Page 59 - Computeractive - January 2, 2018 UK
P. 59

means a c hoice b etween nothing and                                                        Activate
         nada. Y es, i t’s f ree, and i s q uickly becoming                                          Windows’
         a f avourite with Computeractive readers                                                    ‘Storage sense’
                                                                                                     to keep your
         and  w  riters alike ( we’ll s tart including i t                                           PC free of
         soon in our M  ake O ffice B etter p age).                                                    unwanted files
           These downloadable programs are i deal
         for h eavy office u sers. I f y our n eeds are
         less a dvanced, try Microsoft’s free Office
         Web  A pps ( www.snipca.com/25198) a nd
         Google Drive (https://drive.google.com).
         The latter is more versatile b ecause it
         works o ffline. M  icrosoft is unlikely to
         provide this because it still wants p eople
         to cough up for t he paid-for versions of
         Office.

            Using p oor s creen-recording
         5apps on iPhone and i Pad
         One o f t he best things about an update  commentary to your recording. Y o ur
         to Windows, iOS a nd Android is they  videos are s aved on your Camera Roll, s o  THE £ 75M  B ITCOIN MISTAKE
         come with new  t ools built i nto t he system,  open the P hotos app  t o w atch and  e dit
         meaning you  n o l onger n eed to use  them.                            Whatever mistakes you m  ade this y ear,
         shoddy apps made by other d evelopers.                                  be thankful n one cost you £ 75m. That’s
         One o f t he most useful in 2017 was t he  Letting o ld files clog up    the a pproximate v alue of 7,500 Bitcoins
         new  s creen-recording t ool i n  i OS 11,  6 your PC                   stored on a h ard d rive that James
         released  a t t he end  o f S eptember.  With a n ew Paint 3 D  a pp, M  icrosoft  Howells, an IT worker from Newport,
           Y o u  fi rst n eed to add  i t t o y our C ontrol  wanted the C reators Update to inspire t he  threw away in 2013. A t t he time i t w as
         Centre by tapping Settings, C ontrol  inner a rtist i n  a ll of us. M  ore u seful  worth a f ew hundred thousand pounds.
         Centre, C ustomise Controls, t hen  t apping  though was t he ‘Storage sense’ t ool,  But as the p rice o f t he cryptocurrency
         the g reen button  n ext t o S creen  which  a utomatically d eletes temporary  has rocketed (by o ver 1 ,000 per cent
         Recording. Next, open the C ontrol Center  files that your programs aren’t using.  this y ear), so has the v alue of his l ost
         by swiping u p  f rom  t he bottom of your  The Fall Creators Update, r eleased  i n  hard drive. Howells s ays i t’s b uried i n
         screen. Y ou should see t he red  S creen  October, added  t he option to delete files  a l andfill site o wned by Newport C ity
         Recording b utton  i n  t he bottom-left  in the D ownloads f older t hat h aven’t  Council, and i s s eeking permission to
         corner (see screenshot below). When you  changed  i n  3 0  d ays. ‘Storage sense’ i s  look for i t. But he accepts t hat it’s a “ big,
         tap this to start a r ecording, you’ll be  turned off by default. Activate it by  expensive and r isky p roject”.
         prompted to turn the m  icrophone on or  going t o S ettings, S ystem, S torage, t hen
         off. T urn  i t o n  i f y ou want to add  a  clicking the ‘ Storage s ense’ s lider ( see
                                            screenshot above).                 attacked by ransomware. Y our fi les should
                                                                               now  b e b eyond  t he reach  o f h ackers. J ust
                                                Hoping that ransomware         make sure you  d on’t ditch  y our h ard  d rive
                                            7 will go away                     in a l andfill site (see box  a bove).
                                            There are t wo strategies for d ealing w  ith
                                            ransomware. O ne is what we call the   Emailing l arge files
                                            stick-your-fingers-in-your-ears-and-  8 One p rogram that deserved greater
                                            hope-it-goes-away method. It’s tempting,  plaudits in 2017 was t he free FileDirect
                                            but deeply fl awed. A nother i s t o d evise a  (www.oo-software.com/en/filedirect)
                                            clever backup  p rocedure to keep your  from German software company O &O.
                                            files safe. Th  at’s the p lan we prefer.  Released  i n  M  ay, i t l ets you  s end  fi les of
                                              The key t o s urviving an attack is saving  any s ize w  ithout having to attach them to
                                            your files to a h ard  d rive that’s not  an email. Y o u  n eed the p rogram installed
                                            normally connected  t o y our P C. Free  on your PC, b ut the r ecipient doesn’t.
                                            program  V eeam Agent ( www.snipca.  Instead you  s end  t hem  a d ownloadable
                                            com/26464) d oes t he job. It can back  u p  link  b y e mail which  t hey o pen  i n  t heir
                                            files on a s chedule, but we recommend  browser ( Chrome, F irefox and  O pera; i t
                                            choosing t he option to back  u p  w  hen  t he  doesn’t w  ork  o n  E dge a nd iOS d evices).
                                            ‘target’ is connected. This m  eans it will  Also new  t his y ear w as Firefox  S end
                                            automatically b ack  u p  fi les when you  (https://send.firefox.com), which  s ends
                                            attach your hard drive. Also tick  t he ‘Eject  files up to 16GB (though Firefox
                                            removable s torage once backup  i s  recommends no bigger than 1GB  f or
                                            completed’ option. Y ou should save  “reliable o peration”). The email l ink
         Tap t he bottom-left S creen R ecording b utton  V e eam’s R ecovery M  edia fi le to a U SB  received by the r ecipient self-destructs
         to record a v ideo i n i OS 11     stick  s o y ou can access your files from it if  after 24 hours.


                                                                                      20 December 2017 – 2 J anuary 2018  59
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