaving the stream. You can

also reply, repost, retweet and star updates.

The program flashes up a System Tray

notification whenever a new tweet arrives,

although you can turn this feature off if it gets

annoying. You can import and view feeds

from Google Reader, and subscribe to new

sites. If you connect your browser to

Lazyscope, you’ll be able to save pages for

reading or tweeting later.

Lazyscopewww.lazyscope.com

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac

OS X or Linux File size: 1.5MB

TASK MANAGER

Task Coach

VIDEO�EDITING TOOL

This powerful video-editing tool has an

impressive pedigree – it’s won Academy and

Emmy awards and has been used to cut

hundreds of Hollywood films including

Shutter Island, The Departed and Pulp Fiction.

Now available for free, the software is packed

with professional features, such as advanced

trimming and media management, real-time

audio and video effects, timeline sync,

stereoscopic support and more.

As you’d expect from such an advanced

program, learning how to use Lightworks

takes a little time and application, but the

software is reasonably intuitive and the end

result is certainly worth the effort.

Lightworkswww.lightworksbeta.com

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/7

File size: 15.3MB

www.downmagaz.com

Inception

http://bit.ly/

inception257

Minimum

requirements:

iPhone, iPod Touch

or iPad, iOS 3.2+,

headphones and

microphone

File size: 65MB

This stunning, augmented-sound app is

based on the blockbuster movie

Inception. The app lets you unlock and

experience a range of ‘dreams’ that mix

effects and music with distorted versions

of the sounds around you. Unlocking

dreams involves inducing the dream

world at the right time or place, or

performing a particular action. The

Sunshine dream can only be unlocked

on a nice day, for example, while the

Africa dream actually requires you to be

in Africa.

Google Maps for Mobile 5.0

www.android.com/market

Min requirements: Android 2.0+

File size: 5.59MB

The new version of

the popular mapping

application Google

Maps has had several

improvements made

to it, most notably

the introduction of

dynamically drawn

3D buildings in more

than 100 major cities.

Tilt the map to see them, and then rotate

the screen to get a different view. The

app caches content now too, so you’ll be

able to call up places you’ve visited

previously, even when offline.

National Lottery Official App

http://bit.ly/lottery257

Min requirements:

iPhone, iPod Touch

or iPad, iOS 3.1+

File size: 2.5MB

This official app from

Camelot lets you

view the results and

prize breakdowns

for all National

Lottery games for

the past 180 days.

It remembers your

numbers and alerts you if you’re a winner,

and can also tell you where the nearest

lottery retailer is, as well as the next

estimated jackpot.

BEST FREE SOFTWARE

13 January 2011 43Discover more free downloads at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

This smart email-notification tool can check multiple webmail and Outlook

accounts and alert you when messages arrive. You can prioritise emails, so

you’re only told about ones you care about, and it will let you send quick replies

without needing to open your email client or browser. If you sign up for a free

EmailTray account, you’ll enjoy extra benefits, such as improved mail sorting.

EMAIL TOOL

EmailTraywww.emailtray.com

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/7 File size: 9.8MB

GAME

Starfare is a classy space-based real-time strategy (RTS) game that involves

capturing and mining asteroids, constructing buildings and various types of

ship, and battling rival nations for supremacy. There’s a tutorial level available,

but anyone who has played an RTS game before will feel right at home. It’s

great fun, if a little buggy at times.

Starfarewww.starfare.eu

Min requirements:Windows XP/Vista/7 File size: 26.9MB

READER RECOMMENDS“For me, Magix

Audio Cleaning Lab (www.

magix.com/gb) is the perfect

program for converting vinyl

to CD. It costs £29.99 to buy

but you can download a free

trial version from http://

magix-audio-cleaning-lab

.en.softonic.com.”

George, via Webuser.co.uk/

forums

Mobile & iPad apps

Tilt th to th

AN INSTANT EXPERT GUIDE TO

44 13 January 2011 Get broadband advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

Satellite broadband has hit the headlines recently following BT’s

announcement that it will use the technology to provide web access

to rural areas in Cornwall. Daniel Booth explains how it works

Satellite broadband

QWHAT IS SATELLITE

BROADBAND?

ASatellite broadband is internet

access provided by satellites. To

receive it, a special web-only satellite

dish has to be installed on the front of

your house. Once you log onto the

internet, the signal is received by the

satellite and is beamed back to a station

owned by the satellite company. Your PC

or home network is connected directly to

the web via the satellite without the need

for a telephone line, so you don’t need

any extra wires or cables, nor any

additional computer software.

There are two types of satellite

connection – one-way and two-way. In a

one-way satellite connection, data is

downloaded from the satellite and dish,

while data is uploaded to the web via a

dial-up connection. This is a very cost-

effective option for customers who don’t

need fast upload speeds.

However, mostWeb User readers will

need a two-way satellite connection,

which uses the satellite and dish for both

downloading and uploading. This is much

faster but it’s also a lot more expensive.

QWHYWOULD I NEED IT?

AThe major benefit of satellite

broadband is that you don’t need to

be connected to the UK’s fixed-line

network or within range of a mobile

phone mast to receive it. This makes it an

attractive option for people who can’t

get broadband because they live in

remote areas of the country. Industry

experts estimate that 350,000 Europeans

in broadband ‘not-spots’ would benefit

from satellite broadband.

QWHERE IS IT AVAILABLE?

AIt’s available across the whole of the

UK, though you should only

consider it if you can’t get wireless or

fibre broadband. The three largest UK

providers are Tariam (www.tariam.co.uk),

Eutelsat (www.eutelsat.com) and Astra

Satellite broadband provider Eutelsat is

also a hub for the broadcasting industry

www.downmagaz.com

13 January 2011 45

SATELLITE BROADBAND

NEXT ISSUE: Instant Expert guide to DDoS attacks

GOOGLE�BACKED SATELLITE BROADBAND

While satellite broadband is seen as a

useful but flawed option for much of

the developed world, it could be

hugely beneficial to emerging nations

that lack advanced broadband

networks. One company aiming to

bring broadband to poorer countries

is O3b Networks (www.o3bnetworks

.com), whose name stands for ‘other

3 billion’, referring to the number of

people in the world who don’t have

regular access to the web. In

December, 2010, O3b secured $1.2bn

worth of funding to proceed with the

launch of eight satellites in the first

half of 2013. HSBC and Google are

among the company’s shareholders.

O3b promises faster speeds than are

currently available through satellite

broadband because its satellites’

orbits will be four times nearer Earth

than those of existing satellites. This

will cut the latency time users endure

when using the web via satellite. The

company says it will offer its services

to more than 150 countries spread

across Africa, Asia, Latin America and

the Middle East. O3b says that its

mission “is to make the internet

accessible and affordable to those

who remain cut off from the

information highway. We will enable

individuals, families, communities and

nations to enrich their quality of life

through greater interactivity with the

global community”.

(www.ses-astra.com). However, the most

high-profile new service is BT’s

partnership with Avanti (www.avantiplc

.com), which will provide surfers in

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly with

satellite broadband. The service is part of

BT’s bid to get more customers

connected to its high-speed broadband

by 2014 – what it calls “the most

ambitious rural broadband project in the

world”. The aim is to connect 80 to 90

per cent of homes and businesses in the

area to super-fast broadband, via a

mixture of advanced copper, wireless and

satellite broadband. Avanti’s services,

provided from the HYLAS 1 satellite that

launched on 26 November, will fill in the

gaps where fibre can’t be provided.

QHOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

ASatellite broadband tends to be

more expensive than other forms of

fast broadband. When it launches in

March, Avanti’s broadband service will

cost around £25 a month for a 2Mbps

connection. Eutelsat’s and Tariam’s

services starts at £24.99 per month for

3.6Mpbs. Prices increase quite rapidly for

extra download allowances. Tariam’s

Basic tariff, for example, costs £24.99 for

a 2.4GB allowance, while its £39.99-per-

month Bronze package gives you 4GB.

However, increased competition in 2011

should drive these prices down. If you

want 12GB you’ll have to sign up to

Tariam’s £99.99-a-month Gold package.

Installing satellite broadband can also

be very expensive, with most companies

charging between £500-£600 for

installation and hardware, although it’s

worth looking out for special offers. For

example, some companies were

providing installation for less than £200

as part of a 2010 Christmas offer. These

fees come down a lot if you can install a

dish yourself, but not many people will

feel confident enough to do that.

QHOW FAST IS IT?

AAt the m oment, most satellite

broadband services only offer

speeds up to 3.6Mbps. However, Avanti

hopes to offer up to 10Mbps by the end

of March, once its HYLAS 1 satellite

completes its testing phase. Eutelsat also

hopes to offer 10Mbp, following the

successful launch on 27 December of its

KA-SAT satellite. This service is expected

to go live to customers from May 2011.

QHOW RELIABLE IS IT?

AThe biggest drawback of satellite

broadband is its long latency time.

This is the delay between the signal

being sent and it being received by the

satellite, which will be significantly longer

than with fibre broadband because of the

distances involved. Satellite broadband

can suffer from delays of 1,000–1,400

milliseconds, which is long enough to

make it unsuitable for advanced web

activities such as multiplayer online

gaming and using Skype.

Another major drawback of satellite

broadband is that its quality can be

reduced by severe weather conditions.

High winds and torrential rain can disrupt

broadband, though snow is the biggest

problem because it settles on dishes and

weakens the signal. However, John

Wakeling, BT’s head of alternative

technologies and markets, told us that

the company is working at making its

satellite broadband more robust and

reliable. One solution BT is looking at is

to temporarily reduce the speed of the

connection in order to make sure it

doesn’t fail completely. After all, a slow

connection is better than none at all.

The dish also needs to be placed in a

complete line of sight to the satellite,

without anything blocking the signal,

such as very thick rain clouds or tall

buildings. Small movements of the dish

can also cause signal interruptions.

QWILL IT SOLVE THEPROBLEM OF BROADBAND

ACCESS IN RURAL AREAS?

AMany ISPs are selling satellite

broadband as the best solution to

poor coverage in remote areas, but some

industry analysts remain unconvinced

that it will ever be fast or cheap enough

to offer a satisfactory internet experience.

“It’s the best that can be offered to lots

of the UK’s ‘not-spots’,” Seamour

Rathore, senior editor at

Consumerchoices.co.uk, toldWeb User.

“But it has serious drawbacks such as

expensive installation, slow speeds and

small download limits. If you’ve never had

the web before, then you’re likely to be

happy with any service. But the more you

use it and the more you see what’s

available, the more you will get frustrated

by the limitations. If all you want to do is

surf the internet and use email, then

great. But you can’t suddenly wave a

wand and expect satellite broadband to

provide a rich, multimedia experience on

the internet.”

Satellite broadband is considered by

many experts to be a ‘last-resort’

technology that’s only recommended

when all other options don’t work.

Avanti’s first super-fast broadband satellite,

HYLAS 1, was launched last November

46 13 January 2011 Find more anti-virus advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

Choosing your internet security software is

probably the most important PC decision

you’ll make this year. As savvy web users,

you’ll already have some form of malware

protection on your computers, but how do you

know whether you’ve got the best? And should

you pay for your security software or is it enough

to stick with free downloads?

We’ve undertaken our most comprehensive

test of internet security software to date to

help answer those questions. Our lab has

pitted 14 top security suites – including three

free ones – against a barrage of problematic

malware that’s out there, on the web, waiting

to catch you out.

BEST internetsecurity suites for 2011Andy Shaw analyses anti-virus software inWeb User’s biggest

and most accurate test of internet security software ever

GOLD

AWARD

SILVER

AWARD

BRONZE

AWARD

The bestproduct/servicein its category

Good, but justmisses out ontop billing

Pretty good,but with someshortcomings

WEB USER

AWARDS

HOWWETESTED

TheWeb User lab, which is a member of the Anti-Malware Testing

Standards Organisation (AMTSO), uses real, live viruses found on

infected websites. To test how well each suite fought against a threat,

the products were installed and taken to the infected website within a

24-hour period of one another. Any changes made to the PC were

meticulously logged. If a virus took hold, the PC was rebooted and

manually scanned to see whether the software could remove it. We

also tested each product for false positives – whether they mistakenly

flagged safe software as potentially harmful.

We test and compare the latest productsWe

GROUPTESTCOVERFEATURE

Te

sti

ng

by

Ka

tO

rph

an

ide

s

www.downmagaz.com

13 January 2011 47

INTERNETSECURITYSUITESGROUPTEST

Share anti-virus advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

COVER

FEATUR

E

AVG Free is one of the oldest and most popular

of the current crop of free anti-virus software,

and the high regard in which it’s held is fully

justified. Free software, despite the obvious

attraction, is often seen as something of a

compromise and although AVG Free is anti-

malware only – so you’ll need to add a (free)

firewall to get the full level of protection for your

PC – its performance in our tests was

phenomenal.

As you can see from our charts (on page 52),

AVG got a perfect score for detecting and

dealing with viruses. In 28 of the 31 cases, AVG

removed every trace of a virus from the system.

In the other three cases, the threat was removed

and neutralised, but there were remnants of

the viruses left on the system. This isn’t a

serious problem but it still means that your

PC isn’t being kept totally clean. The software

only faltered over one false positive.

The built-in resident scanner that monitors

what’s happening on your PC is part of the

software’s excellent first line of defence and

its performance is backed up by a clean,

simple-to-use interface. The main screen

shows exactly what the software is doing, and

you can click the icons to explore and configure

the software further. Tabs along the side offer

access to the software’s basic functions.

Although AVG Free doesn’t have the full range

of features that you get in paid-for programs, it

does come with a handful of extras. The security

toolbar for your browser (Internet Explorer or

Firefox) flags up potentially dangerous websites,

and the very handy LinkScanner searches links

and pages in real time for malware, warning you

of malicious sites before you click on them.

That you get all this free of charge is a

phenomenal proposition and earns

AVG our coveted Gold Award.

Despite being a free

product, AVG Free’s

virus-busting

performance is

extraordinarily good.

It wasn’t the best-

performing product in all

our tests but it was the

best-performing free

product. AVG Free’s

results were only

marginally behind its

paid-for rivals, and it

effectively neutralised

everything we threw at it.

The only slip was a single

false positive – an

annoyance but nothing

that will compromise the

security of your computer.

It’s also simple to use.

The only real downside is

that you’ll need to choose

a free firewall to install

alongside it.

VERDICT

★★★★★FEATURES ★★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★★★ EASE OF USE ★★★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★★★★

AVG ANTI�VIRUS FREE EDITION 2011 ❘ FREE

http://free.avg.com

While AVG Free’s test results prove that free

software is perfectly capable of offering high

levels of protection, Trend Micro’s results speak

for themselves. The software stopped all 31

viruses thrown at it. Not a single one managed to

get past the software’s defences, nothing

managed to install and no signs of the viruses

were left on the computer after it had finished its

work. Quite simply, in our tests, Trend Micro

protected our test equipment faultlessly, even

managing to correctly determine that our

legitimate software was safe.

Performance aside, the decision to invest in

paid-for internet security often rests on whether

you’re happy to fork out for extra features

and technical support. Alongside its amazing

anti-virus system, Trend Micro provides a

range of other tools, including suite basics

such as anti-spam and a firewall. There’s a

browser plug-in that particularly caught our

attention, since it installs in Google Chrome

as well as the usual Internet Explorer and

Firefox. You also get parental control for

managing time online and monitoring activity,

and a Data Theft Prevention option that

effectively stops personal details going online.

This version of Titanium sits in the middle of

Trend Micro’s internet security range. Also

available is an anti-virus-only package (Titanium

AntiVirus Plus) if you’re not bothered about the

extra features, or Titanium Maximum Security if

you’d like to add secure back-up and PC-

tweaking options. All three use the same

virus-protection system, so you can take your

pick based on the features you’re looking for.

Our best price: £23 for one year

covering three PCs, from Amazon

(www.amazon.co.uk).

In our tests, Trend Micro

Titanium’s protection

record is second to none.

If you want to be sure

you’re getting the best

protection, this is the only

option to go for.

Surprising, then, that it

doesn’t win our Gold

Award. Trend Micro’s is

after all the superior

product, with better

performance and more

features than AVG Free.

However, it comes at a

price and although it

outperformed AVG Free,

the difference was only a

hair’s breadth. As a result,

AVG Free claims our top

prize. If you’re willing to

pay, however, Titanium

Internet Security is worth

every penny.

TREND MICRO TITANIUM INTERNET SECURITY 2011

£23 ❘ http://uk.trendmicro.comFEATURES ★★★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★★★ EASE OF USE ★★★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★★★

★★★★★VERDICT

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GOLDAWARD

48 13 January 2011 Find more product reviews at www.webuser.co.uk/products

SYMANTEC NORTON INTERNET SECURITY 2011

£32 ❘ www.symantec.co.uk

Symantec’s Norton Internet Security suite has

been solidly protecting PCs for years, and its

reputation remains intact with this version. It

staved off every threat, eliminating any problem

it was exposed to. However, as with AVG, three

of the 31 threats left traces of themselves on the

PC, so while the computer was made safe and

threats were neutralised, it didn’t manage a

perfect clean-up job. It also failed one of our

false-positive tests, flagging as unsafe a popular

free program from a widely respected download

site. But it still gave a solid performance and, if

you’re one of Norton’s millions of satisfied users,

there’s little reason to swap your protection.

The software is the slickest of the products we

tested. If you want to simply install and

forget about the software, you can, but

there’s also the option to get into the

technical side and tweak settings.

Most of what’s new in this version are

feature tweaks rather than improvements on

the core security system, which has been at

the top of its game for the last couple of years

and shows no sign of letting go. The program

will now warn you if software is starting to

hog your system resources, and there’s

protection for a range of extra threats, from

fraud while you shop online to advice about

downloads, based on the experiences of its

massive user base.

The only real downside is that it’s one of the

most expensive products here and the ‘get what

you pay for’ adage doesn’t apply, since it

performed exactly as well as AVG Free. Still,

Norton’s product remains a solid, easy-to-use

option and it’s perfect if you want to be kept

safe with as little fuss as possible.

Our best price: £32 for one year covering

three PCs, from Micom-Online

(www.micomonline.co.uk).

As the current market

leader, Norton is

justifiably popular.

While its results were

beaten in this test by

Trend Micro, it still comes

in with a very solid

performance score. That

said, it only did as well as

Gold Award-winning AVG

and yet you’ll have to pay

significantly more for it.

Norton makes up for

such shortfalls with extra

features and slick

presentation. The

software is incredibly

user-friendly and lets you

leave your security

software to its own

devices while you get on

with other things.

VERDICT

★★★★★FEATURES ★★★★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★★★ EASE OF USE ★★★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★★

Along with our Award-winning softare,

BitDefender Internet Security also caught all 31

of the viruses that we exposed the suite to. This

perfect score can’t be praised enough – it’s a

superb performance. To add to its strengths, it

also correctly identified all the safe software it

was shown and didn’t fall for any false positives.

However, it was the worst of the top four at

fully cleaning up after itself. Of the 31 viruses,

traces of 10 remained on the system. They were

neutralised, but BitDefender’s failure to clear

away the detritus cost it an award in our tests.

There’s a good selection of features in the

suite, from the usual anti-virus, email

protection and firewall, through to parental

controls, data encryption, network

protection and instant-messaging security

(as long as you restrict yourself to Yahoo or

Windows Live).

The software is controlled via a three-tier

interface – Basic, Intermediate and Expert –

which you choose according to your skills.

The Basic version locks down the advanced

settings, while still providing access to

essentials like parental controls, games mode

and the firewall. The Expert option offers a much

broader overview of all the settings. However,

this rather leaves the Intermediate option falling

between two stools.

If you want to set security software up on a PC

for a beginner, BitDefender’s Basic setting could

be just what you’re looking for. Its complete lack

of false positives would make it ideal because it

won’t bother an inexperienced user with

unnecessary questions.

Our best price: £38 for one year covering three

PCs, from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).

BitDefender’s reputation

is enhanced with this

latest version and, if it

continues on this upward

path, it could threaten the

Award winners next time.

Certainly, with its

100-per-cent detection

and protection rate,

BitDefender is a force to

be reckoned with, though

it isn’t quite as good at

clearing viruses’ tracks as

its chief rivals, which is

why it failed to win an

award.

The software is strong

on features but offers too

many options options for

different levels of users.

Three interfaces is taking

things a step too far – two

is plenty and would serve

the purpose better.

VERDICT

★★★★★

BITDEFENDER INTERNET SECURITY 2011

£38 ❘ www.bitdefender.co.ukFEATURES ★★★★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★★★ EASE OF USE ★★★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★★

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BRONZEAWARD

www.downmagaz.com

13 January 2011 49

INTERNETSECURITYSUITESGROUPTEST

Discuss security advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

COVER

FEATUR

E

KASPERSKY INTERNET SECURITY 2011

£25 ❘ www.kaspersky.co.uk

Letting through just one of the 31 viruses we

tested the software against isn’t a crushing

failure, but it’s an unfortunate result for

Kaspersky’s Internet Security. It’s almost

certainly true that, by the time you read this, that

particular hole in the software’s defences will

have been fixed, but had you visited the infected

website at this point in time, with this software

installed, you wouldn’t have been fully protected.

The 2011 software has a tempting range of

extra features that might appeal to you,though.

New elements in this version include a system

monitor that keeps an extremely close eye

on your key system files (such as the

Registry), a Norton-style cloud-based

reputation engine that captures and

re-uses security data from its users, and a

Safe Run mode that offers extra

protection when you’re banking online.

The parental controls are visible and

accessible immediately from the front

page, which makes it an excellent choice

for families.

The interface is clear and polished, with

an attractive, sensible layout. Any potential

gaps in your security settings are flagged

up, and there’s also simple access to the

software’s basic features – the firewall, anti-virus,

ad-blocking and anti-spam settings.

Kaspersky’s program also has some handy

low-resource features that will be popular with

people who want maximum processing power

reserved for gaming or prefer to scale resources

down while working on a battery. For the £25

price tag we managed to find online, it offers

good value for money.

Our best price: £25 for one year covering

three PCs, from Aria PC (www.aria.co.uk).

Kaspersky Internet

Security has been a

favourite of Web User for

some time, but it failed to

contain one of the viruses

we sent to it during this

test, which compromises

its well-respected

position. While its results

were spotless in every

other respect, including a

clear record on our tricky

false-positive test, it can’t

compete with our award

winners. It’s a shame,

because its features

and price are otherwise

excellent.

FEATURES ★★★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★ EASE OF USE ★★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★★★

Like the Kaspersky software, ESET Smart

Security 4 Home Edition came very close to

achieving a perfect score. However, it too let

one of our viruses slip through the net. While this

is a single failure of an otherwise solid program,

it remains a significant flaw in its ability

to protect your PC from online threats. What it

didn’t do quite so well as Kasperksy was to

ensure that traces of the viruses were totally

blocked in the first place or fully removed after

a scan.

The software isn’t overloaded with features

but it has enough of the important ones to

impress, making it a good option if you’re

looking for a pared-down suite. As well as

anti-malware, it comes with a firewall,

POP3 email scanning and spam filtering. If

you’re looking for parental control or file

encryption, you’ll have to look elsewhere,

though the benefit with this software is that

all these extras aren’t getting in the way if

you don’t want them.

The interface is simple but well-designed

and comes in two versions, Standard and

Advanced. In Standard mode, you can run

updates, manual scans and opt to turn your

security options on or off. Advanced mode lets

you make more significant tweaks, such as

changing what’s let through the firewall.

Given that this doesn’t have as many features

as some of its rivals, we were a bit disappointed

that we couldn’t find it at a lower price. Unless

you’re specifically looking for fewer features, you

could feel a bit hard done by since you’re

effectively having to pay more for less.

Our best price: £33 for one year covering

three PCs, from Shop.co.uk (www.shop.co.uk).

While this software has

a clean, pared-down

interface, it’s also quite

short on features. For

some users, this could be

a good thing, but it would

be much better if this was

reflected by a cheaper

price.

The software’s

performance was let

down by allowing through

a single virus in our tests.

This wasn’t a terrible

result but automatically

put ESET out of the

running for our awards.

★★★★

ESET SMART SECURITY 4 HOME EDITION

£33 ❘ www.eset.co.ukFEATURES ★★★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★ EASE OF USE ★★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★★

VERDICT

VERDICT

★★★★

50 13 January 2011 Find more product reviews at www.webuser.co.uk/products

F-Secure missed three of

the 31 viruses we exposed

it to, with a further four

leaving traces behind,

although neutralised.

However, it had no trouble

with false positives.

The interface is clean and simple. The main screen offers a

simple at-a-glance guide to the software’s status, and you can

click large, friendly buttons to delve further into the settings.

If you’re a Google Chrome user, you’ll be pleased to know

that your browser is supported by the software, alongside the

expected Firefox and Internet Explorer. Most of the other key

features you’d want in a security suite are here, including

parental control and spam filtering. However, the program sits

at the top end of the price scale.

Our best price: £35 for one year covering three PCs, from

Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).

When it comes to the

crunch, you want your

security software to work

with as little intervention

as possible. While testing

AntiVir Personal, we ran

into problems with the

automated update server, which failed to update the product.

As a result, we were forced to manually update the product

with virus definitions, which is far from ideal.

The software failed to stop five of the 31 viruses. While it

didn’t trip over any false positives, more than 50 per cent of

the viruses either needed a further virus scan to eliminate all

traces of them, or left traces behind permanently. It’s a shame,

because the interface is clear and simple, though part of this

lack of clutter is because it doesn’t have the wide-ranging

features of the paid-for suites. It also lacks some essential

elements, such as browser and email protection.

Security Essentials doesn’t

have all the features you

would expect from a full

suite, but it is equipped to

cover your basic security

requirements. It has the

benefit of being very

straightforward to use, with a simple interface that’s easy to

understand. The main screen is tabbed, containing the relevant

status and scanning information. Further tabs are used for

updating and tweaking the settings.

The downside is that it didn’t stop all the viruses we exposed

it to. Of the 31 viruses, it let four through, leaving behind traces

(though neutralised) of another eight after scanning.

It’s better than nothing but, if you’re looking for something

more effective from your free internet security software, AVG

Free did a better job of protecting our test PC than Security

Essentials.

BullGuard’s performance

fell into the lower end of

our test results, letting

through five of the 31

viruses we exposed it to.

Part of the blame for this

is that it asks too many

questions of its users. Anti-virus software should override the

firewall, but BullGuard’s Allow button effectively ensures that

you manually let through malware that ought to have been

stopped automatically. It also wasn’t great on false positives,

asking us for advice before letting unknown programs install.

There are some good extras, though, including 5GB of

online storage for back-ups – a useful addition should disaster

strike. However, the interface is at times unclear, with the

red-on-white icons looking neat but a bit samey.

Our best price: £23 for one year covering three PCs, from

Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).

AVIRA ANTIVIR PERSONAL 10

FREE ❘ www.free-av.com

F�SECURE INTERNET SECURITY 2011

£35 ❘ www.f-secure.com

MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS 1.0

FREE ❘ www.microsoft.com/Security_EssentialsBULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY 2011

£23 ❘ www.bullguard.com

FEATURES ★★ PERFORMANCE ★★

EASE OF USE ★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★★★★

FEATURES ★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★

EASE OF USE ★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★★★★FEATURES ★★★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★

EASE OF USE ★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★

FEATURES ★★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★

EASE OF USE ★★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★

The biggest problem F-Secure Internet Security faced is that it let viruses

through while we were testing it. The rest of the software is good, with some

useful features and an interface that’s clear and concise, as well as being simple

to operate and explore.

Microsoft Security Essentials has done well in previous Web User tests but let

four of our test viruses through this time. While that’s not terrible, especially for

a free product, if you’re looking for a more secure free download, we would

recommend going with AVG Free instead.

BullGuard fell foul of our testing procedure, partly because it asked more

questions than its rivals, and this can be confusing for users. This confusion isn’t

helped by the interface. While it’s clean and well-organised, the icons look too

similar to one another to be useful at a glance.

AntiVir Personal has a straightforward interface but there’s not much more going

for this free download. It let through five of our viruses and wasn’t great at

clearing leftover residue. It also failed to download updates automatically which,

in the fast-moving world of viruses, could be a severe problem.

VERDICT ★★★

VERDICT ★★★ VERDICT ★★★

VERDICT ★★★

www.downmagaz.com

13 January 2011 51

INTERNETSECURITYSUITESGROUPTEST

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COVER

FEATUR

E

Webroot protected our PC

against all the viruses we

tested it against. However,

as we progressed through

testing, the software’s

over-zealous protection

became apparent. This

may have helped it catch

all our viruses, but it also

flagged up 10 false positives, which is far too many. As a

result, the user has to frequently intervene and tell the firewall

what is safe and what is not.

Webroot comes with a good range of extra features,

including a handy Sync & Share option that offers 2GB of

online storage space. There are also tidying-up tools to help

you securely erase files and clear your browser cache.

Our best price: £34 for one year covering three PCs, from

Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).

McAfee’s Internet Security 2011 has

the dubious honour of being the

suite that offered the least

protection of the soft

ware we tested. It let through six of

our virus threats and, while it didn’t

get stung by our false postitives, it

wasn’t spectacular at clearing away

the neutralised residue of the viruses

it did manage to catch.

The software has a dull but functional interface and plenty

of features, including parental control, defragmentation,

browser cleaning and secure deletion. It also comes with the

full version of SiteAdvisor, which works with Internet Explorer

and Firefox. However, it failed to warn us away from any of the

infected sites we used to test the virus-scanners’ mettle.

Our best price: £34 for one year covering three PCs, from

Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).

PC Tools’ Internet Security

package is stripped down

to the basics. There’s no

parental control or online

back-up, but it includes

anti-virus, anti-spam, POP3

email scanning, browser

protection and a firewall. This helps to keep a clean and

simple interface, with four large buttons displaying everything

you need to know about the basic status of the software.

In tests, we found it a bit over-protective in areas. The

software lost points for false positives by quarantining two

reasonably well-known safe programs, although it was easy

enough to retrieve these programs from the software’s

quarantine area. It also let three viruses through, which isn’t

disastrous but put it out of contention for an award.

Our best price: £25 for one year covering three PCs, from

Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).

G Data InternetSecurity let

three viruses through but

didn’t fail any of our false

positive tests. It didn’t do

so well at halting the

viruses before they hit the

computer though, relying

on a manual scan to remove problems retrospectively.

The price is a problem, too. We shopped around for most of

our other products, but G Data’s software can only be bought

full price from its own web shop. At the full suggested retail

price, this pushed the cost way above the competition.

The software has plenty of features and a reasonable

interface, but failing to compete on performance with its main

rivals and coming in over the odds on price leaves it falling

short of the pack.

Our best price: £40 for one year covering three PCs, from

G Data (www.gdatasoftware.co.uk).

MCAFEE INTERNET SECURITY 2011

£33 ❘ www.mcafeestore.com

WEBROOT INTERNET SECURITY ESSENTIALS

2011 ❘ £34 ❘ www.webroot.com

G DATA INTERNETSECURITY 2011

£40 ❘ www.gdatasoftware.co.uk

PC TOOLS INTERNET SECURITY 2011

£25 ❘ www.pctools.com

FEATURES ★★★★ PERFORMANCE ★

EASE OF USE ★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★

FEATURES ★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★

EASE OF USE ★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★★★

FEATURES ★★★ PERFORMANCE ★

EASE OF USE ★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★

It’s all very well offering full protection, but if it only does it by locking down the

whole PC, it’s not a particularly user-friendly way of going about it. The

occasional false positive can be brushed over, but when a vast majority of

software is flagged as untrustworthy, the program isn’t doing its job properly.

PC Tools is a nicely trimmed software suite if you’re not looking for all the extras

you get with some of its rivals. However, it failed to spot a couple of our

false-positive tests and let a small number of our viruses through to the system

it was protecting.

With a high price tag and a less-than-perfect performance, the G-Data software

failed to satisfy our particular requirements. The performance wasn’t bad, though

it didn’t manage to keep the computer particularly clean, even after hunting

down and neutralising the viruses with a scan.

You can have as many features as you like in a security suite, but if it doesn’t stop

viruses you might as well not bother. In our tests, McAfee’s software proved to be

the least effective when it came to stopping viruses. While parental controls and

secure erasing are nice additions, the security software must do its job first.

VERDICT ★★

VERDICT ★★★ VERDICT ★★★

VERDICT ★★

FEATURES ★★★ PERFORMANCE ★★★

EASE OF USE ★★★ VALUE FOR MONEY ★

52 13 January 2011 Discuss these results at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

OVERALL VERDICT

Although it didn’t offer the absolute best defence, we gave

the Gold Award to AVG because it came very close to the

marginally superior Trend Micro software, but did so free of

charge. If you want more protection and more features,

Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security is the way to go, but

you have to pay for the privilege. Market leader Norton

Internet Security merits a solid third place, with slick

features and security to match our Gold Award winner.

Special mention ought to go to BitDefender, which was the

only other product to offer complete protection against all

31 of our viruses, though it lost out by not being quite so

good at cleaning up the residue. }

GROUPTEST INTERNETSECURITYSUITESCOV

ER

FEATUR

E

The percentage of 31 viruses that each software protected

against, whether by blocking the site hosting the virus,

deleting it before it could act or neutralising it during a scan.

The percentage of viruses that left no trace after the

security software had done its work, whether because it

was blocked from performing any actions or the virus scan

did a thorough job of cleaning an infection afterwards.

If a false positive is flagged, we treat it as if a virus was let through. This gives a new percentage score that’s more reflective

of a product’s overall accuracy.

AVG

Trend Micro

Norton

BitDefender

Kaspersky

ESET

Microsoft

BullGuard

F-Secure

Avira

PC Tools

G-Data

Webroot

McAfee

AVG

Trend Micro

Norton

BitDefender

Kaspersky

ESET

Microsoft

BullGuard

F-Secure

Avira

PC Tools

G-Data

Webroot

McAfee

AVG

Trend Micro

Norton

BitDefender

Kaspersky

ESET

Microsoft

BullGuard

F-Secure

Avira

PC Tools

G-Data

Webroot

McAfee

Basic malware protection Complete remediation

Overall (including false positives)

100%

100%

100%

100%

97%

97%

87%

84%

90%

84%

90%

90%

100%

81%

90%

90%

68%

61%

61%

52%

74%

74%

77%

48%

97%

68%

68%

100%

97%

100%

97%

100%

97%

97%

87%

84%

90%

84%

84%

90%

%

81%

32%

www.downmagaz.com

COMPETITION

WIN!

13 January 2011 5353

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The Sandberg X-plosion Speaker Set 2.1 offers

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Dome Speaker provide thundering bass,

while the two 10-Watt table speakers

produce an attractive and balanced

treble. Volume, bass and treble are

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subwoofer.

Sandberg has teamed up withWeb User to offer readers

the chance to win one of six audio bundles containing

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Get top-quality sound on your computer! The

Sandberg USB Sound Box 7.1 lets you connect

speaker systems with up to eight speakers – you

can even choose whether to use an analogue or

digital connection. For recording purposes, you

can connect two microphones, as well as one

analogue and one digital audio source. You can

easily check all connected devices via the user-

friendly software provided, which offers a whole

host of functions.

The Sandberg USB Surround Sound Headset 5.1

is a revolutionary headset with built-in front, rear

and central speakers as well as a subwoofer –

just like a traditional surround-sound system. The

headset feeds surround sound directly into your

ears to provide an intense audio experience

when gaming or watching movies on your

computer. At the same time, you avoid disturbing

those around you. The plug-and-play headset

can be connected to any USB port.

For more information visit:

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www.downmagaz.com

Practical

13 January 2011 55Get more practical advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

Web User’s Practical pages

help you get the best out of

the web. Find answers to

common questions and learn

new PC and internet skills

Merge all your

contacts lists

PAGE 61

MEET THEWEB USER

EXPERT TEAM

WAYNE WILLIAMS

ContributorPC and web journalist since 1993

VICKY WOOLLASTON

Staff WriterWeb journalist since 2007

ROLAND WADDILOVE

ContributorComputer programmer and PCjournalist since 1981

ANDY SHAW

Technical & Reviews EditorPC and web journalist since 1993

IN THIS SECTION...56 Practical Feature

Upgrade video with Adobe Premiere Elements

58 Expert TipsExplore and customise the Windows Registry

59 Readers’ TipsThe best tips sent in by readers this issue

61 Workshops• Manage all your contacts in one place

• Transfer files and solve PC problems remotely

63 Ask the ExpertsOur technical team answers your questions

64 Readers’ HelpdeskThe best solutions posted on our reader forums

66 Get the Most From…Windows Live Mail 2011

68 How To…Make your PC more energy efficient – Part 2

Use Microsoft’s free

email service

PAGE 66

Conserve energy

on PC peripherals

PAGE 68

Read newspaper

content offline

PAGE 59

PAGE 56

Upgrade yourhome videos toHD quality

Practical

WORKSHOP

56 13 January 2011 Subscribe toWeb User’s newsletter at www.webuser.co.uk/newsletter

2Import the file you want to edit by selecting the Organize

tab. 1 Click Get Media 2 and ‘Files and Folders’. 3

Choose the file you want to upscale. If you want to use

more than one video and edit them together, load all the videos

now.

1From the File menu 1 choose New, Project (or select ‘new

project’ from the intro screen). Give the project a name 2

and choose where to save it. 3 Click on the Change

Settings button 4 and select HDV 720p 25. 5

3Click and hold your video 1 and drag it down to the

timeline bar towards the bottom of the screen. Drop it

into the slot labelled Video 1. 2 You may get a warning

that your formats are mismatched. Click No 3 because you

want to upgrade your video.

4If you want to edit your video before upgrading it, now is

a good time to do it. To cut sections from your video, go

to the beginning of the section to cut and press Ctrl+K.

Do the same at the end of the section you want to cut. Make

sure the section is highlighted, 1 then press Delete.

Upgrade your video to HD

If you’ve been making home video for any length of time, the

chances are you’ve got hours of footage tucked away on

digital tapes or on your hard disk. The trouble is, this may be

4:3 format rather than widescreen, and will almost certainly

lack the definition of the HD footage you can get from

relatively cheap cameras today. However, with a few simple

tweaks you can update old video footage for the modern era.

While you’re not going to magically get HD quality out of

lower-quality footage, you can go some way to boosting the

picture and the resolution to give more of an HD impression.

The downside is that you’ll have to buy some digital video

software to do the job. There are plenty of options, but we’ve

plumped for Adobe Premiere Elements 9, which has all the tools

you’ll need. Free video-editing options are fairly thin on the

ground but there are tricks you can use to boost the appearance

of standard-definition video for playing on HD screens – see our

expert tip (above right, page 57) for something to try with

Windows Live Movie Maker (http://explore.live.com/windows-

live-movie-maker).

Adobe Premiere Elements 9: www.adobe.com/uk/products/premiereel ❘ 5 mins

About Adobe Premiere ElementsPremiere Elements 9 (www.adobe.com/uk/products/

premiereel) is Adobe’s excellent, full-featured consumer

video-editing software. It has a suggested retail price of

£77.46, but shop around – at the time of going to press, we

saw it widely available online for less than £60 (http://bit

.ly/premiere257). You can also buy it in a bundle with

Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 – this bundle was awarded

four out of five stars in Issue 251 ofWeb User.

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Practical

13 January 2011 57

IMPROVE OLD VIDEO FOOTAGE

Get more practical advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

EXPERTTIP

5If your video was shot on an older video camera, it may

be in 4:3 ratio, while your new project will be 16:9

widescreen. Make sure your whole timeline is selected. 1

Click the Edit tab 2 and Effects. 3 Then click the Edit Effects

button. 4

6Click the arrow next to Motion 1 and make sure the

Uniform Scale box is ticked. 2 Drag the scale slider 3

to the right until the picture fills the screen. You’ll want

a bit of overlap just to ensure that no black lines appear on the

final video.

7This may harshly crop sections of video. Select a scene

you want to adjust, making it into a clip with Ctrl+K if

necessary. Hover your mouse over the vertical position 1

until the cursor turns to an arrow. Click and drag the number to

adjust the position up and down. Click Done. 2

8Some special effects may improve the appearance of

your video. Click Sharpen 1 then Apply. 2 Modern

cameras also use image stabilisers to elim inate camera

shake. You can add this retrospectively with the Image

Stabilizer option.

10Click the Share tab. 1 Choose to either write the file

to Blu-ray or DVD from the Disc option if you wish.

Or, to save an HD file, click Computer. Choose MPEG,

click the down arrow next to Presets and select ‘HD 720p 25’.

Name the file and save it.

ANDY SHAW saysIf you haven’t got Premiere Elements, there are still tricks you can use to boost your video. You could

save it to a higher resolution in Windows Live Movie Maker, though this doesn’t have any sharpening

tricks. However, if you’ve got high-resolution photos of the event you’ve filmed, try adding them as a

pan-and-scan slide show. The quality of the pictures will lift the presentation of the footage around it.

9Click Edit Effects again. Click the arrows next to Sharpen

1 and Stabilizer 2 to adjust the settings. Increase the

Sharpen Amount very slightly – don’t go over the top or

it’ll be too much. Check the Stabilizer settings – the default

should be OK.

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Practical

58 13 January 2011

EXPERT TIPS

Web User’s top tips

Visit the Hints & Tips forum at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

Restore itDouble-clicking a back-up file puts

everything back the way it was. It’s ideal

for undoing any changes you’ve made.

Another way to restore the Registry is

to click Start, Accessories, System Tools,

System Restore. Just follow the prompts

to restore the system to an earlier time.

If your PC is not working properly,

turning back the clock to a time when it

was functioning OK can solve some

problems. ERUNT can restore the

Registry too, but it works best with XP.

Clean itA clean Registry is faster and causes

fewer problems, so get Registry Life

(www.chemtable.com), Wise Registry

Cleaner Free (www.wisecleaner.com) or

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner (www.

eusing.com). Clean just a few items at

a time and make sure at each stage

that Windows is working OK. If it is,

clean a bit more. If not, undo the

changes.

Optimise itAfter removing redundant Registry

entries with clean-up tools, there will

be lots of empty space. To squeeze

every last millisecond of performance

out of your PC, optimise the Registry

with a defragmenter. Programs like

Simnet Registry Defrag (http://

simnetsoftware.com) and Auslogics

Registry Cleaner (www.auslogics

.com) are free.

Check each userSome parts of the Registry apply to

everyone that uses the computer, but

each user account also has its own

private section. After making a

change to the Registry, log on as each

user and repeat the procedure so

everyone benefits.

Boost Memory and speedIf you have 4GB of memory, you can

configure Windows to keep as much

of its system code and drivers in

memory as possible to boost the

speed. Click Start (then Run, in XP),

and type ‘regedit’ (without the

quotes). Go to HKEY_LOCAL_

MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl

Set\Control\Session Manager\

Memory Management in the left pane

and look for DisablePagingExecutive

on the right. If it doesn’t exist, select

Edit, New, DWORD Value (32-bit) and

name it DisablePagingExecutive.

Double-click the value and set it to 1.

No Task ManagerTo prevent children and other novices

accessing Task Manager and messing

up the system, go to HKEY_CURRENT

_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows

\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and

find DisableTaskMgr. If it’s not there,

click Edit, New, DWORD value and

name it DisableTaskMgr. Double-click

it and set it to 1 to disable Task

Manager or 0 to enable it.

TOP TIPS FOR THEWINDOWSREGISTRY

When you customise

Windows and any of the

programs it runs, the

settings are stored in files

collectively called the Registry. By

tweaking the settings in these files,

you can change elements of

Windows that aren’t accessible

What is the Registry?

Back it upRegedit is the tool Windows uses to

explore and modify the Registry. Click

Start (then Run, in XP) and enter

‘regedit’ (without the quotes). The

folders on the left are called keys and,

when selected, show items on the

right called values. There’s no Undo

button in Regedit, but making

back-ups is easy so, before you alter

anything, right-click the key and

select Export to create a back-up.

Enter a filename and save it in a safe

place. Right-click Computer at the top

of the key pane to back up the whole

Registry with all the settings. There

are also downloadable tools for

backing up the Registry, such as the

free ERUNT (www.larshederer.

homepage.t-online.de).

Explore itWindows and other programs create

keys and store settings in the values.

Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER and

then Software, and you’ll see keys

that have been created by programs

you’ve installed. There may even be

keys for software you’ve uninstalled.

To remove these, right-click a key and

select Delete.

There are alternatives to Regedit.

RegSeeker (www.hoverdesk.net) is a

free tool that provides easy access to

the most useful parts of the Registry.

RegScanner (www.nirsoft.net) is also

free and lets you search the Registry

for specific information. Right-click it

and select ‘Run as Administrator’. You

can then double-click search results

to open them in Regedit.

Our team of experts show you how to explore,edit, tweak and back up theWindows Registry

anywhere else on your PC. It’s a vital

part of Windows and problems with it

could prevent your computer from

working, which is why you are

sometimes warned not to meddle with

it. But Registry problems are rare and,

as long as you back-up as you go,

changes can be easily undone.

Registry cleaners are useful, but use them

with care and don’t delete too much

RegSeeker provides easy access to the

Registry and contains some useful tools

www.downmagaz.com

Practical

Right-click the Command

Prompt to run it as an

administrator

READERS’ TIPS

Your top tipsOurpickofthebestadvicefromourreaders.Togethelporoffer it toothers,visitwww.webuser.co.uk/forums

13 January 2011 59Send your tips towebuser@dennis.co.uk -win £25 for the best tip!

WINDOWS 7

Get a laptop powerefficiency report

If you have

a laptop

that runs

Windows 7,

you can

test how

efficient it is

by using the

efficiency

calculator.

The

calculator

generates

loads of

useful

information about power consumption

and can give you an idea of how to boost

your battery life and overall performance.

To get to the efficiency calculator, you

need to open a command prompt as an

administrator by typing ‘cmd’ (without

the quotes) from the Start menu. When

the cmd icon appears, right-click it and

choose ‘Run as administrator’. Now type

in ‘powercfg -energy’ (without quotes)

and hit Enter. Windows 7 will now scan

your system looking for ways to improve

power efficiency. It will then publish the

results in an HTML file, usually in the

System32 folder. Just follow the path it

gives you to find your report.

Peter Morris, Portsmouth

ANDROID

Read the Guardian offlineThis is a tip for Android Phone owners.

I’ve recently discovered a brilliant free

app called The Guardian Anywhere

(http://bit.ly/yourtips2257) that lets you

download the RSS feeds for that day’s

Guardian.co.uk, including images, so it

can be read offline. If you have a long

journey to work, on the tube for instance,

you can now read Guardian content

without the need for an internet

connection. The app can be set to

download the latest update during the

night. You can also set it to download

only via Wi-Fi, so it won’t break the

bandwidth limit on your mobile

connection.

Dangermouse 75, via Webuser.co.uk/

forums

EMAIL

Adding personal folders inOutlookI often get told that my Outlook 2007

mailbox is over its size limit but I don’t

like deleting loads of emails in one go, in

case I delete something I need. You can

create a personal folder in Outlook to

keep important emails, which makes

getting rid of the rest easier. Plus it will

free up space in your mailbox. Open

Outlook, go to File and choose Data File

Management. Then go to Add and

choose ‘Office Outlook Personal Folders

File (.pst)’. If you’ve got an older version

of Outlook, it’s still the same method but

you can choose ‘Outlook 97-2002

Personal Folders File (.pst)’ instead. Give

the folder a name and a password, if you

want to protect it, then click OK. Close

the window and your Personal Folder

should now appear in the sidebar.

Laura Glancy, via email

FIREFOX

Find text quickerYou can press Ctrl+F to open the Find

box on most programs if you want to

search a page or document for a

particular word or phrase. But you can

do this even quicker in Firefox by just

pressing the forward-slash key ‘/’.

The cursor will automatically go into a

Quick Find box, so you just start typing

TOP TIP

I sometimes watch media through my

PC on my TV. I’ve found that the

Windows 7 Media Center guide can

look a little stark and unappealing,

especially if you are staring at it on a

large screen. However, with My Channel

Logos (http://mychannellogos.com)

you can add logos for many of the

listed stations. It is a free service but

you can make a donation if you want.

A full tutorial on how to install and run

My Channel Logos can be found on

Add logos toWindows 7 MediaCenter guide

WINDOWS 7

Add channel logos to improve the

appearance Windows Media Center

£25

winner

the My Channel Logos instructions

page (http://bit.ly/yourtips1257). The

guide data looks much nicer and, on a

larger screen, aids channel selection.

You need to have a TV tuner installed

and have gone through Live TV Setup,

and it only works on Windows 7.

Ezyduzzit, via Webuser.co.uk/

forums

Read the Guardian even when you don’t

have a wireless signal

You can add a Personal Folder to your

Outlook mailbox to store important emails

and clear space

Practical

60 13 January 2011

READERS’ TIPS

Visit the Hints & Tips forum at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

the word and the cursor will find the first

instance of that word on the page and

automatically jump to it. You can use this

for links, too. Search for a word and, if it

is within a link, press Enter and the link

will open in a new tab.

Luke Williams, via email

VIDEO

Skip to the good bits inYouTubeIf you have been watching a video on

YouTube and there’s a great scene or

funny moment that you want to share

with friends, the obvious thing to do is to

copy the URL from the address box and

post it in an email, or on Facebook or

Twitter. You could tell people to skip to

the good bit at 1 minute 14 seconds in,

but there’s a better way. Right-click a

video that’s playing and select ‘Copy

video URL at current time’. Share this

with your friends and when they click it,

the video starts at the exact spot you

want. Cool!

M Harris, Southport

VISTA

Quick Launch quick tipsI’m still using Vista and despite the

criticism it got, it’s still working OK for

me. I like the Quick Launch area on the

Taskbar, just to the right of the Start

button. You can click and drag the icons

around to rearrange their order. You can

also click and drag your favourite

programs from the Start menu and drop

them on the Quick Launch area to add

an icon. If you click Start and type ‘quick’

(without the quotes), then click Quick

Launch in the Start menu, the folder

opens that contains the shortcuts. You

can add more shortcuts, delete them,

rename them and so on. If you right-click

a shortcut and select Properties, then

click Advanced on the Shortcut tab, you

can set the program to always start in

Administrator mode, which can be useful

for certain programs.

Jake Payne, Reading

GENERAL PC

Add folders to WindowsLive Essentials

I downloaded all the Windows Live

Essentials software from www.

windowslive.co.uk/essentials and I find

the Photo Gallery really useful for

keeping track of photos and other

images on my hard disk. It automatically

includes all the photos in My Pictures and

Public Pictures, but it’s useful to know

that you can add extra folders if you

have photos stored elsewhere, such as

on a USB drive. Right-click Pictures on

the left and select ‘Include a folder in the

gallery’. The folders currently included

are listed and there’s a button to add

more folders.

Paul Sweeney, via email

WINDOWS �

Monitor your resourcesIf you regularly use Task Manager to

check what programs are running, how

much memory is being used and which

programs are hogging the processor,

there’s a better utility in Windows 7. Click

Start, type ‘resmon’ (without the quotes)

and hit the Enter key. It’s really useful.

Mark Jones, via email

WINDOWS �

Burn ISO files to disc

If you’ve downloaded an ISO file, it must

be written to a CD or DVD in a special

way. You used to need special CD/DVD-

writing software to do the job, but now

it’s built into Windows 7. Right-click an

ISO file you have downloaded and you

can choose the software with which to

burn it to disc. I got a ‘lite’ version of

Nero that runs automatically when ISO

files are double-clicked, but right-clicking

and choosing Open With lets me select

Windows Disc Image Burner instead.

Steve Moore, via email

BROADBAND

Check connection quality

A lot of us use speed tests to find out

our internet speeds, but I’ve just

stumbled across a sister site to

Speedtest.net (www.speedtest.net). It’s

called Pingtest.net (www.pingtest.net)

and, rather than just testing upload and

download speeds, it assesses the quality

of your connection. Streaming media,

audio, video communications and online

gaming require more than just speed.

When you run the test, the site gives

your connection a graded rating. I did

the test and my connection got a ‘B’.

Papi11on, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

Windows Disc Image Burner is built into

Windows 7 and will burn ISO files

Test the quality of your broadband

connection with Pingtest.net

Include pictures from additional folders in

Windows Live Photo Gallery

Send YouTube video links that play from a

point of your choice within the clip

The Resource Monitor in Windows 7 shows

you which programs are running

Use the forward-slash key to open the

Quick Find box in Firefox

www.downmagaz.com

Practical

WORKSHOP

13 January 2011 61Get more practical advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

1You’ll need to turn your different contacts lists into CSV

(Comma Separated Values) files or vCards in the case of

mobile phone contacts. Each provider works slightly

differently but most can be created by going into Contacts and

choosing Export. Spreadsheet lists can be saved as CSVs too.

2Import each CSV file into Google Contacts one at a time

by clicking Import, 1 then Browse 2 or Choose File, then

select your file from your personal folders. Choosing

which group to add these into is optional. 3 Click Import 4

to finish.

3From My Contacts, click Find Duplicates. This will show

any duplicate copies of people or contact details. Make

sure the corresponding boxes are ticked, 1 then click

Merge. 2 Click details 3 to see the addresses.

4Add individual contacts using the New Contact icon, 1

or add a group using the New Group icon. 2 Give

groups a name in the dialogue box. 3 For new contacts,

you can add emails, numbers, birthdays, websites and notes to

the relevant fields. 4

5To add a batch of contacts to groups, tick the boxes next

to the contact names you want to include, 1 then go to

Groups. 2 Select the group you want from the drop-

down list. 3 To remove certain contacts, select ‘Remove from...

My Contacts’ 4 or ‘Delete contacts’. 5

6Groups can be used as mailing lists. To email everyone in

a group, click the name of the group in the sidebar. 1 All

contacts will be selected by default so untick the box for

anyone you don’t want to include. Click Email. 3

Manage all your contacts in one place

If your contacts are spread across your email, social

networks and maybe even a spreadsheet list, it’s worth

gathering them in one place. Google Contacts does this

brilliantly, making it easy to keep track of friends,

family and colleagues. It also merges duplicate

addresses and lets you create mailing lists.

Google Contacts www.google.com/contacts ❘ 10 mins

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Practical

WORKSHOP

62 13 January 2011 Get more software tips at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

1Both computers must have TeamViewer installed or

running. Each PC gets a unique ID 1 and password. 2

To connect, type in your partner’s ID 3 , select whether you

want remote access or file transfer, 4 click ‘Connect to partner’5 and enter their password.

2During remote access, you can edit all files and folders.

The remote PC’s Desktop will appear in a new window.

You don’t need extra permissions to make changes but

the remote owner can enable or disable input. 1 This is visible

but greyed out on the local PC.

3On the remote-access screen, a menu bar 1 lets you

change the view, 2 control the audio and record the

session. 3 In Actions, 4 you can hide your actions using

a black screen. If you want to use keyboard shortcuts, tick

‘Send key combinations’. 6

4Enable File Transfer from the connection screen or menu

bar in the remote-access screen. To copy files, select the

file from the right-hand side (remote PC), 1 the

destination folder on the left (local PC) 2 and click Receive. 3

To send files, reverse the selections and click Send. 4

5For regular access to a PC, configure Unattended Access.

You can then access that computer even if the other

person isn’t there. From the start screen, click Connection

1 then ‘Setup unattended access’. 2 Follow the prompts and

set a password. The other person has to accept the request.

6To end a session, click the red cross on the menu bar. 1

The owner of the remote PC can end the session by

clicking the red cross in the session window on their

Desktop. 2 This is visible but greyed out on the local PC.

Transfer files and solve PC problems remotely

Remotely accessing a PC sounds complicated but free

software TeamViewer makes it safe and easy. It’s

especially useful if someone miles away needs PC

support, or if you want to transfer files or large photos without

having to email, zip files or share online. The software can be

run straight from the download without having to be installed.

TeamViewer: www.teamviewer.com ❘ 15 mins

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www.downmagaz.com

Practical

Ask the Experts

ASK THE EXPERTS

13 January 2011 63

WebUseranswers your technical questions.

Email us for help atwebuser@dennis.co.uk

Find more solutions to PC and web problems at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

BROWSERS

Lost downloads

QI’m running Windows Vista. Last

week I started getting an error and

now I can’t open URL links in emails.

When I try to download a file from a

site, it gets cancelled. If I right-click and

try again, it appears to download but I

cannot find it on my PC. I have disabled

AVG and it made no difference. Any

suggestions would be much

appreciated.

Wilson Cowden, via email

AInternet Explorer has somehow

muddled up its settings. Resetting

it back to its original state should sort it

out. Start Internet

Explorer and then

select Tools, Internet

Options. Go to the

Advanced tab and

click Reset. Tick the

box to delete personal

settings, but be aware

that this removes any

stored usernames and passwords, so

make sure you know them. Then click

the Reset button. Quit Internet Explorer,

then click Start and type ‘Default

Programs’ (without the quotes). Click

the option when it appears on the Start

menu and select Internet Explorer in

the list of programs. Click ‘Set the

program as default’. Everything should

now be OK.

Internet Explorer saves files you

download to the last-used location. It’s

easy to click through the dialogue boxes

quickly when downloading something

and then afterwards wonder where

you saved it to. Always select the

Downloads folder or the Desktop when

downloading something and check that

this is actually where it’s been saved.

SOFTWARE

OpenOffice has frozen

QOpenOffice.org has frozen and I

can’t close it. I can’t type anything

or scroll up and down, and nothing

happens when I click on File, Tools, Help

or any other button. Also, I can’t shut

down my computer– it will only go to

standby.

I have a document that I am working

on that I don’t want to lose, but I saved

it when I last worked on it. Can you

help?

Nigel Burgess, via email

AThere is a chance you can recover

it. Press Ctrl+A (select all), then

Ctrl+C (copy). Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and

select Task Manager. Find OpenOffice.

org in the processes list (soffice.bin and

soffice.exe), right-click it and choose

End Process Tree. This closes the

program. Restart it and it might just

automatically recover the document. If

it doesn’t, create a new document and

press Ctrl+V (paste). With luck, your

document should appear. If it doesn’t,

there isn’t much you can do about it.

If your computer won’t switch off,

just hold down the power button for

five seconds. It will then cut the power.

Don’t do this unless absolutely

necessary because it doesn’t allow

programs to save documents, settings

and so on before switching off. You’ll

lose anything you were working on.

HARDWARE

Using Flash on a tablet

QI have a Commtiva N700 computer

tablet running Android. Can you

tell me how I can install a Flash player to

watch BBC iPlayer on it? Or would it be

better to have a Samsung Galaxy Tab as

this has Adobe Flash Player? Does it

work on BBC iPlayer and do both

models have 3G?

Ian Mckeand, via email

AAlthough the Commtiva N700

(www.linx-av.com) uses the

Android operating system, it isn’t

compatible with Flash. A Samsung

Galaxy is a better option if you must

have Flash. All models have 3G and the

iPlayer should work fine.

QCould you tell me how to view

deleted browser history, from

about a year ago to the present? I am

not very computer literate but have

found recent items in the search

menu. I have been told that the

search menu refreshes every 20 days

– is this true?

Tina Lemon, via email

ATo see the websites that you

have visited in Internet Explorer,

click the Favorites button on the left

and then click the History tab. You’ll

see items such as Today, Last Week,

2 Weeks Ago and 3 Weeks Ago.

Selecting one of these will show the

sites you visited at that time.

There is a limit to the number of

days that are stored, though. To see

this, select Internet Options on the

Tools menu and then click the

Settings button in the Browsing

History section of the General tab.

At the bottom is the number of days

to keep and the default is 20. The

maximum allowed is 999 days, but

unless you set this a year ago, the

pages you visited will have been

erased.

Recovering historyin IE

BROWSERS

You can set the number of days you

want IE’s website history stored

The Commtiva is a decent 3G tablet that

only costs £329.99, but it doesn’t run Flash

64 13 January 2011

Readers’helpdeskOurpickof thebest solutionspostedonour reader forums.Visitwww.webuser.co.uk/forums– it’s friendly and free!

Share your knowledge at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

WEB BUILDING

Buying a domain name

QI am looking for some advice

regarding purchasing a domain

name. I’ve identified a website address

that I’d like to use for my consultancy

business. Unfortunately, the domain

name is already taken, although when I

enter the www address, nothing comes

up. I’ve got the name and address of the

registered owner but I’m not sure what to

do next. Is it possible to purchase a

domain name?

Davidinyorkshire, via Webuser.co.uk/

forums

AIf someone already owns the

domain name you want, you have no

choice but to ask the owner if they are

willing to sell it to you. the seller can push

the price as high as they like until you

either agree or drop out of the market

and buy a different domain name.

Greysts, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

AAre there perhaps other TLDs (Top

Level Domains) available for the

name that you want to register? For

example, if .com has already been taken,

you could try one of the following and

see if they’re available: .co, .org, .co.uk,

.org.uk, .net, .biz, .info.

Mgmcc, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

SECURITY

Compromised email

QI’ve received a couple of emails that

look as though they came from my

son’s email address, but he hasn’t sent

them. They have also been sent to a

number of other addresses that are in his

address book. There is no title and the

email text just features a website address.

I haven’t tried clicking on it in case it’s

something nasty. How do I go about

finding out what it is? Should he be

worried about viruses?

LittleWing, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

AI think your son would be wise to

scan his computer with an anti-virus

program. He could also download, update

and then scan with SUPERAntiSpyware

Free Edition (www.superantispyware

.com) and Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware

(www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php).

If you’re not opening the emails or

downloading any attachments, you’re

probably fine. But it wouldn’t hurt for you

to run the anti-virus and anti-malware

programs on your own computer, too.

Heidi, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

BROWSERS

Firefox plug-in problem

QI am having terrible problems with

Firefox. It freezes, gives a semi-

opaque whitish screen and I can’t click

anywhere. I have to end the application

in the Task Manager and then end the

process on the Processes tab. I have

disabled all the plug-ins because

Windows 7 Action Center says I have a

problem with the Mozilla Firefox plug-in

container but it doesn’t tell me how to fix

QMy mouse is about to give up the

ghost. Whenever I press the left

button, it clicks more than once. So I’m

in the market for a new one. However,

due to my disability I need to kneel on

the floor, support myself against the

desk and stabilise my arm to use the

mouse. Because I’m getting older, my

knees get sore quicker and my

back gets stiff. I was

therefore thinking,

because I have

reasonable control in

my left foot, is there a

mouse that I could use

with that? Perhaps a

track-ball mouse where I

just need to click the buttons

once to lock and click again to

unlock. Does anyone know if there

is such a thing on the market?

Clum111, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

AKensington makes a range of

trackballs, such as the Kensington

Expert Mouse – see http://bit.ly/

readhelp1257 for more information.

It might also be worth looking outside

the UK. The Microspeed KIdTRAC

Trackball by Clearly Superior

Technologies (http://

clearlysuperiortech

.com) is available from

the US.

W Smith, via

Webuser.co.uk/

forums

Foot-controlled mouse

HARDWARE

it. I am having to use Google Chrome

with which I have also had freezes,

though not so many. Does anyone have

any suggestions please?

smilerviv, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

ADid you make any changes to your

computer immediately before these

problems began? If so, you could try

doing a System Restore back to a time

before you made them. The fact that you

are having freezes on Chrome as well

suggests it’s not just a Firefox problem.

If you have disabilities, a

trackball mouse may be useful

ge ng my

cker and my

in

e a

use

a

here I

e buttons

lick again to

e know if there

mig

the UK. The Micros

Trackball by Cle

Technologies

clearlysuper

.com) i

the

If you ha

trackball mouse

Firefox’s plug-in container isolates each

extension so if one crashes, it won’t take

down the whole browser

If a domain name is taken, contact the

owner or try an alternative suffix

www.downmagaz.com

13 January 2011 65

READERS’ HELPDESK

Get more tips at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

the hard disks, you should be OK.

Mgmcc, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

SOFTWARE

Missing print options inWord

QWhen printing with Word 2003, I’m

not getting the Print Dialogue box.

It just goes straight to printing and I get

no print options. If I want more than one

print, for example, I need to keep clicking

the print icon rather than being able to

set the number of copies in the Print

Dialogue. I can’t find the option to stop

Word 2003 from printing automatically

and I’m stumped how to enable the Print

Dialogue box. Can anyone advise me

please?

Jonny555, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

AThat’s the default action when you

press the print icon from the toolbar

in Word, although some other programs

will open the Dialogue box regardless of

how you choose to print. Not only will it

print one copy by default, it will also

send to the default printer. If you want to

print multiple copies or print on a

different printer, you can either press

Ctrl+P or go to File, then select Print.

Mgmcc, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

GENERAL PC

Free Registry cleaning

QA friend recently recommended a

free Registry-scan website. I ran the

scan and it found numerous errors. The

thing is it then wanted me to register to

be able to remove them. I don’t know

which of these errors I can delete but I

don’t really want to register my details.

Can anyone recommend similar software

that offers a free scan that also fixes

errors automatically?

Evertonic, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

AYou can remove the entries with

RegSeeker (www.hoverdesk.net/

freeware.htm). It’s very good and I use it

to clean up every day because there are

always a couple entries after using AIM,

for example. All green entries are 100 per

cent safe to delete. Entries marked in red

should be treated with more caution. The

first time I ran the scan, it removed over

850 keys, so it’s an excellent program.

Dude 111, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

AThe only free Registry cleaner that

I would trust is CCleaner (www.

piriform.com/ccleaner). Even then,

accepting CCleaner’s offer of a Registry

back-up before carrying out a clean-up is

recommended.

George, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

QI recently replaced my old hard

disk as it was dying. I put

Windows 7 on the new one and copied

all the files over. I have a few files that

won’t come over though. When I try to

move them I get a message saying I

need permission from the

administrator. I thought I was the

administrator so I’m assuming it means

the old installation of Windows 7. The

problem is that I can’t boot this version

anymore. How do I get the files across?

Glensumner, via Webuser.co.uk/

forums

AYou will almost certainly need to

take ownership of the files. The

simplest way of doing this in Windows

7 is to add a Take Ownership option to

Changing filepermissions

WINDOWS 7

There are things that might be worth

trying in Firefox as well though.

You could try starting Firefox in Safe

Mode (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_

mode) and see if the problem goes away.

You can get to Firefox Safe Mode by

going to the Start menu and choosing

Programs, Mozilla Firefox. If the problem

goes away, that indicates a troublesome

extension. You could try disabling all of

them, and then re-enabling them one by

one until the problem recurs. This will

then show where the trouble is.

Alternatively, you could create a new

profile (http://bit.ly/readhelp3257) to see

whether that works. Don’t delete your

existing profile, though.

Here are a couple of further links from

Mozilla and MozillaZine you may find

useful: ‘Plug-in container and out-of-

process plug-ins’ (http://bit.ly/

readhelp4257) and ‘What is plug-in

container?’ (http://bit.ly/readhelp5257).

Madeline, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

WINDOWS

Reactivating Vista Premium

QI have just bought, installed and

activated Windows Vista Premium.

The problem I have is that my hard disk

has died and I’m about to put in a new

internal hard disk to replace it. Will I have

to reactivate Vista Premium again once I

have installed it? I’m concerned that it

will reject the product key as I have

already activated it on the previous hard

disk. I don’t want to have to buy a new

product key or lose Vista Premium.

Tony044, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

AIn theory, if the only thing you’ve

done is change the hard disk, you

shouldn’t have any problems re-

registering. If you do, a simple phone call

to Microsoft explaining the situation

should fix it.

Greysts, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

AAt one time, I had Vista installed on

two separate hard disks, which were

used in the same PC, and I never had a

problem with activation when swapping

between the disks. Having only changed

the menu that appears after you

right-click on the mouse. To do this,

you’ll need to download and open a

special zip file. A thread from a

Windows 7 support forum shows you

how at http://bit.ly/readhelp6257. It is

an option in Windows Vista as well.

Mgmcc, via Webuser.co.uk/forums

Take ownership of Windows files that

have been reinstated to a new disk

Practical

T k hi f Wi d files that

CCleaner scans and removes errors for free

You shouldn’t have any problems installing

Windows Vista on a new hard disk

Get

theMost

From…

66 13 January 2011 Get more practical advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

The latest version of Windows Live

Mail has had a major makeover.

The ribbon interface found in most

modern Microsoft programs places all

the important features and commands

within easy reach and tucks away lesser

functions (such as folder management

and views) in relevant tabs along the top

of the screen.

To install the software, run the Windows

Live Essentials downloader, choose the

custom option and pick Mail from the list

of programs. You can install other

applications at the same time if you wish.

MANAGE YOUR EMAIL

Every issue we take a closer look at a websiteor program. Our subject this time is Microsoft’sfree email service

Windows Live Mail

2011

1Adding accounts to Live Mail couldn’t

be simpler. Enter an email address 1

and password, 2 and choose a display

name for sent messages. 3 The software

will recognise Hotmail and Gmail

addresses, and fill in the settings

automatically. You can manually configure

the server settings for other accounts. 4

2The message headers will be shown in

a strip on the left, 1 with the contents

in the reading window on the right. 2 If

the message contains images, you’ll need

to either add the sender to your safe list

3 or click the ‘Show images’ link 4 to

view them. Reply to a message or

forward it using the buttons in the ribbon.

3The default layout is designed for

widescreen monitors but you can

change it by clicking the View tab. 1

Click ‘Message list’ or ‘Reading pane’, 2

and select the option you want to apply.

‘Calendar pane’ 3 toggles the calendar

on or off. 4 ‘Compact view’ 5 reduces

the left panel to icons. 6

4‘Quick views’ lets you filter your Inbox

to just show unread messages, emails

from contacts or unread feeds. You can

toggle ‘Quick views’ on or off 1 (yellow

means it’s on) and also add or remove

filters by clicking the ‘Quick views’ button

2 and selecting the ones you want. 3

Click OK to update the views list.

5To set up and view web feeds, click

the Feeds option, 1 followed by the

Feed button. 2 Enter the URL of the site

to subscribe to. 3 The list of feeds will

appear on the left and you’ll be able to

view all unread stories, 4 or browse the

subscriptions individually. 5

Windows Live Mail lets you access multiple POP and IMAP

accounts from one location. Here’s how to use it.

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-mail

2

1

2

3

4

5

1

3 4

6

1

2

3 5

4

23

1

24

5

3

1

www.downmagaz.com

Practical

13 January 2011 67Get more email help at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

GET THEMOST FROM...

6You can send high-res photos to

friends without overloading their

Inboxes by using Windows Live SkyDrive

as a holding area. Click the ‘Photo email’

button 1 and then sign in to Windows

Live Mail using your Live ID. 2 If you

don’t have one, click the link to sign up

for a new account. 3

7Browse for the photos you want to

add to the new message. The photos

will be laid out in an album view. 1 You

can edit the text, 2 change the layout

and turn the expiration date option on or

off. 3 When a friend receives the email,

they’ll be able to view the photos in

SkyDrive by clicking the thumbnails.

8You can find any message in your

Inbox by sorting or searching for it.

Click the ‘Sort by’ arrow 1 and choose

the criteria you want to order your Inbox

by. 2 If you’ve picked a different view,

you can just click the column header.

Alternatively, type a sender name or some

message text into the search box. 3

QUICKACCESSTOOLBAR

The most commonly

used options can be

accessed through the title

bar menu. Click the

down-arrow to choose

which ones to display.

JUNK

Select a message and click

this button to mark it as spam

and remove it from your

Inbox. Click the down arrow

to access the safety options.

CALENDAR

Click this button to open the

Calendar full screen. You

can add events by right-

clicking a date, or by using

the ‘Add to calendar’ button

on the Home tab.

FOLDERS

It’s easy to organise your

Inbox – just create some

folders and drag

messages to them.

21

3

11 2

3

2

3

68 13 January 2011

HowTo...

Missed Part 1 of our Energy-saving How To? Download it at www.webuser.co.uk/255

job completes. Always use the on/off

button on an inkjet, rather than turning it

off at the mains, as this will park the print

heads and avoid the device having to go

through a wasteful self-test and cleaning

cycle the next time you turn it back on.

Unplug your routerTurning off your Wi-Fi router when it’s

not actively connected to the internet

can help save power and prevent hackers

from gaining access to your network.

Always remember to shut it down when

you go on holiday.

Extend your battery lifeBattery-powered devices such as laptops,

Make your PCmoreenergy efficient

Wayne Williams offers cash-saving tips forconserving the energy used by PC peripherals

Part 2 ❘ Peripherals and other devices

PartTwo

Turn off your printerYour printer only needs to be on when

want to print something, so try to get

into the habit of turning it off after each

It’s obvious that leaving your

computer on overnight wastes

electricity, but other devices – such

as your printer, mobile phone charger

and router – may also be consuming

power unnecessarily. In the second part

of this project, we’ll show you how to

conserve power on your peripherals and

look at some useful gadgets that can

help you track and reduce your overall

energy usage.

iPods and mobile phones only use power

when connected to the mains, so the

longer you can make a charge last the

better. One of the biggest drains is the

backlight, so you should reduce the

device’s brightness and decrease the

length of time it has to be idle before the

screen is dimmed.

You should save heavy tasks – such as

defragging your laptop’s hard disk – for a

time when your hardware is connected to

the mains.

Bluetooth can sap your mobile’s

battery life, so turn it off until you need it.

Screensavers and animated wallpaper

use a lot of power too, so get rid of them.

Disable location services and pushYour printer only needs to be on when you

print, so turn it off when it’s not in use

www.downmagaz.com

On sale

27 Jan

Practical

13 January 2011 69

HOWTO...

Get more hardware tips at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

notifications when they’re not needed.

Extreme temperatures can affect a

battery’s lifespan, so avoid leaving a

phone in your car’s glove compartment

on a hot day.

The timing of a battery charge can also

make a difference. You don’t want to

keep topping up the battery every time it

drops a little way, nor do you want to

leave it until it’s completely dead. It’s best

to wait until the battery has drained most

of the way down and then charge it fully.

For more tips on increasing battery life,

see our feature on page 38.

Unplug chargersDespite what you may have heard,

leaving a mobile phone charger plugged

in when it’s not in use won’t consume a

massive amount of power. The exact

drain varies from model to model.

That said, it certainly won’t hurt to get

into the habit of unplugging it once it’s

finished charging, as even small savings

add up in the long term.

Monitor your energy useMost of us have no real idea of how much

electricity we use on a daily basis, which

makes cutting down on waste much

more difficult. Attaching an energy

monitor to your mains-supply cable will

let you see at a glance exactly how much

power is being

used at any

given

moment.

You’ll even be

able to work

out how much

electricity

individual

items require,

simply by

turning them

on and off

and noting

the difference.

Some energy

suppliers

provide free monitors with selected

tariffs, so it’s worth checking to see if

yours does and whether you’re eligible

for one. If not, you can always buy an

energy monitor, such as the Owl+USB

Wireless Electricity Monitor (www.

theowl.com). This costs £39.95 including

free delivery.

Use Google PowerMeterPowerMeter (www.google.com/

powermeter) is a free energy-monitoring

service that lets you keep track of your

home’s energy consumption online. To

use it, you’ll either need to change your

supplier to First Utility (www.first-utility

.com) or purchase a compatible monitor

from AlertMe (www.alertme.com/

products) or Current Cost (www.

currentcost.com/powermeter). Once

you’ve set up PowerMeter, you’ll be able

to see how much energy you’re using,

predict your costs and set up an energy-

savings goal. PowerMeter will show you

how much over or under this target your

energy usage is.

Banish standbyPutting a device on standby isn’t

particularly energy efficient because

although it looks switched off, it’s

actually still consuming power. The best

way to stem this wasteful flow is to

unplug all your devices, but who can be

bothered to do that every night before

A monitor from Current Cost will let you

use PowerMeter without switching supplier

An energy monitor will

help you work out the

energy use of individual

devices

Energy-saving plugs can turn your devices

off at the mains via a remote control

bed? The easiest solution is to add one

or more energy-saving plugs to your

set-up. These can be trained to recognise

any button on a standard infrared remote

control, which can be used to fully turn

off the connected device and turn it back

on again when needed.

Until 21 March 2011, you can get a free

LIME energy-saving plug worth £20 from

www.freegreengadgets.co.uk. Other

options worth a look include Bye Bye

Standby (www.byebyestandby.com) and

One Click Technologies’ IntelliPlug (www.

oneclickpower.com). Note that these

plugs are not suitable for fridges, freezers

and entertainment devices that use

timers to record TV programmes.

Google’s Powermeter is an online tool that keeps track of your home’s energy consumption

NEXT ISSUE HowTo... SolvePCemergencies

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Install a microfilter

Investing in amicrofilterwhich splits your

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72 13 January 2011 Sign up to our newsletter at www.webuser.co.uk/newsletter

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SolwiseNET-PL-200AV Notparticularly fastbutgreatvalue formoney ★★★★ £37.24each http://bit.ly/solwisebronze 15/07/2010 Bronze

Google Reader, free

http://bit.ly/greadergold

Our rating ★★★★

Google Reader offers a

fantastic level of control over

incoming news items, but it

sometimes feels like the tool

that time forgot. Although this makes it

a little awkward to use, it’s definitely

worth the effort.

REVIEWED: 23/09/2010

Web of Trust, free

http://bit.ly/wotgold

Our rating ★★★★★

Web of Trust is an excellent

filtering tool that relies on

its community of users to

examine and rank websites for

content relevance and safety. It awards

points in four areas – trustworthiness,

privacy, child safety and vendor reliability.

REVIEWED: 08/04/2010

PRODUCT NAME OURVERDICT RATING PRICE REVIEW/URL DATE AWARD

PCsUNDER�600

LAPTOPS�500��550

AcerAspire7741 The 17.3indisplaymakes this laptopa joy touse ★★★★★ £500 http://bit.ly/acergold 02/12/2010 Gold

PackardBell EasyNoteTM99 Excellentbalanceofperformanceandbattery life ★★★★ £530 www.packardbell.co.uk 02/12/2010 Silver

Dell Inspiron 15R SolidperformanceandplentyofUSBports ★★★★ £544 www.dell.co.uk 02/12/2010 Bronze

Chillblast FusionRapier Greatall-roundperformanceatagoodprice ★★★★★ £586 http://bit.ly/rapiergold 16/12/2010 Gold

Wired2FireVX-5 Notagamesmachine,but includesaBlu-raydrive ★★★★ £579 www.wired2fire.co.uk 16/12/2010 Silver

PalicompCore i3Blast Solidperformanceand roomfor customisation ★★★★ £586 www.palicomp.co.uk 16/12/2010 Bronze

GOLD

AWARD

GOLD

AWARD

AccuWeather www.accuweather.com 33Adobe Premiere Elements 9 www.adobe.com/uk/products/premiereel 56AdvancedPopup http://bit.ly/advancedpopup257 36AeroWeather http://spikex.net 33Ain’t It Cool News www.aintitcool.com 15AlertMe www.alertme.com/products 69Amazon Wish List Button http://bit.ly/amazonwishlist257 35Android Market www.android.com/market 38AniWeather www.aniweather.com 33Any New Books? www.anynewbooks.com 13AppJump http://bit.ly/appjump257 36Asda – The Brewhouse http://bit.ly/asda257 16Astra www.ses-astra.com 45Auslogics Registry Cleaner www.auslogics.com 58Avanti www.avantiplc.com 45AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2011 http://free.avg.com 47Avira AntiVir Personal 10 www.free-av.com 50Barlesque http://bit.ly/barlesque257 34BetterWorldBooks.co.uk www.betterworldbooks.co.uk 14Bing Maps www.bing.com/maps 30Bing Streetside www.microsoft.com/maps/streetside.aspx 30Bingo Loopy www.bingoloopy.com 14BitDefender Internet Security 2011 www.bitdefender.co.uk 48Boomerang for Gmail http://boomeranggmail.com 41British Gas EnergySmart http://bit.ly/smart257 21BullGuard Internet Security 2011 www.bullguard.com 50Buymycardirect.com www.buymycardirect.com 12Bye Bye Standby www.byebyestandby.com 69CCleaner www.piriform.com/ccleaner 65Chrome www.google.co.uk/chrome 18Chrome TV http://bit.ly/chrometv257 36Clearly Superior Technologies http://clearlysuperiortech.com 64Comment Save http://bit.ly/comment257 36Commtiva N700 www.linx-av.com 63Cortex http://cortexapp.com 41Current Cost www.currentcost.com/powermeter 69Diff-IE http://bit.ly/diffie257 35Disconnect http://bit.ly/disconnect257 41Drunken Disorderly Inn www.drunkendisorderlyinn.com 15Earth Alerts http://earthalerts.manyjourneys.com/web 33EmailTray www.emailtray.com 43Energy Saving Trust http://bit.ly/energy257 21ERUNT www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de 58ESET Smart Security 4 Home Edtn www.eset.co.uk 49Eusing Free Registry Cleaner www.eusing.com 58Eutelsat www.eutelsat.com 44F-Secure Internet Security 2011 www.f-secure.com 50Facebook Photo Zoom http://bit.ly/photozoom257 36Facebook Photo Zoom Firefox http://bit.ly/zoomfirefox257 36File Host Link Checker http://bit.ly/filehostlink257 35Firefox Gmail Notifier http://bit.ly/gmailfire257 36First Utility www.first-utility.com 69FlashCatch Video Downloader http://bit.ly/flashcatch257 35Free Green Gadgets www.freegreengadgets.co.uk 69G Data InternetSecurity 2011 www.gdatasoftware.co.uk 51Germany is Wunderbar www.germanyiswunderbar.com 12Get Someone Online www.get-someone-online.com 16Google Calendar Checker extension http://bit.ly/calendarchecker257 36Google Contacts www.google.com/contacts 61Google Mail Checker Plus http://bit.ly/googlemail257 36Google Maps http://maps.google.co.uk 30Google Maps for Mobile 5.0 www.android.com/market 43Grooveshark Remote Control http://bit.ly/grooveshark257 34

History Deleter http://bit.ly/history257 35HTC Home 2.0 www.htchome.org 33Inception http://bit.ly/inception257 43Invaders: Corruption http://invaders.manuelvandyck.com 40Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 www.kaspersky.co.uk 49Kensington Expert Mouse http://bit.ly/readhelp1257 64Lazyscope www.lazyscope.com 42Lightworks www.lightworksbeta.com 42Link Toggler http://bit.ly/linktoggler257 34Love http://bit.ly/love257 20Magix Audio Cleaning Lab www.magix.com/gb 43McAfee Internet Security 2011 www.mcafeestore.com 51Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials 50Microsoft Security Essentials 2 www.microsoft.com/security_essentials 40MSN Games http://games.msn.com 15My Channel Logos http://mychannellogos.com 59National Geographic Traveller www.natgeotraveller.co.uk 15National Lottery Official App http://bit.ly/lottery257 43National Trust Ancient Tree Walks www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ancienttreewalks 14O3b Networks www.o3bnetworks.com 45One Click Technologies’ IntelliPlug www.oneclickpower.com 69Owl+USB Electricity Monitor www.theowl.com 69Ozone http://bit.ly/ozone257 36PC Checker www.pcchecker.co.uk 14PC Tools Internet Security 2011 www.pctools.com 51Pingtest.net www.pingtest.net 60Pirelli www.pirelli.co.uk 16PowerMeter www.google.com/powermeter 69Prospector Instant Preview http://mozillalabs.com/prospector 35Registry Life www.chemtable.com 58RegScanner www.nirsoft.net 58RegSeeker www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm 58, 65Remember The Milk Tasks http://bit.ly/rememberthemilk257 36Resolution Revolution www.resolution-revolution.org.uk 13Save as WWF www.saveaswwf.com/en 41Save Your Facebook Content http://bit.ly/savefacebook257 34Sedogo www.sedogo.com 16Simnet Registry Defrag http://simnetsoftware.com 58Skiclub.co.uk www.skiclub.co.uk 16Speedtest.net www.speedtest.net 60Spoon http://spoon.net 41Starfare www.starfare.eu 43SwisticMing www.swisticming.com 13Symantec Norton 2011 www.symantec.co.uk 48Tab Vault http://bit.ly/tabvault257 36Tariam www.tariam.co.uk) 44Task Coach www.taskcoach.org 42TeamViewer www.teamviewer.com 62The Guardian Anywhere http://bit.ly/yourtips2257 59The Weather Land www.theweatherland.com 33Trend Micro Titanium 2011 http://uk.trendmicro.com 47TrustedHousesitters.com www.trustedhousesitters.com 15TweetJockey www.tweetjockey.co.uk 14UKsnow Map http://uksnowmap.com 33VirtualDJ Home www.virtualdj.com 40Weather Quickie www.weatherquickie.com 33Weather Underground www.wunderground.com 33Webroot Internet Security Essentials www.webroot.com 51Whistle www.whistle.co.uk 12Windows 7 Compatibility Search http://bit.ly/windows257 35Windows Live Essentials www.windowslive.co.uk/essentials 60Windows Live Mail 2011 http://explore.live.com/windows-live-mail 66Wise Registry Cleaner Free www.wisecleaner.com 58

74 13 January 2011 Find a full list of this issue’s links at www.webuser.co.uk/forums

WEBSITE DIRECTORYA-to-Z links towebsites featured in this issueofWebUser

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system (unless otherwise stated). Consumers are entitled to cancel orders within 7 working days beginning the day after the date of delivery; Dell collection charge is £23 Incl. VATfor system purchases and £11.50 Incl. VAT for accessory purchases. Terms and Conditions of Sales, Service and Finance apply and are available from www.dell.co.uk. If you wish notto receive further marketing material via fax or direct mail please inform us via email: delluk@clientmail.eu.com; post: Dell - Suppressions. PO Box 59, ROSS ON WYE, HR9 7ZS,United Kingdom; or fax: 0800 3283071. Delivery charges range from £5.75 to £14.95 incl. VAT per item for items purchased without a system. Dell’s general Terms and Conditionsof sale apply and are available on www.dell.co.uk Dell Services do not affect customer’s statutory rights. They are subject to Terms and Conditions which can be found at www.dell.co.uk/consumerservices/termsandconditions. TRADEMARK AND COPYRIGHT NOTICES: Intel, the Intel Logo, Intel Inside, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of IntelCorporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Microsoft, Windows and Windows Vista are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. ©2010 Dell Inc.

Windows®. Life without Walls™. Dell recommends Windows 7.

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Dell Inspiron One 23Starting Price £549

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• 1GB ATI Radeon™ HD 5470 Graphics Card

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