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Monday, October 31, 2016
Samsung’s new startups include a wearable 360 cam and a humming app
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Giphy is offering Vines another place to call home
Fans of Vine might still be mourning the loss of their favourite short-form video platform, but Giphy has revealed a new tool that might bring them comfort and solace.
Last week Twitter announced that it was planning to do some weeding and as a result couldn’t allow Vine to continue looping any longer. The video platform had only been around three years, but in this short time it managed to amass a sizable user base with a talent for creating viral 5 second comedy pieces.
As small comfort, Twitter announced that Vines already uploaded wouldn’t be going anywhere and would be accessible and downloadable via the Vine website.
Never let go
Now, Giphy is offering another way to let the loop live on with its new Giphy Loves Vine tool. The tool will allow anyone with a Giphy account to transfer their entire Vine library from the Vine website and convert them into infinitely looping and shareable GIFs.
Of course, a great deal of the appeal of Vines is their sound which GIFs unfortunately don’t offer. To access the original Vine, sound and all, users simply have to click on the source for the GIF which will direct them to its place on the official Vine website.
Giphy has made the entire process incredibly simple; to transfer your Vine library simply visit the Giphy Loves Vine site, log in to your Giphy account, copy and paste the URL of your Vine profile and Giphy will do the rest for you.
Each Giphy account can only import one Vine library but for users with multiple Vine accounts, Giphy will be able to help if you contact them.
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Sunday, October 30, 2016
Samsung is focused on the Galaxy S8 and is already promising discounts to loyal users
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Friday, October 28, 2016
Samsung brings the Note 7’s Blue Coral color to the Galaxy S7 Edge
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iOS 11: what we want to see
iOS 10 only recently landed in its finished form, but you can be sure that Apple is already hard at work on iOS 11, ready for a mid-2017 unveiling.
So far little is known about the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, but there are a few rumored features and plenty more things we’re hoping to see.
With that in mind we’ve collected all the news and rumors below, along with a wish list of what we’d hope are Apple’s top priorities.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next version of iOS
- When is it out? Probably a June announcement and a September launch
- What will it cost? Nothing!
iOS 11 release date
iOS 11 is likely quite a long way off, with an announcement at WWDC in June 2017 looking all but set in stone, given that it’s during this event that Apple typically unveils new versions of iOS.
However, it’s unlikely that iOS 11 will be finished by then, with betas (including a public one) likely to be made available soon after, and a final release probably in September 2017, alongside the iPhone 8.
Again, this is all based on past iOS releases rather than any news or rumors, but there’s no reason to think Apple will change its schedule.
iOS 11 news and rumors
One thing we’re expecting to see soon from iOS is a ‘Dark Mode’, which would make backgrounds black, so you don’t strain your eyes when using an iOS device at night or in other dim environments.
The real question is whether Dark Mode will arrive with iOS 11, or as part of an iOS 10 update, as resources for the feature have already been found within iOS 10, so it’s probably something that Apple plans to add imminently.
Of course, there’s already a Night Shift mode, but that’s a bit different, as it reduces the amount of blue light rather than making the display darker.
Apple is also said to be working on a new video sharing and editing app, similar to Snapchat. Supposedly this would include filters and the ability to draw on videos, and it may launch as a standalone app, rather than as an update to the camera app.
This wouldn’t necessarily be a part of iOS 11, but Apple is supposedly shooting for a 2017 launch, so it’s possible.
Apple is also apparently working on enhanced social features, according to sources speaking to Bloomberg.
The company's tipped to make sharing and connectivity with contacts a system-wide feature as well, and may consolidate communications, so you can see all your SMS messages, emails and social network interactions with a given person on a single screen.
What we want to see
We don’t know much about iOS 11 yet, but we know what we want from it. Check out our wish list below and let us know if there’s anything you really want to see.
1. Customizable Control Center
Control Center is a handy shortcut to a number of toggles, but it’s not customizable, meaning that for certain options, such as music controls, you must swipe to the second tab – an annoying extra step for anyone who listens to a lot of music on their device.
Worse, some actions, such as GPS, don’t have Control Center toggles at all, so we’d like to see the ability to customize both what options are displayed and which tab they appear on.
2. Always-on display
Samsung impressed us with the always-on display of phones like the Galaxy S7 – giving you a constant clock and a window onto your notifications, and we’d like to see a similar option built into iOS 11.
Raise to wake makes it quicker than ever to view the lock screen, but if we just want to check the time we'd rather not have to even raise the phone, and an always-on display would be a solution.
3. Home screen widgets
Apple’s lock screen widgets are handy, and help stop the home screen getting too cluttered, but we’d still like the option to put widgets on our home screens.
It’s not just about having quick access to apps and information, but also about customizing devices to make them our own, whether that means having a big custom clock and weather forecast on our main home screen, an overview of upcoming calendar events, or whatever else.
4. Smarter Siri
Siri is getting better all the time, but there’s still room for improvement, especially as in many ways Google Assistant has it beat.
We’d especially like to see improvements to Siri’s context awareness – so for example reliably being able to answer follow-up questions without you having to clarify the subject again.
5. Grouped notifications
Everyone likes to be loved, and there's nothing better than your WhatsApp blowing up - until that is, you take a gander at your lock screen or notification bar.
Currently, iOS seems unable to group messages from the same contact, or message group, together, giving you an almost never-ending stream of notifications.
Come on Apple, give us "19 new messages from 2 chats" and the ability to expand to see more if we so desire. Pleeaassssseeeeee.
6. Clear all background apps
Being able to hop quickly between different apps is handy, but sometimes we like to clean up the multi-tasking panel and start fresh. Thing is, on iOS 10 that involves swiping each individual app to close it.
For iOS 11 we'd love to have a "clear all" option, allowing us to shut all the background apps with a simple tap of an icon.
7. Easy video resolution changes
iOS is often thought of as simple and intuitive, and for the most part it is, but glaring usability issues sometimes emerge, and one of those is the inability to change video resolution from the camera app.
Instead you have to dig down into the main settings screen, which takes time, isn’t intuitive at all and could leave some users unaware that it’s even an option.
This should be an easy fix, so hopefully with iOS 11 Apple will add a video resolution toggle to the camera app itself.
8. Improved Mail app
Apple's Mail app got a bit of love in the iOS 10 upgrade, but the new look isn't overly slick. Scrolling through an email conversation feels clunky, and rival apps such as Gmail feel better put together overall.
In iOS 11 we'd like to see a cleaner, slicker and more user friendly Mail app, and if Apple wants to take a few pointers from Google's Gmail offering we won't complain.
- After a new tablet? The iPad Pro 2 could be coming soon
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Surge pricing comes to UberEATS
Uber has announced that the unpopular surge pricing model applied in the ride-hailing side of its business will now be introduced to its food delivery service, UberEATS, in a select number of cities.
Uber revealed the news on a blog post on its website, where it said that the reason for its decision was simply a response to the growing popularity of the service and the demand being placed on it by the “tremendous appetite” of its customers.
“In order to maintain the speed, reliability, and selection people have come to expect from Uber, we depend on having delivery partners available in the right places at the right times” wrote the company. As a result, it has to find a way to incentivise more drivers to come out to work when there’s a local shortage.
Supply and demand
Uber doesn’t use the exact phrase “surge pricing” in its post, instead saying that UberEATS customers will be asked to “pay more for delivery when they order from restaurants in areas where demand is high but delivery partners are scarce.”
The logic behind the timed price hikes is similar, though, and with surge pricing proving to be an effective method with its car drivers, it makes sense to introduce a similar model for delivery drivers.
Just like when ordering an Uber car, customers will be warned of the extra charge before they make their order. You’ll know if you have to pay extra to order from a certain restaurant as it’ll feature an arrow beneath its name.
The exact charge appears above the menu, and as a separate line item before checkout and on the order receipt so it’ll be hard to deny you weren’t made adequately aware of being charged any extra.
By doing this, Uber hopes it will be able to keep offering delivery from all of its restaurants even when it’s busy so that customers don’t have to miss out on the places they love most just because they’re ordering at a peak time.
Uber says that the extra money will go “toward financial incentives for delivery partners as well as our other operational costs.”
State side
The new pricing model will be introduced to US cities Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, DC, Miami, and Atlanta first. It won’t be city-wide, instead only high-demand areas are likely to see it applied. Considering UberEATS is now in operation in 43 cities across the globe, it’s likely the price surges won’t be limited to US cities as it increases in popularity elsewhere.
Though it’s unpopular, the surge pricing model is currently tolerated in the ride hailing service. It could, however, be under threat in London as an employment tribunal is due to rule on whether Uber’s drivers are self-employed or should be given basic employment rights by the company.
Uber is arguing that its drivers are self-employed and can choose to drive when and where they please, which is part of why the surge pricing model is so important; Uber can’t demand that its drivers come out so it has to find other ways to convince them.
If the tribunal finds that Uber drivers are actually workers, they’ll be entitled to certain rights under employment law such as sick pay and the national minimum wage which will have severe implications for Uber’s current business model.
It could also have a knock-on effect with regards to the employment status of its UberEATS delivery drivers, who have already protested the company's treatment of them.
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Thursday, October 27, 2016
Samsung acquires Tachyon to extend enterprise mobile device management
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Here are the free PlayStation Plus games for November 2016
Each month, a new range of free downloadable games becomes available to North American, European and Australian PlayStation Plus subscribers, with titles across PS3, PS4 and PS Vita.
We suggest you grab these games while they're free, as you'll then be able to play them as long as you have an active Plus subscription.
As the free games are refreshed monthly, we've taken the liberty of keeping you updated on the titles that are being offered.
Here are your free PlayStation Plus games for November 2016, which will be available sometime during the first week of the month.
PlayStation 4
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture – a critically-acclaimed game from developer The Chinese Room, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a haunting open-world game that see the player explore the abandoned (but beautiful) village of Yaughton in an effort to find out where everyone is.
The Deadly Tower of Monsters – modelled on the B-grade science fiction movies of the 1970s, this tongue-in-cheek third-person action game sees you play as Dick Starspeed, a space explorer who has crash landed on an alien planet and must deal with its hostile inhabitants, Thankfully, he has the help of Scarlet Nova, heir to the planet's tyrannical Emperor.
PlayStation 3
Dirt 3 – The third game in Codemasters' Dirt series, Dirt 3 mixes traditional rally action with the extreme sports influence of driver Ken Block to create one of the finest racing games of the last console generation.
Costume Quest 2 – an adorable role-playing game from the beloved studio Double Fine Productions, Costume Quest 2 sees a pair of twins try to save Halloween night from the evil Dr. Orel White.
PS Vita
Letter Quest Remastered – a cute turn-based role-playing game, Letter Quest Remastered sees a pair of adorable grim reapers take on a legion of monsters. The game is also a cross buy title with PS4.
Pumped BMX+ – what do you get when you cross Trials HD with Dave Mirra BMX? You get one seriously bitchin' extreme sports game! Time to bone up on your bunny hops before the release of Pumped BMX 3 later this year. The game is also a cross buy title with PS3 and PS4.
For a discounted PlayStation Plus subscription, be sure to check out the PlayStation Plus deals at CDKeys.com.
Join us next month as we update you on December's free PlayStation Plus games!
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Samsung’s profit plummets 30% following the Galaxy Note 7 crisis
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Windows 10 Creators Update coming Spring 2017: here's what you need to know
Over at its big press event in New York, Microsoft has announced that the next major version of Windows 10 will be unleashed next spring, and it will be called the Creators Update.
As the name suggests, this is all about the desktop OS getting creative, and pushing forward with 3D content creation, and on the fronts of augmented reality and virtual reality, and connected mixed reality experiences as Microsoft put it (naturally including HoloLens).
Microsoft’s Taj Reid showed off a demo with HoloLens, showing him browsing in Edge, and taking an object – in this case a stool – and pulling it out from the online shop, to place it in the real-world room to see how it looks next to a table. Pretty nifty.
VR goodness
But the really cool stuff came on the virtual reality front, with Reid subsequently donning a VR headset running Windows 10, enabling him to watch a football match on a giant screen right up close, or engage in a ‘holotour’ in which he wandered about amongst some old Roman buildings.
And a number of partners will be teaming up with Microsoft to produce VR headsets starting at $299 – for more details on this, head over here.
Paint 3D (which was previously rumored) is, of course, part of this creative drive, which allows you to pull off tricks like taking a 2D element of an image and making it 3D with a simple click from a ‘doodle’ tool.
Another big revelation for gamers was the introduction of game broadcasting, which is being built directly into Windows 10. This is dead easy to use, and basically a one-click-to-broadcast affair, with Microsoft going after Twitch by giving users a very simple way to get into streaming their gaming exploits.
Terry Myerson commented: "We want free 3D, free mixed reality, free eSports and game broadcasting, and so much more for everyone."
Microsoft also said that Windows Insiders will be getting early preview builds of the Creators Update later this week, which is surprisingly quick.
The firm also said that over 400 million people are now using Windows 10, and going forward, each major update will have a unique name and focus, such as creativity in this case.
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Spotify has no intentions of giving up its free tier service
Spotify has recently defended its continued offering of an ad-supported free tier by saying it’s good not just for fans of music, but the artists too.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJD conference, more than one executive spoke favorably towards free tier music. Troy Carter, an executive who liaises between Spotify and the wider music industry, said that Spotify’s decision to offer different tiers of service was similar to how artists offer expensive front-row concert tickets at the same time as offering cheaper seats with a poorer view.
“I don't think we're ever going to get to a world where everybody on the planet is going to pay for music,” Carter said. He also added that while a user listening to music for free through Spotify “may never convert to a paid subscriber” they’ll be of a benefit to the artist in other ways, as they’ll “be able to afford a concert ticket, they’ll be able to afford a t-shirt.”
Spend in other ways
It’s understandable that Spotify would like to continue to offer its free tier, which allows users to listen to any song they please as long as they’re willing to put up with the occasional ad interruption.
This is something that sets it apart from other subscription services like Apple Music and Tidal, and is no doubt a big part of why the company is the leader of the music subscription market, having built a paid member base of 40 million subscribers.
It’s an aspect of Spotify’s service that has, however, drawn criticism from artists such as Taylor Swift, who pulled her catalogue from Spotify in 2014 after accusing it of devaluing the music.
At the SWJD conference Stefan Blom, Spotify's chief strategy officer and chief content officer, dismissed the idea that the company was giving music away. He argued that “someone is paying for the consumption”, referring to the money that comes from brand and advertiser payments.
During the event, Blom also said that Spotify was planning to put more money behind creating original videos and making exclusive partnerships with artists. Carter, however, doesn’t have any intention of pursuing album exclusives from popular artists like Apple and Tidal.
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Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Microsoft's answer to Slack coming very soon
We’ve been hearing quite a bit about Microsoft’s challenger to Slack of late, known as Skype Teams up until now. However, the true name of the service has just emerged, or at least it seems very likely that it will be called Microsoft Teams instead – and this renaming underlines speculation that we’ll see a reveal next week.
As Windows Central spotted, the moniker was uncovered because the login page for beta testers has just changed from ‘teams.skype.com’ to ‘teams.microsoft.com’, and new Microsoft Teams branding and logos now adorn the page.
And the name certainly makes sense. After all, you’ve got Microsoft Office, so why not Microsoft Teams? Incidentally, previous speculation has pointed to the fact that this service will be a part of Office 365, specifically the business versions of the online productivity suite (and possibly enterprise plans only – we shall see on that score, although it seems a little odd for Microsoft to be giving small businesses the cold shoulder).
Game-changer for collaboration?
The change of name also reinforces the rumour that Microsoft will reveal this new Slack-alike next week, at a press shindig in New York on Wednesday (November 2). This event is focused on Office (as opposed to tomorrow’s event which will concentrate on Windows and a probable Surface PC) and Microsoft has said it will be about “changing nature of collaboration and how we can empower every team to achieve more”.
The direct mention of empowering every ‘team’ strongly indicates that we’ll see the new service officially unveiled, and making the Microsoft Teams name official just ahead of the event would seem to be preparing the ground.
The rumour mill has previously said that Teams will go into a full beta test next month ahead of a launch in January. Who knows, maybe we could see a full launch even sooner.
Teams will be a cross-platform affair that looks a lot like Slack, although it will differentiate itself with elements such as threaded conversations (i.e. allowing replies to specific messages, Facebook-style), and it will obviously go heavy on integrating Skype features like offering direct video calling between team members.
- Unfortunately, we can also expect Microsoft to soon hike prices of Office and more in the UK
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Monday, October 24, 2016
Samsung’s new tablet is one way to get your hands on the S Pen
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Samsung is hoping to rekindle Note brand name next year
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Microsoft raising some prices by more than 20%
We knew that some prices were going to rise thanks to Brexit, due to the dive in the value of UK currency compared to the dollar following the vote to leave the EU, and following some PC manufacturers instigating increases, now Microsoft has warned that the price tags on its products are going up.
According to the Telegraph, Microsoft is set to push prices by up to 22% thanks to the slump in pound sterling. As of the time of writing, you only get $1.22 for a pound, whereas before the referendum it was around the $1.50 mark.
The larger rises will apparently hit cloud-based services with those looking at the 20% plus hikes, whereas costs for software will go up by around 13% according to the report – although that’s the cost for enterprise customers, who will be paying more for the likes of Office and presumably Windows too.
As for consumers, it seems they’ve dodged the bullet, as Microsoft said it has no plans to bump up the cost of products aimed at the average user, at least for now. Although whether that might change, who knows – particularly given there’s a somewhat bearish outlook on the pound versus dollar, still.
Unhappy new year
How long will businesses have to wait before these hikes begin to filter through into the UK market? Not long, unfortunately, with the price rises expected to come through at the start of 2017, just a couple of months away now.
There is at least some good news for companies in that existing subscriptions won’t be affected, only the likes of new plans or products purchased going forward. So if you’ve been thinking of signing up for Office, it would seem that now’s the time for businesses to make the move.
Over the summer, several PC vendors made it clear that their prices were going up thanks to the weakness of the pound, with both Dell and HP announcing price increases to the tune of 10%. HP described this year’s currency movements as the “unprecedented weakening of the pound to US dollar exchange rate”.
Slowly rising computer prices are unlikely to help the PC industry in the UK, particularly given that PC shipment numbers are already in a massive slump as it is.
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Sunday, October 23, 2016
Saturday, October 22, 2016
60 common Windows 10 problems and how to solve them
Note: Our common Windows 10 problems feature has been fully updated. This article was first published in July 2015.
Windows 10 is now running on over 350 million PCs, tablets and smartphones, making it one of the most popular operating systems in the world. The successor to Windows 8.1 has been available for a little over a year now, which has given users plenty of time to get to know the OS.
Many of the initial quirks, bugs, and other annoyances that Windows 10 launched with have been fixed while others persist. Issues with printer connectivity, for example, have plagued users – and of course the recent Anniversary Update brought problems of its own.
At any rate, if you're suffering with the operating system, we've compiled a guide to 60 of the most common Windows 10 problems, as well as instructions on how to fix them. Read on for some troubleshooting goodness…
- Also check out our collection of how to use Windows 10 guides
If you're planning to move to Windows 10, actually installing the OS is the first area you could potentially run into problems with. Installing a new operating system requires a certain amount of free space on your drive so that it can be downloaded and certain elements can be run successfully.
For Windows 10, the space requirement is 16GB, which should be kept free on the main system drive the computer uses. This is actually the same as previous versions of Windows, so if you've upgraded before you can most likely do it again.
To check how much space you have left, go to My Computer (or This PC depending on the version of Windows you're running) where any drives you have will be listed. You can see the remaining space indicated underneath each drive, or you can right click and select Properties for a clearer overview (the system drive is usually C:).
Just as with space requirements, your PC will also have to be capable of running Windows 10. This means that it must reach certain minimum system requirements.
The requirements for running Windows 10 are relatively low: A processor of 1GHz or faster; 1GB (32-bit) or 2GB (64-bit) of RAM; 16GB of free drive space; Microsoft DirectX 9 graphic device; and a Microsoft account combined with internet access.
To find out your PC's spec, go to Control Panel and select System and Security, then System.
Some users have reported issues with activating their copies of Windows 10, which could have been down to a number of different reasons. In some cases, the easiest way to get around the problem is to purchase a legitimate copy of Windows 10.
Unlike previous versions of Windows, the latest one is almost exclusively available online, which means that official Microsoft websites are the best bet for your purchase. The company was giving the OS away for free, but that promotion has now ended.
Microsoft has a helpful website that provides a downloadable copy in either 32-bit or 64-bit versions.
If you do find that you're unable to activate Windows 10 successfully, handily Microsoft introduced a new activation troubleshooter feature with the recent Anniversary Update. You'll find this in Settings, then click Update & Security, go to Activation and select Troubleshoot (you won't see this option if the OS has been activated).
Windows 10 is, in many ways, a truly internet-based operating system. Mostly, this is a bonus but there are times when it isn't – and Microsoft's attitude towards operating system updates is one such time.
The most annoying part of automatic updates is the restarting, which can seemingly come at random (and inconvenient times). The simplest way to counteract this is head to Windows Update (in Settings > Update & Security), click on Advanced Options and then Notify to Schedule Restart, which means the OS will request a reboot rather than trampling all over the work you're not quite done with yet.
Each version of a new operating system comes with its own set of backwards compatibility issues and Windows 10 is no exception.
The transition from Windows 8.1 to 10 is far less jarring than the move from Windows 7 to 8 was, but there are still certain applications that can become broken and, in some cases, cease to work at all.
One such application is Chrome, which some users have even had to fully delete and reinstall. If a program isn't working with Windows 10, try looking in the Windows Store for an update and, if that doesn't work, delete and reinstall it.
Over time, more and more developers will get round to updating their programs for Windows 10 so, if you're reading this a few years from now, this likely won't be much of a problem anymore.
Data security is incredibly important, especially as hackers become increasingly sophisticated and the number of cyber-attacks is on the up.
Windows 10 comes with a decent set of built-in protection measures, but you can never be too careful. One such feature that should be disabled by privacy-minded individuals is Wi-Fi Sense, which automatically shares the Wi-Fi password across Windows 10 devices on the same account.
Microsoft updated Wi-Fi Sense to share less data, but switching it off is the ideal way of preventing anything you don't want happening. To turn it off, go to the Start Menu, select Settings and click on Network & Internet, then Wi-Fi, and head to Manage Wi-Fi Settings – turn off all the options in here.
Also in Settings, it's possible to get an overview of everything else happening on Windows 10 in terms of privacy – unsurprisingly, under the Privacy section. In here, you'll be presented with a bunch of toggles that adjust some privacy options to help keep everything under control.
Printer compatibility can be an issue for older devices. If you're jumping from Windows 7 (or earlier) to Windows 10 then it's definitely worth updating all available printer drivers, which should help prevent them not working post-upgrade.
Doing this is simple. Just search Google (or Bing, depending on your preference) for the name of your printer and download the latest Windows 10 compatible drivers. Follow the manufacturer's instructions to install them and you're good to go.
Microsoft ships Windows 10 with Edge, the successor to its Internet Explorer browser (although IE is still present in the OS). For many people, however, using Chrome or Firefox is the norm, no matter what Microsoft wants.
To install Chrome or Firefox – and get back to normality – open Edge, search for either, and find a Windows 10 version. Download it, install it, and make sure it's set as the default browser option so that Edge doesn't keep reappearing. To do this, head to Settings, System, and click on Default Apps – click under Web Browser and you can then select your preferred default browser.
If, however, you do want to use Edge then you'll find it's actually a decent browser, despite a few notable flaws.
One thing to note in particular is that running Edge on a touchscreen PC or tablet yields the best results as Microsoft has optimised it to support touch or pen input. Websites can be doodled on, shared, and generally messed around with in a way that other browsers don't really facilitate.
Microsoft has also focused on making Edge fast and, above all, battery efficient. Anyone who has ever used Chrome on a laptop knows that it just sucks up battery life, so this may be a refreshing change for some.
Favourites, browsing history, passwords, and so on can be shared between Windows 10 devices, too, which means that using Edge on one machine will be the same experience as using Edge on another. It's worth taking some time to give Edge at least a tryout before you decide it's a problem and make any vows involving bargepoles and so on.
The browser does come with some annoying features, however. Because it's a Universal Windows App, Edge runs on smartphones, tablets, PCs, and almost any other device. This means that it sometimes has a problem with being too much like a phone app rather than a PC program.
One of the ways this manifests itself is by sometimes refusing to play media when minimised, just as a phone app wouldn't. There's currently no fix for this, unfortunately, although you could obviously use a different browser until the problem is addressed by Microsoft. Or just use an entirely different app to stream your music.
Want to block pop-up ads in Edge? Fortunately, putting a stop to these bothersome things isn't difficult. Within the Edge browser, you need to click on Settings (found in the top-right 'ellipsis' menu, the three dots), then click on View Advanced Settings – in here you need to turn on Block Pop-ups.
Many people just don't like Bing, most likely because they have always used Google. That's fine, and we're sure Microsoft understands.
Changing Edge over to Google is relatively simple. Navigate in Edge to Google.com (or Yahoo, or whatever your preference) and click the ellipsis button in the top-right corner. A drop-down menu will appear: select Settings, and then navigate down to click View Advanced Settings. From here, scroll down to 'Search in the address bar with…' and select Add New.
Some users have reported that Add New often has no results in it, suggesting that no new search engine can be added. This isn't true. To get past this, close and then reopen Edge and (hopefully) some results will have appeared.
If you've bought a Windows 10 machine that has a touchscreen then you are, by and large, getting the best experience with the OS.
Ever since Windows 8, Microsoft has been optimising its operating system for the finger – and sometimes pen – with large tiles, easy-to-scroll menus, and so on.
However, it can still be a little disjointed, but the easiest way to remedy this is simple: head to Start > Settings > System > Tablet Mode. Then turn Tablet Mode on – this optimises Windows 10 for fingers rather than pointers, making it far easier to use.
Having a touchpad-enabled laptop is also good for Windows 10, but some users have reported that the upgrade from Windows 7 (and sometimes Windows 8) breaks it.
One of the ways to solve this is by first checking to see if your keyboard has a key that turns the touchpad off. If it doesn't – or the right setting is toggled – then head to Devices > Mouse & Touchpad> Additional mouse options.
A new window will appear. From here, select the tab that says Device Settings, then Devices, and then make sure the touchpad is enabled.
If none of these options work, press Windows Key + X, select Device Manager, then the option for Mice and other pointing devices, and update the driver. This should fix things.
Safe Mode is just what you'd expect – a safe way of booting up a PC and running the system with no startup apps and only essential drivers, which should hopefully allow the computer to boot successfully when it won't otherwise due to some issue or other.
With Windows 10, to access Safe Mode, hold down the Shift key during boot-up (or select Restart from the desktop while holding down Shift).
Location-based apps are fairly prominent in Windows 10 which makes it a good idea to let your PC know (roughly) where you are. Cortana, for example, can give far more information if it can accurately pinpoint where in the world it's being used.
To update your computer's location settings, head to the Start menu, click Settings, Time & Language, and click Region & Language – then make sure the correct country is selected. To turn on Location services, go to Settings > Privacy > Location, and flick the Location switch on.
There are loads of ways to speed up a PC and Windows 10 comes with several options to do so with ease.
Having fewer programs boot during startup can, for example, make the whole booting experience faster. To streamline your boot-up, press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys together and select Task Manager from the resulting screen, then select the Startup tab, and choose which services or apps are allowed to load (right click and select Disable to, well, disable any you don't want).
Deleting unused programs or files can also speed up a PC.
The lock screen on Windows 10 can be annoying, especially on a computer that doesn't have a touchscreen to easily 'swipe' it away. Windows Hello makes things somewhat easier, but only if you have a compatible computer with the necessary hardware to run the authentication system.
Luckily, Microsoft has provided a solution to the problem of the lock screen, albeit a complicated one that shouldn't be tried if you're not confident in tinkering with the Registry. Note that a misstep here can cause serious problems, so if you're a computing novice, it's probably best to steer clear of this one.
Okay, warning aside, to do this you need to first head to the search/Cortana box (next to the Start menu) and type in a search for:
regedit
This will run the Registry Editor. From here, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows, select the Personalisation key and select New before choosing DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Select New Value #1 in the right-hand pane, and use F2 to rename it to the following:
NoLockScreen
Now double click it, and change the value data to 1 and click OK.
It's a slightly complex process, but after a reboot you should be able to automatically bypass the lock screen.
Annoyingly, Windows 10 ships without DVD playing software as a standard option. Microsoft does offer an app as a download from the Windows Store – called Windows DVD Player, imaginatively – but it costs £11.59 (around $15, AU$20).
The best bet for those who want to watch DVDs is VLC Media Player, which is a free download and was recently updated to support Windows 10. It also supports a host of other file formats – even the weird ones – making it a very useful tool to have around (or check out our 5 best VLC alternatives if you fancy something a bit different).
Microsoft introduced a nifty way to view all of your notifications at once in the Action Center, which is one of Windows 10's best features compared to Windows 7 or 8.1.
However, it does tend to get clogged up with notifications, including ones that are seemingly useless (we're looking at you, Windows tips). Luckily, turning these off is easy.
Go to Settings > System > Notifications & Actions, and then simply toggle off any that are not useful or relevant while keeping the ones that are. Individual third-party app notifications can also be switched off.
As more of our lives increasingly spills over onto computers it becomes important that they're safe and secure. Windows 10 ships with a variety of security features that it's a good idea to take a look at.
One such feature to be aware of is Windows Defender, which is designed to detect and remove malware from PCs – you'll find it under Settings > Update & Security. Make sure you've got this turned on, if you don't have another third-party antivirus solution running on your machine.
Another nifty feature is Windows Hello which allows for biometric authentication on your machine (we'll come back to this and show you how to set it up in the next slide). And a further measure still is Windows Passport, which secures all your credentials in one place (read up more about that here).
It's impossible to stop all threats, but with its newest OS, Microsoft has taken a long hard look at the areas where Windows was more vulnerable and has patched things up nicely.
Windows Hello is one of the most innovative features that Microsoft has built into Windows 10. Essentially, it lets a user login just by using facial recognition (or a fingerprint) virtually instantly.
The software, which is available to all Windows 10 users, does require special hardware (and most likely won't work on older computers). Assuming you have the necessary hardware, how do you set up Windows Hello?
You need to go to the Start menu, click on Account, and select Change Account Settings. Select Sign-in Options and set a PIN. Once you've done this, there will be an option to Setup under Face. Select this and follow the instructions.
If you're on a tablet that has 4G, using a mobile hotspot, or surfing the web via a Windows 10 smartphone, then the operating system may have a nasty surprise for you.
Users have been reporting that the default configuration of Windows 10 sucks up data like there's no tomorrow, potentially putting you over your data allowance, and leaving you with a hefty bill.
Fortunately, there's an option that addresses the problem. Simply to go Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi. Click Advanced Options and then Set as metered connection. This means that Windows 10 will stop collecting so much data in the background.
Worried someone else might use Cortana on your device? Well, one cool thing that Cortana can do is 'learn' a certain person's voice, making it far more secure than Siri or Google Now, which generally just accept simple commands irrespective of who they come from.
To do this, open Cortana, select the Notebook from the left-hand menu, select Settings, and make sure that 'Respond to' is set 'To me'.
It'll run you through a few test phrases to get the basics of your voice and tone correct before effectively logging what you say and learning – eventually – to just respond to you.
Windows supports a huge range of devices going back a long way which, inevitably, means that some don't work as well as others.
Users have reported issues with high-resolution displays and Windows 10, including experiencing blurriness in applications that had been rendering fine on previous versions of the OS such as Windows 8.1.
The easiest way to solve the issue of blurriness is by going to Control Panel > Display and fiddling around with the settings here. There is no one single setting that will fix all issues, so experiment and see what works (and what doesn't).
To fix blurriness in specific applications, right click on the app's icon and select Properties. Under the Compatibility tab there is an option to 'Disable display scaling on high DPI settings'. Tick this and – hopefully – the problems will disappear.
Battery life is important to anyone who regularly uses a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, and of course Windows 10 can be used on all three of those devices.
Microsoft recognises this – as shown by the marketing of its Edge browser as being battery-friendly – and has built several tools into Windows 10 to help cut down on excessive battery drain.
All apps that run in the background can be toggled off, for example, which stops them from sucking up precious juice. And as we saw in an earlier tip, a metered internet connection option can also be used, which cuts down on background data usage.
Windows 10 also includes a dedicated set of power options, which you can find via Settings > System > Power & Sleep. From here, display sleep times can be set and under Additional Power Settings you can select a power plan that means a lighter load for your battery.
Continuing with the theme of avoiding excessive battery drain, if just fiddling with the settings isn't enough, Windows 10 can also generate a battery report. To do this, head to the Command Prompt Admin (which you get from right clicking on the Start menu), and type in:
powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery_report.html"
This will save a file to any chosen folder – e.g. C:\ in this case, the root of your system drive – which gives you a hugely detailed look at battery quality, cycles, how much charge is left, and much more. The report is a little dense, so be warned on that front.
Another thing a lot of users have complained about is default app choices – i.e. browser, word processor, and so on – changing when updating Windows 10.
The easiest way to change them back is to head to Settings > System > Default Apps. From here, almost every major default app – music, email, maps, calendar and so on – can be chosen based on the ones you have downloaded.
This issue is still an annoyance in Windows 10 (indeed, it affects all versions of Windows and Office). The fix, however, is relatively simple.
If you're getting a lot of 'file is corrupt and cannot be opened' or 'unable to start correctly' warnings, then open Command Prompt (again, by right clicking the Start menu) and type in:
icacls "%programfiles%\Microsoft Office 15" /grant *S-1-15-2-1:(OI)(CI)RX
That should fix your problem – if it doesn't, then try to find each corrupted file, right click, select Change and then Online Repair.
Flickering screens aren't always down to the hardware and some users have reported issues such as these caused by upgrading to Windows 10.
The easiest way to fix this is to update all relevant drivers for monitors as well as Norton Antivirus, iCloud, and IDT Audio, which are all suspected to be potential causes of these problems. It may even help to uninstall and then reinstall them.
Windows 10 does automatically update drivers, so there is also a chance it's forcing an incompatible version of a driver onto the PC without realising.
The Start Menu can become cluttered, especially if you have a lot of apps and other bits and pieces that will automatically show up on it.
Microsoft lets you resize the menu as well as add and remove applications, shortcuts, and almost anything else. The easiest way to ditch things is by right clicking and then removing – click uninstall – or you can drag apps or folders directly onto the menu to add them.
Concerned about downloading software that could contain hidden malware, spyware or other nastiness? Then remember that using the Windows Store is safer than downloading apps from the web at large, because Microsoft checks over and vets programs on its store.
You can buy apps, games, films, music, TV shows, and everything else from the store, for reasonably competitive prices. To access the Store, simply find the icon on your desktop – or search for it – and click it. Purchasing is a breeze and everything is tied in with your Microsoft account.
App permission settings effectively control what, and how, certain apps do things. Do you want Facebook to be able to access your contacts, for example?
If not, you can switch this off, or adjust any permissions you're not happy about, by going to Start > Settings > Privacy. From here, you can select from the list of categories down the left-hand pane to adjust various easy-to-understand options on an app-by-app basis.
For example, going to the Location tab lets you choose which apps are allowed to use information pertaining to your location (assuming you have this turned on in the first place), and in Camera you can tweak which apps are allowed to use your PC's webcam.
A Microsoft Account (which you can set up by heading to login.live.com and following the instructions) effectively binds all of your devices together by syncing settings, apps, bookmarks, and everything else between different pieces of hardware.
Almost every single one of Microsoft's main applications – Edge, Office, OneDrive, and so on – uses the main Microsoft account to get information from the cloud.
If you're wondering how to set up and sync the OS across all your devices, the process is simple – just login to each device with the same Microsoft Account. Then, in the Settings of each device, there will be a set of options concerning what gets shared and how. On your Windows 10 PC, you'll find this under Settings > Accounts > Sync your settings – first you need to switch Sync Settings on, and then you can adjust what's shared as appropriate.
If you find that Windows 10 broke the connection of a Bluetooth device (or devices) that was previously paired up just fine with your machine, then there is an easy enough fix for this. According to Microsoft, all you have to do is head to Device Manager (just type 'device manager' into the search/Cortana box next to the Start menu), select the Bluetooth driver and update it to the latest settings, which will be compatible with Windows 10. The operating system should be able to automatically search, and then update, the driver.
If that fails to work, un-pairing (or forgetting) the device before re-pairing it should fix the issue.
There's nothing worse than having disaster strike your computer and then realising you haven't properly backed up your precious data. Want to know how to do this easily? Fortunately, backing up is a simple task in Windows 10.
Indeed, Windows 10 has many of the same backup features that were present on Windows 7, accessed by going into Settings > Update & Security > Backup.
The options include adding another drive to backup to, or accessing a previous backup on another machine – you can restore from a backup you created using Windows 7, in fact.
OneDrive is also a quick and easy option for backing up files, providing an off-site alternative in case of fire or theft. You'll find OneDrive under File Explorer (which in turn is under the Start menu).
A black screen on Windows 10 can mean several things, depending on whether you've logged into the operating system or not.
If you haven't logged in, or Windows 10 hasn't booted, then check your internet connection and boot your PC via Safe Mode. (To access Safe Mode, hold down the Shift key as your machine boots).
If you logged in and then the screen went black, unplug all external devices and, failing that, boot via Safe Mode as above.
If the problems persist, contact Microsoft directly for further advice.
Naturally, you want to keep your Windows 10 PC safe, but do you need to go to great lengths searching for and installing security software to achieve this? Actually you don't, because the integrated security solutions Microsoft bundles with its OS are perfectly serviceable efforts.
Windows Firewall is one half of Microsoft's basic efforts to keep your PC safe from malware and other attacks. It's easy to turn on, but configuring the firewall is a slightly more involved matter.
To switch on the firewall, or rather to make sure it's switched on as it should be by default, simply type 'firewall' into the search/Cortana box (next to the Start menu), and click on Windows Firewall. From here, there's an option to turn it on (or off), and you can also adjust the relative 'strength' of the firewall.
Windows Firewall can be configured as incredibly strong via the 'Advanced Settings' option – i.e. it blocks all suspect apps without asking – or slightly weaker, which means there's a slightly greater risk that your PC will become hit with some kind of infection, but the firewall won't interfere as much.
The easiest way to find out which settings are best for you is to simply test things out for a few days and tweak as needed. If you forget what you've done in the settings or think you've messed things up, just click on Restore Default Policy on the right-hand side of the Advanced Settings menu to get things back to normal.
Alongside the firewall discussed in the last slide, Windows Defender is the other half of Microsoft's essential defensive measures, and it focuses on keeping viruses off your PC by detecting malware and purging any infections present.
Activating Defender is simple: you'll find it under Settings > Update & Security, and then click on Windows Defender. It's a must that real-time protection should be turned on to allow Windows to constantly monitor for anything suspicious and step in should a detection occur. That said, even if it's been turned off, this is such a vital piece of the puzzle that the OS will turn it back on automatically after a while.
Note that if you have a third-party antivirus application installed, Windows Defender will be turned off so as to avoid conflicts. While much criticised in the past, Defender is actually a solid enough security solution these days, and is very nicely streamlined (plus it won't bother you with any pop-ups like some of the free antivirus programs do). On the other hand, we should note that it still doesn't score up there with the best rated antivirus packages (even the free ones).
Basic protection from malware aside, what about defending your Windows 10 machine from nefarious hackers? To do this, you can elect to use device encryption, and fortunately Microsoft has provided strong encryption facilities, and it isn't particularly difficult to set all this up – the caveat being that you need to be running Windows 10 Pro for BitLocker encryption (not Home).
To enable device encryption, go to Start, search 'encryption' and select Change device encryption settings. After that, select Manage BitLocker and turn it on, then follow the subsequent instructions. With your data encrypted, if hackers do manage to somehow access it, the information won't be of any use to them.
The only downside is that performance may take a bit of a hit on older machines, but if you need peace of mind regarding your precious data, it's worth it.
Windows 10 users have been reporting problems with how it handles sound for a long time now, and most of the issues stem from one simple thing: old drivers.
The aged drivers might work fine with older versions of Windows, but may not perform so well with the shiny new Windows 10. To fix such problems, go to the Start menu and search for Device Manager. Click on the link which will open a new window with a series of options. Select 'Sound, video, and game controllers', which will yield a set of results with a sound card option.
Select the sound card, and then select the Driver tab. There will be an option for updating the drivers that you should select. This will take you to the manufacturer's website where there will be instructions on how to download a new driver.
Once it's downloaded and installed (of course, make sure to get the Windows 10 version of the driver, if there is one) the problems should hopefully go away.
It's not uncommon for software, particularly older apps, to encounter glitches or even to fail to run completely with Windows 10. There's one potential way to get around show-stopping bugs, though: right click on the icon for the app and select Properties, then click on the Compatibility tab. From here, click the checkbox next to 'Run this program in compatibility mode for', and in the drop-down menu underneath that, choose the version of Windows that the program ran fine on.
Over time, many developers will update their apps to remove bugs, so the software in question may eventually work just fine with Windows 10. An easy way to help them is by reporting any bugs you find, which can usually be done via the developer's website. This highlights what's up, allowing them to (hopefully) work on a fix.
The Blue Screen of Death, also known as a BSOD or a 'stop' error, may sound bad but it's certainly fixable in the majority of cases. When the problem manifests it halts your PC completely, stopping it working and showing a blue screen, usually with some kind of message about restarting or a critical error. Your machine will then have to be rebooted.
To fix this, you can explore several options. First off, be sure to check how much available space you have left on your system drive and, if it's low, make some room by deleting bigger files or programs you don't need. Also, ensure all the latest updates are applied to the software on your machine, as having outdated apps can sometimes cause issues.
While you're at it, also update the hardware drivers of any peripherals, as the problem could be caused by Windows 10 clashing with something. Head to Device Manager, which you can reach by searching for it in the Start menu. Here, you can ensure that the likes of peripherals such as your monitor, webcam, printer or scanner – the extra devices you plug into your machine – have the latest drivers, simply by right-clicking on the device in question, and selecting Update Driver Software. Then click 'Search automatically for updated driver software'.
It's also worth bearing in mind that if you've overclocked your PC in any way, it's likely a good idea to turn that off if you keep getting BSODs (it could be causing the instability). Exactly how to do this will vary from machine to machine, but if you overclocked your PC yourself, then you should (hopefully) know how to reverse it in the BIOS. If someone else did it, such as your PC manufacturer, then contact the vendor for exact instructions on how to proceed.
Losing files after a disaster hits because you didn't back them up is a hugely frustrating experience, but fortunately it's one that can be avoided easily.
To create a backup, purchase an external hard drive (which obviously has to be larger in size than the data you want to store on it – for recommendations, you may want to check out our roundup of best external hard disks).
You can simply copy your files across to this disk manually, of course, or you can set up File History in Windows. To do the latter, ensure that the drive is connected to your PC, and left click on the Start menu, then click Settings.
From there, click Update and Security and navigate to Backup on the left. See the Add a Drive button next to the big plus sign? Click this.
Windows will scan for available drives on which to back up, and obviously enough, you should select the drive you want to use from the list it brings up. The OS will now get to work and you'll soon be done; an 'on' toggle button will appear to show that the feature is active and automatically backing up your files (and will continue to do so as long as the drive remains connected).
If a physical drive doesn't suit you (maybe you're worried about a fire, for instance, or the possibility of the backup disk corrupting) then there are plenty of online options you can use as an alternative. CrashPlan has received very good reviews and comes with various tiers suitable for single PCs right through to businesses.
Alternatively, you could simply use a cloud storage locker like Dropbox, or of course Microsoft's OneDrive, the latter of which is tied in directly with Windows 10.
Whichever online option you choose, do be warned that sending all your files over a net connection could be a slow process – although that obviously depends on the quantity of files you have, and the speed of your broadband. Also be careful if you have data allowances on your broadband plan.
It can be a good idea to have both a local backup on an external hard disk, and a further online backup – even if the latter only holds critical files and not everything.
Some users have reported that their Wi-Fi connection has become erratic after installing Windows 10.
To solve this problem, the first thing to try is to turn off your router and switch it back on – this will likely fix the vast majority of issues. This is because leaving a router on for a long period of time can cause it to go 'weird' (a technical term), just like a PC that is left on for months and months on end. Occasionally, it just needs rebooting.
If issues persist, however, make sure that all the Wi-Fi drivers on your PC are correct and updated. To do this, as before, go to Device Manager (search for it in the Start menu). There will be a section called Network Adapters, which you can double-click on to show your adapter.
Right-click on it and select Update Driver Software, and then click 'Search automatically for updated driver software'. Now click close. This should solve the problem.
The easiest way to fix a PC booting sluggishly is by reducing the number of apps which are launching on startup, as having too many programs firing up when the computer starts makes the whole process much slower, especially when it comes to older hardware.
To trim those apps, press Control+Alt+Delete together and select Task Manager, then click the link that says More Details. From here, select the Startup tab. Here you'll find a list of all the apps that fire up when your PC starts. Look through the list of enabled apps and find any that you don't need – you can turn an app off by right-clicking on it and selecting Disable. Disabled apps won't automatically load on boot up.
Be careful not to turn Microsoft services off, mind you, or important apps such as antivirus. If you're unsure whether it's wise to disable a certain app, Google it to find out.
The recent Anniversary Update to Windows 10 came with the unexpected side effect of disabling some people's webcams in Skype and other video chat apps.
The best way to tackle this problem is to reinstall the camera's drivers or check for any updates that are available. To do this, go to Device Manager (search for it in the Start menu) and click on the section for 'Imaging Devices'. Right-click on the camera you're using, select Drivers and search for updates from the manufacturer.
Microsoft is aware of this problem and is working on a fix to be patched directly through to Windows 10. Rumour had it that this solution was going to be released in September, but obviously that didn't happen – hopefully it shouldn't be long before we see the patch arrive, though.
Is your PC grinding to a halt – and perhaps the hard disk is whirring like crazy? If so, there's a good chance that one of the programs you're running may have developed some kind of issue and is sapping all your system resources. Luckily, there's an easy way to find out if an app has gone haywire and is bogging down your computer.
You need to head over to Task Manager (accessed by pressing Control+Alt+Delete together), and click on More Details – you'll then see a list of Processes, which is all the different apps and services currently running on your machine.
Scan down the list and look for any apps which are hogging CPU, memory or disk usage – or perhaps all of the above.
Once you've discovered the culprit, select it and there's an option in the bottom-right corner to End Task. However, be careful that you aren't ending important system-critical tasks (usually ones with confusing names that won't mean anything to you), as this could cause your computer to crash.
If in doubt about whether you should kill a task, again, Google is your friend here – search for the app/service and you'll almost certainly find an answer about exactly what it does.
Okay, so this isn't the biggest problem to hit Windows 10 users by any means, but nevertheless it's a worthwhile tip bearing in mind. When you've got a lot of programs open, minimising them all to get back to the desktop can be quite a chore when you have to click the little 'line' icon top-right again, and again, and again.
In actual fact, there's a keyboard shortcut which will minimise all active windows in one fell swoop. Simply hit the Windows key+D and you'll be back at the desktop in a jiffy. Getting into this habit saves a lot of time over the long run.
If you're using an older PC (or a tablet) then having vibrant Live Tiles may end up draining processing power that could be used elsewhere (not to mention battery life with a slate).
This is something Microsoft has considered, though, and Live Tiles, which are present on the Start menu, can be switched off. To turn off one specific tile, right-click it, then click More > Turn Live Tile off.
Alternatively, to switch off all Live Tiles, open the Start menu, and type the following, then hit enter:
gpedit.msc
Navigate to Local Computer Policy > User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar > Notifications. Double-click the 'Turn off tile notifications' entry on the right and select enabled in the window that opens.
Microsoft included a wide range of accessibility tools with Windows 10, helping open up the operating system to users with different types of disability. If you’re having trouble using any aspect of Windows 10, just head to the Ease of Access hub.
You’ll find this under Start > Settings > Ease of Access. From here, it’s possible to toggle anything on or off that you want, including features such as audio descriptions, a magnifier, sticky keys, a high contrast option, and more. Simply select the features that will make your Windows life easier – with some settings, you may have to make further choices and then click the Apply button.
Continuum is definitely one of the coolest features that Windows 10 has to offer, but some users have reported difficulties getting it to work.
If you’ve never heard of it, Continuum essentially turns a compatible phone into a computer when paired with the Display Dock, an optional accessory from Microsoft.
If you’re having difficulties with Continuum, the first thing to check is whether you have the correct phone. Most of the phones that function with Continuum are high-end, like the Lumia 950, so if you have a mid-range Windows 10 handset you may be out of luck.
Next, check the connection with the Display Dock (the aforementioned optional extra), keyboard, and mouse. If they all seem to be in place just fine then the problem will most likely be with Windows 10 itself. Check the drivers by going to the Device Manager (to get here, type in ‘device manager’ in the Cortana/search box bottom-left) and look for the Display Dock as a hardware accessory. You can check the driver version by right clicking on it and selecting Properties, and update them via the same right-click menu if you choose Update Driver Software.
Maps is powered by Bing and it’s a smart little built-in program for Windows 10 that works just like Google Maps, but comes as a native app on the desktop, rather than a browser-based service.
Sometimes, however, Microsoft’s provided maps aren’t quite as good as Google’s own. But there is something you can do about this, in terms of playing a small but important role in improving the app, and that’s to report any problems to Microsoft. You can do so in the app’s settings (accessed by clicking on the three dots top-right) using Send Feedback at the bottom, and this will alert the company to the issues you’re having, and hopefully down the line the program will see appropriate improvements.
Microsoft bundles a music streaming service with Windows 10, Groove Music, and the song selection is pretty good. It also comes with the added bonus of integration with Xbox and any other Windows devices.
The downside, of course, is that you may well have spent time creating playlists in Spotify, Google Music, Tidal, or wherever else – so you might not want to use Groove. Luckily, all of these alternative applications are available on Windows, and you’ll find some in the Windows Store, so you can always easily switch your service of choice.
Browser-based streaming services – like Google Music – are also supported, of course, but bear in mind that they may not work well in Edge, because Windows 10’s browser doesn’t stream multimedia when minimised.
At any rate, to set the default music service (i.e. the one songs will automatically play with), head to Start > Settings > System > and select the Default Apps tab in the column on the left. You’ll see a Music Player section, which will present options based on which players you have installed. Simply select the one you want and hit OK.
Netflix and Amazon Prime both work on Windows 10’s default browser, Edge, but may need an update to Silverlight, an application framework that Microsoft created and maintains.
If you’ve upgraded from a Windows 7 PC you could well suffer from this issue, as the older version of Silverlight may have travelled across when you migrated.
At any rate, if you’re encountering streaming gremlins, to fix the problem and get back to binge watching House of Cards, go to this Microsoft site where you can reinstall Silverlight – follow the instructions as detailed on the web page.
Windows 10 is unique among operating systems for just how many different device classes it runs across. As well as PCs, the same core of the OS is used across tablets, smartphones and the Xbox. And it’s possible to hook up your PC with your Microsoft console, should you wish – although if you’ve been scratching your head as to how to do so, it’s simple enough.
First you need to open the Xbox app on your PC (to find it, type ‘xbox’ into the Cortana/search box bottom-left), select Connect, and it will automatically scan your home network for a compatible device. When you see the Xbox in question, select it and the pairing process will start.
After you’ve done this, files and other information will be shared between the two devices. It’s definitely something that’s worth doing if you own a Windows 10 PC and an Xbox, if only to show off to your PS4-toting friends.
Do you feel like it takes you ages to get anything done in Windows 10? The Quick Access menu is located in File Explorer (right-click Start to see the option for File Explorer) and it can save a ton of time when navigating around the operating system.
To add files, folders or apps to the sidebar, right click on their icon and select Pin to Quick Access. This means that they will show up and can be easily accessed, which is useful for recently visited folders.
You can also set File Explorer to load the Quick Access menu by default when you bring it up, rather than This PC. To do so, with File Explorer open, click on the View tab in the top menu (next to Share), then click on ‘Options’ on the far-right of the menu that pops up, then select ‘Change folder and search options’. Now look where it says ‘Open File Explorer to’, and use the drop-down menu to select Quick Access.
Another good method of getting things done quickly and being more productive under Windows is to use the plentiful keyboard shortcuts which are available.
The main key utilised for shortcuts is the Windows key which can be used in combination with Tab (to open Task View), any direction key (to snap windows in place), C (to open Cortana), I (to open Settings), and so on.
The Control key is mostly used in-app for things like copying and pasting, which can save a huge amount of time. For more keyboard tricks, have a read of our 20 keyboard shortcuts Windows 10 users need to know about.
On a Mac, taking a screenshot is a simple process. On a Windows PC, however, it’s slightly more complex. To take a screenshot of the whole screen on Windows 10 you just press the PrtScn (Printscreen) key, although you then have to paste that image into an app (like Microsoft Paint, where it can then be saved out as an image file, or Word, where it will appear in your document).
To take a screenshot of an active window or smaller section of the screen that’s in the foreground, press Alt+PrtScn together. There is no easy way to take a screenshot of a chosen area that isn’t the full screen (i.e. half an active window), so the best bet in this case is to use the Snipping tool.
To access this, go to the Cortana/search box next to the Start button and type in ‘snipping’ and it will pop up. In the tool’s menu, click on the arrow next to ‘New’, and you can then select either a rectangular snip, or a freeform snip where you can draw a line around any region of the screen to capture it. You can then use the File menu to save the image for posterity.
We can’t cover everything in this feature, and obviously enough there’s a good chance that at some point, you’ll stumble across Windows 10 problems you can’t find the solution for on Techradar. Fortunately, Microsoft has support forums which offer solutions, help, and guidance for a lot of common (and uncommon) issues.
To access the forums, open your browser of choice and go to: http://ift.tt/2eDFG4u. Topics are broken down into apps – like Office – and other categories, and obviously you’ll need to head to the Windows section. You can also contact Microsoft directly, via phone or instant message.
- For a load more neat tips and tricks on Windows 10, buy: Windows 10 Beyond the Manual
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Friday, October 21, 2016
Techradar Pro is making you an offer you can't refuse
Future PLC, the publisher of TechRadar Pro, is launching a new business service that will provide you with the necessary tools, data and knowledge to help you in your job.
This new service, a regular business digest, will deliver regular, high value content from industry figures, experts and thought-leaders spanning across news, trends, analysis and opinion.
We'll deep dive in verticals that matter the most to you be it in cloud, security, IT services or mobility - you chose!
As an exclusive bonus when you sign up below you will receive a free copy of .Net's "Money Issue", a magazine that look at ways to help businesses work out what they should be charging, ensure they get paid on time and boost profitability.
Join this new community below and decide what sector information you want to receive.
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Microsoft's new Office apps are going to make your life easier
There’s a fresh batch of business apps on the way from the Office team aiming to boost the productivity chops of users.
Apart from Bookings, which allows customers to schedule appointments with businesses, and we heard about back in July (it was first launched on the web, with an iOS app recently released in the US), Microsoft also has a Mile IQ app which automatically tracks your mileage for expenses purposes.
That comes alongside a new Invoice app which generates invoices, unsurprisingly, and Spend, which aims to track all your expenses.
Taking Point
Those are all finance-centric offerings, but there are two more apps called Point (pictured above) and Presence. The former is designed to allow businesses to leverage satisfied customers in terms of generating word-of-mouth referrals – and those customers will get rewards for referring friends. As for the latter, that enables users to track their web presence.
It would seem that both Spend and Presence are further out from launch, as they’re labelled ‘coming soon’ on Microsoft’s business apps web page, whereas with the others, Office 365 Business Premium users can now sign up for a trial and check out preview versions.
Microsoft also has a ‘personal business assistant’ in the pipeline, which gets a brief mention on the site, with the company stating that said assistant will help you run your business smoothly and “see all the angles in one place and get insights to help you succeed”. Again, that feature is labelled as ‘coming soon’.
Maybe we’ll hear more about this assistant at the big Office event Microsoft has planned for the start of November.
Via: MS Poweruser
- Rumour has it that Microsoft is also about to launch a Surface PC
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Thursday, October 20, 2016
Obama roasts Samsung over burning phones
The 40 best mobile productivity apps
Thanks to advances made in mobile technology over the last few years, more businesses are turning to devices like smartphones and tablets to help them in managing their operations. Generally speaking, the days of relying on a PC to do everything are over.
When you're running about in meetings all day, have hundreds of emails to read, and must meet tight deadlines, the attraction of mobile is undeniable. Apps, in particular, are changing the way we live and work in so many different ways.
And if you download the right apps to fit your business needs, then you can easily improve productivity. There's an app for almost every task and area, from accounting to product management. In this article, we've highlighted the very best business productivity apps – and in some cases web-based tools which you can use on your mobile – that are currently available.
- Also have a look at our 10 best office apps for Android
Image Credit: ymgerman/iStock
There are a ton of web conferencing and collaboration apps out there, but they aren't always mobile-friendly. Enter Join.me, an online meeting tool that's easy to set up and can be used from any device – there's a web version which means you don't have to download anything if you don't want to. It provides free screen sharing and unlimited videoconferencing. There's a handy whiteboard feature as well, letting everyone contribute ideas virtually. The app is available on iPhone, iPad and Android.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
When you have so many things to do and not enough time to play with, you can easily become overwhelmed and fall behind. Gyst is the app that wants you to stay organised and get more done. It consolidates texts, contacts, calendars and to-do lists into one place. Because of this, you don't need to keep dipping into different apps and it will help you stay on top of things. You can also use the software to prioritise text messages, schedule meetings and communicate with your colleagues.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Basecamp is a veteran piece of project management software in the business world, having been around for ten years. Features include the ability to keep and track client feedback, chat with your colleagues, set up work-related reminders, praise co-workers and give them tasks to complete, and share documents. Like Gyst, you're also able to create to-do lists, although you can easily pre-order them based on their priority and relevance.
An internal message board plays a big role in the app too. With it, you can post announcements, proposals and ideas. You can sign up and get your first outing for free, but beyond that you'll have to pay.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free/From $29 (around £20) per month
Diary clashes are annoying but pretty common in the business world. This is where Doodle comes into the picture. It's an app that helps you streamline meetings and stay productive. How does it work? You sign in, set up an event and suggest times to your colleagues. They then choose the times that work for them, and the app tries to find the best slot for everyone. What's great is that your colleagues don't even need to be signed up to the app in order to participate.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Trello is another great app worth checking out if you have a busy life with your work or business commitments. Aimed at helping you to get things done and stay organised, the app lets you create boards for all the projects you're working on. You can work on these individually or add colleagues so they're kept up-to-date with the tasks they're undertaking. As well as this, you're able to add to-do lists on boards, assign tasks, comment on items, upload files and videos, and attach files. It's free to use, although you have the option to upgrade for added functionality.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
You could spend a good deal of cash on a package like Microsoft Office, or you could stick with Google Drive and pay nothing. Drive offers you a full suite of word processing, database and presentation applications. The great thing about them is that they're cloud-based, so you can work on documents and files from any device – be it a laptop, smartphone or tablet. Everything is saved as you left it, and you have the option to view revisions.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
The market for communication apps is quite fragmented, but when it comes to keeping up-to-date with your colleagues and in-work teams, Slack is a no-brainer. It offers real-time messaging, and you can share files in one-to-one and group conversations. The app is known for its powerful search and archiving functionalities, so you'll always be able to find past files and conversations easily.
And there are also integrations with apps and services such as Dropbox, Asana, Google Drive, Twitter, Zendesk and more. Slack syncs across all devices, from smartphones to computers, and it's free with certain limitations (which you can rid yourself of if you upgrade to a paid subscription).
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Peakon is a new web platform with an iOS app dedicated to maximising productivity within companies. It provides automated employee feedback and measures engagement to help firms create happier, more sustainable working environments. Sounds good, right? But you're probably wondering how it actually works.
That's pretty simple to explain. Peakon constantly asks you questions to build a coherent, realistic analysis of how you're feeling at your company. While you have to pay for a basic subscription, you can have a free 30-day trial to test the service out (no credit card details needed).
Platforms: iOS
Price: From £2.60 ($3.50) per user per month
Omnifocus claims to be a PC-grade, in-depth task management solution that you can use on your iOS device. While it costs £30, the app offers flexible viewing options, location awareness and on-the-fly task entry features to help you get through a busy day. You can assign tasks based on location, people and energy level to accomplish jobs. Every task or piece of work you add to the app shows up in the iPhone's Notification Center, so you don't have to worry about missing deadlines.
Platforms: iOS
Price: £30 (around $40)
If you feel unmotivated, stressed or unwell, it's likely your work will suffer. And in an ideal world, that's something you'd like to avoid. Fortunately, online platform Nudjed is on a mission to boost employee health. It collects data across key areas of health to help employers build a picture of how their staff are feeling. Using this information, they can then step in and develop work-based health programmes so all employees are happy and thriving. The company was set up in 2013 by Welsh designer and entrepreneur Warren Fauvel.
Platforms: Web only
Price: Varies
Scoro is a worthy end-to-end work management solution. Soon to be launched in app form, it allows professionals and businesses to control their entire workflow from one place. The tool also aims to streamline work and eliminate unnecessary processes that may affect productivity. Scoro's features include calendars, task and project management, quoting and billing, enterprise-level reporting and a real-time dashboard. While it costs to subscribe to Scoro, there is a free 14-day trial available.
Platforms: Web only (app coming soon)
Price: From £8 ($11)
A simple pen and paper is always a great way to stay productive, and this aptly named app digitises the process. With Pen and Paper you can create handwritten notes and documents on your trusty iPhone or iPad. You draw with your finger or a stylus, and can doodle away if you wish and easily pull off tricks like resizing, adding text boxes or creating diagrams. The app works with Dropbox too, so you can import and annotate PDF documents and other files.
Platforms: iOS
Price: £2.29 ($2.99)
If you deal with a ton of social media feeds at work, then you ought to have a look at Buffer. It's one of the best tools you can get for scheduling posts on sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The platform is easy to use, too. You simply link your company accounts to one email, and you'll be able to push out tweets and status updates in a matter of seconds. There are apps for iOS and Android, although you can use Buffer on the web too. An individual account with one social profile is free, but if you have multiple profiles or team members who want to use the service, you'll need to pay for a subscription.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Evernote has been around for a good few years and is one of the safest bets when it comes to using apps to boost productivity. It offers a variety of note-taking tools so you can change the way you work on and organise your personal and professional projects. You can write, analyse and store ideas in the form of notes, notebooks, checklists and to-do lists. Notes can be taken in a plethora of formats, including text, sketches, photos, audio, web clippings, PDFs and more.
The app syncs across all your devices, so you never have to worry about losing your precious notes and documents. It's free to use, although there's the option to upgrade to a pro version with more features.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
When it comes to working on projects with a large team, things can get pretty hectic. Allocating tasks ends up taking forever, and soon everyone's confused. The solution? DropTask. It offers a vibrant, colourful interface that delivers an enjoyable but effective task management experience.
The main feature here is a customisable workflow board, where team members can allocate tasks and check what they're expected to do. You can invite up to five colleagues to work on tasks in real-time, and you can assign items under multiple categories. Like many of the other apps listed in this article, DropTask is cloud-based and syncs across devices.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
It's easy to fall behind when you have so much work to do, and it doesn't help when there are so many distractions to deal with. If you suffer with these sort of issues, Be Focused Pro could help you. This iOS app lets you focus on your work and get things done by splitting individual tasks into intervals, separated by small breaks. This, the creators claim, will help you retain motivation while you work. As well as being able to create and configure tasks, you can also track your progress throughout the week, month or year.
Platforms: iOS
Price: £1.49 ($1.99)
One of the banes of running a business is having to deal with time and expense sheets. Unless you're willing to shell out for an accountant, this is something you're going to have to tackle yourself. But Harvest makes the task a lot simpler. The app is a way for you to track time, log expenses and manage invoices on-the-go.
You can use the app to send invoices to clients and track when they've paid, add, view and edit time entries, take photos of receipts and upload them, monitor mileage, and much more besides. There is a basic free plan but it restricts the number of clients and projects available, so you'll need to fork out for a paid subscription if you want to unlock those limits.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Are you a business owner? Then you'll understand the importance of knowing how your employees are feeling. After all, if they're not happy at your firm, then the chances are they're going to underperform – or go elsewhere. TinyPulse is an app that lets you get to know your staff, giving you the ability to set them questions and analyse their feedback. Using this data, you can then make changes if they're needed.
You can also share virtual suggestions with your team, ensuring they're always included in strategic decision-making. And hopefully the result of all this will be a happier, more democratic working environment. You can get a free trial to test the system out, although you'll need to contact the company for details of pricing plans when it comes to the full service.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Varies
Bria is a business-grade communication app available on iOS and Android as well as BlackBerry. It creates a SIP-based softphone client using Wi-Fi or a cellular data network that can make and receive calls over the net. The service uses the phone's existing contact list and has been designed to facilitate easy, effective communication management. There's an intuitive interface that accommodates multiple calls, and functionality includes the ability to swap, merge and split calls, plus you can perform attended and unattended transfers. You needn't worry about security either, as it boasts built-in audio encryption.
Platforms: Android, iOS and BlackBerry
Price: £6 ($7.99)
There's certainly no shortage of to-do list apps out there, but equally there's no denying that Wunderlist is one of the best. The app allows you to create as many task lists as you want and share them with your colleagues. They sync across devices, so you'll always have them to hand. Note that the app is free, but there's a pro version that'll cost you a few quid a year. You can delegate tasks, set deadlines, add notes, create reminders and split items into sub-tasks – and the interface is easy-to-use, and looks good, too.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
When you have an incredibly busy home and work life, it’s easy to come across great articles or videos online but not have the time to enjoy them. Pocket lets you save items like videos, articles and e-books so you can access them when you have a spare few minutes at some point in the future. It’s a great way to stay organised too. Depending on the version you have, you can create tags to keep everything neat and tidy, or listen to articles with text-to-speech. There’s unlimited storage on offer as well.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
As they say, time is money, and you can easily waste both by spending most of the day staring at social media feeds and watching videos on Facebook. RescueTime aims to get you to change your ways and avoid bad working habits. It analyses the apps and websites you view the most, and breaks them down into a list so that you know where your time is going. The idea is you can then use this information to set productivity goals. The app is free, but the pro version lets you go a step further by blocking specific sites and setting up notifications.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Toggl is similar to RescueTime in that it wants to help you better utilise your time at work and stay productive. It lets you track multiple projects and clients to build a picture of your daily activities. With this information, you can then view graphs and timesheets, which is extremely handy if you work on a ‘per hour’ basis. All members of a team can use the app and split items into different categories to avoid confusion. The basic plan is free and caters for teams of five members or fewer, but if you need more than this, you’ll have to pay a subscription for the pro version or better.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Asana is another well-known business app. If you’re not using it already, then you probably should be. It’s like Trello (which we’ve already mentioned) and will help you stay on top of things in general, but it’s a lot more text-centric. You can set up tasks, to-do lists, reminders and requests about pretty much anything, and you can comment on items and send images within the app. There’s functionality that lets you track progress, too, and you’re able to communicate with staff directly. Asana works across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets and computers. It’s free for teams of up to 15 members, but beyond that you’ll need to stump up for a premium subscription.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
If you like the idea of having a communications app like Slack but need something a little cheaper when it comes to paid-for options, you’ll want to have a look at HipChat. It may not be as complex or well-known as Slack, but HipChat boasts a free service for unlimited users which offers group chat and file sharing. Upgrade to HipChat Plus for a couple of pounds a month, and you also get group video chat, screen sharing, and unlimited file sharing and storage.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps available, although it’s not just for personal use. It’s also a handy communication tool for businesses, allowing you to communicate with colleagues in real-time. Using your Wi-Fi connection, it lets you send and receive text messages, calls, images, photos, videos and voice messages for free. You can also set up and participate in group chats, which is handy for team meetings and delegating tasks.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Freelancers are always looking for more work – and when it comes to that quest, Konsus could be a big help. It’s an on-demand freelancer platform based within the Slack app (which we covered in a previous slide). The app assigns projects to top-talent sole traders based on their skills and availability. For example, a user could request edits to a PowerPoint presentation or Word document, expecting to get it back by the next morning. There’s a team of project managers too, responsible for vetting freelancers and ensuring projects are completed to the brief.
Platforms: Slack Add-on
Price: Varies
Unless you’re the next Einstein or have loads of research time on your hands, it can be pretty impossible to work out the most complex equations. This is where Wolfram Alpha can help – using a vast collection of algorithms and data, it can produce answers and generate reports for almost any question, not just limited to maths but covering a whole range of topics. The app isn’t free, though, and it’ll set you back £2.29. You also have the option to pay a monthly fee and get added capabilities, should you need them.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: £2.29 ($2.99)
It’s always a good idea to have a PDF reader at your disposal, and Adobe is arguably the best out there. The Adobe Acrobat Reader app, which you can get on both Android and iOS for free, lets you edit and add comments to PDFs. If you have an Adobe account, you can benefit from even more features. For instance, you can convert PDFs into various different formats and store them in the cloud. There’s the option of connecting the app to Dropbox too, and if you have an iPad Pro, you can use the Apple Pencil to annotate documents.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Not all businesses and sole traders have the funds to splash out on accountants, although keeping everything tracked and in order is essential. Wave, a free web-based accountancy platform complete with mobile apps, has been designed for small businesses, individuals and contractors. Using it, you can track your expenses, send and manage invoices, scan receipts, get expert accounting reports and more – and it doesn’t even cost a penny. There are various apps available for different functions on iOS (and one Android app – Receipts by Wave), although note that you can’t get the Payroll app outside of the US or Canada.
Platforms: iOS
Price: Free
LinkedIn is like Marmite – you either love or hate it. However, if you’re a business owner or professional, it’s worth creating an account on the platform. Widely accepted as the world’s leading social media site for pros, it lets you connect with colleagues, clients and other relevant contacts. What’s more, it’s a great way to show off your CV and to hunt for employment prospects. LinkedIn has a website, of course, alongside mobile apps for Android and iOS.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
If you have a hundred things to do at once, then effective time management is a must. Here’s one suggestion for a good app to help you out in this cause: Clear Timer. It’s a free timer and stopwatch solution to get you through the day. You can create as many custom timers as you want running simultaneously, which is handy if you have a stack of deadlines to meet on the same day. It sports an easy-to-use interface, a variety of sounds and skins, and timers you can start, pause and reset individually.
Platforms: iOS
Price: Free
While cloud-oriented services like Google Docs are disrupting the business world, it’s hard not to give credit to stalwart Microsoft Office. The package of office essentials has been a gold standard for years. But you can now get popular programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint as mobile apps, letting you view and edit documents on a mobile device.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Mobile
Price: Free
Sometimes it’s nice to have everything in one place. And, in terms of productivity tools, WPS Office offers just that. It’s an all-in-one app where you can create slideshows, presentations and documents. A number of well-known file formats are supported, including those from Microsoft Office. And you can get cloud support from services such as Google Drive and Dropbox.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
You’ve likely heard of MailChimp before, and if it’s something you’ve not tried yet, then you really should. It’s one of the best ways to manage complex mailing lists and create email campaigns, all for free. You can get the service on desktop, as well as mobile apps. With the Android and iOS apps, you’re able to manage your lists, add new subscribers, send campaigns you’ve drafted up on your computer, and view your reports. The service is free for up to 2,000 or fewer subscribers and 12,000 emails per month – any more than that and you’ll need to upgrade to a paid-for account.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Gmail is one of the most popular and advanced webmail services out there, and the mobile apps are great. Whether linked up to a Gmail account or a business one, you benefit from an easy-to-use app with loads of features. You can use up to five accounts at the same time, get search predictions, read emails with threaded conversations, respond to Google Calendar invites within the app, and send attachments.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
The chances are that you have several email accounts across different platforms, perhaps for a mixture of personal and business uses. If this is the case, you’ll want to download an email client so all your messages are in one place. Newton, formerly known as CloudMagic, is one to consider. Available for Android and iOS smartphones, smartwatches and tablets, it offers a variety of useful features. These include snooze, send later and undo send. The app works with Gmail, Exchange, Yahoo Mail, Outlook, iCloud, Google Apps, Office 365 and IMAP accounts. If you want to try the service out, there is a 14-day trial available.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: $50 (around £40) per year
Nowadays, with increased cybersecurity risks, it’s crucial that you use strong passwords for your personal and business accounts. But it can be a challenge creating and keeping track of multiple different passwords, particularly if they’re convoluted and obscure affairs (i.e. strong). LastPass generates secure passwords suitable for business uses and stores them at the same time, all within one app. It also boasts browser functionality, letting you fill in forms and login details automatically without having to go through a separate service like those provided in Safari or Chrome.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
Getting your finances in order is probably one of the most important considerations when it comes to running a business, for obvious reasons. Expensify makes expense management easier. It captures your receipts, tracks your mileage and other outgoings, and creates complex financial reports. There’s also a function that, if you’re working in a financial department, lets you easily submit reports to your boss. The free account has certain limits – a maximum of 10 free SmartScans per month, for example – and if you want to go beyond that, then you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
If you work in a big city like London and don’t have access to your own car, you no doubt use the bus, tube, or hire a taxi. But Uber will help you save time and money. The app allows you to organise an affordable ride within a few minutes, without having to make reservations or wait in a taxi line. Uber is already available in a number of UK cities, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Free
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