PC AND INTERNET PROBLEMS SOLVED eb . . é Aatethes yy Sx ae = RECOVER tested / ey ALL FILES web ea Lost photos « Deleted emails / Forgottenpasswords = / - Missing documents \4 63.00 Who's ° ihe N watching you on —/ a 7 the web? \. 4 Y ©67 5 DOWNLOADSYOURS IS HERE INSPIRON 15, £349 £90 DELL RECOMMENDS WINDOWS VISTA® HOME PREMIUM. studio 15 MINI 10v nee 545 ALL NW Wand avoncter ‘ur ive-portableinteret companion Dade aor em £199 £349 £190 LIVEN UP YOUR DELL WITH A CHOICE OF BRIGHT COLOURS, GO TO DELL.CO.UK Click: dell.co.uk/deals | Call: 0844 444 3265 mg . . ENJOY DIGITAL MEDIA WITH WINDOWS VISTA aa Windows Vista’ windows vista* Home Premium delivers entertainment at home and on the go - making it easy to enjoy photos, music, TV and Home Premium movies while providing a whole new level of security and reliability.Allis not lost! protect your gadgets against the elements so there's no excuse not to visit www.webuserco.uk via your iPhone while lounging on the beach this summer! Claire Wotfenden, Editor claire_woffenden@ipemedia.com ISSUE 216 18 JUNE 2009 FEATURES 10. Phorm - targeted content and advertising ‘We lif the lid on how the service works 20 Recover lost data ‘Our expert guide to rescuing deleted files 28 Weather-proof your gadgets Keep your deviees safe from sand and sea 30 Gardening websites Nine top sites offering green-fingered tips 32 Who's watching you online? All you need to know about online privacy 56 Watch wildlife on the web TO webcams to get you closer to nature REGULARS 4 News All the latest on the web this fortnight 12 Letters 14 Everyone's Clicki Clips, games and ot 16 Best New Websites 40 Best Free Software 44 INSTANT EXPERT OneDrum 70 Essentials 71 Classified 73 GEXTESIEIS WIN CrazyTalks Pro software and a BT Online Starter Kit with ‘one year's free broadband! 74 Checkout The latest money-saving offers on the webs PRODUCTS 46 New Products 48 GROUP TEST MP4 players Eight devices for wate 52. Product Reviews + EeoBox PC 8208, + D-Link OIR-625 Wireless-N Quadband Home Router rapes wmoeczooe, Corecyce Sign up to our daily news alerts at www.webuser.co.uk/newsletter on fun diversions ing video on the go PRACTICAL ‘WEB USER 1PC|INSPIRE pC) Xe} tr slp Practical Feature Stay secure online with atwieb browser Expert Tips New tricks for Word 97 Readers’ Tips Practical Werkshop 1 Photo fun with Magix FunPix Maker Practical Workshop 2 Enhance emails with Zemanta ‘Ask the Experts ‘Solutions from our technical team. Readers’ Helpdesk “Answers from our reader forums Got the Most From. TweetDeck How Tom. ‘Customise your Desktop - Port three Tana aS 18 June 2009 3‘02’s iPhone 3GS__ pricing causes outrage 2's pricing plans for the new version of the iPhone, the 365, have come in for fierce erticiem, To get your hands on one of the new iPhones for free, you will need fork out for a £75-per- ‘month contract over an 18-month period. ‘Anyone wanting the €30- or €35-per-month tariff will also have to pay £185 up front to get ‘an iPhone 3GS. Existing iPhone owners wi have to wait until they are in the last month of their contract to get special upgrade deals or buy thelr way out of existing contracts. Outraged iPhone fans have set up a petition demanding that 02 “offers existing iPhone customers a reasonable way to upgrade to the iPhone 36S”, Mote than 3,200 people had Jgned the petition at the time of writing. The iPhone 3GS is claimed to be several 4 18 June 200! ery imes faster than its predecessor and runs a new version of the Mac operating system. It also has @ 3-megapixel, auto-focusing camera. The new model can capture video content, unlike previous models. It has voice-contr features for calling, controlling video playback, and listening to music. ‘A MMS (multimedia messaging service) function has been added. You can also. download video content onto your iPhone directly from iTunes. The new iPhone operating system, iPhone 3.0, will let you use landseape mode in more tions such as Mail and Messages and is, available to all iPhone owners, no matter whether they have the new model or not. www.apple.com/uk/iphone wwwo2.co.uk Send Peas ey eg Cooney ee eed Coes Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Gin Gang explains the country's plans to Install web-blocking software on new PCSBT offers free speed boosts ‘thlidipernianmeltheseols B inary of abuses ere home ssid provide lone of ts customer In brief ® Fasthosts says sorry for ‘email outage Hosting fiem Fasthosts has apologised to customers affected by a technical issue" that cut off access to their email for a short period of time. The company said that the problem caused many of the email accounts it hosts to go offline for around 45 minutes. Around 100 customers were affected foralonger cent of the period of time but all homes and problems have since been businesses in resolved, the UK, ‘www fasthosts.co.uk 87, the largest ISP in the UK with 4a milion customers, declined to provide alist of exchanges able to offer the 20Mbps speed, but the company confirmed the bulk of them were inurban areas The news came just days after ST admitted throttling’ connection speeds of customers on its cheapest package during peak times. It Confirmed that it does cut the speed at which Users can watch videos on YouTube and the iPlayer during evening times, "in order to ‘optimise the experience for all customers’ wwwibt.com NUMBER OF THE Lied FORTNIGHT The total number of web domains registered, according to recent figures from Verisign @ Yahoo shuts 360° Yahoo is telling users ofits 360° service to move their blog entries ‘and! photographs before the service shuts on 13 July. Yahoo explained that it wanted to let all members have the same facilities available on their profile pages when they logged into Yahoo, rather than having to a0 visit the Yahoo 360° site. Yahoo 360° launched in March 2005, offering members social- networking, photo- sharing and blogging wwwyahoo.co.uk Tazbar auction house to close nline auction house Tazbar is set to shut its doors in July citing commercial reasons for the closure The site emailed members to tell them: "Tazbar.com will ease to trade as an online auction venue on 16 July 2008. This is purely a commercial decision and doesn't reflect on the wonderful people that we have met and had the pleasure of being involved with during the lifetime of the F the message continued. Tho site is no longer charging for any serviees, the site's managing director Lee Markham said It ell remain open until 16 July so mambers can continue to trade and conclude any business. Based in Market Drayton in Shropshire, Tazbar was set up in ‘August 2006, Ownership and running Of the site was taken over by three of Its development team in early 2008. wwwitazbarcom Don’t miss our daily news at www.webuser.co.uk/news NEWS Bing www.bing.com. Ing Mcrosots atest attempt to Born neccre enchant (feenoesenais ems roto describes Bing no 'decon engines leary wart fo promoter at tmore than conventional search gine Succarfu search engines need te fat relevant and ent tou, 0 how does Singvatein these ee kay eons rat took completely dierent tots predecessor, Le Search, The log Fomapegefsturessterrating nage of trons otal beauty sight cheeey tut cartel ena on the ey than both Google an Yahoos ied relent homepages. lng er a threecolrn format atts contr, adverts onthe Hh and rlted fearch terme on thee ts ferent rom the nny Gooole presets ts rests, but tes cony to se and you shoula get he trom the homepage you can search the webinits entirety or mine mre specie Categories sich as mages, Videos, News tna Maps Search tes conducted by Web iter on ting and te main vals, Yahoo ted @cogl, showed that in ttre of Fetevancy al three more or less proven the same reaute when ing the term ‘London congetion charge ites prodied sila reauts in soeed tate although realtime services fich ater force search aloes to get evr fie. category the abit to autoplay videos teh ce the ete de tvs ou siden ever locKng st ibetore you click trough With te Shopping an Maps searches however, Bing stl hat ator eating ub ted, tsoecialy wth Sooo, ing ln beta in the UK and there wap thar weaks ver the coming Imontha However thie a strong start fTom Mieroveft and ovat improvement on tive Senrch: But whether people wise R ingrest nombers isan anever you wont find on any earch onion 18 June 2009 5Ben Camm-Jones News Editor Scrap books mold Schwarzenegger, The Terminator star-turmed-politician, has generated a few ripples with his suggestion that school textbooks should be scrapped in favour of the web. On the face of it, the governor's plans to save $350m (€218m) of funds - the sum paid by the state of California for textbooks last year - is an admirably frugal move. Textbooks are expensive to buy (even in bulk), they get tatty in no time and aro a pain to carry around, especialy if you need different ones for each class. Arnia's bid to dispose of tomes in favour of the internet further reinforces his green credentials particularly when you consider how much more environmentally friendly textbooks on the internet would be to the print equivalent (we'll The thought of scrapping textbooks in favour of the net strikes a note of alarm’ uietly sidestep the governor's past devotion to Hummers) ‘And yet. the thought of scrapping textbooks in favour of the net strikes note of alarm, not least because of the ve track recone) web's less-than-impre with factual accuracy. While textbooks have alway: ‘mostly ~ been trustworthy sourct web is notorious for spreading misinformation. Wikipedia - the online encyclopaedia written by the people, for the people - may have sound editorial policies bu responsible for bringing incorrect information into the public domain, both accidentally and deliberately Teaching youngsters to recognise the difference between reliable and unreliable sources, both of the primary and secondary kind, is crucial. Whether you're educated in Ori it's vital to develop critical faculties - both online and in the r So scrapping textbooks could be a good thing, provided that we make absolutely et ts authors have often been sure that youngsters are educated t fact fram fiction and that trusted online sources are allowed to shine through Pirate storms European Parliament eden, home of notorious "Al nor- vatensamre™ searchers complaining that it often returns ee results which are nothing to do with the ies topic searched for. “Google Squared see could quite possibly be ‘one of Googie’s significant achievements [but it stil needs a lot of improvement.” said Nathania Johnson of SearchEngineWatch.com. ‘www goosle.com/squared tr Wireless keyboard warning f you use a wireless Keyboard, you may be better off switching to a wired keyboard in order to protect your passwords and other details" Symantec said in a statement The company “strongly recommends returning to wired keyboards in the office and public places te avoid making your ertical data vulnerable’ wwe symantec:com NOKIA N97 kia has announced that its much-anticipated N97 handset will be ‘coming to the UK on 19 June, The touchscreen handset, which also features 3268 of internal storage, a Qwerty keyboard and a S-megapixel camera, will initially cost £500 for @ SIM-free handset. However, on 26 June, Orange, 3, T-Mobile and Vodafone will be selling the handsets on contract. wwwinokla.co.uke 18 June 2009 7) SECURITY ALERT! eee KASPERIKY 2 ® 250 million people protected. Are you? There's a growing army of criminals who are Unleashing more than 17.000 new internet threats a day. Kaspersky" Internet Security is the one-stop security solution that offers a worry-free computing environment for you and your family Save 50 per cent on award-winning Kaspersky Internat Security 2009, Enter the coupon code IPCSO at checkout when buying online at ww. kasperskyico.uk/store, ® Apple fixes flaws Security vulnerabilities in ‘Apple's iTunes and QuickTime software have been fixed in updates of both programs. Both flaws Could let hackers take control of a PC or Mac when a specially created file is opened. iTunes 82 and QuickTime 76.2 can bbe downloaded by ‘opening iTunes, clicking on Help and selecting ‘Check for Updates' from the drop-down menu. wwwapple.com/uk ® IM account info online Security firm Symantec has warned that information relating to instant-messaging accounts, such as email addresses and passwords, Can be easily found online. The company found that a basic web search could reveal information for thousends of instont- messaging accounts, which had boon harvested» by cybercriminals, wwrwsymantec.com Channel 4 puts archives online hhannel 4 is to put selected shows ¢ eters ene Comedies such as Drop the Dead eee ea cd Cone Brookside, will be part of the 4,000 hours of nent poe renee ac Renee ted eerie However, due to licensing restrictions all US shows such as Friends Panta es eC eae Aiea cy news clips up until midnight, will not be re ees Cone conta Pee ere) has, since then, recorded an 11! per pee een nea area ered eet | erengenrerietorr ey poe eee a Caterer ty ee ery Prererce rt feature, whereby you can search for a tople, press play and watch all the videos on that topic in sequence, re eect rane ener) Wikipedia rows with Scientologists kipadia has banned known Sciantalagists from editing the reference site's Scientology pages. The site, which lets anyone submit and edit articles, made the ruling following a long running debate by its arbitration oor After persistent complaints by editors of bias in some: committe announced: “All IP addresses owned or ‘operated by the Church of Scientology and its associates, broadly interpreted, are to be blocked The statement continued: “Wikipedia adopts ‘a neutral point of view, and advocacy for any particular view is prohibited. Many Scientology articles fal to reflect a neutral point of view and Instead are either disparaging or complimentary This has been the longest-running dispute handled by Wikipedia, and is the fourth Scientology-related arbitration case in as many years, The subject of Scientology has been in article probation’ on the site since September 2007, in order to monitor edits to the 430 related articles, bhttpy/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SclentologyIn brief ® Vodafone drops DRM protection Vodafone has dronned controversial DRM (digital rights management) technology from seme tracks in its Musie Store. 1 is initially offering 350,000 Unlocked tracks from the EM, Sony Music and Universal Music record labels, as well as many Independents. By the end of the summer, that figure willbe closer to one milion, Vodafone said, ‘Tracks cost from 49p and albums beain at £799, ‘ww wyvodatone.co.uk ® Windows 7 launch date Microsoft will release Windows 7 its next- generation ‘operating system, on 22 October, The date is ahead of expectations and comes in time for the ‘traditional pre-Cheistmas spending spree. Windows 7 will replace Windows Vista, which was released at the beginning of 2007, Prices will begin at £60 for the most basic version of Windows 7. wwwimicrosoft.com/ windows? Orwell web archive launched he BBC has launched an T online archive of written documents eating to George Orwell The collection George Orwelt: Principles and Propaganda has been launched to coincide with the 60th anniversary of his lassie novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The archive the remote Scottish island of Jura, where he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four and notes trom a BBC executive that said his voice wasn't suitable for radio. Orwell, a heavy smoker, suffered injuries to his neck during the Spanish Civil War that affected his speech BAC historian Jane Seaton said: consists of 19 written documents spanning five years of the writers life including the time ho spent ‘working for the BBC. It inckides letters writtan by ‘onwall when he was living on "These rate BBC documents reveal Orwells uncompromising honesty, unsworving political ideals, anc the value which the BBC placed on his intesrity” ‘www bbc.co.uk/archive/orwell In focus _ Sony's new handheld gaming device, the PSP Go, was unveiled recently at the E3 games Convention in Los Angeles. 12 The PSP Go willbe on sale in Europe and North America from October and will cost around £214, t= Ithas a 3.in screen and is 48 per cent lighter than its predecessor, the PSP-3000, 1 It also boasts 1668 of built-in flash memory and supports Bluetooth networking Acer to launch Android netbook lectronies manufacturer Acer isto release a netbook running Google's Android Joperating system. Android will be included in the Aspire One laptop with a 1Oin screen, which Acer plans to make available from netbook, a comps the third quarter of 2009, Goosie’s open-source, ‘operating system was first developed for mobile phones. Last November saw the launch of the Fist Android-powered mobile phone, the T-Mobile Gi, developed by HTC. ‘Acer has not yet released any pr details for the Aspire One but it confirmed that it wil be cheaper than models running the its Windows operating system. “The Android operating system offers incredibly fast wireless connection to the internet. For this reason. Acer has decided to develop Android netbooks in ‘order to provice added convenience to our customers, said Jim Wong, president of IT Products at Acer. China's Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies has also announced its intention to launch an Android-based netbook, the Alpha 680, wwwacerco.uk Don’t miss our daily news at www.webuser.co.uk/news NEWS WEBOMETER mo ‘Opera Turbo The Opera 10 beta and ‘Opera Mobile 97 beta browsers are stunningly quick ~ all thanks to the Opera Turbo technology unveiled ‘earlier this year Green mobiles Alter studies revealed we waste £85,000 tonnes of CO» every year cherging| ‘our mobiles, i's 9006 to see Sony Ericsson launch bo new low-carbon handsets, ‘Snow Leopard Though the announcement of the next Mac OS was ‘overshadawad by news of the new iPhone, ‘Snow Leopard looks as if itl please Mac fans, [we Dow Le.) | Twitter lurkers Y Halt the membership of the social- networking site ‘only post updates once ‘every 74 days. Come on, join in! ‘Computing injuries ‘A study has found that many lof us have hurt ourselves while using our personal ‘computers It might sound silly but loose cables are a real hazard. ‘Car buying scams Fraudsters are selling ‘cars ‘online, though ‘once the buyer pays up the seller = and the car ~ vanish, Be warned. 18 June 2009 9How will AOL work? Phorm’s proposed targeted-advertising program has sparked a storm of controversy, but how will the system, called Webwise Discovery, actually ances re yout aeady heard Citrine ortrovery ho duged the teroeed-advertcng ator sree & wevtret ated and rely ont os done by when front bon inte rows Often fata a oncsm fom paar sovoeats Vowever deal of erect how Proms system out work fod been tncon won the company ited th td cnwebnie Deco" ‘he ltr has ben runing since tha endo ay stun Kore,“ 10 18 June 2009 ‘world's most advanced internat nation according to Phorms chief executive Kent Ertugrul. However, details of launch partners or even a date when we might see it in the UK have not yet been revealed, Since 2006, Phorm has carried out three trials with BT Cwww:bt.com), one ‘of which it later emerged had been ‘conducted in secret. I's rumoured that BT will be the first ISP to run Webwise Discover (previous trials used the ‘Webwise’ moniker) ‘Other ISPs that are thought to have brokered a deal with Phorm include work? Ben Camm-Jones investigates Webwise Reality TV celeb divorces Latest digital ‘camera review ‘Olympic men’s 100m new world record Though Phorm has been described as 4a fargeted-advertising systom, its initia! ‘focus will actually be about providing links tovelevant content‘Phorm has gone to great lengths to explain that no information that could Identify an Individual wil be kept Virgin Media and TalkTalk, the second and third-largest broadband providers in the UK respectively (behind BT). Orange appeared to rule out any kind of collaboration with Phorm last year, ‘apparently sensitive to the concerns of privacy advocates, How does Webwise work? Phorm's system is designed to provide not only relevant advertising to a consumer but related content es well. Infact, Phorm’s fecus is on providing surfers with a list of content rather than adverts relevant to what they have been viewing on the web, Webvwise Discover, from a surfer's point of view is essentially geared towards making interesting content easily available in just one click, so you don't have to go searching for it The service will operate on an opt-in basis, though Phorm's Ertugrul did ‘concede that this decision would Ultimately rest with the relevant ISP However, it seems that all the providers Involved in discussions with Phorm wore firmly in Favour of an opt-in, rather than opt-out, system. If your ISP has signed Up to use the Webwise platform, you will initially be presented with a screen asking you if you would like to opt into the service. If you have made the initial decision to opt in, you ean switch Wabwite Discover on or off at any time. I you choose to opt in, then every time you visit the site of one of Phorm’ partners, you will be presented with a Webwise widget. This wil contain a personalised lst of articles related to the content you are viewing at that moment and also what you've been looking at previously For example, if you visited 3 sports website and road a story about the England cricket tear, then visited ‘nother site to read about Amy Winehouse, you would see stories relating to cricket, music and celebrities inthe widget. Some categories, however, Including medical and adult content, will not be ragistarad by tha system, ps lepsay PRIVACY MATTERS ‘The Open Rights Group Cnww. openrightsgroup org) and the Foundation for Information Policy Research (wwvrfiprors) say that Phorm's system, which examines the kind of content you've bean locking at fon the wat, invades our privacy. Influential figures such as Tim Bemers-Lee, often referred toas the father of the world wide wob, have criticised Phorm, saying that what you {do anc’ look at on the web should be a private experiance. ‘The company countered criticisms that the service invades an individual's privacy by insisting it would be an opt-in service only. Furthermore, it repeated its assertion that no data that could identify an individual is. stored by Phorm. Phorm also insists that public opposition to its system Is not as strong as campaigners and some sections of the media have claimed. Research carried out by Phorm found that fewer than three per cent of the Uk public had heard of the company land that 70 per cent of those people had a positive or neutral perception of Phorm. ‘As far as Phorm is concerned, the ‘oppasition to Webwise is being made by 2 “small and vocal minority" Furthermore, the company claims that You can also access what is essentially ‘2 Webwise dashboard where you'll fing a list ofthe kind of topics and content ‘categories you've looked at regularly and recently, There is also a tag cloud-type feature that shows you quickly what kind of things you've been looking at and how ‘often, which will lead you to more ‘content in these areas when you click Google challenge horns Ertugru hs insisted thatthe aio the service has noting to do with Challenging Goosle, which he described 25 "brian company." would be @ mistake to say we are taking on Google iFive were too #9, we wouicsno doubt lose. Bt there room for more than one company on the web he sak its worth noting tat uni Phorm gets substantial amount of advertising into the Webuise system and the focus is ‘ery much on content, not advertising, iially- the company wil not bo making any money. However Phorm pointed out that it does havea rovenue-generating mode! in place Don't miss our daily news at www.webuser.co.uk/news ‘More than 21,000 people signed a petition objecting to the way {technologies such as Webuse track What we look at online the UK is a lone voice of opposition since no other nation where Phorm plans to launch has seen any significant protests. Vet despite Phorm’s insistence that the protest is a ‘minor one, the company stil launched its own website Cwrwstopphoulplay com) to counter the claims made by privacy campaigners, as Web User reported in ssue 213, Matters were not helped by the site adopting an anary land sarcastic tone, rather than seeking to engage and address the ‘campaigners’ concerns. However, the fact that 21,404 UK citizens signed an online petition calling for the Prime Minister to “stop ISPs breaching customers! privacy via advertising technologies" shows that there is some concern about the issue. When advertising does appear, it will be placed in the Webwise Discover ‘widget alongside the related content. However, Phorm has net indicated how ‘soon after launch advertising will be used ‘or what the ratio of advertising to rolated content vill be Ultimately, Phorm's success wil stand ‘or fall on the partnerships it forms with advertisers and website owners. Since the benefits of targetad advertising are pretty obvious, attracting advertisers should present no problems. As for web publishers, Phorm claims that its supply of related content will keep visitors on their sites for longer Since web publishers ere charged nothing to sian up for the service, they will need litle convincing to embed the Phorm widaet ‘on their website Consumers, however, could be harder to persuade. Privacy issues aside, many people are quite set in their ways about the way they find their way around the web and might not take kindly to being told that Webwise can help them ddo i better. 18June 2009 11INBOX Have your say: webuser@ipcmedia.com (oy Ke) (ey jovrerenaeairsen | GO Wi-Fi in the country asercasaes a Garena | Oat een broadband, a village called Ulcombe near me in Kent has recently gone ive with VFast Internet — Ourrating OK Launched by AOL, Parentdish UK aims to celebrate both the joys and challenges of parenting. It delivers news, advice and opinions, covering such diverse tonics as the best time to conceive, how to dress your baby and making kids earn their pocket money. A busy blog-like layout packs ina wealth of content into a bbaby-blue-end-pink colour scheme. While i's a shame that ‘much of the content is tied to colobrities the lst of the most-popular posts suggests that’s what people want. 16 18 June 2009 Are you outraged by MPs claiming expenses on everything from toothbrushes to moat cleaning? Don't stay angry when you can get even with joke site YouClaim, which lets you ‘submit a claim on your local MP's expense account. Just select the (is)honourable member and specify what you want to claim for We've already claimed for a ose job, a garden gnome and a subscription to Country Life. But it doesn’t have to stop there ~ why not put in a claim for the money you spent on toilet roll or your duck island? Don’t Panic www.dontpaniconline.com Ourrating so Don't Panic is 2 free arts and design newsletter, distributed throushout the UK. thas gained a cut following for its monthly poster competition, which attracts a high standard of entries ~ all ot which you can view at Dont Pan's revernped online home, This suitably stylish site also features updates on art {and cultural events around the UK and tives you the chance to view artist, Portfolios and videos, The poster Competition i open to al designers, with all winning entries sald through the site. You can alzo read previous itues of the newsletter and subscribe online. Reviews by Robert Irvine, JJ O'Donoghue and Kasey CassellsBEST NEW WEBSITES Start a Discussion ‘All Channels end ives? Gatevocing 8077 eT Cerra Pass On What You Love Tree aes f ways to na pope on vide oot sc ake a ey sparen oa econ Love & Dating Comer bcs eto Videos & Articles ~=—————______ All Channels BT ve you nes gest How io. or sople Are Getting Good At oveattnsnas Body Confidence Dating Humor ow Famous Dance Moves Youniverse BudioBoo wwwyouniverse.com http://audioboo.fm wwwatinker.com Ourrating Jekiek Ourrating yotk> Ourrating tek Youniverse is a social-networking website that matches you with people from around the world based on your shared interests. This involves you taking 2 series of picture quizzes to determine what type of personality you are, as well as your taste in movies and art. Launched last year, Youniverse has now added some friendly new features including online-identity maneuer Facebook Connect and a ‘mood bar so you can hook up with like-minded members, Youniverse Is simple to use and prosented in a fun, colourful manner. First there were tweets’ and now come the 'boos’. A boo is a sound fle that can bbe recorded on a mobile phone and shared on the website, AudioBoo was developed as a free iPhone application but is now available on other handsets. You can click to hear rembiing messages from tour ‘wandering around London and bored people in meetings. ‘AudioBoo's interface needs tidying Up. and i's a shame that you can't record boos via the site, but expect to hear a lot more boos on everything from football matches to conferences, Tell us about your website via webuser@ipemediacom In this age of real-time conversations ‘across massive networks, Keeping UD ‘with your contacts can prove nigh on imporsole,Onine app Tinker helps by letting you track tends and events on Twrtar toring the service to sat your needs. Once youve resistered for free Sou can solect the categories that you ‘want to monitor for example technology, polis and news. Another neat feature lets you folow a specie event for ‘example action at Wimbledon, orcroato ‘one of your own, Tinker makes a simple but usetul addition to the Twittor experience, but we've seen better apps. ®) 18 June 2009 17Gocompare.com www.gocompare.com Ourrating deb Insurance-comparison site Gocampare com has been, revamped to give ita fresh look and make it easier to use. The ‘much-improved homepage offers instant access to the site's main services, which inelude comparing gas and electricity suppliers, broadband providers and a wide range of financial products. Although it's annoying that you have to enter your personal details upfront to get car and home insurance quotes, this ensures that results areas accurate as possible. You can also use the site's five-star rating system to determine which policy is best suited your needs, Gocompare.com provides a simple and effective means of saving money. f 232m & Thorntons Sweet Shop Watch With Mothers Creative Review www.thorntons.co.uk/ www.watchwithmothers.net www.creativereview.co.uk sweetshop Ourrating etek Ourrating Seto Ourrating tek Fancy a bag of Dolly Mix ra big iar of Lemon Bon Bons? If so, you'l be delighted to hear that Thorntons hes taunched an online sweet shop selling all manner of nostalgic treats, These range from 99p sweetie bags tothe Love Sweets’ eft hamper, which costs £25 and is stuffed with Black Jacks, Sherbet Fountains and more. The site lets you browse by price, occasion and the person you want to buy for (including diabetics and just me’) and is seamlessly integrated with the main Thorntons store for all your sugary needs. \Wateh With Mothers began lfe 25 9 cottage-industry blog, reviewing whatever turned up on the small screen, For three years, it has cast its cynical eve over everything from soap operas to TV adverts and has attracted a loyal and enthusiastic audience. Subsequently i's gone commercial, with a lively layout and ‘adverts, This means that the site looks much slicker than before, but happily the sharp wilting style remains intact. There are also new categories such as One Minute Reviews and Newsgush. If you lke your reviaws on the acidic side, then Watch With Mothers is definitely for you Ourrating For almost 30 years, Creative Review magazine has provided inspiration to photographers, illustrators, artists and designers. Up until recently its only online presence had been a biog, but it has now launched a comprehensive website, There's a considerable amount ‘of promotional material for the magazine hhore, but this is mixed in well with artist videos and portfolios. The Nows section Is lacking out hopetully this will bulld up. over time. For enyone with an interest in the creative industry, the site offers a free window on the latest trends as well {8 a daily source of inspiration InStyle.co.uk www.instyle.co.uk det 18 18 June 2009 InStyle magazine has given its website a makeover, bestowing it with a bolder, fresher look and expanding its content. Notable new features include @ dedicated Hair channel, which keeps you up to date with the latest product news and styles, and lots more videos. These include beauty how-tos and behind-the- scenes footage of cover shoots and red carpet events, Clothes Junkies will be pleased to know the site has kept its ever popular Shopping section, with thousands of browse through with ease, You'l als find competitions, fashion tips and celebrity interviews, all of which are now much easier to comb your way through. sms available toAe Blue Chip Vacations www.bluechipvacations.com Ourrating tok ‘west enaand Sof youn ike ty Sunbating In Cora patholo a Semaset or esglring he Devon countryside vt Bue Cip vacations te Ba Daas capture Sexe agi ee Sopa Sener acme amma nor acts bowels Nghraelty tours and SeO-dogre pancamas to Bee. rages ar ere sp Biter Soe psp, att ite svotabity apd to fiend Really wwwisitreally.co.uk Ourrating Shambala Festival 2009 www.shambalafestival.org Ourrating to: This ste has baen launched! to promote the Shambala festival, held in a secret, location each year It's an attractive etfort providing information onthe event including a gallery of photos trom previous years ~exect to see Sroworks glow sticks, and fancy dress. Despita mias of text deseribing atrations such as trampoline, workshops and pirate shows there's no mention ofthe ects that are duo to oper. And, though the location i intended to remain seret, there's Barely a hint 2 10 witch area ofthe county the festival is to be hel which may pit off less impulsive festival fans. Investigate a word of ‘time drama inthe Variety Pack feast yo ining» sly JOE UKTV's new lifestyle channel Really has launched its own website to promote its current range of programmes. The site is aimed primarily at women, and offers details ofall Really’s shows, including Freaky Eaters, Spo of Emborrassing linesses ‘ond the intriguingly named Extraordinary Breastfeeding. With quizzes such as ‘are you a bridezila®, horoscopes and a refreshable panel of useless facts, the Really website isa superb time-waster. The Fashion Fixer tool is particularly good fun, letting you create a surprisingly lifelike avatar and dress her up in clothes you probably wouldn't dream of wearing in the real world. To enjoy even more website reviews, visit wwwwebuser.co.uk/sites Southeastern www.southeasternrailway co.uk Ourrating oS South Eastern Railway has overhauled its online home to serve asa ‘one-stop shor’ for rail travelers, The redesigned site lets ‘yu plon your journey and buy your Wicket onine via te simp Danning tool It inckides uo-to- theeminate service information showing which trains are dolayed, and detals of planned engineering work, You can ao register with the site to receive mail and SMS alerts, The fresh layout and features are welcome, but the website stil seems sow and doesnt lt You get back tothe homepage once {ourte using the journey planner ~ even ‘when clicking Home. eine bu yu) Hulbee www.hulbee.com This search engine uses a refinement of Yahoo's search index tolet you browse for web content in a (lightly) different way, It dows so by generating a tag cloud from your search results so that if you type in ‘camera’, Hulbee will suggest related words such as ‘dial or review’ You can then click tag in the cloud tosstart a new search, However, this, ‘novel approach doesn't compensate for features Hulbee lacks, such as dedicated search facility for videos end images. What's more the search results don’t match Yahoo or Google for relevancy or range of sites covered, 18 June 2009 19RECOVER all files Deleting files, forgetting passwords and erasing photos are common mistakes, but they needn’t be disastrous. Wayne Williams explains how to recover lost data easily and for free Corecess pectin Aer realy wart to delete aor Eee es eee rome ratnaes eee a Sr ere ee Re ee See emake ine ore emicmeeen tapes te be fy hela down St wren lata) or, for some unknown reason, your file fails to end up there, that things get more problematic. And, of course, it's not just accidentally deleting items that you need to worry about. Corrupted files, system crashes and hard disk failure can all result in the nichtmare of lost data Thankfully, getting back most lost files is not only possible, it's relatively easy. As we explain in this feature, all you need to recover deleted data is the Fight software and a little know-how. UNDELETE ERASED DATA If you've deleted a file or a folder by mistake (and i's not simply sitting inthe Recycle Bin), don't panic. When you delete a fils in Windows, allthat actually happens is the directory entry and allocation table data for it get removed. Th itself cloesn’t physically go anywhere. This means its very easy to retrieve, although the quicker you act the better your chances will be of a successful recovery. The ‘more you use your computer, the ‘greater the risk that your deleted file wil 9 data, making retrieve, And whatever you do, don't defrag your hard disk! file ‘overwmitten by new ‘much harder to 20 18 June 2009 rete re ‘Shr commen aft 3 ap Video Sv cee me gt rea recor te ich fata. Some are better There are lots of programs « cen unde! than others so, if one fails to find your missing item(s), feel free to try another (but remember, installing a bunch of programs on the same driveas your deleted data will Increase the risk of overwriting it, Some excellent free tools worth rying are Recuva (www-recuva comp, Pandora Recovery (www pandoraracovery.com) and PC ®seuceovrs® Inspector File Recovery (www. cinspectorde). See our Min- Workshops on pages 24 and 25 for instructions on how to use PC Inspector and Recuva, Ifyou need to rescue data from a failed hard disk, try Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier (www. roadkil ret) This excellent free program isn’t phased by missing or damaged data segments - it will copy everything it can and replace any truly unrecoverable areas with blanks, You could also use a cloning tool such as Easeus Disk Copy (worweaseus.com/disk-copy) to back up the entire drive before it becomes too unstable. Ifyouneed to recover lost partitions, give TestDisk chttp://tinyurl.com/ test216) a try. It's a text-based too! but very straightforward to use RECOVER OFFICE DOCUMENTS You've probably got lots of important documents stored on your hard disk - letters, spreadsheets, invoices and receipts, not to mention essential work files. If one goes missing, you may find that i's simply been saved or moved to a different location so try ooking around for it. Check the Recycle Bin first. Assuming it's net there, go to Start, Search and type Indoe or “pdt depending on what the file extension is). if that 2218 June 2009 falls, try searching for temporary files ¢-tmp first, then =). Microsoft Office creates AutoRecover files in the event of 2 crash and gives you the chance of ‘opening them the next time you start the program. If your file's not listed, you can stil look to see if one was created, Go to Tools, Options {and click the File Locations tab, Double-click ‘AutoRecover files’ and make a note of the path. Guit Office and navigate to the directory in Windows Explorer. Look for files ending in asd. Word can be set up to create automatic back-up copies of files. Go to Tools, ‘Options and click the Save tab. Tick the option to Aivays create backup copy’ That won't helo you now, but it could prevent future panic attacks Glthough be warned that you may find this slows your system down and introduces brief freezes), Ifthe feature is already turned on, try searching for documents with a swbk extension (Word Backup) Hf after all that, you stil can't tind your missing fil, it may have been deleted by accident. Try searching forit using a data recovery program. In addition to the ones mentioned previously there's DiskDigger chitp:// mitrybrant.com/diskdiggen, which can be set to focus solely on documents. See our Mini-Workshop opposite for a guide to using DiskDigger. If the found file turns out to be damaged, you may still be able to ‘open it, Load the relevant Office program, go to File, Open and navigate to the folder containing the document. Left-click it, then click the small arrow next to the (Open button and select ‘Open and Repair’ from the menu. RESCUE DELETED PHOTOS Photos very often have huge sentimental value so accidentally deleting an image or folder of Images can be a genuinely a stopping moment. As can inserting ‘@ media card into your computer or camera only to be told that it’s corrupt or unformatted. ThankullyRESTORE LOST DATA MINI-WORKSHOP. Recover documents using DiskDigger Run DiskDigger (http://amitrybrant ccom/diskdigger) and select the drive | you want to scan for deleted documents. it's as easy to retrieve images asit is ‘Show hidden files and folders’ is If it isn’t listed there, try clicking the other forms of data. ticked in Windows Explorer (under ‘Refresh list’ button. lf The Advanced tab! Ifthe problem is that your camera Folder Options). Go to C:\Users\ Is used for scanning disk images. Click Next won't read your media card, try itin [username] ApoData\Local\ ‘and, on the following screen, select the your PC (or another camera). Tobe Microsoft\Windows Mail (where ‘option to ‘Scan Disk Surface For Traces of honest: the chances of success are [username] rafers to your own. Files (Dig Deeper). pretty slim, but it doesn’t hurt to. actual username) or, for a direct. know how serious the errors. If shorteut in Vista, type you're promptedtto format the card “élocalappdata%\microsoft\, at any point just say no.as this will windows mail (without the quotes only make matters worse. but note the space). This is the default message store location ~ it It's not located there, you'll need to search for i. Give the Windows Mail folder a new name and restart your ‘mail client. The program will create anew, fully working message store that wil be empty of any emai. To EY Next, select the typets) of file youre import your emails, g0 to File, looking for. Click Invert Selection if to Import, Messages. Select Windows _remove ll the ticks, then choose the There are several excellent tools Mail and browse to the renamed ‘options you want under Documents. @ The you can use to try toratrieve your Message Store folder. The process “Advanced settings’ tab lets you enter a Images. ZAR (wmw.z-a-tecovery _is the same for Windows Live Mail _seetor start point and/or automatically skip com) isn'ta free program but it (both Vista and XP). bbad sectors. To begin searching for does offer an evaluation version in For Outlook Express it's worth recoverable documents, click Next. Which the photo-recovary element compacting the database because Is free and entirely unrestricted. PC this can sometimes fix the Issue Inspector Smart Recovery (ww, Select the folder and go to File, cinspectorde) and Art Plus Digital Folder. Compact. If that doesn't Photo Recovery (awwartplusih) work, ry running the free tool areboth completely free andare Smart Email Recovery (www. equally good at finding and ‘smartpctools com/email_recovery). recovering images. To fix the problem in Thunderbi {90 to your profile folder (usually RETRIEVE LOST found at CAUsers\ Application EMAILS Data\Roaming\Thunderbird)\, Profiles in Vista and C:\Documents IFyour messages have gone astray and Settings\lusernamel ing Desktop email program such as Application Data\Thunderbird)\, ‘The Progress bar ll shows the Windows Live Mail or Mozila Profile\ in XP), Open the Mail percentage of the scan completed so Thunderbird, the obvious place to folder and the subfolder for your far. The lst of found files on the left isn't look isin the Deleted Items folder account. Delete the file called particularly descriptive, so finding the one or similar. However, if your message _inboxmmsf but be careful not to you want can be rather time consuming ~ store has become corrupted, you erase the Inbox file with no especially if there are a lot of files to plough ‘may find that some or even all your extension because that contains through. Clicking a document will present emails will no longer be accessible. your messages, Restart you with a handy preview. & Click Save To fix the problem manually in ‘Thunderbird and it wil ebuild the Document to recover it. Windows Mail (Vista), make sure index fle and, hopefully, youll be ® Subscribe to Web User's feeds at www.webuser.co.uk/feeds 18 June 2009 23MINI-WORKSHOP Recover photos using PC Inspector Smart Recovery To rescue deleted photos using PC Inspector Smart Recovery (mww. cinspector.de), run the program, choose @ drive to scan i (this can be a hard disk or a ‘memory card) and select the type of file you're looking for. lf The default is JPG but the program can search for an impressive range of formats. Enter a path to save the recovered pictures to. Pa eiors vou startin sco, go te, Settings. This lets you choose the search method, The default option, Fast Mode, i willbe fine in most cases, but you can select Intensive Mode if you want the search to be more thorough. You can also set a limit on the size of files you want to recover here. 1 Click Start, I The progress will be shown on the left. @ Any photos the program finds will be automatically copied over to the folder you nominated. Once it's finished, you can browse the selection and delete any unwanted Images. As well as searching for photos, the software can check your media usage ~ for example, free space, Just select this option in the Function menu. 24 18 June 2009 able to view your messages again Ifyou use Outlook, you can repair a corrupt PST , such es several people making conflicting eclts, several locations, it wil also be of use to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. So anybody the average surfer too. OneDrum uses who needs to access a specific Excel HOW MUCH DOES IT the principles of cloud computing to let spreadsheet, for example, will be able to ‘Cost? you access the latest version of a ddo $0, no matter whare they are, as wl ‘Onebrum willbe a free service document that you've been working on other people working on the same ‘when it launches later this month, 44 18 June 2009 Get more practical advice at www.webuser.co.uk/forumsYou can talk ve to fellow collaborators with OneDrum bout any documents stored on the service will need to be authored in a Microsoft Office chtta://offica microsoft.com) program, so you could argue that there Is some initial outlay necessary. What is not going to be free, however, is the online storage and back-up service that ‘OneDrum plans to offer in the future Prices for this haven't yet been set but You won't nasd to use the back-up service in order to use OneDrum, Qlow wir worte There will be two versions of ‘OneDrum = one browser-based and ‘one downloadable application. The former will let you access a document stored on the service from any PC with ‘an internet connection, and make and ‘ave changes within the browser, without having Office software installed, However you will need Office to be able to save the document to the Desktop, The OneDrum Desktop application will let you save documents to your computer. When anyone else adits the document, your version will be automatically updated either in rel time or the next time you connact to the web. ‘OneDrum lets you see in realtime who is ‘making changes toa document you're working on QWHATELSE can iT Dor ‘OneDrum also lets you directly communicate with other people working on the same project in realtime. Much like an instant-massaging program, itlets you heve live conversations with everyone you are collaborating with and even see changes made to the document as they happen. The whole timeline of the dacument ~ what has been done, who made the changes and when = is also recorded. if one of the collaborators is not online atthe time, they will receive an email to let them know when edits and changes have bbeen made. You can also opt to get these notifications in an RSS feed or through micro-biogging site Twitter Govwatwittercom), WHAT ARE THE OTHER BENEFITS? ‘Anyone who works from home regulaty will no longer have to remember to email the latest version of documents to themselves or carry them around on memory sticks as they'll be eto access the file from any web connected PC. Even if you aren't working collaboratively on a document you can stil use OneDrum to access the latest version ofa file you're working on no matter where you are or what PC you are using. QUAN USE IT Now? ‘At the moment, it has only been launched as a private beta, though the full eunch is scheduled for the end of June, Initially, it will only support Microsoft's Office products. though there are plans to include compatibility for Google's cloud-based applications such {as Docs and Spreadsheets (wrw.google ccorryapps). OneDrum has also promised NEXT ISSUE: Instant Expert guide to voice-operated software ONEDRUM that there will be interoperability bbotwoen the platforms too, so one ‘person could be working in Microsoft Word to create a text document that somaone else could edit using Google Docs. Compatibility with other programs such as Adobe's Photoshop (www.adobe com) and design tools such as AutoCAD (Cuvwerautodesk co.uk) is coming in the future too. Suppert is also planned for Firefox, which would let several people collectively browse and edit a website ~ something web developers could find particularly useful Google Wave Collaborative working has been big ‘news on the web recently and not lust because of the imminent launch ff OneDrum. Google announced a new project called Wave (http:/ wave google.com) in early June. Though at the moment itis stil ust a concept, Wave has been described bby Goosle as a "next-generation ‘email proaram that combines your Inbox with document-sharing and editing facilities, meaning two or ‘more people can communicate and ‘work collaboratively on a document. ‘One major difference between Wave and OneDrum is that ‘©naDrum is based around tools and programs that are familiar to most of Us OneDrum isn't asking us to learn how to do anything new in order to use its service. Wave, on the ‘other hand, will have an interface that will be unfamiliar when ite launched later this yea However, Google has said that Wave will be open source and has roleased the code to developers. already. So while OneDrum is ‘compatible with just a hanaful of applications for the moment, Wave could potentially be compatible with Just about any software program. ‘Wave will also have the ability to translate 40 different languoges, according to Google, so collaborative working with people fon the other side of the world could bbe possible. 18 June 2009 45NEW PRODUCTS The latest hot kit on the net ® viste our datly Most Wanted blog at www.webuser.co.uk/ mostwanted for the latest hardware and gadget news SS sony Cybershot DSC-w290 ops.com Read product reviews at www.webuser.co.uk/products.NEW PRODUCTS Hlomega Ego Seal Shield Silver Seal www.iomega.co.uk www.firebox.com Price: £74.99 (320GB) and Price: £39.95 £99.99 (00GB) Wshable keyboards have been around for 3 lomeca's new Ego portable hard disk has Drop while but the Silver Seal isthe oniy one we Guard technology to protect it froma tall of know that's dishwasher safe. Its waterproofing Up to 13m that’s 40 per cent more than the technology means it can stand up toa dip ia industry average, The device connects via USB the bath, and it's also coated in antimicrobial and there's a ¥ cable included, so you can protection to prevent the growth of bacteria power it from two ports if one doesn't provide We've been testing it out in the office and it ‘enoush juice. It's available in $20GB and ‘works just ike any other keyboard, the only 500GB capacities and comes bundled with _difference being that spilling coffee over it anti-virus and back-up tools, doesn't lead to drastic consequences Compare gadget prices at www.webuser.co.uk/prices PRODUCT NEWS Mobile phone ‘www sonyericsson = =o eee a MAII-in-one PC http://ukimsi.com Sts new Wind Top ‘AEI900 packs a full working PC. behind its. B - . "Bin i= touch: baka screen It's = powered by B16GHZ Intel ‘Atom chip end 168 of memory «components tore usualy found In netbooks. The Wind Top ‘AE1900 will beavalable soon for £549 Wsat-nav ‘www:tomtom.com_ TomTom's Live service (previously only available with its pricier Go range) is filtering clown to the cheaper 4.3in XL model ‘Owners of the device can tap into TornTom’'s up-to-the-minute traffic announcements, safety alerts and fuel prices, The XL Live will be availabe in June for £283.99, 18 June 2009 47MP4 PLAYERS Moving pictures Want to watch video on the go? Andy Shaw checks out the options hen it comes to listening to ‘music on the move, most of tus have converted to MP3 players - miniature marvels with enormous storage capacities that can hold thousands of tracks. However, as, technology advances and small sereens get more sophisticated, we've now got the added option of watching video on the move. While you could do this with a portable DVD player, there are devices available that are leven more compact and flexible. In this test, wo've looked at MP4 players that can be used for both audio and video, and possibly other things as well. But it's the experience of watching video that we've concentrated on APPLE IPOD TOUCH | £165 (8GB)/£214 (16GB)/£283 (32GB) | kkk www.apple.com/uk FEATURES toiokiok PERFORMANCE seine: With a 3 Sin screen, displaying 480 x 320 pixels, Apple's iPod Touch - the IPhone without the phone ~ has a slightly bigger screen than most of its pocketable rival abig advantage when it comes to watching video, which looks crisp and clear on the device The downside is that it only plays H.264 standard video. The ubiquity of the iPod product range, however, means that converting most video files into this format is @ reasonably straighttorward process. Thre is ahuge range of downloadable software that can do thejob, ‘Another niggleis that you have to use ‘Tunes as the conduit between your computer and your iPod Touch. However, while this means that you'e tied to ‘Apple's online shopping experience {and digital files that will only play on ‘WEB USER AWARDS | <°) =! 48 18 June 200 es, Vewuset product/service Paiste) mivanaen The EASE OF USE soickick VALUE FOR MONEY detec Apple's devices, the interface is more pleasant and satisfying than Windows! Media Player, The biggest bonus isthe extra features you get with an iPod Touch, such as ‘Wi-Fi connectivity and the user interface. For video almost any other activity you want to perform en the go ~ Apple's touchscreen evice remains top of the heap. The lock bit ofa pain, but the benefits this brings to tne conerence of the interface and its overall ease of us Js a price worth paying Praty goo, but winsome shortcomingsGROUP TEST ARCHOS 7 INTERNET MEDIA TABLET | £359.98 (160GB)/£439.99 (S20GB) | doldidink | www.archos.com FEATURES *ootiok PERFORMANCE tonto _ EASE OF USE sotieik VALUE FOR MONEY sobs I youre very serious about watching TV while away from your big sereen, then the Archos 7 is worth the investment This flagship produet is no shrinking Violet ~ witha 7in sereen that takes up almost the whole device, and weighing in at 640g, i's not @ gadget that you can slip inte your pocket or hold in your hand while watching your favourite show ona busy commuter train. Ithas a fip-out standion the back, though, so t's ideal for putting down on a desk or seat- ‘mounted tray, and watching from there The Media Tablet has support for MPEG-4, WMV and M-JPEG video out of the box, with H.264 and MPEG-2 support {a an optional extra, You can even uso it to record directly from your TY with an optional caddy, which makes it the COWON $9 | £169 (8GB)/£199 (16GB)/£259 (82GB) | tock www.advancedmp3players.co.uk PERFORMANCE Soto EASE OF USE sents FEATURES sobs ultimate video- watching companion, you're aftera portable device that do the utmost justice to TV shows ‘and movies, then this is ‘exactly what looking for. The ‘only downside is the price However if you consider that the Media Tablets screen is four times the siz9 ofthe iPod Touch's, and the lowest-capacity Archos mode! has 10 times the disk capacity of Apple's highest, it could simply be the case that you get what you pay for VALUE FOR MONEY Sein [At 33in across the diagonal, this screen is slightly smaller than the iPod Touch's, though it's actually the same width However, the 16:9 screen ratio wil show off your movies very nicely. It's got a slightly less-detailed 480 x 272 pixel screen but can display up to 16 milion colours with its AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology, providing extremely rich While the Cowon $9 displays video beautifully, its interface isn't as easy to Use as the iPod Touch's. Nevertheless, anyone who uses Windows wil find it COWON D2 | £99 (4GB)/£129 (8GB)/£159 (16GB) | doko www.advancedmp3players.co.uk PERFORMANCE siete: VALUE FOR MONEY sobs: FEATURES took EASE OF USE socio For a player of such diminutive size, this miniature marvel packs quite a punch The screen measures a petite 2.5in and the unit as a whole isn't much bigger. What's more, the small sereen size doesn't detract from its effectiveness, Like its big brother - the Cowon $8, above - this madel can display 16 milion colours while doubling as a touchscreen, thus dispensing with the need for extra Find the best prices for products at www.webuser.co.uk/prices Convenient because it hooks up to Windows Media Player and can play Windows Media Video, DivX and Xvid compressed movies, (On the whole, this is @ ‘200d pocketable option for those who don't want 10 get involved with the tyranny of Tunes, especially if you're after a top-class scraen to show Video to its fullest potential t's conly the comparitivaly fiddly interface that makes for a less satisfying overall experience. buttons and a larger unit size to house them, Fora serious video player it's perhaps @ little on the small side, but if you're looking for compact size coupled with high quality, this makes for great viewing 49 18 June 2009GROUP TEST CREATIVE X-FI | £97.87 (8GB)/£149.99 (16GB)/ £195.99 (32GB) | odin: http://uk.europe.creative.com FEATURES soe EASE OF USE soni PERFORMANCE Soke VALUE FOR MONEY Sobioin with bul device is packed with features. Unfortunately, you can’t synchronise the device wirelessly, But you can stream -in WiFi, this small-screan media from your network ifi’s available. The 25in display isn'ta touchscree you need the buttons, situated on the Fight of the screen, to navigate, ‘Because of this, it isnt quite as pocketable as the touchscreen Cowon 02+, but it has more fe marginally cheaper. tures and is PHILIPS GOGEAR OPUS | £99 (8GB)/ £129 (16GB) | ¥: | www.philips.co.uk FEATURES oe EASE OF USE soins Compared to our award-winners, the Philips GoGear Opus is rather lacking because it isnt a touchscreen device and the sereen is nowhere near as bright and colourful. The one advantage, however, is SANDISK SANSA FUZE | £94.99 (8GB) | dodo FEATURES sobse EASE OF USE sito PERFORMANCE sobs VALUE FOR MONEY Sots price. Although the Philips GoGear isn't going to wow ‘anyone with its technology, i's a solid player with some good software {and it won't cost you a fortune, £50.99 (2GB)/£59.99 (4GB)/ | www.sandisk.co.uk PERFORMANCE sieisiie VALUE FOR MONEY Sobie The Sansa Fuze is a small device that resembles an original iPod that's been shrunk and coloured biack it's even got 2 rotating dial for scrolling through options. The interface is simple but takes up a lot of space, reducing the screen to just 1.9in actoss the diagonal. This just about ffices for watching video - something atively simple like TV news, for example - but you probably wouldn't want to sit down and watch a film on it. SONIX7 MEDIA PRO | £89.99 (8GB)/ £104.99 (16GB) | ker PERFORMANCE sos VALUE FOR MONEY sock FEATURES Join EASE OF USE so This media player is designed and ‘manufactured right here in the UK but, Unfortunately, patriotic pride ends there Tt has a thick, bulky casing and a non-standard headphone socket (an | www.sonix7.co.uk adapter is provided but i's a rather large protrusion at 2cm). To navigate the 3.2in touchscreen, you have to press areas of the screen rather than actually touching ‘the items you want. You also use the off With lower capacities available, though, i's handy option for anyone ona budeet. button to go back. Its ‘great value for money and plays a good range of file types, but youll have to put up with a few quirks, R23 TSE An increasing number of portable players ‘now come with the technological tricks of the IPod Touch, but our Gold Award-winner’s interface and extra features keep it well at the top of the ple when it comes to watching video on the move. If you can spare the cash and are really serious about your video, the Archos 7 is the way to go. Its price was too high for us to award it the top slot but, if you can afford it, go for it. ‘The Cowon $9 s hot on the heels of the IPod Touch but, “while there's no clenying its superior-quality screen, navigation is more of a struggle. Many of the other players ‘on test had their merits, particularly if you're looking for ‘cheaper options, but it's an inescapable truth that what you ‘gain in pricing, you lose out on in screen size and features. 50 18 June 2LOOKING me re Var are Expert advice on buying a DSLR Everything you need to know to choose the right cameraEEEBOX PC B206 | £309.99 INC VAT Home netbook Andy Shaw reviews the latest innovation from Asus, which aims to bring the netbook concept to your living room Gata nprveg ‘soni erdras foaae + tae arte supe veg a = Wis and cuban te Femsatetioat ns i inet lnbesadacs alg na red re minaton W705 anes IG atrenoy mvninhans smv0vigot m22ei xem a a fsx mptaanscn have become the new sensation in computer hardware. These handy, cut-down laptops are designed to be the Ultimate traveller's companion, offering a lighter set of tools ona smaller hardware platform, at a lower price and with significantly better energy performance to keep you going longer. Asus was. fone of the first to take advantage of the lighter laptop concept with its Eee PC. Now it’s gone a step further, bringing ‘the netbook ethic to the home computer, with the EeeBox PC. I recent months, netbooks Features does Taking a lead from Apple's Mac Mini, the EveBox PC comes with minimal accoutrements = youll need to add your own keyboard, mouse and sereen. Its been specifically desicned to integrate with modern flat-screen TVs, 50 you'll need a TV with a spare HOM! socket to plug it int. This means that it's easy to set up and you don't need to worry about sound - its all handled by the HOM! cable and the TV's own speakers Like most netioooks, the PC comes pre-loaded with Windows XP, which is lighter on system resources than Vista, Asus also provides its own software to give 52-18 June 2009 you Media Center-style software for playing any videos, music and slideshows you have stored on the PC. All this is simple to operate via the supplied remote control There are four USB ports and both WiFi and Ethernet are included, s0 you can easily hook it up to your existing network. Performance ses Because the EeaBox PC is based ‘on a netbook specification and runs Windows XP. it's net going to win any prizes for performance, This therefore knocks out any cutting-edge gaming. which would otherwise have tied in quite ricaly with a large sereen. Compare this to other products at www.webuser.co.uk/products,But, on the positive side, because the device focuses on web browsing and viewing your ‘media with no extraneous bells, and whistles, t's extremely energy efficient when compared with a standard desktop-style PC. It's also very quiet - the specifications claim it gives out 26 decibels and we could barely heart. Ease of use debeboite Using a PC froma distance on a large sereen isn't quite the same as sitting at # desk or with a laptop on your knee, and the result is that the general PC experience feols alittle watered down, The supplied media- viewing software is fine (it's been specially designed for a big seraen) and websites like YouTube are increasingly catering for a large seraens viewed from a distance - check out www. youtube.com/xl, But the Windows intorface isn't really geared up for tse on a screen lke this and you'll either find yourself struggling to see your emails or siting ridiculously close to your TV in order to use it Value for money sock With a netbook-style price, you can afford to bring an Eeesox PC into your home-entertainment den, Ditching the screen also helps to keep the price dawn but remember that you'll also need to bbuy a keyboard and mouse ~ wireless models can cost from around £30. toot: ‘The perfect living room PC is. likely to be a lot more ‘expensive than this model, ‘and would probably handle ‘serious gaming as well as the Usual surfing and media playing, Having said that, if ‘you've already got a decent ‘games console under your TV, ‘you've probably got enough to keep you occupied Otherwise, this is a handy system at a reasonable price, which does a commendable job of bringing PC benefits to ‘your big-screen TV. PRODUCT REVIEWS D-LINK DIR-825 WIRELESS-N QUADBAND HOME ROUTER | £129.99 Boost your bandwidth Are your Wi-Fi channels clogged? Andy Shaw finds some clear air with D-Link’s quadband router ‘Hideo eae seabiyeee “ato ‘end ts avsaSihe sate hereon veer Pecounes meeIaMabh AiG ens nag woe mlstpxt fr Safe Winks Covethon, mean sey Nt sap reser am CON atk vac stroadband and WF Avner wecerne (nu Sos te Pa eaces tiaalorctans ecto. te Seances ee ieee eay Eee eran eeeectigeneeet Seis sesr tear areca Garang purposmn recuse Snot urbana estradiol Features Sebo “The D-Link Quadband works by creating two wireless networks that operate concurrently. One uses the standard 2.4GHz frequency, to keep it compatible with any existing Wi-Fi devices you might have, and the other ‘works on SGH2. This frequency is more commonly used in the Uk for baby monitors and also for the .802Tla standard, which was never widely adopted here, The ‘channels shauld be relativaly clear, ‘even if you have lots of Wi-Fi networks around you. This makes it ideal for heavier bandwidth- hungry tasks like media streaming ‘and geming, but yout need a ‘compatible adapter (such as DrLink’s DWA-160). Performance socbeiv'y Having two networks at your disposal is certainly going to help reduce any congestion. Despite this, i's stil not as fast as a wired network or even a powerline ‘option, so if speed is really important, it might be worth trying these first. There's also no ADSL modem option so, while ‘cable customers with Ethernet- based access to the net will be Fine, broadband users who connect via the phone line wil also need an Ethernet modem Find the cheapest prices at wwwawebuser.co.uk/prices (D-Link’s DSL-3208 will do the trick for around £30). Ease of use _sotdrick Configuring Wi-Fi products Used to be a chore, bt D-Link's set-up wizard makes ita doddie. Because the D-Link Guadband is only a router, your internat connection needs 10 bbe up and running already. Value for money seksn Doubling up on networks seems ike 3 good idea but this router isin the mid- to upper level in terms of price. f speed really is your only Consideration, you might be bbetter off spending the money fon a cheaper router and a handful of powerline network adapters instead. 18 June 2009 53Get the Web User email |S5av! Newsletter Subscribe today to get the latest news from the internet, product reviews, games, special offers and exclusive competitions directly to your Inbox! You'll also find out what’s in the latest issue of Web User! SEEN aie OUR DAILY LOOK AT THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE WEB! The Seen This blog offers you | Web adaily dose of curiosity from around the web, including funny videos, games, bizarre websites, mad auctions and much moreMEET THE WEB USER EXPERT TEAM Fl era sD a Oe rae ee ene aa MARK WILSON S } eee gate Ma ee Contributor aR nee gel naey a ROLAND PC and internet skills Rr | Contributor In this issue... 56 Practical Feature Stay secure online with the QtWeb browser 58 Expert Tips Essential tricks for Word 97 59 Readers’ Tips ‘The best tips sent in by readers this issue 61 Workshops | Photo fun with Magix FunPix Maker Enhance your blog and emails with Zemanta 63 Ask the Experts ‘Our technical team answers your questions. 64 Readers’ Helpdesk ‘The best solutions posted on our reader forums 66 Get the Most From. ‘Twitter client TweetDeck 68 How To... Customise your Desktop - Part 3 61 CO eee ares CeCe ECMISTI cops -63 (0): Surf the web more securely with the QtWeb browser ® www.atweb.net | 9 30 mins never give that much thought to the valuable information you leave behind every time you go online, You should though. Anyone who uses the same computer as, you can easily find out what sites you've been visiting, what you've downloaded and more. Your browser also leaks lots of information about you and your computer to websites you Visit (and not just your browsing habits). There are lots of ways to make your surfing more private. IES {and Chrome both have private browsing modes, as will the next big release of Firefox - although there's always the Stealther add-on (http:/tinyurl.com/2i6stealther) in the ‘meantime. Alternatively, you could try GtWeb Browser. This has been designed to protect your privacy on the web. It offers its own private browsing mode, and a reset feature which removes some (or all) traces of your online activity. It doesn't require installation so you can use It anywhere - perfect if you plan to browse the web from a more public location, U ness you're an over-cautious person, you probably About QtWeb ‘A tree Open Source browser built around Apple's WebKit, {GtWeb 20s available to download from wwnwatwebnet. ‘There ere actually three versions on offer: a Windows a standalone executable (or runnin directly from ‘any portable media including CDs/DVDs or USB fash drives) and a zipped version ofthe standalone release. It «ill run on any version of Windows from XP to Windows 7. ‘@twieb looks like most other browsers, Pages are bookmarked Using the star button il and you can search Google, and other selected engines, using the search box i There are some differences, however. The bookmarks ba, il for example, runs down the right-hand side. You can move the bookmark bar and place it elsewhere if you prefer. Just click and drag on the dotted line. It can bbe positioned on any browser edge but, ‘more impressively, it can be dragged outside the browser and left to float on your Desktop. The Nevigation bar can be relocated in the seme way, iWeb has a built-in private browsing mode. Sites don't appear in ‘your wb history, the curront session isn't recorded and cookies are discarded afterwards, To turn it on or off, click the button on the Navigation menu. You need to close the window afterwards to remove all traces of the session. To customise the privacy options, click the Settings button i then click the Privacy tab. i Just tick or untick the items to remove. ft You can choose which sites to block/accept cookies from IB Click the Cookias button I to view! delate any saved ones. toolbar buttons. 56 18 June 2009 [Click the General tab ito change lyour homepage and set whether the web history shoul be cleared manually cr automatically (and how often). ‘Appearance i lets you change the font, |B the application style lf and show/hide ‘You can clear private data using the Reset option. Go to Privacy il and ct Reset GtWeb. A box will open and you can choose the items to remove. Make sure you're certain before marking {an itam for deletion because there's no way of undoing the action afterwards Subscribe to Web User's feeds at wivwiwvebuser-couuk/feedsOMAR ey aA Mie WAYNE WILLIAMS says {@tWeb sunperts commanctline scripting which lets you save any web page to your hard disk. Go 2 to Start, Run and type Command into the box. Hit Enter. Navigate to the @tWeb.exe folder. To | Paw eyt ‘open a page in the browser, type: QtWeb [sitename}, To save the page to your hard disk type: @tWeb ~dump [sitename] “C\Documents and Settings\User\Desktop\sitename html Bi Te Privocy menv also lets you quit the progrem and perform e full reset. il This removes all traces of your browsing activity. Various features can be toggled on or off here too, including pop-ups (disabled by default), cookies, plug-ins, mages and JavaScript ‘The browser supports SSL encryption. When you visita secure sito beginning with httes:/, a padlock will anpear in the address bar. Click this to view the cattifcate information, Including who it was issued tof and the site name. It also shows the encryption standard being used. Unlike most other browsers, when you log into @ website for the first time GtWeb won't offer to romomber your details. To turn this feature on, go to Edit, Preferences. Click the Privacy tab ‘and select ‘Save user names and passwords’ lf Clicking Show i wll revel any saved information. tWeb’s Web Inspector lets you view 3 web page's source code To turn the feature on, go to Tools and select Enable Web Inspector. A pop-up will inform you that you can only view pages which were loaded after web Inspector was turned on. Click the Yes ‘button to reload all the pages. Fry You can view the code in a couple of ways, Select some HTML then go to Tools and click inspect Eloment. You can also right-click the selection and choose Inspect. You can add an Inspect button to the toolbar if you wish. Solect some code il to view the Styles, Metries and Properties for it You can also click the tabs along the top of the window and display resources fl including loading time and size information and view any images. To ‘debug a page, click Seripts!® then click the Enable Debugging button, You can view profiles i and databases! in this window too. ‘Access your saved sites by going to Bookmarks, il Show All Bookmarks, The One-Click Bookmarks Enabled featurellf ets you save sites directly to your favourite bookmarks location with a single click of the Star icon, Double-click ' bookmark name of URL to change it (lel) iif rs] re] [re] {-T:Je}s[s[sfefs[stsfe [ToT-Ti Te] [-T-TeJi Tolmi [eTs [-[>Je[-[oJof=].] (Se ‘atweb has its own virtual keyboard ound under Tools. This sits on top of any window and can be used to enter text into a program using your mouse ~ handy for thwarting keyloggers. Click the Keyboard menu to switch between the different modes. Get more practical advice at wwwavebuser.co.uk/forums When you quit out of atweb, it wil sk if you want to save any open tabs. Ifyou do, click Save All. These vill open automatically the next time you run the program. If your browser crashes midway through, the current session wil be savad and resumed next time, 18 June 2009 57WebiiSé? ) EXPERT TIPS Web User’s top tips Our experts offer some handy advice for getting to grips with Word 2007 OUR TOP TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Grab yourself a bargain lersott Office Home and just £52. That's n excelent price for M Studer’ edtonecheeper such apowertu sute a office ieee erie fet eames Secrets eevee ee reat deals onthe Intemet, Use our and Powerbont, You can instal ton price-comparson service st ara, upto three computesin the home webuser.co.uk/prices to getit from —_ and the whole family can use it. Assign a bullet style cartiage returns in the bullet list and Creating a bullet-point list of items is then choose a new bullet style in the fa dodale in Word. Click the icon in the Paragraph section of the ribbon. Only Paragraph section of the Home tab inthe bullet for the item selected will the ribbon toolbar, enter the items in change while all the others remain os thelist and press Return twice after they are. Carriage-return characters the last one_If you decide you'd don't print, so either ignore them or rather have numbers instead of hide them again in the Options. bullets, simply position the cursor anywhere the text andclickthe Quick documents down arrow next to the bullet icons in IF you want to create anew Word the ribbon. As the mouse passes over document quickly, click Start, (My) each style of bullet, itis temporarily Documents, right-click in the Explorer ‘changed so that you can see the window and select New, Microsoft ‘effect. Click the one you want. Office Word Document. Name it and double-click it to open it Mix and match bullets There may be circumstances under Wrap text around tables which you want to include different EE Large bullet styles in the same list, such asa || = mnie tables will to-do list with ticks for tasks done ee | Po ‘and bullats for those yet to be = alone on started. Todo this, click the big orice |) @ |) @ © the page, button in the top-left comer and jn but you select Word Options. Select Display [ might fon the left and then tick Paragraph || = prefer to ‘marks’. Click OK and you'll see the position a carriage-return character at the end mall fof each line. Select one of the table Tables can be positioned on Within the the ert, centre or rigntwith text asa text running around them Wox-out This is sly done in Word. Insert the table in the usual way by clicking the Table icon in the Insert tab of the ripbon toolbar, Then click in the table, right-click it and select Table Properties. Choose Around, in the “Text wrapping’ section of the Table tab and then select Left, Center or Right in the Alignment section. The You can have a different bullet style for _ icons indicate how the text will wrap ‘each Item in the list around your table. Positioning tables Word is almost as good as a desktop- publishing program and con be used to make great-looking newsletters. f {you have a table in the document and ‘You want to postion itn a particular spot on the page, ightclickit and select Teble Properties. Click None in the Text wrapping’ section and Left in the Alignment section, Tick the “Preferred width box to set the exact width of the table in centimetres. In tho ‘indent from left Box, you can set the exact distance from the left, margin in centimetres. There's a useful Center option, too. Write vertical ‘One way of having text running vertically is to create a table of just one cell land set the text direction to vertically ub OF Create interest in down. Position your documents by the text cursor varying the nthe spot. rection ofthe text ‘where you want the table and click the table icon inthe ribbon, Select one cell for the dimensions, Table Styles appears in the ribbon and you can ‘choose to have a border or to hide it = it's up to you. Right-click in the table cell and select Text Direction from the menu, You can now choose to write Lup, across or down the screen, Combine the effect with the positioning options to place the table text wherever you want it on the page. Copy formats If you have formatted text using font, size, style and colour, and want to ‘apply ths to text in another part of the document, click the text and then the Format Painter icon on the ‘Cipboard section ofthe Home tab in the ribbon. Now click a word in the document and it will be changed ta that format. If you click and drag over 2 line or paragraph of text, the whole line or paragraph will be formatted It's great for applying heading styles. 58 18 June 2009 Visit the Hints & Tips forum at www.webuser.co.uk/forumsbP. b) aoa ESA Your top tips Our pick of the best advice from our readers. To get help or offer it to others, visit www.webuser.co.uk/forums SOPTWARE Screen sharing Ever wonted to connect two PCS froma distance, without cables and the hassle of configuring a router and ports? CrossLoop (inwwucrossioopcom) lets you share fle and control another PC ether inyour own home or any internet- connected place on the planet. This could be very handy if you have a relative in Australia who has computer probiems, a3 you can see and control the person's Desitop on your own PC, and halp i any fustating ero. Downloading and installing the programs very simple and quick. Every time you log on it randomly generates @ le-digit access code that you have to send tothe person helping you o ves ers, 30 people cent snoop an your computer without your authorisation. Also, session data is encrypted atthe end-points before being sent, using 128-bit encryption algorithm Tony Alcock, via email Ba Cesc a Control someone else's screen via the Internet using Crosstoop SECURITY Another way to back up Even if you don't buy an external drive to bback up your data, you can protest your files from PC crashes with the right attitude. Anyone who has spent along time typing @ Word document only to lose it all knows wiy this is @ good idea If you have a second partition on your hard disk, all you need do is create a folder on it called ‘Desktop Folder’ or something similar. Make @ shorteut to it ‘on your Desktop, right-click and select Properties, and you can change the folder icon to something that looks neat Now any fle you drag to that shortcut secuniry Lock the Desktop If your Desktop is lett alone, this offers the ideal opportunity for intruders to read and even steal your data. However, you can overcome this problem by locking your Desktop with a single click Once lecked, the only person who can gain access is the password holder. To sat this up, right-click anywhere on the Desktop and select ‘New, then Shortcut. Where it says Type the location’ enter rundI32.exe user32 dllLockWorkStation’ (without the quotes). Name the shortcut Lock Desktop or anything else you prefer. will be automatically saved to the second partition. Also, a Word document can be put inside it and opened from within this folder. Save after each paragraph and, if your PC erashas and even if you lose ‘your main partition, as long as it's not 2 full hardware failure, the files on the second partition are safe, Ron Dickson, via email SEARCH Better searching always use Google when searching for things on the web because it usually produces the best results. One thing that is irtating though is that sometimes it lists links that are years out of date, ike ‘comments in forums that were posted in 2005. Fortunately, you can just search for recent information if you click the Advanced Search link next to the search box. You need to click the link on the advanced Search page to show the date ‘options and then you can choose to show results that aro to pages updated in the past year. WEBSITE Phone upgrade At Christmas I got a new phone but it was rather dull because it had no ringtones or wallpapers. didn't want to pay a fortune or subscribe to one of ‘Send your tips to webuser@ipemedia.com - win £25 for the best tip! ‘Make a Desktop shortcut for password protecting your PC when youleave lt Ifyou double-click the icon on your Desktop, your computer Desktop will then be locked ‘Wal Jun Yau, via email those ringtone services so I found some at a great website called Zedge (www zedgene!). Its perfectly legal and you don't have to register if you don't want to, talso has themes, videos and games, for download. First select your phone in the tonight, ‘corner, then click on the item you want to dovinioad, Download ito your ‘computer then sendit to your phone Using Bluetooth or a USB eable. Matteo Paparoni, Newcastle Find free mobile accoutrements at Zedge GENERALPC Start-up programs 2 large number of services start ‘automatically with Windows and theyre Used for a variety of purposes. But it's possible for malware to instal itself as a service and you should check which services run normaly. Click Start, then Run and enter msconfig’ (without the 18 June 2009 59 iets) ®ee aye quotes). Go to the Services tab and tick the option to hide Microsoft sorvices. The ones that remain are not part of Windows and malware might possibly be among them. There's an alternative to ‘msconfig’ that is more effective. Click Start, then Run and type ‘servicas.mse’ (without the quotes). A lst of services is then displayed, Select a service and you can read its description If there's no description, then it might be an Unwanted program. Try searching the Web for information on i. If you can’t find anything about it, try turning it oft and seeing if your PC continues to run properly after a reboot. If there's a problem, turn it back on again, ‘Wal Ken Yau, via email Use ‘msconfig’ to se@ which non- ‘Microsoft sorvices are running on your PC SEARCH Live search Scoopler (ww scooplercom) has not ‘boon operational long but I think you'll Tike it's @ search engine but it works like a live message board, showing new results from social-networking tools like ‘Twitter, Digg and Delicious as they appear. I've never sean. feature like these scrolling real-time links anywhere tle. It has YouTube video lines in the fixed right-hand column and for sports fans there are links to straaming TV too, Great for events like Eurovision and football highlights. Give ita try Bedstorfromab, via Webuser.co.uk/ forums ‘Scoopler aggregates and updates the latest news from social-networking sites GENERAL PC Linux back-up If your Windows computer has become corrupt and just constantly rabootsitsel, 60 18 June 2009 Puppy Linux ~ an operating system that will run trom a USB memory drive some people think they have lost their files for good. The easiest way Ihave found to get my computer back was to boot an operating system from a CD, then find the fles I wanted to save and put them onto a USB memory drive. did this using! Puppy Linux, having read Web User's guide on how to install tonto a Flash drive ¢Hove To, Issue 213), So if your PC won't boot and you need those files, use Puppy Linux. I's very easy to use, Is very fast and it doesn't need a powerful PC torun on. Proevo, via Webuser.co.uk/forums PHOTOS Animated photos At one time, animated GIF images used to be popular on the web but you don't see many these days, Perhaps it was just ‘a passing fed. Maybe we should bring back this cool feature! | Rave an old version of Paint Shop Pro that comos with a GIF animator and | used it to ‘reate @ mini slide-show of images with ‘one second between each one, | saved the GIF to disk and then uploaded it to Facebook. Unfortunately, Facebook only displayed the last frame of the GIF and it didn't animate. MySpace, however, shows the animation. n fact, you can set the animated GIF as your profile picture. Now that's really cool. If you don’t have a GIF animation editor, there's always the free Photobie (wwrw:photobie.com). Robert Channon, Oswestry SEARCH Discover related sites Internet Expiorer 8 has 3 useful feature called Suggested Sites that shows links ‘to websites that are similar to the one ‘you are currontly viewing, | profer to use Firefox and miss this feature. However you can do a similar thing at Google. Just selact the URL of the current page in Firefox's address box and press Ctrl#¢ to copy it. Then go to the Google homepage, type related (without the ‘quotes) and press Ctrl+V to paste in the address. Hit Return and a list of siilar ‘websites will be displayed. If Google is ‘the default search engine, in the top- Fight corner ofthe Firefox window you can just type related (without the ‘quotes) and paste the URL in there to ‘e0a list of similar sites, Dave Carroll, Norwich GENERALPC Run as an admin Ihave created limited user accounts for family members who use my computer because all they do is browse the web, send email and spend hours on Facebook, it's safer that way. If someone ‘seis logged in to your computer and {you need to do something that would ‘otherwise require an administrator ‘account, you don’t need to log off and ‘then log on to your own account. You ‘can run any program on the Start menu by right-clicking it and selecting Run As. A dialogue box is displayod that lets you select your user account and enter the password. The program then runs as if you had run it from your administrator ‘account. | use XP, but i's probably the same in Vista too. Colin Williams, Rugby es Comets memento teers ee Onesies ewe — = 3 ———— = iL} ‘Run programs 2st you were logged in as ‘someone else by right-clicking SEARCH Google Easter egg Did you knovr that if you go to Goosle ‘and enter ‘google easteregg! and then click 'm Feeling Lucky you can play an Easter bunny game? It's fun when you've ‘get a few minutes to spare. Martin Wrightman, Lincoln atch the falling letter In the bunny basket ‘and spell the word Google™ Visit the Hints & Tips forum at ww wavebuser.co.uk/forumsVie: (ea iis Peet Make photos more fun with Magix FunPix Maker his fun program lets you turn digital snaps of friends, family and pets into amusing caricatures, Designed to appeal to all age ranges, FunPix Makar is incredibly easy @® Magix FunPix Maker http to use so even very young children will be able to get to grips with it immediately. The program is free for seven days but youll naed to ragistar - for free - if you want to keep using it. ' 1@5 mins Click the Open icon to load 2 photo. Shrink or increase t Using the slider lf and zoom in and out with the Magnifying Glass tools! Or pick a pre-set level in the drop-down box. # actual Pheels i shows the picture full size while Entire Image l zooms to fit ‘The Draw tool lilis selected by ult. Click and! drag on part of the image to deform it. Repeating strokes ‘exaggerates the effect. You can undo or redo changes, @ or reset entirely. The Remove tool i erases the effect from an ‘ree (or press the right mouse button), ‘Adjust the size of the Drow tool (and ‘other brushes) with the slider. l You ‘can also control the stronath of the effect # The brush size changes as you zoom in or out. If you want it to remain the same, independent of the magnification, use the Zoom Link button. The Horizontal il and Vertical buttons et you turn distortion on or off for those axes. So, for example, if you select just horizontal, youll only be able to deform the picture lett and right (not Up and down or diagonally). You can have one or both axes active at a time, The Wave toolli distorts the image with a wave shape but used lke @ rush (peint aver areas of a ahoto), it will produce a crystallised effect. Adjusting the strength and tool size can make a big difference, Holding the brush down on the same spot will genarate a cir. The Grow too! li causes the area beneath your brush to expand while the Shrink tool does the opposite, The Right and Left Rotate tools! are used to spin the image around a fixed point. Click ‘ona spot with the left mouse button and hold it down to start the rotation. The Explode tool ll adds an explosion to your picture (lick on @ spot and hold the mouse button down) although the effect looks more like a flower. Use it as.a brush for a spiky result like coarse fur or facial stubble - i's great for adding a beard to someone! Get more practical advice at www.vebuser.co.uk/forums The Dent ll and Bump lf tools ate dents and bumps in your image. It's similar to Grow and Shrink, although the results area litle different It's best used by minimising the tool's cffect and picking either horizontal or vertical deformation (rather then both) a i aT ‘Once you've finished playing around with the photo, you'll probably want, to save it. Click the down arrow next to the floppy disk iconill and choose an option. You can save the image directly, ‘as a nev file with a new name, or make a py. You can also just close it. Bt 18 June 2009 61WlebiiStr ) WORKSHOP Enhance your blog and emails using Zemanta Zemanta, This handy tool analyses the text of blog posts E Inhancing blog content has never been easier than with ‘and automatically suggests tags and generates links to ® Zemanta www.zemanta.com | (2 30 mins related online content, related images and pages. Zemanta is a browser plug-in available for Firefox and internet Explorer, but is compatible with other browsers by using a bookmarklet. Select the download link for your browser at wwwizemanta.com/ download. Ml The process is virtually identical for whichever browser you choose. Once you've run through the Installation and restarted your browser, the tool is ready to use. Now visit one of the websites supported by Zemanta, such as Google Mail or WordPrass. & new icon will be displayed in the address bar or status bar il indicating that the site is compatible. You can click this to disable Zemanta if necessary, Type an email or blog postin the sual way ll and then click the Add Zemanta button, lf which should be Visible, The content of the text will be analysed and related images and news stories will be displayed in a panel to the right-hand side of the screen. & Click on one of the thumbnails or news story snippets to acd it to the current post or omail. lf Additional content can be found by typing keywords into the Search box if and clicking Go. @ Hover the mouse over a thumbnail to see ® larger version and extra information. ‘You can customise the way Zemanta works by creating an account. To get the most from the tool, sign into a personal account by scrolling to the bottom of the right-hand panel and Clicking ‘sign in’. Now click Register to create an account and then login. Log in and use the Options dialogue ox to choose how images should be positioned lil and the type of HTML. code that should be generated. By enabling ‘semantic tagging’ the tags, ‘generated by Zemanta will be more relevant to the text you enter. Fi Sr2 down the page tothe Readers’ features’ section to choose how Zemanta content should appear and the type of icon that should be used. Expand the Personal section if and you have the option of entering some personal information 62 18 June 2009 By expanding the ‘My stuff section Yyou can opt to use images from & Flickr account when appropriate. Use the Friends and other content section i to make Zemanta aware of your friends and contacts who ean then be linked to when creating posts. bye ety MARK WILSON says If you're using a browser other than Firefox or internet Explorer, visit \wwrwzemanta.com/download and click the Zemanta Bookmarklet link Here you will also find links to plug-ins for popular blogging software Including Live Writer, WordPress, Drupal and MovableType. ‘Subscribe to our RSS feeds at www.webuiser.co.uk/feedsPar PAS .ab stp e391 a eo Ask the Experts _ Web User answers your technical questions. Email us for help at webuser@ipcmedia.com EMAIL Hotmail on Firefox Qyetrr parents atinitook anton that runs Firefox to use on their travels to keep in touch. However, when Using Hotmail, no text can be typed in to the main body of the amail, meaning the whole message has to be typed into the subject box. | thought they were doing something wrong but after checking it myself | found they were correct. Whet Is wrong? ‘Sandy Wilson, via email, sounds like the version of Firefox installed is nat compatible with Hotmail, so download the latest from wwe. mozila.com. Opera Cwwwopera com) is a good alternative worth trying too. The MiniBook runs Debian Linux, not Windows, so download the English Linux version of Firefox or follow the links for Linux i386 at the Opera site GENERALPC Installing Service Pack 3 | cannot install Service Pack 3 for XP. The process goes through starting installation, then | get ‘Service pack 3 setup error dn error in updating your system has occurred, Select OK to. Lund the changes that have besn made. There is no other error message or reference number CChrls Chelton, via email Unfortunately, the solution is too complicated to print here, so we recommend you visit http://support rmicrosoft.com/kb/949377 and follow Method | in the Advanced Troubleshooting section halfway down sage. vista UAC notifications QI steness your instructions io tum off UAC (User Account Control in Vista and seem to have exchanged one set of messages for another. | get constant reminders that ! have turned off UAC and still get the messazes when | play a CD-ROM game. | am no better off after going into the Registry and changing things there. Please advise. David Shore, via email DIGITAL PHOTOS Free photo tools My daughter has a schoo! project which could be enhanced by making a collage from elements of different photos. Is there any freeware that has the capability to erase backgrounds and isolate objects, ‘making it possible to take objects from one photo and place them onto another? If nocd to buy the appropriate software, what's best without having to spend too much? ‘Anthony Minoprio, via email There are lots of free image editing programs and the most powerful is GIMP (www.gimp.org), but it certainly isn't the easiest to use. Paint Net qwww.getpaint.net) is tree, powerful, and more straightforward. (Open Security Center in the Contro} Panel and click on ‘Change the way Security Center alerts me’ Choose ‘Don't notify me and don't display the icon’, Warnings will till be given when unknown softwares run, but clear the tick box that says Always ask before opening this fle, and you won't sea it again, Turning off all Vista's security features isn't recommended {and if you can put up with the occasional warning you'l be safer. UAC notifications can be turned off altogether in the Control Pane! EMATL Spam problems I regularly get up to 20 emails a ‘day offering me Viagra and similar stuff use SPAMfighter (ww. spamfighter.com, which seems to ‘capture them all without opening them Send your technical questions to webuiser@ipemedia.com available to download, as well as ‘commercial applications Photobie chttp://photoble com) and PhotoFiltre (http://photofitre free fr) ‘are worth considering too, Good ‘commercial applications include PhotoPlus (www.serifcom), Photoshop Elements (www.adobe co.uk), and Paint Shop Pro (wm. corel.co.uk). ‘and they are easily deleted. Do you have any ideas about deterring the senders at Cyroman, via email pam makes up over 90 per cent fof all emails and its hard to track down the perpetrators, The only action ‘you can take is to use anti-spam tools. You're lucky ifyou got just 20 emails a day ~ some people get hundreds! BROWSERS Reverting back to IE7 | downloaded Internet Explorer 8, but | didn’t lke it s0 | restored to 1E7. Now IE7 opens. but crashes straight ‘away. 've triad everything | know, but can't find anything to solve my problem. ‘Arthur, via email It sounds lke you used System Restore to revert toa time before 18 was installed instead of uninstalling it, This would leave @ mixture of IE7 and IE@ files on your PC. Your best option would be to put IE8 back. You could do this by downloading it on another PC, saving it to disk, and then copying the file to your PC using a CD or USB memary drive. You might then be able to uninstall IE8 Via the Control Panel to tolk7, revert 18 June 2009 63Readers’ helpdesk Our pick of the best solutions posted on our reader forums. Visit www.webuser.co.uk/forums - it’s friendly and free! GENERAL PC Virtually low on memory I keep getting a message on my computer that says, Virtual memory too low: How can I resolve this problem? Isit easy tafe Jamesjamieson, via Webuserco.tk/forums Right-click My Computer, select, Properties and then the Advanced tab. In the top Performance section, Click the Settings outton, Click the next ‘Advanced tab then click the Change ‘button, The conventional settings are to have virtual memory set at 1.5 times the ‘amount of physical memory installed in the PC, with a meximum value of three times. Therefore, ifthe PC has SI2MB of memory the settings would be 768MB and a maximum of L536MB, However, try selecting the option for System managed size’, unless this is already selected, so that Windows itself manages the size of your virtual memory. Mamee, via Webuser.co.uk/forums vista Service Pack-ed up I have been trying to download Vista Service Pack 1 since it was published, but have not had any success, | keep receiving a message that says, Installing Service Pack stage 3 of 3~ 100% complete’. But then, after @ long pause, 'm told, Service pack did not install reverting changes! | have a Medion 6496 which has alot of programs previously installed. | have the DriverMax program installed and | frequently update my drivers. Even though | can't download Service Pack I, have no problems with ther updates issued by Microsoft Jaykel, via Webuser Make exceptions in AVG My PC's running slowly and, after reading up on the problem. | decided it was time to remove Norton Internet Security 2009 from my PC, which | did vrith Symantec's removal tool. | then downloaded the new AVG Free Edition 85 and Zonedlarm firewall (the free version). However, even ‘though I've had no problems so far, | have a program on my PC called Alvin, Coding Workshop, which is basically a program for spying on a PC's keystrokes and so on, | installed this so I/can keep an eye on what my son is doing online just recently caught him Visiting somewhere he shouldn't and he's only 12), but whenever | now switch on the Alvin program to start up with the PC, my AVG pops up with a internet, switch off all your anti-malware software (anti-virus, firewall, ant: spyware and so on) and then install the Service Pack. When i's done, switch on everything and re-connect to the net. Greysts, via Webuser.co.uk/forums WEBDESIGN Tracking website visitors There are plenty of visitor counters ‘around, which count the number of people who visit your site, but does fanyone know where I can get @ simple script. code or application to generate an ‘automatic email that is sent to me when someone enters my website? It doesn't reed full statistics, 5 the email alert that's important. 'm trying to avoid the Visitor having to do anything other than {90 to the site homepage. ‘The solution must not installa tracking cookie on anyone's PC when visiting my site, because it will ust get wiped off anc ive my site a bad name for using one, ''m using GVisit through Goosle Maps, which is OK, but it doesn’t do anything other then tell you where the host or ISP is for that visitor. 've scoured the web with no reat luck other than overly complex stuff, so any pointers would be ‘ great help. | nove that it sounds daft, but | have certain pages that are threat announcement and the option to remove, which | obviously don't ‘want to do. Having searched through AVG tools, can't find a way for AVG to ignore this supposed threat: | tried licking on Tools, then going to Advanced settings, PUP Exceptions (Potentially Unwanted Programs) and thon selecting the ‘Add exception’ ‘option. Despite that. the announcement is still popping up. How ‘can |amand this, or should | try a different anti-virus program? Gldey, via Webuser.co.uk/forums Go to Advanced Tools, then under Resident Shield go to Exceptions land ade the path. Fusion, via Webuserco.uk/forums Google Analytes's relatively easy to set up ‘and provides a wealth of information about wobste visitors protected or hidden, and I want to ‘monitor how often people try to access them regardless. Ihave a stat counter on the pages already, but a blank email alert wil tll me to go and check who's trying to ‘access the pages, or what exactly they/re trying to access, and it saves having to constantly log into the stats website. It ‘also means if don't get any alerts, then the pages and content are safe and | don't have to keep checking, InTutor, via Webuser.co.uk/forums | think that what you need is Google Analytics (wwwgoogle com/ analytics). It would be free and simpler to Get more practical advice at www.webuserco.uk/forumsdo than sending an email for every visit and you will ows lots of useful information about your users, such as the browser they use and what country/ region thay are trom. Gerome, via Webuserco.uk/forums weet Connection problems No matter what Ido, eat get my internet to work. My routers @ BT Home Hub 20 and am using it with @ BT Voyager 1055 dongle. When I check the connection via my computer it says that! am connected wirelessly from the Hu to the done with an excellent signal However when | try to browse the internet, | keep getting a message which says, Internet explorer can not connect to this page’. anybody has any ideas they wil be aporeciated greatly because ‘my partner and | are going crazy trying to solve this problem ‘Dave6940, via Webuserco.uk/forums Have you actually connected to the wireless network? In other words, have you run the wireless adapter software, scannad for available wireless networks, found and highlighted the one that matches your router's SSID (network ame) and selacted the option to connect to it? You should be prompted to enter any WEP or WPA encryption key and, once connected, the wireless adapter should get its IP address by DHCP from the router and you should have network and internet access. There isa difference between the wireless network adapter and router communicating with a good signal and ‘connecting’ (as in logging in) to your wireless network, Note also that, ifn Incorrect WEP/WPA key is entered, you may appear to have connected to the wireless network, but the connection won't work. You might also need to remove any existing wireless profiles that have been saved, Follow the instructions at http:/tinyurLcom/ndex23 and then ain Mgmce, via Webuser.co.uk/forums. weer Wireless speed discrepancies Ihave wireless broadband installed upstairs in my study with a dongle. When do a speed test get reading of Up f0.4.74aKops. However, BT reckons | am paying for a maximum of Kbps. have now installed broadband on the PC in the dining room (hich, incidentally, s where the router is situated) end | get a reading of 6:789Kbps. Can anyone explain why this is? Also, my PC upstais has 54.3GB fee ofa total usage of 768GB, as does the PC downstairs ‘Vonnle, via Webuser.co.uk/forums ‘Assuming the PC in the dining room is also connecting wirelessly, itis jetting a better-quality and mare reliable signal than the upstairs PC. Ifthe PC in the dining room is connected to the router by Ethernet cable then this will, EMAIL Static links | have no problem connecting to the internet via the usual route, bbut when | try to use link from my ‘email, nothing hoppens. If have Internet Explorer already open, it's fine land connects in seconds. If open the ‘Task Manager by pressing Control+Alt»Delete, it states Outlook Express is not responding and | have to close down. Sometimes, when I restart Outlook Express, itis fine and sometimes it may take several attempts to connect to the internet. Lam running ‘Windows Me and Virgin is my ISP. Fisheroony, via Webuser.co.uk/forums Set Internet Explorer as the default browser then click Start, noint to Settings, end then click Control Panel Double-click the Internet or Internet, Options icon, and then click Programs, Make sute that the Tell me if Internet ed etn |G] HOO aes SRE rere ners en a is your defoult Tose Cee) | Explorers not the default web browser" check box is selected, click Apply, and then click OK. Next, open Internet Explorer and then click Yes when you receive the following prompt: ‘internet Explorer is not currently your default browser. Do you wish to make it the defeult™ Links in email messages should then open internet Explorer Fusion, via Webuser.co.uk/forums Share your knowledge at www.websuser.co.uk/forums a ATER) Aa always be more reliable than a wireless connection. To gauge the upstairs internet performance accurately, you }ould connect it by Ethernet cable to the router which may, of course, not be practical ‘Mamme, via Webuser.co.uk/torums With regard to using cables, 100 metres isa recommended maximum length, but there are apparently systems which wil ‘work without Network cables noticeable loss Se Gea, over much longer recommended up distances, Longer £0 700m im length network cables are readily available from computer retailers Fusion, via Webuser.co.uk/forums BROWSERS, 19 Firefox Recently, pages will suddenly stop loading in Firefox or, rather. be in an ‘endlass loading state. I close Firofox and reopen, | receive a message saying, Firefox is already running, but not responding, please end the process’. So | press Ctrl+Alt+Dal and open the Task Manager, and try to end the Firefox process. But absolutely nothing happens, It's impossible for me to end the process Unless | log off and log back on, which is very annoying. As aside note, | use Vista and this, same problem happens all the time with a multitude of programs but | Just live vith it. This operating system has brought me nothing but arief right from the start Sir_fratley, via Webusor.co.uk/forums Aitizcises tei cousing you problems, so what you're experiencing with Firefox may not be ‘entirely due to the browser. Look at the troubleshooting guide regarding why it hangs (http://kb mozillazine.ora/ Firefox_hangs) and then at why Firefox crashes (httpi//kb.mozillazine.ora/ Firefox_crashes) Madeline, via Webuser.co.uk/forums © Problems with vista may explain why Firefox I crashing 18 June 2009 65TweetDeck h www.tweetdeck.com t seems that web users currently fll into two camps: these who've tried Twitter and those who haven't - yet The micro-blogging sensation continues to enjoy meteoric success, helped in no small part by the fact that you can tweet from almost anywhere and in various ways. Im addition to the website, there are multiple mo le phone applications and a growing number of programs for the PC oF Mac. Arguably the best of these Desktop clients is TweetDeck, which divides the Twitter feed into columns, making it much easier to keep an eye on what's going on with your various ‘contacts. It also provides direct Useful related services. Ks to GET STARTED WITH TWEETDECK TweetDeck makes reading, sending and managing your tweets easier than ever. Here's how to use the Twitter client install the software and log in with your Twitter username and password, TweetDeck will display al tweets, replies ll and direct messages, |B in separate columns. When a now tweet arrives, a notification appears. To send a tweet, click the speach bubble |B and type your comment into the box. ‘TweetShvinkill condenses messages by replacing words and phrases with shorter variations. The result will be ® lot lke text speak so use it sparingly! You can also translate a tweet into a different language Mf and access recent ‘hashtags (words that are used to link ‘tweets about the same topic). @ 66 18 June 2009 To shrinkca long web address to save characters, paste it into the Shorten URL. box, Bl pick a service from thelist lf and click Shorten. & The result will be added to your tweet. If you want to share photos, you can use TwitPic. Click the button Mand search for an image to shore, PPI To send a reply, a direct messaee, retweet an update or access other commands, hover your mouse over the person's photo and click the option you Clicking a person's name il will open their profile in ‘naw column. This shows information about them and their latast tweets, want when it appear This turne TweetDeck into @ more slimline tool. You can serail between columns or resize it by clicking and dragging on any of the edges. Click here to access the search feature You can look for users, hashtags or keywords, Searches are displayed in new columns. This keeps you abreast of the sarvice's current condition. Useful when Twitter fails or you go over your API limit ‘This information tells you when ‘TweetDeck was last refreshed, how many new tweets were added and when the next update is due. Click the Group button il! to create a new column for you ta populate with selected users (ones you follow avidly, for example). Give the new group a namellf and tick the users you want to ‘add. IB You can also create a column for your alltime top tweets by clicking the Favorites button. Get more practical advice at foruNoes persion ees regoiieyessnge'y 210 acebook status update: Facebook button. fl Enter the « address and password you use for 3k can also display Click th q ervice. Your friends’ updates will apoear ina new column. You can update you jatus atthe same time as Twitter by icking the option inthe tweet window. Find more free software at I niistg = erty." Paul Jenyarige dragged ono ages a aetna ay eer tas evtayenil Did yours 7 ary sapere neck th The icons at the bottom of each To the progra column let you fier tweets, lf mark wrench icon. BB You can change the hem os seen and om.i@ You position of the tweet window, turn can move the column position too. lf The natifcations on or off and specify the rant state of the API (Applicatio naximum number of tweets per column ogramming interface), which lets you ick the Twitter API tabi to set how fend and receive up to 100 Twitter space to divide between twee replies and ai Updates per hour, Is shown have. messagas 18 June 2009 67Customise * your Desktop ‘Wayne Williams shows you some free tweaks to make your Desktop more informative ® i Peeer ie) ce eaarener ee Perce ere save time and effort oti eee Cees Pec Cree Widgets The easiest way of adding information to your Desktop i to install a widget engine tke Google Desktop (hit:/deskton. ‘google.com or Yahoo Widgets (it wwidgetsyahoo.com), If you're using Vista, youl already have a Gadget Sidebar installed All three options are fity similar and lt you spread any number of widgets allover your Desktop or dock them ina handy sidebar. {Klpfolio Personal Dashboard (av Iipfolio com) fs less wel-known. It consists of several seperate modules ~ called Klis ~ that you ean resize, ink together and build diferent shapes from, There's a good selection of Kips on offer covering news, logs, weather, emall 68 18 June 2009 Missed Part 2 of our Desktop How To..? Download it atsocial networks and RSS feeds. Kiudgets ( , while new and quite basic, is also worth considering because it can run some cout rot yet al) of Apple's Dashboard widgets on Windows Sobees ( is anewish Widget engine that lets you add web content modules, called bDules, to your Desktop, These can be scattered around, ‘maximised or docked in a riteon at the top of the screen, You can send and receive messages through the interface, Upload and view photos, and search the web Amnesty Hypercube ( D also lets you add web widgets to your Desktop, including content from the likes of iGoogle ¢ nvig) and Pagefakes ( 7m), If you fency something little diferent S60deskt00 c ) does exactly what the name suggests and transforms your Windows Dasktop into a 360-degree panorama. You can scroll it left or right in a loop and add widgets and veb-pege clippings too. Feeds and system information SideStie ( 1 Dis a Desktop sidebar, which sits on the screen edge and acts as a launch pad for programs, websites, notes, RSS feeds, fles and folders, i's very cool and can be hidden out of the way when not required if you have Gooale Desktop installed you can add the official Google Reader gadget to it 16). Click anitam in the feed to display a preview. You can star, share ‘and email the story 8s normal. it doesn’t display full HTML though, which is a Although i's quite long in the tooth now and hasn't been updated in a wile, BCE ye ( eaction: i ) is a smart system information too! that displays useful date Guch 28 your CPU speed, running processes and free hard disk space) 2: Windows wallpaper eee HOW TO... | Webiiser Reinmeter (t 7 nmeter) can display system information in @ number of ways and has been used by various third-party developers to produce their own Desktop customisations. Enigma Desktop 200s particularly stunning and vary easy to-use. Simply install Rainmeter (but don't run it), then download and unzip Enigma (httpy/tin ptoa folder and run the setup.exe. There are several designs available in the Templates folder. To instal ona just rename it Rainmetarini and copy it to the C\, Program run Rainmeter itself. To add items to your les\Rainmeter folder. Finally, Desktop, including clocks, a calendar and system information, just click the choices ‘you want in the menu. You'll need to Close the program before switching to a new template, (Other impressive designs created using Rainmeter include HUDVision http://tinyur com and the Vista Reinbar Va (nttps//tn >. MINI-WORKSHOP | Add feeds to your Desktop Multimeter RSS displays the latest feed headlines on your wallpaper. Download and install Rainmeter (but don't run i), then download Multimeter ¢ nyu ) and unzip the folder to the C:\Program Files\ Rainmeter\Skins directory. Run Rainmeter and right-click the System Tray icon. fl Select Configs, Multimeter RSS.ini. itl appear on your screen. @ NEXTISSUE [Giae F's dificult to read. you can either ichange your Windows wallpaper to something darker, or load the supplied Multimeter background. Right-click the system Tray icon and go to Contig, Multimeter, Backoround, Background ini To customise the look of the feed (or the background), hover your mouse over the skin nameilll and some configuration Build a website Find more free software at www.webuser.co.uk/freesoftware Double-click any of the icons to show only the latest stories from that site. The defaults are Gizmodo, Goosle News, Lifehacker, The Consumerist and Hack a Day. To change the chaice of feeds on offer simply edit the RSSinifile in the Skins\Multimeter folder. 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