Fibre Broadband
Dave had just switched to Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) provided by Gigaclear - see their web site:-
https://gigaclear.com/home-broadband
Gigaclear are one of the non-OpenReach fibre providers that install their own fibre network rather using BT/OpenReach infrastructure. There are several such providers around the country including Virgin Media, Zzoomm, and Hyperoptic. You can only connect to the operator that has installed their cables in your region. As with Gigaclear, they may offer some very attractive prices for the initial contract.
Linda has also just switched from BT to EE broadband to get a better price. Like BT (and TalkTalk, Sky, Plusnet, etc), EE use the OpenReach infrastructure.
If you change broadband suppliers, you will be issued with a new router. This comes re-programmed with a different wireless password (aka encryption key) which will need to be changed in all your internet-connect devices. As we may have many devices these days - computers, phones, tablets, TV, set-top-boxes, smart sockets and switches, doorbells, security cameras, thermostats, smart appliances, etc, changing all the wifi passwords in every one would be a major task. I didn't mention this at the Club, but it may be simpler to re-program the SSID (aka wifi name) and wifi password in the new router so they are the same as the old one. Most devices should then connect, possibly just having to power them off and on again to refresh their IP number - see this article written by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge from a couple of years ago:-
https://www.theverge.com/23453354/keep-smart-home-devices-online-replace-wifi-router-how-to
OneDrive
We had some discussion about OneDrive - again! You can look back at all our previous discussions about OneDrive by going to my web site at:-
bit.ly/rogersdocs
and clicking on the Computer Club tab. Then scroll down to the document called:-
Cloud Storage (Inc OneDrive, Google Drive & iCloud).
For an alternative explanation, have a look at this article from May last year by Howard Wen at Computerworld:-
https://www.computerworld.com/article/1717094/microsoft-onedrive-cheat-sheet-backup-sync-share-files.html
Start11
Linda has just moved from Windows 10 to a Windows 11 PC. This led me to mention Start11, a product from Stardock. This is one of a range of products which they offer. It is a one-off purchase and it allows you to use a Windows 7, 10 or 11 style of Start Menu. So, you can continue to use a Windows 10 menu on Windows 11. It also allows you to configure a number of things, including the Taskbar. You can get Start11 here:-
https://www.stardock.com/products/start11/
Chromecast Gen2 Problem
If you have a 2nd generation Chromecast, it will have stopped working on the 10th March. This is because the security certificate built in to these devices expired on the 9th March! If you want a full technical explanation, have a look at this reddit thread:-
https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/1j8wtxa/heres_why_a_fix_is_taking_so_long/
Currently, Google says they are working on a fix, which looks like it could take a few weeks, so we just have to wait.
If (like me) you did a factory reset to try and get it working, then you will not be able to re-connect it to your network! The solution to that is to set the date on your phone to something before the 9th March and then use the Google Home app to re-add the device, however, you still won’t be able to cast to it. A lot of articles have been written on this in the last couple of days, including this one from Ars Technica:-
https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/03/googles-10-year-old-chromecast-is-busted-but-a-fix-is-coming/
You may find some unofficial work-arounds, but I would recommend waiting for the promised fix from Google.
Password Manager & Email Security
While there is a slow trend towards passwordless logons (authentication) using Passkeys, for the foreseeable future, we are dependent on logging in with a username and password. The username is usually your email address, although it may be something else on some sites. And then you have a password which you have to remember – or do you? Many sites offer a Forgot my password button which will send a link to your email address with a way to set up a new password. If anyone else could ever get access to your email account, that means they would then have the means to reset passwords and access many of your other accounts. For this reason, it is vital that you have 2FA (2 Factor Authentication) on your email account.
A Password Manager is a useful tool. It can generate and store long, complex passwords and auto-fill them into the logon screen of web sites and apps on your mobile devices. Many web browsers include a Password Manager and Apple provides iCloud Keychain. However, a totally cross-platform solution such as Bitwarden or 1Password is arguably a better answer:-
Bitwarden - https://bitwarden.com/
1Password - https://1password.com/password-management
Remember that your Password Manager will be storing virtually all of your login credentials, so it is absolutely vital that you protect access to your Password Manager with a long, difficult-to-guess passphrase and 2FA. Read this ZDNet article for more on securing your Password Manager:-
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-protect-and-secure-your-password-manager/
If you find the idea of using a password manager too complicated, you can just write them down in a list which you keep secure. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) suggests using 3 random words to create reasonably memorable but hard to crack passwords:-
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online/three-random-words
I would also suggest adding a number and a special character between the words and including some capital letters – this would meet the requirements for most passwords. So, taking the NCSC’s example, you could make it:-
This structure for passwords makes them very secure but much easier to type manually than a completely random set of letters, numbers and characters.
Brian mentioned that having a written list of passwords is not practical when you are away from home. It may be that a password manager on your mobile device, which you sign into with biometrics is a better solution in that case. You can also try to invent a strategy to obfuscate the passwords - perhaps by missing out the number and special characters between your 3 words on the written list, or interchanging the first and last word, etc.
Skype Shuts Down
Skype was one of the first video calling and messaging apps dating back to 2003 and was acquired by Microsoft in 2011. There are now many video/messaging apps including WhatsApp, FaceTime, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. The Skype service will end on 5th May and be replaced with a free version of Microsoft Teams.
For more details see this article from The Verge:-
https://www.theverge.com/news/621353/microsoft-skype-shutting-down-retirement-may-2025
Those who use Skype to contact family and friends will have to find an alternative. Google Meet was suggested which can be accessed in any browser on any platform by going to:-
https://meet.google.com
You can also click on the Google apps button at the top right of any other Google page and scroll down to Meet. One-to-one meetings can be up to 24 hours, but group meetings (max 100 people) are limited to 60 minutes on the free plan.
Apple users can use FaceTime, and can include Windows or Android participants by sending a link which will open in the recipients browser. There is no time limit and groups can be up to 32 people.
WhatsApp works on mobile devices and using the WhatsApp app (available from the Microsoft Store) on Windows. As with FaceTime, there is no time limit and a maximum of 32 participants can take part in a group call.
Microsoft will be offering a free version of Teams to Skype users and you will be able to export your Skype contacts and call history to Teams. See this Microsoft article for more:-
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/02/28/the-next-chapter-moving-from-skype-to-microsoft-teams/
uBlock Origin – Manifest v3
Some of you may recall that in June last year, we talked about Chrome ending support for Extensions which used something called “Manifest v2” – see the blog for that month and look for the heading “Chrome Extension Changes”:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2024/06/
This has been replaced by Manifest v3 which offers security enhancements for Extensions. Chrome has now implemented this change which also affects some other Chromium-based browsers such as Edge. “uBlock Origin” is an ad-blocking extension that I have recommended several times in the past and which will not work in Chrome now that Manifest v2 is not supported. The simple option is to switch to uBlock Origin Lite. This is slightly less powerful, but is designed to work with Manifest v3 and should be adequate for most users.
Read this article by Chris Hoffman for more details and recommendations for other ad-blocking solutions:-
https://theintelligence.com/37756/best-adblockers-to-replace-ublock-origin/
Of course, while ads can be annoying and can slow down page loading, they do finance the web sites which we see for free. So, if you use a site regularly, you might choose to allow ads on that page (via your ad-blocker) or make a donation to the site.
WikiTok
Feeling a bit bored? Why not read an encyclopaedia! This is a new web site which presents you with an endless series of extracts from Wikipedia. The endless vertical scroll from item to item is a bit TikTok-like, hence the name WikiTok. However, WikiTok presents a totally random stream – there is no algorithm involved to steer it to your interests. It’s just for fun.
If something interesting pops up, you can click on Read more to go to the full Wikipedia article. You can go to the WikiTok site in a browser on any device:-
https://wikitok.vercel.app/
This article from Ars Technica tells you more:-
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/new-wikitok-web-app-allows-infinite-tiktok-style-scroll-of-wikipedia/
If you like the idea of reading random Wikipedia articles, you can do this directly in Wikipedia. Just open Wikipedia in your browser by going to:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Click on the 3-bar menu (“hamburger”) icon at the top left and select Random Article from the menu.
Windows Disk Image
Allan asked about making an image copy of his Windows system disk. There are paid-for options that will do this, some of which are featured in this Techradar article:-
https://www.techradar.com/best/best-disk-cloning-software
However, there is an old Windows 7 function in Windows Control Panel which still exists in Windows 10 and 11 and it allows you to create an image copy of your drive. (Tip: to run Control Panel, click the Start button and begin typing "Control Panel"). I wrote a document called Backup in Windows 10 which discusses backup methods including (on page 4) Windows Image Backup. You can find that document on my web site:-
bit.ly/rogersdocs
Select the Computer Essentials tab and look for Backup in Windows 10.
Obviously, the image backup is a snapshot of your system at that time, so you should do another image backup every 3 to 6 months or after any major system update.
Word Custom Dictionary
Allan mentioned backing up the Word custom dictionary as might be needed to move it to a new PC. If you use Google and search for:-
microsoft word move custom dictionary to new pc
This should give a reasonable description in the AI summary at the beginning of the search results. Essentially you need to locate and copy the custom.dic file.
Next Session
Wed 9th April 2025 at 2pm by Zoom
