Windows
10 – 21H1
The
Spring update to Windows 10, version 21H1, was released on 18th
May. It will eventually install
automatically, but you can speed up the process by going to:-
Start,
Settings, Update & Security, Windows Update and click
on Download and Install.
End
of Support for IE on Windows 10
From
15th June 2022. Internet Explorer (IE) will be removed from Windows
10. The default web browser for Windows
10 is Edge. Edge is now based on
Chromium which is the open-source browser on which most other Windows browsers
are based, including Chrome. The main non-Chromium
browser on Windows is Firefox.
Windows
11??
Microsoft
has a launch event on 24th June to reveal “what’s next” for
Windows. We were told in 2015 when
Windows 10 was released that there would not be a Windows 11 – but now, there
might be!
Microsoft has been working on a revised user interface for Windows for some time under the code name “Sun Valley”. It is expected this redesign will form the basis of the new Windows which may be called “Windows 11”, but this has not been confirmed.
At the Club last June, we mentioned “Windows 10X” which was thought to be a
simplified Chromebook competitor.
However, 10X has now been scrapped.
But some of its ideas, including a brand-new version of the Microsoft
Store, could well appear in the new “Windows 11”. We will know more by our July meeting. In the meantime, you can read more of the speculation
in articles such as this:-
https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/features/windows-11-everything-we-know
Is The PC Dead?
Linda asked if Desktop PCs have a future. We had some discussion around this. I feel that all the current form-factors of devices have their uses in various circumstances. You can read articles on this such as this one:-
https://www.techspot.com/article/1832-the-future-of-the-desktop-pc/
UK
Emergency Alerts
The
UK Government plans to launch an emergency alert system this summer. It will be able to send messages to all
smartphones and tablets that have a mobile SIM connection in a particular geographical area. The messages will be broadcast directly from
cell towers to all connected devices over the mobile data network. The messages will be accompanied by a distinctive loud tone and
vibration alert.
You can check that alerts are enabled on your mobile device by going into Settings. On an iPhone, select Notifications and then scroll down to the bottom. On Android, select Apps and Notifications, Advanced. Select Wireless Emergency Alerts and ensure that Extreme and Severe alerts are enabled.
If you turn off mobile data or select Airplane Mode, you will not receive these messages.
This system is similar to one that has been in place in the United States for some years, operated by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), part of their Department of Homeland Security.
See
here for more details of the new UK system:-
https://www.gov.uk/alerts
Google
Photos
Just
a reminder that all photos uploaded to Google Photos now (since 1st
June) count towards your storage limit – which is 15GB for the free service. Any photos you previously uploaded before 1st June will not
count towards the storage limit.
Users of Google Pixel smartphones will still continue to get free, unlimited storage of photos backed up from that Pixel device.
You can see how much storage space you have on Google Drive by going to:-
drive.google.com
Sign in with your Google credentials and you will see how much space you have. You can also click on the Buy Storage button to purchase more storage. You get 15GB free and then you can get 100GB for £15.99 per year.
USB
Type-C Power Delivery
You
may have noticed that the new small, reversible USB-C connector is becoming
more common and we have mentioned it before:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2019_12_08_archive.html
In addition to offering a range of different data standards through the Type-C connector such as USB, Thunderbolt and Display Port, it can also be used, in some cases, for Power Delivery. Many modern, slim laptops now use a Type-C connector for charging the laptop, rather than the barrel connectors found on traditional laptops. However, USB Type-C 2.0 can only handle 100w of power. This is fine for small laptops, but not sufficient for larger devices. A new version of the Type-C standard (version 2.1) introduces Extended Power Range (EPR) which can handle 240w.
Unfortunately,
existing Type-C cables are not capable of handling this extra power load, so
new EPR cables will be introduced. Using
the existing cables on a high power device could result in damage to both the
cable and the connectors, so this is just something to look out for in the near
future. You can read more in this
article from The Verge:-
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2021/5/25/22453936/usb-c-power-delivery-extended-power-range-epr
Slow
PC
If
your Windows PC is running slower than before, here are some things you could
try:-
- Check
for malware by doing a full scan with Windows Defender. If you are using any third-party anti-virus
program, you might try uninstalling that.
- Download
and install Malwarebytes and run a scan.
If no problems are found, uninstall Malwarebytes so that Windows Defender
is back in charge.
- Disable
all the start-up programs by right-clicking on the Taskbar and going to Task
Manager. Reboot and if the PC now runs
faster, enable each start-up one by one until you find the offending one.
- Check if your storage drive (usually Drive C:) has at least 25% free space. If not, try running Disk Clean-up.
If
none of the above helps, re-install Windows 10 by going to:-
Start,
Settings, Update & Recovery, Recovery and click on Get
Started under Reset This PC. You have a choice to retain your files, which I would recommend, but still ensure you have a backup. You also have a choice of re-installing Windows from a local copy or downloading from the internet. I would recommend the latter so that you install the latest version.
Note that you will have to re-install all software (except Store apps) and sign back into everything and set up as if you have a new PC. You must also have a backup of all your data and the necessary installation software and licences to re-install your programs.
Tony found the first 4 suggestions above did not help, but resetting the PC as described above did result in the system working faster.
If the PC is still slow, and has a spinning hard drive, you could try replacing that with a Solid State Drive. Old hard drives develop errors due to mechanical damage which causes the system to repeatedly try to read sectors, resulting in a slow operation.
Word, Excel
We discussed Microsoft Office and some of its alternatives. Word and Excel are the two most commonly used components of Microsoft Office. To get the full versions of Word and Excel there are two alternatives:-
- Subscribe to Microsoft 365 Personal or Family. Personal is £59.99/year for one user, Family can be used by 6 people for £79.99/year. Each user also gets 1TB of OneDrive storage.
- Make a one-off purchase of Office Home & Student 2019 for £119.99. This includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Alternatively, you can use Word and Excel online for free by going to office.com and signing in with your Microsoft Account. The free online version does not have all the features of the paid options, but will be adequate for many people.
LibreOffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office and can read and save files in Microsoft format - see:-
https://www.libreoffice.org/
Another free alternative is WPS Office, although I have less experience of this. You will see ads in the free version. You can download here:-
https://www.wps.com/
LastPass
Linda was having an issue with LastPass on some browsers. You need to ensure that the LastPass extension is installed and enabled in each browser you want to use. Remember that if you are using LastPass on desktop PCs, you can not use it on mobile devices and vice versa.
Google Translate in Edge
Linda also wanted to use Google Translate in the Edge browser. I have had a look at this after the meeting. Here is how to install the Google Translate extension in Edge:-
- Click on the 3-dots (top right)
- Click Extensions
- Under Find New Extensions in the right-hand pane, click Chrome Web Store
- Enter Google Translate into the search box
- Click the More Extensions button (top right)
- Scroll down and you should see Google Translate in the search results
- Click on it and click the Add to Chrome button (even though this is Edge!)
- Click Add Extension to confirm in the pop-up
- You should now see the Google Translate logo in the toolbar
Next Session
Wed
14th July 2021 at 2 pm by Zoom.
