Bluestack Systems has released BlueStacks 4.30, a major new version of its free Android apps emulator for Windows PCs. The app promises to run apps and games faster on PC than any available smartphone.

Version 4 debuts a new user interface, keyboard controls editor and promises significant performance improvements thanks to more efficient use of system resources.

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Before any trip, we like to research. Where’s the best place to eat, pick up a decent coffee on the way, other interesting points of interest and more.

Google Maps makes this easy. Research online, add a new folder to your places and start saving pointers along your intended route. When you land, simply refer to Google Maps and navigate to your saved locations. Easy. Well, it would if your hire car enabled you to use Google Maps.

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We handle a lot of support enquiries and one of the most common questions is how do people fully remove installed software, especially a security suite.

Problem is, most people do not realise that the software is often in use when they start their computer. This makes it really tricky for Windows to fully remove in-use software from your PC. In theory, next time you boot the uninstall process should continue and remove the rest of the application, but this often fails to execute.

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The sharing economy is dictating how we plan our vacation. We’ve previously featured Airbnb and HomeAway, as well as Uber, Lyft and Coup in Berlin. There are now a number of options you may not have otherwise have experienced if it wasn’t due to the sharing economy.

Now there is a slightly bizarre but interesting option if you wanted to take to the sea as it involves borrowing someone’s yacht when not in use. Borrow a Boat is being touted as the “Airbnb of the boating world”, after the company launched their app earlier this summer.

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dotPDN LLC has unveiled Paint.NET 4.1.1, a minor update that follows less than a week after the major Paint.NET 4.1 release. This includes two notable bug fixes, reinstates Adjustment menu shortcut keys and one minor improvement.

The update was preceded by Paint.NET 4.1, which added support for GPU-powered effects, copy/paste for selections and bicubic resampling for the Move Selected Pixels tool.

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Who do you trust in 2018? We often get asked for our security recommendation and it’s a struggle to come up with a definitive answer. We won’t go in to detail in public, but there are reasons why we might avoid recommending a well-known security suite and it’s not just due to recent issues involving potential backdoors either.

There is a general consensus that you can trust solid German engineering (VW/Audi issues emissions issues aside) and this same theory should apply to security software. You know your data is secure, your privacy intact and it will perform a solid job looking after your PC.

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We browse the internet unaware of the amount of personal information made available to websites, social media networks and public forums. Every time you access a site you leave behind traceable information including a unique IP address and timestamp.

With this information, anyone can find you rather easily. ISPs, by law, are required to offer this information to the authorities on request. Now, this won’t affect 99.9% of people as most people do not have anything to hide, but there are solid reasons why you might want to hide your identity.

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Finding the right web browser isn’t easy. As a Chrome user for years, we were forced to switch when it went through a much-publicised Mac slowdown, moving to Safari. We became rather impressed with Safari, particularly if you move between the iOS and desktop edition.

Problem is, add a Windows PC into this mix and you’ll find there’s little point using Safari. So we switched to Firefox as recent UI changes made it look as fantastic on a Mac as it does on a Windows 10 computer.

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Mozilla has released Firefox Quantum 62.0 for desktop, along with Firefox for Android 62.0.

Version 62 ships with several minor new features, the most visible of which is support for up to four rows of personal customisations – top sites, Pocket stories and highlights – on the new Firefox Home menu.

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Acronis has launched Acronis True Image 2019 for Windows and Mac, a major new release of its popular local and cloud backup tool.

The 2019 version is dubbed the 15-year Anniversary Edition, celebrating the milestone release. New features added include a dedicated survival toolkit, ability to manually clean backup files and widened anti-ransomware protection.

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Since OS X and Windows 10 implemented a ‘dark mode’, we spend far longer with this option than the traditional lighter desktop as it’s better on our eyes. It’s also annoying having to manually transition between the two. It’s one or the other.

With the forthcoming Mojave due this September, Apple is taking this a stage further. The new OS X will include 16 wallpapers which will seamlessly transition your desktop from morning to evening, as you work. The brightest wallpaper will be displayed early in the dayon a morning, but by the evening you’ll see a dark blue wallpaper which suits the time of day (and assuming you’re still working post 8 pm).

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