Dark mode is a fantastic addition to any operating system, enabling late-night work to more productive. We have the theme switched on as default on Windows 10, which has always suited a darker user-interface.

Apple introduced a system-wide dark mode with Mojave and some of the recent apps look hugely better on a dark background. iPhoto is a very good example, making photos pop on the dark shade and editing easier on the eyes.

Read More »

Using a virtual operating system has its merits.  For developers, it’s the ideal tool for sandboxing your computer so you can test software for bugs before it’s released to beta testing. You can also install your software across a range of operating systems for compatibility.

As a consumer, there are valid reasons why you may want to consider a virtual system. You may need to use a Windows computer for work but would like to experiment with a Linux installation. A virtual OS enables you to test new bleeding-edge software or tools where you are wary of the source. Problem? Simply revert back to a previous snapshot.

Read More »

Customisable web browser Vivaldi 2.0 has been released for Windows, Mac and Linux. This challenger web browser, which has boasted over 1,500 improvements since its initial launch in 2016, unveils yet more major changes.

Chief among these is the long-awaited debut of browser sync to bring feature parity with other major browsers. Other tweaks have been made to existing features while the underlying browser engine has been updated to Chromium 69.

Read More »

It wasn’t so long ago, you bought a brand new computer, installed your favourite applications, only to find a few months later it was clearly operating more sluggishly.

There were various reasons for this, but the primary reason was a defragmented hard drive. The more you write data to the drive, the more scattered the contents and the physical head spent far longer retrieving the data. We know people who would systematically simply wipe their drive and start again just to regain the speed of their original PC.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »