PC Pro – November 2013.pdf-META

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2013

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CONTENTS What’s inside?

Issue 229 November

CONTENTS THE UK’S BIGGEST-SELLING COMPUTING MONTHLY PC PRO EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2013

FEATURES

COVER STORY

COVER GUIDE

24

The votes have been cast and counted and we can reveal your favourite broadband ISP, tablet, laptop and PC makers, and much more. Plus! The editorial team pick their products of 2013.

p24

p52

COVER STORY

MY PC IS INFECTED: WHAT NOW?

40

What should you do when your PC is struck down by malware? We explain how to get your system back to full health.

REGULARS

INSIDE A BRITISH PC MAKER

REAL WORLD COMPUTING

Prolog

7

Technolog

9

THE LANDRUSH FOR NEW WEB DOMAINS

68

Barry Collins explains why you can’t afford to ignore new top-level domains.

Feedback

10

Idealog

59

Subscriptions

60

How we test

119

CAREERS

A-List

146

We explain how to get started in a rewarding career selling IT products and services.

Contact us & next month 153 Epilog

154

PC PRO PODCAST

Don’t forget to download the latest PC Pro podcast. There’s a new show available every Thursday from www.pcpro. co.uk/podcast.

004

46

We take a look behind the scenes at Novatech, visiting its Hampshire factory to see what goes into making a homegrown PC.

PC PRO•NOVEMBER 2013

72

Advanced Windows & Mac

Subscribe to PC Pro today, and you can benefit from our three issues for £1 offer – visit http:// subscribe.pcpro.co.uk now.

p40

IN DEPTH

76

BUILD A “MOBILE MINDER” TO MONITOR YOUR DEVICES

Mobile & Wireless

79

Online Business

82

Kevin Partner explains how to assemble a cheap, sensor-based system to track how much time your kids spend on their devices.

Security & Social Networking

85

CREATE VECTOR GRAPHICS WITH LIBREOFFICE DRAW

Office Apps

88

Web Apps & Design

93

Networks

96

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52

56

Need to create clean, pin-sharp designs for illustrations or logos? We show you how to get started for free. USE YOUR TV AS A SECONDARY DISPLAY

62

Darien Graham-Smith shows you how to beam videos, pictures and web pages onto your big screen.

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What’s inside?

IN THE LABS...

CONTENTS

REVIEWS

43 NEW REVIEWS THIS ISSUE

COVER STORY

PARENTAL CONTROLS

p103

130

Which parental-control packages will keep your kids safe? We test 15 – both paid-for and free – against more than 150 undesirable sites to see which offer the best protection.

NEWS

THIS MONTH

12

We investigate why hundreds of innocent sites were blocked by Britain’s biggest ISPs in a bodged attempt to thwart piracy sites. Plus, the end of the Ballmer era at Microsoft, how researchers scan the entire internet in an hour, and John Hemming MP writes a guest column on his fears over mandatory parental controls.

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PCs, LAPTOPS & TABLETS Samsung Ativ Book Plus Samsung Ativ Book 9 Lite Toshiba Satellite C75 Dell XPS 12 Acer XC600 Nexus 7 (2013) COMPONENTS & PERIPHERALS Samsung Galaxy NX Canon EOS 70D HTC One mini Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Nokia Lumia 625 Contour RollerMouse Re:d Contour RollerMouse Free2 Logitech Trackman Marble Logitech Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650 Logitech Wireless Trackball M570 OMG Life Autographer Leap Motion Controller SOFTWARE Sony Sound Forge Pro 11 Xara Designer Pro X9

102 103 104 105 106 107

108 109 110 110 111 112 112 113 113 113 114 114 117 118

PARENTAL CONTROLS Norton Family Blue Coat K9 Web Protection F-Secure Internet Security 2013 Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 McAfee Family Protection OpenDNS Basic TalkTalk HomeSafe Trend Micro Online Guardian Windows Live Family Safety AVG Family Safety Bitdefender Parental Control G Data InternetSecurity 2014 MetaCert Net Nanny 6.5 SafeDNS ENTERPRISE Boston Value Series 121 Western Digital Sentinel RX4100 Qsan AegisSAN LX P600Q-D316 Netgear ReadyNAS 2120 HP OÖceJet 7110 Y-cam Cube HD 1080 Lexmark CX410de Xerox DocuMate 4700

136 137 138 138 139 139 140 140 141 142 142 142 143 143 143 120 122 124 126 126 127 128 128

Every Thursday, we’ll have a new Hot Hardware of the Week video on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for free to make sure you don’t miss out at www.youtube.com/pcpro

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005

Prolog OPINION

Microsoft must not lose touch with its loyal developers, says BARRY COLLINS

A

nd so the man who made “developers, developers, developers” a maniacal catchphrase is leaving to spend more time with his golf clubs. Nobody who watched that infamous 2006 video of a sweat-drenched, breathless Steve Ballmer repeating that mantra as he bounded around the stage could question his affection for developers. (One doubts whether even Mrs Ballmer has ever witnessed such passion.) But is Microsoft’s enthusiasm for developers waning? The curious thing about Ballmer’s developer dance is that this wasn’t a man rallying his old regiment: he’s a salesman, not a programmer. I don’t doubt he could still code me under the table, but this was the outsider trying to prove – like a prime minister at an army base – that he was in touch with the troops. And, once the thousands of developers in the audience had lifted their jaws off the floor, they lapped it up. This mutual affection has remained strong over the past few, difficult years for Microsoft. I’ve attended several Build and TechEd conferences, and the warmth and enthusiasm flooding out of the audience during keynote addresses and product announcements has never failed to amaze me. Even when Microsoft demonstrated the most insipid features of the first preview of Windows 8 in 2011, there was no shortage of whoops and applause. The biggest difficulty in covering Build conferences, in fact, is trying to ignore the infectious enthusiasm and remain objective. Of course, Microsoft’s legendary generosity to paying Build attendees helps. At this summer’s Build, every developer walked away with a Surface Pro, an 8in Acer tablet, and two full-year subscriptions to Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud, not to mention the free parties, and tables creaking with complimentary food and drink. Look after your developers, and they’ll look after you. Yet Microsoft has failed to nurture its developers this month. For reasons it’s keeping close to its chest, Microsoft has decided to break with convention and not release the RTM version of Windows 8.1 to MSDN subscribers ahead of time, making them wait for the full launch like the rest of us (unless they, ahem, happen to stumble across a leaked version while downloading their Linux distros and other perfectly legitimate software via BitTorrent). Various theories have been propounded for Microsoft’s sudden change of policy, ranging from a desire to keep key new features secret

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for the big launch in October, to the altogether more plausible scenario that Microsoft will (by its own admission) be twiddling with the code right up to the release date, and it doesn’t want the current build going public in case meddling reviewers discovers the bugs and declare Windows 8.1 to be a tin of Winalot. Whatever the reason, it hasn’t gone down well with developers who pay Microsoft up to £8,500 per year for MSDN accounts, partly for the privilege of getting their hands on OS code early. “How are we supposed to test our software for Windows 8.1?” wrote one angry developer on the Microsoft blog announcing the Windows 8.1 RTM. “[On] the day it will be automatically installed on users’ machines? So we – software developers – can take the blame for applications that don’t work on Windows 8.1? Great way to lose your partners.” He was far from the only malcontent – and these are only the comments that were clean enough to pass Microsoft’s moderation. Angering developers is unwise at this point in the evolution of Windows 8. Show me a developer who got rich from a Windows 8

The lack of compelling apps is the biggest remaining problem with Microsoft’s much-maligned operating system app, and I’ll give you a ride on my flying pig. The lack of compelling apps is by far the biggest remaining problem with Microsoft’s muchmaligned operating system, which has seen many of its initial wrinkles ironed out in 8.1. Microsoft should be moving Heaven, Earth and couple of other planets to make sure there’s a few competitive apps in the Windows Store by the time the Christmas ads for Windows 8.1 devices start to appear. A year after launch, there still isn’t a single Windows 8 app that beats anything I’ve seen on Android or iOS; there are none that I even use regularly. The Windows Phone store is little better. If I were in charge of Microsoft (the CV is in the post), I’d have spent the Nokia billions on a few decent app-development studios instead of a manufacturer that was already wedded to Windows Phone and making a pretty good fist of it (see my review of the Lumia 625 on p111). “Developers, developers, developers.” It was maybe the wisest thing Steve Ballmer ever said.

BARRY COLLINS is the editor of PC Pro. He’s cancelled his hearing checkup now that Ballmer’s no longer doing press conferences. Blog: www.pcpro.co.uk/links/barryc Email: [email protected]


007

Technolog OPINION

Hard disks are shrinking, but DARIEN GRAHAM-SMITH isn’t feeling the squeeze

I

n 2001, a salesman in Dixons tried to persuade me to buy a lightweight laptop without a floppy-disk drive. This was a scary and unfamiliar idea, and I insisted on paying more for a much chunkier, business-class system with a front-facing 3.5in drive. You can probably guess how the story ends. I should have seen it coming. With CD writers, USB flash drives and ADSL internet connections all crashing into the mainstream, it ought to have been obvious (as it was to my friendly retail advisor) that the floppy drive was on its way out. Had I exercised a little more foresight, I would have walked away with a cheaper, thinner, lighter laptop. Why am I telling you this? Because lately I’ve been experiencing a sense of déjà vu – not about floppy drives, of course, but local storage in general. Until recently, when friends have asked for my advice about laptop purchases, I’ve always recommended they shell out for the biggest SSD they can afford. I like to think of this as experiential wisdom, based on decades of seeing “what will I ever do with all this space?” turn into “this stupid, tiny disk is full, and there’s nothing left I can delete”. For as long as I can recall, it’s been a truism that you can never have too much storage. Yet I’m coming to realise that I’m making the floppy-drive mistake all over again. The reason for buying the biggest hard disk possible is to accommodate all your data locally, but that’s becoming less necessary as time goes by. It’s a process that’s been going on for years. First, webmail services freed us from tending our own monolithic mail archives, then YouTube started taking care of our videos. More recent ventures such as Google Drive and Office Web Apps have airlifted our business documents into the cloud, while Apple’s iCloud has taken to storing our music and movies on its own disks. Flickr will host up to a terabyte of photos for you, and any data that’s left can be offloaded onto the likes of Dropbox and SkyDrive. This isn’t down to a single driving force. What did it for floppy disks wasn’t a Big Bang, but a creeping pincer movement led by faster internet connections and more advanced storage media. Similarly, the rise of cloud services is supported by a combination of gravitational shifts. The rise of smartphones and tablets has brought about a hunger for remote data access that was barely there five

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years ago. In that same period, the average home broadband speed has quadrupled, according to Ofcom. There’s been pressure from the other side, too. Five years ago, PC Pro was reviewing premium laptops with 512GB hard disks; today’s aspirational models typically have a mere 128GB. That’s an inescapable corollary of the move to superfast solid-state storage. As such, cloud storage becomes not only a convenient way of getting your data onto other devices, but also a convenient way of getting it off your primary storage. Hence the growing appeal of media services such as Spotify and Netflix, where the data streams directly from the cloud and – with the exception of a small playback buffer – never hits your hard disk at all. There are still reasons why you may prefer to rely on local storage. For a start, anything you want to keep private should never be entrusted to the cloud: you can’t ever be completely sure your provider’s security won’t be compromised, either by hackers or government agents.

The rise of smartphones and tablets has brought about a hunger for remote data access that was barely there five years ago Video editors and photography enthusiasts will also likely want more space than a cloud provider can cost-effectively offer them. Also, the latency of cloud storage makes it a non-starter for hobbies such as music production. Don’t forget backup, either: cloud backup can be tremendously convenient, but if you don’t want to tie the recoverability of your data to someone else’s uptime, periodic local backups are still a good idea. Those issues aside, though, I’ll no longer be encouraging my friends to remortgage their homes to get their hands on a 512GB SSD. Instead, I’ll suggest they buy a bog-standard 128GB laptop and invest in a much cheaper external USB 3 hard disk. The internal storage might seem a little tight now, but if I’m reading the winds correctly, it should come to feel more spacious over time. That idea sounds absurd and counterintuitive now – but no more so than the idea of a PC without a floppy drive once sounded.

DARIEN GRAHAM-SMITH is PC Pro’s technical editor. He didn’t write this in Google Drive on a Chromebook, but he could have. Blog: www.pcpro.co.uk/links/dariengs Email: [email protected]


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FEEDBACK Your say

FEEDBACK THE PICK OF YOUR COMMENTS FROM EMAILS, BLOGS OR PCPRO.CO.UK

STAR LETTER

’ve just enjoyed episode 272 of the excellent PC Pro podcast, in which the team discussed their frustrations with Google Chrome’s multiple processes appearing identically in Windows Task Manager, making it nigh-on impossible to identify a runaway tab. Chrome’s built-in Task Manager must be a well-kept secret. It can be found in the Chrome menu, hidden under Tools. It works well with Chrome’s concept of using separate processes for different pages, allowing tabs that go wrong to be killed off individually without restarting the browser. As well as being useful for tracking down web pages that are hogging system resources, the Chrome Task Manager is convenient for quickly finding any tab lost among multiple windows, or for weeding out tabs you no longer need. Sometimes, switching to a tab cuts its CPU load

I Offline security

In the September issue (see issue 227, p68), Jon Honeyball pointed out the weaknesses of the internet-security packages in which we place our trust. This is something that dawned on me a long time ago, when a friend’s computer was hit by the same fraudulent police notice Jon mentions. To clear it for him, I downloaded Windows Defender Offline and burnt it onto a CD. Then I used the disk to boot his computer and ran Windows Defender Offline, which found and removed the virus – plus five other trojans that had bypassed his up-to-date security software. I use Windows Defender Offline on a regular basis, just to double-check all is as it should be. DAVID CLOWES Editor Barry Collins replies: I’m all too familiar with the situation you describe. Last month, I spent a frantic afternoon attempting to clear a particularly nasty rootkit from a friend’s PC, but even though an offline virus scanner claimed to have dealt with the miscreant, it reappeared every time we went back online. As Jon said in his column, malware is getting nastier, and the security suites are letting too much past.

Microsoft TechNot

Microsoft’s recent announcement that it’s discontinuing TechNet, the resource centre for IT professionals, makes me wonder if the company’s senior management has lost the plot. It’s being dropped in favour of time-limited trials, which only cover the latest software, or an expensive MSDN subscription. Neither replace TechNet.

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immediately, especially if Chrome restarted with tabs from the previous session. It seems Chrome does less housekeeping on tabs that haven’t been looked at. Chrome has another little-known unique feature for managing tabs. By Ctrl+clicking or Shift+clicking tab headers, multiple tabs can be selected; these can be closed, pinned, reloaded, duplicated or, most usefully, dragged out to create a new window, or placed among tabs in an existing window. Tabs gathered into a window can be bookmarked as a folder (by clicking Ctrl+Shift+D or right-clicking a tab header), then closed to free up resources, or relaunched by right-clicking the folder. There are many Chrome extensions designed to help manage tabs, but these powerful native features are all it needs. Perhaps Google should make them better known. MATT LANDER

This month’s star letter wins a Corsairr Neutron 128GB SSD worth £110 Visit www.corsair.com

Let me spell it out for you, Microsoft: no IT professional in their right mind will be upsold from a £200-per-year TechNet subscription to a £5,000-per-year MSDN subscription when Linux is free. Quite simply, you’ve alienated your most loyal customers. We don’t buy very much directly, but we have a massive influence on the purchasing decisions of the organisations we work for, and they buy an awful lot of products and services. This move hugely increases the cost of training for IT professionals – the real training that is done in our own time and at our own expense, so we can recommend your products to our managers. Some may turn to piracy, but many will look at open-source options and recommend these, as it will be easier for us to maintain our skills. Alienating the invisible sales force at a time when Microsoft isn’t exactly making headlines with fantastic new products is a fairly dumb

thing to do. Well done, guys: you might as well give yourselves a Darwin Award for this one. SHAUN PUGH

Google going south?

Until about three years ago, it seemed Google was about making “cool stuff”, and making the world a better place. Then, for whatever reason, it started battling for the “ecosystem” – witness how many of its services require Google+. These days, the user comes second. After it stopped Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync for Gmail and killed Reader, I decided to move away from its services as much as possible; now I only use search. The decision not to make Windows Phone apps is another sign of its new approach. It’s a shame – in many other respects, Google’s still a great company. MARC

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NEWS PC Probe

NEWS

IN-DEPTH REPORTS, ANALYSIS AND OPINION

Who’s checking which sites are struck off the net? Shona Ghosh reveals how hundreds of innocent sites were caught up in the Premier League’s clampdown on online piracy

B

asic lapses in the way piracy websites are identified resulted in hundreds of legitimate sites being blocked by the UK’s biggest ISPs, a PC Pro investigation has found. The Premier League won a court order on 16 July forcing Sky, Virgin, EE, Telefónica UK (O2), TalkTalk and BT to block FirstRow Sports, a site that provides links to illegitimate streams of football matches. The court ordered the providers to block an IP address used by FirstRow, but failed to check if the address was also being used by innocent sites. This oversight meant hundreds of sites, including www.radio times.com, were trapped in the ISPs’ anti-piracy filters, and the erroneous blocks were only spotted when customers complained. Why didn’t the ISPs check the sites they were blocking? And why is it so easy for legitimate websites to be caught in the piracy crossfire?

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Blunderbuss approach

According to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, the accidental blocks came after the Premier League’s lawyers told the ISPs to filter an IP address used by FirstRow. However, that address also resolved to a service used by hundreds of other sites to redirect visitors, say from “radiotimes. com” to www.radiotimes.com. When the ISPs added the address to their blacklists, customers found they were blocked from any site using the redirection service.

The problem was eventually fixed, but it highlights how little effort is made by either rightsholders or ISPs to check if the IP addresses they’re blocking are correct, or free of unintentional consequences. “It’s the first time this particular problem has [arisen], but it’s entirely predictable at the same time,” said a spokesperson for digital rights organisation the Open Rights Group. “There seems to be no process for minimising the risk this will happen, no process for rectifying these mistakes in the way the orders are written.”

Site-blocking is still a relatively new phenomenon. In July 2011, film trade body the Motion Picture Association of America won a landmark case forcing BT to block Newzbin2, a site that provided links to pirated films. Following that ruling, a string of court orders forced the other major ISPs to block similar sites, including big-hitters such as The Pirate Bay and EZTV. Although the Premier League’s court order against FirstRow was a cookie-cutter case in most respects, the error has highlighted

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The Radio Times’ site was caught in the Premier League’s crossfire

how the process can go wrong as rights-holders try to add more and more sites to the blacklists. When it first applied for the blocking order on FirstRow, the Premier League assured the court there would be no side effects as a result of barring that IP address. “The Football Association Premier League’s evidence is that this will not result in over-blocking, since that IP address is not shared,” according to the judgement. According to legal expert David Pritchard, head of Manches LLP’s Thames Valley litigation practice, the Premier League – or any rights-holder – has a duty to verify any evidence it submits to a court. “There’s an obligation to give correct information to the court,” he said. “It’s really surprising that people get these details wrong – it’s indicative of sloppiness.” Yet, despite misleading the court, it doesn’t seem the Premier League will face any consequences for getting it wrong. The league admitted its mistake to PC Pro, but said it saw no problem now it has been corrected. “As soon as we were alerted to the unintentional block of certain websites, we rectified the situation,” said a spokesperson.

“The high court order remains in place, and we have continued to work with ISPs to enforce it.”

Minimal checks

Even if the rights-holders make a mistake, the ISPs should provide a safety net. It’s understood that ISPs are legally obliged to let rights-holders know if they spot any accidental site blocks. In this case, however, it seems the ISPs were more concerned with embarrassing the rights-holders

than correcting the problem, highlighting the distrust that exists between the parties. Indeed, it was a source at one of the ISPs who tipped off PC Pro to the IP address-sharing issue in the first place, and the Premier League told the BBC it only became aware of the issue when it was contacted by journalists. Manches’ Pritchard said it’s incredible that the ISPs don’t perform their own checks before adding addresses to their blacklists. “It’s lousy customer service,” he said. “I would expect better than a blind observance of the law.” While the ISPs have all issued public statements denying responsibility for the accidental blocks, a source at one provider admitted they put little effort into obeying court orders. “Broadly speaking, ISPs don’t like doing it [site-blocking], and we all do the

absolute minimum – exactly what is required of us by law,” the source said. The apparent unwillingness of ISPs and rights-holders to take full responsibility for checking whether they’re accidentally censoring innocent sites means that over-blocking will most likely remain a problem for the foreseeable future. Yet even if both sides took greater care, experts believe that innocent sites will still be snared. “A request to block an IP address may be compliant with a court order one day, but the address may be used for something completely different at some point in the future,” said the Open Rights Group. “These aren’t trivial little mistakes – they’re an entirely predictable consequence of this whole strategy and process.”

The Premier League said the filter would block only FirstRow

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013

NEWS Headlines

TOP STORIES READERS REACT TO THE MONTH’S TECH NEWS

1

Microsoft finally swoops for Nokia’s devices

Microsoft acquired Nokia’s Devices & Services division for £4.6 billion, two years after the firms signed an exclusivity deal that saw Nokia adopt Windows Phone on its Lumia handsets. The buyout includes a 10-year licence for Nokia’s patents and leaves the Finnish firm with its networking and mapping divisions. “This is a smart acquisition for Microsoft, and a good deal for both companies,” said outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Microsoft is hoping the purchase will boost the Windows Phone platform from 4% market share to 15% in the next five years. Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop moved to the company from Microsoft before the Windows Phone deal and will now make the reverse journey, heading up the Devices & Services division. Following Ballmer’s retirement announcement (see p16 for more on this), Elop’s now seen as a leading contender for the top job at Microsoft.

What we said: “It’s hard

to see why Microsoft felt the need to buy Nokia,” said editor Barry Collins. “It had the unstinting

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support of Nokia even before it bought the hardware division. One has to wonder whether this move is borne out of desperation. Nokia needed an immediate cash injection from Microsoft as soon as the buyout was announced, and Microsoft could ill afford to see the only Windows Phone manufacturer to show any true enthusiasm for its OS go to the wall. Microsoft may have been Nokia’s only way out.”

What you said: PC Pro

readers weren’t surprised by the acquisition. “I’ve been saying for years that Elop’s strategy for Nokia was going to fail; this takeover proves I was right,” said SwissMac. “He never lost his loyalty to Microsoft, even though it should have lay with Nokia.” Nokia’s smartphone struggles led some to hope that it would flip from Windows Phone to Android – a move that’s clearly off the table now, disappointing reader Trippynet. “Combining Nokia’s hardware with Android would have been quite a potent combination, in my opinion,” he argued.

2

Ubuntu Edge grinds to a halt as funding falls $20m short

Canonical’s smartphone plans hit a setback after its campaign to crowdfund a handset running Ubuntu fell short by $20 million. The company had hoped to raise $32 million via crowdfunding platform Indiegogo to build the Ubuntu Edge, a smartphone that could be connected to a monitor and used as a PC. However, it raised only $12.8 million, from around 20,000 consumers and one enterprise backer, Bloomberg. The money collected will be refunded. Canonical insisted the campaign wasn’t a total failure. “While we passionately wanted to build the Edge to showcase Ubuntu on phones, the support and attention it received will still be a huge boost as other Ubuntu phones start to arrive in 2014,” said Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth. He may be hoping the money raised will be enough to attract a handset manufacturer, although none have signed up to use the OS since it was announced in January.

What we said: “The Ubuntu Edge is an intriguing idea, but Canonical was asking fans to contribute more than the cost of existing top-end smartphones for

a device that wouldn’t exist until next year and didn’t even have a full specifications list,” said news and features editor Nicole Kobie. “Mark Shuttleworth may see this as a PR win, but it could be too little, too late. Manufacturers are already selling phones using Firefox OS, and Acer and HP’s use of Android on all-in-ones suggests Google’s OS could be the platform that bridges the computer/ smartphone divide. Forget the campaign: Ubuntu’s late arrival to mobile is the real challenge.”

What you said: Readers at the PC Pro website couldn’t see the need for an Ubuntu phone. “Couldn’t [Canonical] just load it on a rooted Android phone?” asked David. “I’m not sure why it needs its own hardware. Android is a version of Linux, like Ubuntu.” Others had liked the promise of a smartphone-cum-desktop PC. “What’s not to like in a phone that offers 4GB RAM, 128GB memory, Ubuntu and stock Android?” asked Jim. “A best-of-breed processor and LTE, all for $830. That’s before I get the chance to use it with a big screen as a PC.” www.pcpro.co.uk

For the latest news, visit our website www.pcpro.co.uk/news

email: [email protected]

3

EE’s monopoly ends as O2 and Vodafone launch 4G

EE’s monopoly of the 4G market finally ended after Vodafone and O2 switched on superfast networks. EE repurposed its 2G spectrum to launch a 4G network last October, but delays to Ofcom’s 4G spectrum auction meant rival operators couldn’t launch their own LTE networks until this year. A fourth operator, Three, isn’t launching a 4G network until the end of the year, but it’s trumped its rivals by announcing customers will receive superfast connections at no extra cost, provided they have compatible phones. It will also be the only operator to offer unlimited data on 4G. So far, 4G users have had to contend with EE’s tight data caps, but both O2 and Vodafone are offering more modest tariffs – starting at £26 per month for 1GB of data – and EE has since revised its contracts in line with the competition.

What we said: “EE has

made the most of its premium on 4G, getting 700,000 subscribers onboard and reporting a rise in data revenue for its second-quarter financials,” said staff writer Shona Ghosh. “Though later to the

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market, O2 and Vodafone will be hoping for a similar boost, so it will be interesting to see how they deal with being undercut by Three. The early signs suggest consumers aren’t fussed by 4G – meaning they may not mind waiting until Three’s launch in December. Unless Vodafone, O2 and EE reconsider their tariffs, they may need to rely on exclusivity deals on the most desirable handsets to stop customers leaving.”

What you said: Readers

felt the arrival of 4G competition highlighted EE’s errors. “EE made a huge mistake with its prices and data caps when it launched,” said EagleHasLanded. “Rather than make its approach look attractive, it turned people off the idea and meant they waited to see what other providers would offer. EE should have started its tariffs at a much lower price with higher data caps to gain a head start.” Others sang Three’s praises. “Shame my phone doesn’t have 4G, otherwise my recent swap to a Three contract would have really paid dividends. Never mind – it’s still a great announcement from Three,” said DArtiss.

NEWS Talking point

TALKING POINT Members of the PC Pro team tackle the month’s big issue

S

teve Ballmer has announced he’ll retire from Microsoft within a year – a move many have been advocating for some time. But are they right that it’s time for Ballmer to step aside? Microsoft has struggled to keep up with the shift to mobile computing, and the launch of Windows 8 has been a mixed success. Still,

the company’s financial situation remains strong, and its dominance in business computing remains intact, despite serious challenges from the stalling PC market and rival operating systems. How much is Ballmer to blame for Microsoft’s struggles – and how much credit should he take for its continued financial success?

Was Steve Ballmer’s reign as CEO a success? Editor Barry Collins: In purely financial terms, it’s hard to argue Ballmer was a failure: $6 billion profits for the last quarter alone isn’t a sign of a company on its last legs. As far as Windows was concerned, the only way was down after he took over, with the OS retaining a market share of more than 90%. But is the company set fair for the future? With huge uncertainty over the ability of Windows 8 to grab attention in the tablet market, Windows Phone failing to disrupt the mobile duopoly of iOS and Android, and Bing failing even to chink Google’s armour, I’d argue not.

yet pay off. And yes, there’s a huge amount of uncertainty about the company’s future. But that’s what it’s like when you’re in charge of a dominant company in a turbulent industry. There are facts and figures, though, that suggest Ballmer has failed. During his reign, Microsoft has slipped from top slot to sixth or seventh in virtually any brand ranking you care to choose. Meanwhile, according to Glassdoor, Microsoft’s own employees only give him a 47% satisfaction rating: this compares to 95% for Larry Page, 93% for Tim Cook and 87% for Marissa Mayer. Hardly a vote of confidence.

Reviews editor Jonathan Bray: Microsoft is having a hard time of it right now, especially in the mobile space. Although the company’s in a weak position, the bold decisions that have characterised Ballmer’s tenure over the past two years may yet bear fruit. The most promising area is smartphones, where Microsoft’s partnership with Nokia is producing some exceptional handsets. Windows Phone 8 is set to be a force to be reckoned with. Where smartphones go, tablets are sure to follow. Windows 8 devices have finally been appearing at more reasonable prices in recent months, boasting attractive features such as great battery life and bundled Office apps, so it certainly isn’t all doom and gloom. Ballmer hasn’t got everything right during his reign, but he has been brave. A year or two down the track, it’s entirely possible that his actions over Windows 8 will be looked upon in a far more positive light.

Barry: Ballmer’s biggest problem was that he didn’t have the technical nous to set a vision for the company. There was never any fear of Ballmer issuing one of those legendary Gates memos, such as the call for the company to jump aboard the internet or sort out its security. Ballmer was a salesman, not a technologist, and after the departure of Ray Ozzie, Microsoft missed someone who could set, or correct, a technical direction. Who had the technical clout to tell Steven Sinofsky what he got wrong with Windows 8, for example?

Technical editor Darien Graham-Smith: Whatever you may think of Ballmer, I think it’s fair to say that timing hasn’t been his friend. His tenure at Microsoft has coincided almost precisely with Apple’s spectacular renaissance under Steve Jobs – a challenge no CEO would envy. Almost inevitably, Microsoft under Ballmer has sometimes appeared slow and out of touch in comparison to its barnstorming rival. But the fact that Windows remains heavily dominant in the consumer PC market, even after more than a decade of battering from Apple, suggests that, while Ballmer may not have had Jobs’ charisma, he’s held the business together remarkably well. Editorial director Tim Danton: I find myself in the strange position of agreeing with three different views. Yes, timing has been against Ballmer. Yes, he’s made brave decisions that may

016


Darien: Another techie CEO was the last thing Microsoft needed. Bill Gates’ focus on the technology seemed sometimes to blind him to the needs and experiences of the average user (think, for example, of the fantastic idea of integrating IE into Windows Explorer). I won’t say Ballmer managed to cure Microsoft of that tendency – the Windows Vista debacle will always be a black mark against him – but he was pragmatic about what individuals and businesses would pay for. A more technically focused leader could easily have evolved Windows into something much more advanced, and much less commercially relevant. Tim: The problem for Ballmer is that, to successfully follow Gates, he needed to be a great CEO. For that, his gambles had to pay off. Windows Phone needed to have more than 10% market share. Surface couldn’t be suffering $900 million write-downs. Azure must be the dominant cloud platform, Office 365 the productivity tool of choice, Bing the number-one search tool. While there are plenty of green shoots indicating future success, Ballmer’s resignation is a sign that even he doesn’t believe he’s done as great a job as he should.

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NEWS Headlines

Q&A

Scanning the web in an hour Zakir Durumeric, a computer science PhD student and research fellow at the University of Michigan, explains why ZMap is a breakthrough

R

esearchers from the University of Michigan have released ZMap, an open-source tool that scans the internet in less than an hour; existing tools take months to complete such probes. ZMap uses a new method to scan networks more quickly, and the team behind the tool has made it available to anyone with a Linux system and a fast-enough connection. Given it can take months to run a network scan, how is ZMap so fast? Previously, scanners would scan a small batch of the internet, move on, scan the next batch and go through them one by one. They’d also keep track of their states – which hosts they’ve scanned, which hosts they need to scan, which connections are active, which have timed out. You waste a lot of time just waiting. We’ve developed a scanner that’s stateless – we don’t keep track of what we’ve scanned or what we’re going to scan. How did you improve existing scanning methods to achieve that? You could scan each IP address incrementally, but if you scan very quickly, you’ll overload a network. We wanted to scan in a random order without

WIN

O

nline backup specialist Livedrive is offering five PC Pro readers the chance to win a one-year subscription to its premium Livedrive Pro Suite service, worth £150. Livedrive Pro Suite integrates two separate products, which together offer a complete cloud-storage package.

maintaining all this excess state. We use an algebraic structure called a cyclic multiplicative group that allows us to jump from address to address. Once you’ve hit all the addresses, you’ll come to the first one you scanned, so you’ll know you’ve scanned each address once. You only need to know the last address you scanned to get to the next one, so you keep hopping until you get back to where you started. You then have a random-looking permutation of the internet, without having kept track of the excess state.

Could hackers use it to exploit weaknesses? ZMap allows you to uncover vulnerabilities, but malicious users have already been performing these scans through

“I’m sure there are companies with a commercial interest, but our approach is to open up”

What’s useful about scanning the whole internet so quickly? There are certain phenomena we can’t detect without all this data. ZMap lets us approach those problems. Take the HTTPS ecosystem, where we have all these certificates we trust on the internet. There’s no published list of who we trust, and we don’t necessarily know what’s out there until it’s out in the wild. This lets us find every certificate in the wild. Before, we were blindly working on this ecosystem because we’d see small, anecdotal reports, but not a global perspective.

botnets. This brings researchers onto the same playing field as attackers. Also, ZMap is designed to run from one place and from one large internet connection, not to hide itself. Attackers want to remain hidden; we’re very open about what we’re doing. Given its power advantages, is anyone interested in buying ZMap? At this point, it isn’t a commercial licence – it’s all open. We’ve seen a lot of positive response in the first couple of days, with people pushing back new codes and probes to us. I’m sure there are companies with a commercial interest in this, but as researchers, our approach is to open this up.

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any computer with a browser and an internet connection through the Livedrive website. Livedrive’s desktop application is available for Windows and Mac, and apps for all popular mobile and tablet operating systems are available. For more information, visit www.livedrive.com. We have five one-year subscriptions to give away. To

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NEWS Infographic

TVs vs tablets

Which is winning the battle for the living room?

T

he 1950s are back: families are once again gathering in their living rooms to watch television together. So says Ofcom, off the back of a wide-ranging communications report that suggests that, contrary to popular belief, the number of adults watching TV every week has increased in the past decade. However, a closer look at the numbers reveals that families aren’t reverting to TVs at all: they’re turning to tablets to watch television shows and go online while parked on the sofa. Here, we delve deeper into the numbers to reveal how Britons are really watching TV.

Living room

91%

51% 56%

of adults watch TV in their living room every week, up from 88% in 2002

41% 4

of adults have smartphones and 24% own tablets

of tablet owners watch TV with their tablet, and 60% of those do so in their bedroom

of households have only one TV – up from 35% in 2002

22%

hours of TV are watched every day by the average viewer, up from 3hrs 42mins in 2004

of people watch different content from their family on different screens while in the same room

Children

50%

39%

41% 28%

0%

77%

of children have their own TV in their bedroom, down from about 70% in 2007

of parents say their children use a tablet on a daily basis

of children use a tablet for schoolwork. Most use tablets for entertainment purposes

of children with smart TVs use them to play games, compared to 21% of adults

of parents say tablets are useful for “entertaining” or “educating” their children

The change in children’s TV-viewing time since 2007

How we watch

90% 67%

of TV viewing is live, rather than via catch-up services

of homes have a digital video recorder. Time-shifted viewing increased from 2% in 2007 to 10% in 2013

7%

of Britons have a smart TV. Of those, 77% have it connected to the internet

020


57% 54%

of tablet owners watch live TV at least twice a week

of tablet owners use a catch-up service weekly to watch TV on their tablet

49%

of people use smartphones or tablets to surf the web while watching TV

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Simple yet Powerful NAS

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Sync your data on your computer, phone, and tablet with the new Qsync.

* TS-421 is featured with the new QTS 4.0 Turbo NAS operating system. QTS 4.0 is also available on TS-x12, TS-x69, and TS-x20 series.

Copyright © 2013 QNAP Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.qnap.com

NEWS Opinion

JOHN HEMMING MP asks why we should have to register to read legal content on the web

W

hile at school, my son was asked by the technical department why he and his friends had been looking at the Ku Klux Klan’s website. The answer? It was part of a history lesson. However, the fact the question was even asked is indicative of the way internet monitoring occurs. Because the internet is pervasive, questions are asked regularly about whether it allows children to be bullied into committing suicide, what the impact of porn is on relationships, and whether pro-anorexia websites are too easy to find. The key question is, how do we address these issues? We already have network-level blocks on illegal child-abuse images. The debate more recently has been about how to filter other, legal content. PC Pro has done a considerable amount of work to highlight the problems with content filters. Inevitably, they’ll sometimes deliver false positives and let through nefarious content. However, since there’s been no proposal to change the law on internet

Given that it would be easy to operate DNS-based content filtering in a home router, why is it being done elsewhere?

Labs Turn to p130 for our test of parental-control software JOHN HEMMING is the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley. He can program in eight programming languages. Blog: http://johnhemming.blogspot.co.uk Email: [email protected]

022


censorship, there’s been no debate in parliament, and there’s a complete lack of transparency about how these systems work. I’ve tried to bring clarity to the debate by challenging the four biggest ISPs (TalkTalk, BT, Virgin Media and Sky) to explain their technical solutions for content filtering. Virgin and Sky say they’re doing something based on DNS, but won’t say any more, and BT says merely that it’s doing something later this year. I’ve experimented with TalkTalk’s HomeSafe system – the only one that’s currently live – by switching on all the filters, including social networking. Oddly, Facebook is classed as a social network, but Twitter isn’t, because it redirects from port 80 to an encrypted web session on port 443. My own blog, http:// johnhemming.blogspot.co.uk, is categorised as social networking, but Conservative Home (http://conservativehome.blogs.com) isn’t. TalkTalk’s system uses a proxy and so can only operate on port 80, since it wouldn’t have

the right certificate for an encrypted session on port 443. As such, it’s easy to get around: it doesn’t take much to put an “s” after “http” in http://www.facebook.com. Port 443 could be blocked in the router, of course, but that would also block all e-commerce. All that’s required to circumvent the DNS blocking route chosen by Virgin Media and Sky is an IP address, so I doubt this will be effective – teenagers will happily exchange illicit IP addresses behind bike sheds. Although content filtering is flawed, it should be made available to the bill-payer. Furthermore, it seems sensible to implement password control, so filters can’t be changed without the agreement of the account-holder. Also, setting up filters to be default-on isn’t a challenge to fundamental liberties. However, two civil-liberty issues cause me concern. The first is a relatively minor one arising from TalkTalk’s system, which tracks the pages users look at. It can be evaded using simple encryption, but that isn’t the point: why should an organisation be allowed to monitor people’s reading behaviour? If someone wants to read about the Ku Klux Klan, they shouldn’t have to account for themselves. A second – more important – concern is that ISPs are holding a central database of individuals’ content-filtering preferences. Given that it would be easy to operate DNSbased content-filtering in a home router (some of which are implementations of Linux, in any event), why is it being done elsewhere on the network? Why should someone have to register on a database if they want to read about tobacco, gambling, suicide or porn? This, of course, isn’t an issue of law: it’s an issue that will be resolved through market forces. Bruce Lawson, a constituent of mine, raised this concern with me, and I’ve agreed to run a campaign against central databases of preferences. Our tool will be information. We’ll ask the individual ISPs to explain how their content filters work, and to reveal this on a website. Consumers will then be able to discover if their desire to be allowed access to dating websites or gambling platforms, say, remains private, or whether it’s stored on a central database of people’s preferred reading. In the end, content filtering isn’t a replacement for supportive parenting. It may be useful to some parents, but people should have the freedom to read what legal content they wish without registering with Big Brother.

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BROADBAND IS BROADBAND IS BROADBAND, RIGHT? WRONG. There’s now enough research to prove that those businesses with superfast fibre optic broadband find it transforms the way they work. It makes them faster, more efficient, more innovative. The Government estimates that if UK businesses switch to fibre broadband, it will add an extra £18 billion to the economy.* And you can have your slice of that for just £1.15 a day, with our BT Infinity for business. Here are five good reasons why your business could be better off with superfast fibre optic broadband.

1. INFINITY FOR BUSINESS CAN HELP PEOPLE GET MORE DONE. It’s not just frustrating waiting for files to download or web pages to appear. It’s inefficient and expensive. Infinity for business is as much as 6 times faster than UK average broadband. Imagine that for a moment. You’ll be downloading a big 200Mb file in less than half a minute. Uploading 30 photos to your website in 25 seconds. ‘Time is money’, as the cliché goes, and you could be doing more with your time.

2. IT’S LIKE A FAST LANE FOR YOUR BUSINESS. You know that time of day when everything’s slower – you can’t get online quickly because everyone’s online? It doesn’t happen with BT Infinity for business. It understands that you need to get things done urgently, so it’s like a VIP service for your business, because it’s consistently fast, even at the busiest times.

3. FIBRE MAKES BUSINESSES MORE INNOVATIVE. FACT. Research shows that superfast broadband fuels innovation in companies like yours**. People are using it to cut down on travelling to meetings by using high quality video conferencing. You can do it on your laptop, with no fancy equipment needed. And if you like to do your thinking outside the office, you will have free, unlimited access to our network of over 5 million Wi-fi hotspots. It means you and your people can connect when they’re in different places, just as easily as you do when you’re in the office. Simply, you work in a better, more flexible way.

4. YOU’LL GET TECHNICAL SUPPORT, ROUND THE CLOCK. Our network is 99.99% reliable, and you’ll have a technical expert to speak to 24/7. Our experts specialise in businesses like yours and can help with technical niggles like setting up email, or Wi-fi connections. And, of course, the great advantage of being with BT is that we’ve worked with more businesses than anyone else.

5. THE COST? JUST £1.15 A DAY. NO REALLY. Perhaps you think that superfast fibre optic broadband is too expensive. That’s not true. You can have BT Infinity for business installed for free by our experts, and have it up and running for just £35 a month. When you think of the difference it could make to your working day - and the impact it could have on your company as a whole, it’s one of the easiest business decisions you’ll ever make.

ON YOUR TO-DO LIST TODAY. GET THE BROADBAND YOUR BUSINESS DESERVES. Call the number below, and feel free to ask any question you like. We can talk you through the process and reassure you on how simple it is to make the switch. And you can go online to see the difference BT Infinity for business has made to other companies. 30,000 businesses have already switched. We look forward to talking to you and making a difference to yours.

BT Infinity for business Making technology work for people.

0800 678 1268 bt.com/superfastbusinessbroadband

*Federation of Small Businesses, referenced by Jeremy Hunt, Media keynote speech, 8 June 2010. **Getting up to speed: making superfast broadband a reality, NESTA policy briefing, January 2009. The speed to upload 30 photos is based on each photo being 2Mb (60Mb total file size). 6 times faster is based on BT Infinity for business Option 2 maximum speed and UK average broadband speed from Ofcom report, March 2013. Broadband speed can be affected by a number of things: how far your business is from the fibre cabinet as well as the wiring in your building. Not all lines in an Infinity-enabled area can support the service. BT Infinity for business may require a BT line or similar and a fibre compatible router such as the BT Business Hub provided with Infinity. Terms and conditions apply. The speeds provided by BT Infinity for business are more consistent than standard broadband, giving you prioritised traffic with 16Mb assured throughput at 90% of the internet busy period. You’ll need to be in range of a BT Wi-fi hotspot, have a wireless device and register for BT Wi-fi. Our Fair Use Policy and terms and conditions apply. £1.15 a day is based on BT Infinity for business Option 2 for £35 a month on a 24 month contract.

FEATURE PC Pro Awards

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PC Pro Awards FEATURE

Contents

Find out who you voted the best tech companies in Britain, and discover our Products of the Year

K

nowing which companies you can trust when it comes to buying tech products is critical. As ever, you can rely on the collective experience of thousands of PC Pro readers as we present our Excellence Awards 2013. Thousands of readers filled out an exhaustive survey, detailing their thoughts on the laptops, tablets, PCs, smartphones and other tech products and services

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they’ve bought. This feedback – and this feedback alone – determined our 15 awards. This year, we’ve also extended our Products of the Year, which were decided by our editorial team.

How the awards were decided

The PC Pro Excellence Awards are the culmination of months of survey feedback from our readers.

We asked our readers to rate each product or service on a number of factors, such as performance, reliability and value for money. We then converted these answers to numeric values to obtain percentage scores for each category, from which we derived an overall score. Only companies with a significant number of votes are included in our awards tables.

Laptops

26

Desktops

27

Tablets

27

Broadband

28

Smartphones

29

Mobile data

29

Printers

30

Monitors

30

Digital cameras

30

Motherboards

32

Graphics cards

32

Storage

32

Wireless routers

34

Web hosts

34

Online retailers

34

Products of the Year

36


025


Laptops Winner Apple

A

pple claimed the Laptop Excellence Award for the fourth successive year, once again recording a score that put clear ground between the MacBook manufacturer and the Windowsbased competition. As in previous years, strong scores for customer support and reliability were responsible for handing Apple the title. A Customer Support satisfaction score of 88% was head and shoulders above the rest of the market, although with only a handful of premium-priced models to support, it’s arguably much easier for Apple to deliver consistent support than rivals

with ranges running into the dozens. Of course, if the laptop is reliable in the first place, there’s little reason ever to contact customer support, and here again the PC Pro readers agree with our reviewers – nobody can match Apple when it comes to consistent build quality. It was the only company to record a Reliability score of more than 90%. Predictably, value for money was Apple’s weakest suit: it was the lowest scorer in this category

“Nobody can match Apple when it comes to consistent build quality” of the nine companies in our rankings. It was Samsung and value-laptop manufacturer Asus that scored highly, providing options for those whose budget can’t stretch to a MacBook. Samsung also claimed the accolade of most-improved laptop

026

manufacturer in 2013, climbing from a mid-table position in 2012 to second place in this year’s poll. Samsung was dragged down by a poor Battery Life score in 2012, but it recovered sufficiently to

post strong all-round scores this year. Indeed, if you turn to p36, you’ll see you’re not the only ones to admire Samsung’s work this year: the company’s laptops also feature in our Products of the Year, voted for by the PC Pro editorial team.

The traditional PC giants – Dell and HP – failed to post anything above mediocre scores in any category, showing that the two troubled companies have work to do to win around the PC-buying public. As with smartphones, battery life remained the weakest area for laptop makers, with most satisfaction scores hovering around the 70% mark. Again, Apple stood out. However, that isn’t because its battery technology is any more advanced than any of the other laptop makers; it’s because – as our benchmarks have proved in the past – OS X seems to be better optimised to preserve battery life than Windows.

Customer Support

Reliability

Value for Money

Battery Life

Performance

Buy Again?

Overall

Apple

88%

94%

74%

85%

91%

94%

88%

Samsung

75%

89%

86%

79%

86%

92%

84%

Asus

76%

87%

89%

76%

84%

91%

84%

Lenovo

77%

87%

82%

78%

82%

90%

83%

Dell

77%

83%

78%

71%

80%

87%

79%

Acer

73%

83%

85%

69%

76%

85%

79%

HP

75%

82%

79%

70%

78%

87%

78%

Sony

73%

84%

75%

70%

80%

87%

78%

Toshiba

74%

83%

81%

70%

77%

81%

78%


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Desktops Winner

Chillblast Highly Commended Scan here’s a familiar name atop our desktop PC award: Chillblast recorded industryleading scores in every category to claim the gong again. We’re used to Chillblast PCs tearing through our benchmarks, and a 98% score for performance left almost everyone choking in the dust. Value for money cost Apple a desktop award, with Scan sweeping in to take a Highly Commended award, thanks to strong scores all round.

T

Customer Support

Performance

Buy Again?

Overall

95%

97%

95%

98%

97%

96%

Scan

90%

93%

89%

93%

93%

92%

Apple

88%

92%

77%

89%

93%

88%

PC Specialist

80%

83%

89%

96%

82%

86%

Acer

79%

86%

85%

79%

87%

83%

HP/Compaq

75%

86%

82%

79%

93%

83%

Lenovo

70%

86%

87%

81%

90%

83%

Dell

78%

85%

79%

78%

86%

81%

Winner

Highly Commended

Apple

Samsung

his award is only one year old, but Apple maintained its grip and slightly improved its Overall score. Samsung came close, delivering a vast array of tablets this year. Given that 95% of its customers said they’d buy from the company again, it’s likely to benefit from repeat business. The newcomer to the market didn’t fare so well. Microsoft’s Surface tablets were dragged down by performance and battery life, although neither were terrible. Amazon’s attempt to flood the market with budget devices hasn’t been universally successful, with

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Value for Money

Chillblast

Tablets

T

Reliability

Kindle devices falling down for the same reasons as Surface tablets. BlackBerry’s deplorable Buy Again score is probably a reflection of the company’s failure

Apple

to commit to tablets, rather than a groundswell of dissatisfaction with its only tablet, the PlayBook. After all, you can’t buy again if they don’t sell tablets any more.

Battery Life

Reliability

Ease of Use

Performance

Buy Again?

Overall

89%

95%

94%

90%

93%

92%

Samsung

86%

91%

90%

86%

95%

90%

Acer

86%

91%

93%

86%

90%

89%

Asus

86%

88%

92%

86%

93%

89%

Microsoft

83%

91%

89%

83%

90%

87%

Amazon

83%

88%

83%

81%

83%

84%

BlackBerry

88%

91%

86%

81%

64%

82%


027


Broadband Winner Zen Internet Highly Commended Plusnet

T

his year’s Broadband Excellence Award is a landmark for Zen Internet – it’s the tenth successive year the widely admired ISP has claimed the prize. That’s no small achievement for the Rochdale-based company, which punches well above its weight in a market that’s dominated by a handful of huge multinationals. Customer support and reliability have been the bedrock of Zen’s success over the years, and that continues to be the case in 2013. Its 95% score for Customer Support satisfaction was almost 10% higher than any of its rivals – and almost double that of bottom-placed

028

AOL. Nobody comes close to Zen’s 95% score for Reliability, either, with Highly Commended BT-owned Plusnet coming closest, with 84%. The one area Zen may want to pay attention to is value for

O2 and Virgin Media are the best placed of the big boys, with Overall scores of 74%. If Virgin could match its routinely high scores for Performance with improved customer support and reliability, it could threaten Zen’s

“Customer support and reliability have been the bedrock of Zen’s success” money: a satisfaction score of 79% is little better than average, and a drop from last year’s score of 84%. As with Apple, some people resent paying a premium for high-quality service.

long-standing reign at the top of our Broadband award. Fibre broadband appears to have done little for BT. Its Speed score of 67% was only a modest improvement on last year’s 61%,

although its Overall score improved slightly. The AOL brand appears to be doing little to improve the image of the TalkTalk stable, either, propping up our table once again and performing far worse than the mothership. Customers of BE Broadband and O2 seem concerned that their ISPs have fallen into the hands of Sky. Although both posted decent scores across the board, only 62% of both would buy again, suggesting there’s nervousness about being swallowed by the Sky empire. Not without good reason, either, judging by Sky’s scores: 58% for Speed satisfaction is well below the 74% recorded by BE and the 69% of O2.

Customer Support

Reliability

Value for Money

Speed

Buy Again?

Overall

Zen Internet

95%

95%

79%

89%

97%

91%

Plusnet

86%

84%

85%

73%

92%

84%

BE Broadband

81%

80%

76%

74%

62%

74%

O2

79%

81%

80%

69%

62%

74%

Virgin Media

66%

75%

65%

81%

81%

74%

BT

61%

75%

63%

67%

74%

68%

Sky

66%

72%

70%

58%

69%

67%

TalkTalk

52%

62%

72%

55%

57%

60%

Orange

53%

63%

66%

54%

55%

58%

AOL

49%

59%

56%

40%

31%

47%


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Smartphones Winner

Google pple’s reign as king of the smartphones is over, after five consecutive years of success in our smartphone Excellence Award. Google’s industry-leading 76% score for Battery Life and its outstanding score of 94% for Performance allowed it to steal Apple’s crown. Battery life is the chief complaint when it comes to smartphones, although overall satisfaction levels have improved this year. The one to watch is Nokia, which has slowly climbed back up our rankings, leaping from second-bottom in 2011, to fourth in 2012, to third this year.

A

Battery Life

Reliability

Ease of Use

Performance

Buy Again?

Overall

Google

76%

92%

94%

94%

98%

91%

Apple

65%

90%

94%

88%

92%

86%

Nokia

73%

87%

89%

87%

90%

85%

Samsung

67%

85%

88%

86%

93%

84%

LG

68%

86%

91%

86%

85%

83%

HTC

64%

81%

87%

80%

88%

80%

Motorola

75%

82%

82%

75%

84%

79%

Sony/Sony Ericsson

65%

82%

86%

76%

87%

79%

BlackBerry

73%

77%

67%

68%

65%

70%

Reliability

Speed

Customer Service

Value for Money

Buy Again?

Overall

Mobile data Winner

giffgaff he virtual networks continue to dominate our Mobile Data award, with giffgaff – the quirky firm that operates on the O2 network – running away with the award for the second year on the trot. Value for money continues to be giffgaff’s strongest card, hitting a 94% satisfaction rating. Its parent company, O2, scored only 63% in this category. Virtual networks occupy the top three slots, with Tesco Mobile (which also runs on O2’s network) and Virgin Mobile (T-Mobile) scoring well. The big boys are all down at the bottom end.

T

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giffgaff

85%

80%

81%

94%

94%

87%

Tesco Mobile

77%

71%

75%

85%

90%

80%

Virgin Mobile

81%

72%

73%

80%

85%

78%

Three

78%

79%

64%

77%

84%

77%

T-Mobile

74%

71%

65%

71%

77%

72%

O2

73%

68%

69%

63%

75%

70%

EE

71%

73%

66%

63%

73%

69%

Orange

70%

65%

59%

59%

66%

64%

Vodafone

67%

59%

63%

57%

68%

63%


029


Printers

Monitors

Digital cameras

Winner

Winner

Winner

Dell

ViewSonic

Canon

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Canon, Brother

Iiyama, Samsung

Nikon, Sony

D

ell may not be the first company you think of when it comes to printers, but it narrowly fought off competition from the traditional printer manufacturers to claim this year’s prize. Value for money, including running costs, is what swung the award for Dell: its industryleading 85% satisfaction score in this category propels it above Canon, Brother and Epson. Yet, when it comes to print quality, Canon is still the preferred choice, with a score of 92%. A middling Value for Money score cost HP a place among the frontrunners. A 76% satisfaction score is the second-worst in the entire group, bettering only the 71% of Lexmark. There’s very little to separate the printer manufacturers in terms of reliability, however, with all scoring between 80% and 90% – apart from Kodak, which scored 76%.

OVERALL SCORE

S

ix percentage points is all that separated top from bottom in this year’s Monitor award, but ViewSonic squeaked home by the slimmest of margins, with Iiyama and Samsung nipping at its heels. An industry-leading score of 94% for Value for Money and an incredible 99% in the Buy Again category are the reasons the company topped the pile.

OVERALL SCORE

D

igital cameras is another nip-andtuck category, with the winners decided by a photo finish (if you’ll pardon the pun). Canon was a joint winner with Nikon in 2012, but it edged in front of its rival in 2013 to land the award outright. There’s almost nothing to separate the companies in terms of image quality, value for money, reliability or video quality. As such, Canon’s 99% score in the Buy Again category – compared to Nikon’s 96% – was enough to land it the gong. Sony deserves a special mention for a strong all-round performance, which saw it claim a Highly Commended award alongside Nikon. Pentax has middling video quality to blame for it missing out on an award.

1

ViewSonic

95%

2

Iiyama

94%

3

Samsung

94%

4

Asus

93%

5

Hanns G

93%

1

Canon

92%

OVERALL SCORE

1

Dell

88%

6

AOC

92%

2

Nikon

91%

2

Canon

87%

7

BenQ

92%

3

Sony

91%

3

Brother

87%

8

Dell

92%

4

Pentax

90%

4

Epson

85%

9

LG

91%

5

Panasonic

90%

5

HP

83%

10 Acer

91%

6

Samsung

88%

6

Lexmark

81%

11 HP

89%

7

Olympus

88%

7

Kodak

78%

12 Philips

89%

8

Fujifilm

86%

030


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Motherboards

Graphics cards Storage

Winner

Winner

Winner

Asus

EVGA

Crucial

Winner

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Gigabyte

Palit

Samsung

R

eliability is essential when it comes to the component that the others rely on, and this year you’ve found it impossible to split two companies who deliver rock-solid motherboards. Asus and Gigabyte both scored 91% for Reliability, and both delivered an equal Overall score of 89%, making them joint winners of this year’s award. Even more impressively, 97% of both companies’ customers say they’d buy their motherboards again, which is a resounding vote of confidence. Both have pedigree in these awards, too: Gigabyte has won six of the past seven Motherboard awards, while Asus was Highly Commended in 2013. Nobody delivers disappointing results in this high-scoring category. Even bottom-of-thepile Foxconn recorded an overall score of 81%, which is good enough to challenge for an award in other product categories.

OVERALL SCORE

I

t’s now five out of six for EVGA in our Graphics Card award, giving this company a pedigree none of its rivals can match when it comes to delivering fast and reliable 3D performance. EVGA swept the board in every category – including Speed and Reliability – and 93% of its customers said the company represented good value for money. Palit was close behind – unlike last year, when no-one was close enough to land a Highly Commended award. Its 94% satisfaction score for Reliability suggests it’s a brand you can trust. Once more, this is a category where nobody delivered scores to be ashamed of.

OVERALL SCORE

O

ur Storage award always has a vast field of competitors, but Crucial has followed up last year’s success with another marginal victory. It scored 97% in the Buy Again category, placing it narrowly ahead of Samsung, which can expect repeat business from 96% of its customers.

OVERALL SCORE 1

Crucial

94%

2

Samsung

93%

3

Synology

92%

4

Kingston

91%

1

EVGA

93%

5

SanDisk

89%

2

Palit

91%

6

Hitachi

89%

3

Asus

89%

12 Freecom

87%

1= Asus

89%

4

MSI

89%

13 Seagate

87%

1= Gigabyte

89%

5

Gainward

88%

14 LaCie

86%

3

ASRock

87%

6

Gigabyte

88%

15 Toshiba

85%

4

MSI

85%

7

Sapphire

87%

16 Buffalo

84%

5

Intel

84%

8

XFX

87%

17 Iomega

80%

6

Foxconn

81%

9

PNY

85%

18 Netgear

77%

032


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Wireless routers Web hosts

Online retailers

Winner

Winner

Winner

Billion

Heart Internet

Scan

Winner

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Asus

Memset

John Lewis

A

nother category where the result was too close to call, with Billion and Asus sharing the spoils. Billion surged narrowly ahead for speed, while Asus scored more highly for the range of its routers, but the pair were inseparable overall. ISP routers remain unpopular.

OVERALL SCORE 1= Asus

89%

1= Billion

89%

3

TP-Link

88%

4

DrayTek

87%

5

Netgear

85%

6

Cisco

85%

7

D-Link

85%

8

Linksys

82%

9

BT Home Hub 81%

H

eart Internet has pulled off something of a coup, plucking the Web Host award from the Highly Commended Memset, who have won the award in each of the seven previous years it’s been part of our line-up. Heart edged ahead when it came to reliability, delivering a satisfaction score of 95%, compared to Memset’s 90%. Indeed, both had scores of 90% or more in every other category (Speed, Reliability, Customer Support, Value for Money and Buy Again), indicating that these are two web hosts with exceptionally happy sets of customers. The results are a little more mixed for the three remaining companies who generated enough feedback to qualify. 1&1’s strongest suit was Reliability (83%), but it suffered when it came to Value for Money (74%), while GoDaddy.com and 123-reg barely scored more than 70% in any of the categories. Only 59% of 123-reg customers said they’d buy from the company again.

OVERALL SCORE

I

t takes something special to head the vast field of online retailers, and Scan’s scores of more than 90% in every category (Customer Service, Delivery and Overall) were enough to clinch this year’s award. John Lewis puts in another strong showing, repeating last year’s Highly Commended award.

OVERALL SCORE 1

Scan

94%

2

John Lewis

92%

3

Novatech

91%

4

Apple

91%

5

Amazon

91%

6

CCL Online

91%

15 Argos

82%

16 Tesco

82% 81%

1

Heart Internet 94%

17 Play.com

10 Belkin

80%

2

Memset

92%

18 Laptops Direct 81%

11 TalkTalk

77%

3

1&1

78%

19 Currys

80%

12 Virgin Media

74%

4

123-reg

66%

20 Pixmania

79%

13 Sky

69%

5

GoDaddy.com 66%

21 PC World

78%

034


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Products of the Year

036

Laptop of the Year

Hybrid Tablet of the Year

Samsung Ativ Book 8

Lenovo ThinkPad Helix

We’ve seen plenty of stylish Windows laptops in 2013, but the Samsung Ativ Book 8 combines appealing looks with plenty of power. It’s cheaper than the MacBook Pro, too.

Lenovo has released many ingenious hybrid designs this year, but none have impressed us as much as the Helix, a traditional laptop design with a detachable tablet. It’s an elegant marriage of power and portability.

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Apple MacBook Air 13in • Asus VivoBook S200 •

Dell XPS 12 • Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S • Lenovo

Google Chromebook Pixel • Samsung Ativ Book 9 Lite

IdeaPad Yoga 13 • Microsoft Surface Pro

Ultrabook of the Year

Tablet of the Year

Sony VAIO Pro 13

Nexus 7 (2013)

Sony has delivered some delicious ultraportables over the years, but none have been more desirable than the unbelievably slender VAIO Pro 13. It backs up the looks with plenty of power, too.

A late entry in the PC Pro Awards, the revamped Nexus 7 improves on last year’s model in every respect: sharper screen, faster components, longer battery life and slimmer design.

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Dell XPS 13 • Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch

Apple iPad • Asus Fonepad • Dell Latitude 10

• Dell Latitude 6430u • Samsung Series 7 Ultra

• Sony Xperia Tablet Z


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Alongside our reader-voted Excellence Awards, this year the PC Pro editorial team – including our Real World contributors – have put their heads together to select a dozen diÕerent Products of the Year. We asked tech companies to nominate their own products, then added to the shortlists with our own picks. Here we present the winners, plus four runners-up, in each category

Desktop of the Year

Camera of the Year

Apple iMac 27in

Nikon D600

Apple’s slimmed-down iMac design proved there’s still room to innovate on the desktop PC. Aside from the slender frame, it boasted the best screen we’ve seen on any all-in-one.

Full-frame DSLRs were the preserve of the professional until Nikon arrived with the D600, delivering high-end features for a mid-range price. A model for amateurs and semi-pros alike.

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

CyberPower Infinity Fusion GT • Dell XPS One 27

Canon EOS 70D • Nikon D7100 • Samsung NX300

• Intel NUC • Wired2Fire HAL 4000

• Sony NEX-6

Phone of the Year

Server of the Year

HTC One

Dell PowerEdge VRTX

The HTC One marks a stunning return to form for one of the early pioneers of Android handsets. Attractive, powerful and with better audio than any smartphone yet, the HTC One remains the device to beat.

The Dell takes blade-server technology, redesigns it and makes it more affordable. PCI-E architecture and shared storage add versatility you won’t find in blade servers.

Highly Commended Apple iPhone 5 • Nexus 4 • Nokia Lumia 520 • Samsung Galaxy S4

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Highly Commended Boston Value Series 380 G8 • Broadberry CyberServe XE5-R224 • Fujitsu Primergy TX100 S3p • HP ProLiant DL320e Gen8 v2


037


Security Software of the Year

Software of the Year

Bitdefender Internet Security 2013

Xara Designer Pro 9

Bitdefender Internet Security 2013 achieved a flawless score in our anti-malware tests and packs in a generous range of supporting features, from anti-spam to parental controls. Best of all, once you have things set up the way you like, you can engage Bitdefender’s “autopilot” mode for interruption-free protection.

Xara has long offered affordable alternatives to Adobe Creative Suite, but with Adobe forcing subscriptions onto its users, it has never looked more tempting. Improved bitmap-processing abilities, a full suite of drawing and web-design tools, and blistering speed, make it our favourite software package of 2013.

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2013 • Norton Internet Security 2013 • Kaspersky Internet

038

Adobe Photoshop CC • Microsoft O×ce 365

Security 2013 • Avast Free Antivirus

• StarDock Start8 • TeamViewer 8

Business Product of the Year

Education Product of the Year

Epson WorkForce WF-3530DTWF

Raspberry Pi

Small businesses will go to great lengths to keep IT costs under control, and the Epson WorkForce is the sort of device they dream of. A feature-packed multifunction inkjet printer with exceptionally low running costs, it includes a built-in fax modem, Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, automatic duplexing and a 30-sheet ADF.

The government is keen to put programming back on the curriculum, but no ministerial dictat has done as much to reinvigorate the joy of coding as the Raspberry Pi – a tiny, ridiculously low-cost computer that can be employed for all manner of tasks and has turned us into a nation of tinkerers once again.

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Microsoft O×ce 365 • NetSupport Manager 11

Dell Latitude 10 • Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2

• Sublime Text 2 • VMware Workstation 9

• Microsoft O×ce 365 • NetSupport School


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Photography: intro, Danny Bird

FEATURE Infected PCs

My PC is infected: what now?

Despite your best efforts, the worst-case scenario has hit: you’ve fallen victim to malware. Fortunately, Davey Winder – three-time winner of the BT Information Security Journalist of the Year award – is here to help

I

s your computer running slowly, crashing frequently and generally behaving a little oddly? If you fire up your web browser, are you redirected to sites you haven’t asked to visit? Do pop-ups appear even when you’re not using your browser? If you’ve checked for rogue search-engine add-ons and other undesirable browser

040


extensions, and you’ve run a “crap cleaner” to rid your system of temporary files and other bloat, and it’s made little to no difference, it may be time to think about infection detection and removal. If that’s the case, follow our guide below: it explains what to do to get your PC back up and running.

Disconnect it

There’s plenty of advice out there suggesting that your first move should be to go online and run a scan using one of the many free tools available from OS and antivirus vendors. While this appears to be common sense – after all, you need to know what you’ve been infected with in order to remove it effectively – the truth

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Infected PCs FEATURE

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is the undisputed daddy of malware-removal tools – and its non-commercial version is free

is that malware has evolved to the point where an active internet connection is the last thing I’d recommend during a potential live infection. Besides, it’s likely that some malware will block the best-known security vendor sites, as well as those offering the tools to scan for and remove infections, making going online a waste of time. Err on the side of caution as far as internet connectivity is concerned and simply pull the plug on your router to prevent further data compromise.

Download a malware scanner

If you do have an antivirus scanner running, but malware is running on your system, assume that the software has been compromised: it could be that the malware has managed to disable updates or prevent it from loading properly. Whatever the situation, you’d be silly to trust the scanner during the malware identification and removal process. Regular PC Pro readers will be aware from our Labs tests and reviews that no security suite or antivirus scanner is perfect, and none

IS IT MALWARE OR NOT? Browser add-ons remain one of the biggest causes of slow, unstable machines and unpredictable system behaviour when browsing the web. Unfortunately, the browser is often the last place people dig around when experiencing any of these problems. Before considering any of the malware-removal routes outlined here, try looking for unwanted, undesirable and unstable browser add-ons. Remove any software that you didn’t install or don’t recognise (if you’re not sure, Google it to find out what it is and what it does). If you’re a Chrome user, you can use the Chrome menu. Head to Tools | Extensions, where any add-ons are listed. These can be disabled one by one to see if performance improves, or deleted altogether if you really have no use for them. Firefox users should head to Tools | Add-ons | Extensions to do the same. Always restart your browser after removing an add-on.

clean system, you should be able to get on with your life. I have a licensed copy of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) (www.malwarebytes.org) sitting on a USB thumbdrive for such an emergency situation, but a free version that features all the necessary malware-removal functionality is available for non-commercial use; all it’s missing compared to the Pro version is real-time prevention and priority updates. If you don’t have the necessary tools to hand, download the executables onto a clean (newly formatted) USB drive from another computer that’s free from infection. Don’t expect the scanning process to be quick: you want the full, deep-scan option ticked, so be prepared to wait a few hours for the results. Alongside MBAM, I also recommend using

“An active internet connection is the last thing I’d recommend during a potential infection” can detect every malware threat. Combining two or three free tools will serve you better: run one, follow any removal recommendations, then – once the system has rebooted – do the same with the next antivirus tool, and so on. At the end of this process, if all three show a

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Priced at less than £20, the Pro version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware provides real-time protection against malware threats

Kaspersky TDSSKiller (www.pcpro.co.uk/ links/229ipc1), which is a free maliciousrootkit detection and removal utility. Rootkits can be particularly troublesome, since they penetrate deeply and intercept the Windows API at a low level. By hiding folders, files, processes and Registry keys, a rootkit can ensure that malware remains invisible to the user and antivirus scanners alike. Unlike most malware scans, a rootkit scan is quick – it only takes a minute or so – and TDSSKiller makes removal a simple matter of pressing a button and rebooting the PC after it’s finished.

Start Safe Mode

Using a dedicated malware scanner is a must, but doing so outside of Safe Mode is a big no-no. Running from inside Safe Mode is always a good idea, since this minimal version of the Windows OS basically uses generic


041

FEATURE Infected PCs

Kaspersky’s free TDSSKiller detects invisible rootkits that other tools struggle to find

drivers and nothing else; it certainly doesn’t look to the startup apps that most malware relies on. It isn’t 100% guaranteed, however: some advanced malware will be able to bypass these restrictions (more on that in a moment). Generally speaking, Safe Mode is started by hitting the F8 key repeatedly during booting – unless you’re using Windows 8, that is, since Microsoft helpfully removed that option to speed up PC booting. Windows 8 users can access Safe Mode by pressing Windows+R, typing MSCONFIG, pressing Enter, then selecting the Boot tab and clicking the Safe Mode checkbox under the Boot Options setting. This will get you into Safe Mode when you restart the computer. (Windows 8 calls normal Safe Mode “Minimal”, by the way; starting Safe Mode with a command prompt is called “alternate shell”, and starting with networking is called “network”.) After you’ve successfully cleared the malware infection, you’ll need to repeat the MSCONFIG process to return to normal booting. What if you can’t get into Safe Mode? Some malware, such as the recent FBI ransomware, will lock down your computer and prevent you from accessing it in Safe Mode with command prompt in an effort to prevent removal. However, there are still ways to get in and remove the infection. Most experts will advise rebooting your PC into a Linux environment from a CD or USB drive, after which you can manually identify and remove the rogue files. Unfortunately, though, this is a classic case of “expertitis”. In the real world, the people most likely to have been infected by ransomware are also those least likely to be able to boot into and navigate a Linux environment, let alone be in a position to start deleting system files by hand. Luckily, third-party tools can help. I’d recommend adding HitmanPro.Kickstart

042


(www.surfright.nl/en/ kickstart) to your malware-recovery toolkit. It’s free to use for 30 days as part of the HitmanPro “second opinion” malware scanner. Sure, you still have to download this to a USB drive and then boot your computer from it, but there are video guides and step-by-step instructions available from the download site to offer guidance. Retaining a familiar Windows environment in HitmanPro.Kickstart not only makes running the cleanup process easier for the user, but also for the software itself. Since it uses a “live”, ransomed Windows environment, it has access to all the forensic information of the processes that have been started, the processes that are

running in full-screen to block access to the desktop and so on. This means it can determine which files and Registry keys belong to the malware, and therefore enable an automated removal process. Once you’ve finished removing the malware, run all your scans again in “deep” mode. This will be time-consuming, but it’s a required final step in the process to ensure that the malware hasn’t been reinstalled in a different location. Some malware is highly resistant to removal. If further scans show a re-infection, the only safe option left is the full “nuke and pave” – involving a disk format and reinstallation of Windows, along with real-time protection. If your PC still show signs of infection after this, you need to move to the next step, which is often the hardest to swallow: asking for help.

Ask for help

Modern malware leaves behind an often complex web of hooks into the operating system, but luckily there’s plenty of help available. It’s dangerous to click stuff and hope for the best; after all, that’s probably what got you into this mess in the first place. If you know the name of the malware that’s on the infected PC, go online – using a clean computer – and visit the antivirus vendor websites for removal advice relating to specific threats. If you don’t, head to dedicated forums of security-savvy helpers. The DSLReports

“Some malware will lock down your PC and prevent you from accessing it in Safe Mode”

If you can’t access Safe Mode – or your PC at all – HitmanPro.Kickstart could save the day

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Infected PCs FEATURE

Do like the Scouts and “be prepared”: Ninite makes restoring freeware applications easier

security forum (www.pcpro.co.uk/links/ 229ipc2), Bleeping Computer (www. bleepingcomputer.com) and the DaniWeb “Viruses, spyware and other nasties” forum (www.pcpro.co.uk/links/229ipc3) are all excellent ways to get free help from expert users. Be prepared to follow the rules at each forum, and don’t be surprised if the first thing you’re asked to do is download free diagnostic tools and run a few scans. This will produce log files that the security gurus can decipher in order to advise on the cleanup procedure. I wouldn’t suggest this as the first step, however – rather one to consider after having tried to identify and remove the infection yourself. Forums are never a quick fix: it can take days – if not weeks – to resolve a malware issue.

Nuke and pave

If you can’t wait that long to get your PC back up and running, or everything that you’ve tried has failed, the only realistic option left is “nuke

PLEASE IGNORE SYSTEM RESTORE If you’ve fallen victim to malware, disable System Restore instead of using it. I know, it sounds like daft advice, since System Restore exists to help you get back to an earlier point in time when your PC was running smoothly. The flaw in this logic is that you don’t know when your computer was infected, and System Restore will quite happily back up and then restore the infection for you. It may well be that your malware has helpfully disabled access to the function anyway, but if not, go into the control panel and disable it via System | Performance | Troubleshooting until after the cleanup process. Also, delete all restore points for good measure before you start it up again.

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and pave”. Many IT security consultants will tell you that today’s malware has become so tenacious that the only way to clean an infected machine properly is to completely wipe the computer’s hard drive and reinstall a fresh copy of the operating system. I count myself among this group. Assuming you have data backups and a clean system image, this can be accomplished in less time than it takes to complete a deep malware scan. Even if you don’t have the backups and imaging, the nuke-and-pave approach of wiping and reformatting your drive(s) and then reinstalling the OS makes sense at this point. You can guarantee you’re starting afresh with a clean system, and once all the core applications are reinstalled, the creation of a system image will ensure it’s relatively straightforward to bring the PC back online in future. If you’re a bit of a freeware junkie, take a look at Ninite (http://ninite.com), which will create a single installer to reinstall the latest updated versions of all your apps in one fell swoop and save hours of your time.

Post-compromise

Don’t forget that the post-compromise cleanup operation extends beyond simply removing all traces of the infection from your computer. You also need to consider the risk to your data that the malware may continue to pose. Yes, I’m talking about passwords. This advice is especially important if you’re one of the many who reuse the same passwords for multiple sites and services, but it’s pertinent for everyone. Change the passwords for all your email, social networking and financial services. This is easy if you use password-management software such as 1Password or LastPass; if you don’t, now is a good time to get on top of this aspect of your data security and start doing so. Prevention isn’t something we’ve talked about, but if you ever find yourself in a position

BACKUP BOTHER The danger in backing up your data post-infection should be obvious to all: you run the risk of backing up (and restoring) the infection too. The adage that you only realise you need a backup when you’ve already lost your data is as true today as it ever was, but the advent of cloud storage and fast broadband means there’s no excuse for not backing up. Whether your data is backed up locally or remotely, it’s worth keeping an image backup of a clean system so you can easily return to full functionality without the hassle of reinstalling all your software and reconfiguring settings. If you’re reading this out of interest, and not because an emergency is unfolding before you, I seriously suggest you take a look at what your data backup options are as a priority.

where you need to use the advice from this feature, you’ll almost certainly agree it’s better than cure. Make sure your “clean PC” operating system is kept up to date via Windows Update, and that all your software is updated whenever a new version becomes

“The only way to clean an infected machine properly is to wipe the hard drive“ available. Use real-time anti-malware protection, and educate yourself about how malware is distributed. Oh, and don’t forget to use a Windows standard user account rather than an administrative account for your day-to-day computing needs, since this will greatly restrict the ability of malware to install itself in the first place.


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FEATURE British PCs

Testers at Novatech double-check every aspect of its PCs, from peripherals to ports

Inside a

PC maker Nicole Kobie takes a look behind the scenes at Novatech, visiting its Hampshire factory to see what goes into making a homegrown PC

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T

wo images spring to mind when you picture a PC manufacturer’s factory: hundreds of Chinese workers on a production line, diligently assembling the latest gadget, and hi-tech robots creating components without a human in sight. The reality is different for British PC makers. We took a tour around Hampshire-based Novatech’s factory to find out what happens when you place an order for one of its PCs – and to assess whether UK computer manufacturing can survive the shift to tablets, pricing pressure from overseas OEMs and economic challenges.

Where are the robots?

Despite the summer heat outside, Novatech’s Portsmouth factory is cool and quiet. Although the

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warehouse is stacked full of cardboard boxes containing PCs, components and peripherals, it feels empty; there’s no sign of any amazing gadgetry, but there are a few people. Half a dozen employees in the support department are fixing customers’ PCs – good-naturedly laughing at the minor problems they’ve been asked to solve, and pointing out the incredible amount of dust inside one machine – and a few more near the shipping door are packing pallets of products for delivery, attaching labels warning of the perils of leaving the boxes outside in rough weather (it’s happened, apparently). The production area where PCs are assembled is tucked away at the rear of the building – past the rows of boxes and a secure cage for high-priced components – and it’s bright, insanely clean and devoid of robots. “It’s surprisingly

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straightforward,” says Tim LeRoy, Novatech’s head of marketing, and my tour guide for the day. “A lot of people think there’ll be people in white suits, and lasers and robots, but it’s [done] much more by hand. And while there’s a lot of skill

can be as basic as removing a graphics card or optical drive, or opting for a cheaper component. The process is started by placing a case on the belt. A list is affixed, detailing for whom the PC is being made and what components it will feature. When

“People think there’ll be people in white suits, and lasers and robots, but it’s done by hand” and a lot of craftsmanship, it’s a production line.” A conveyer belt snakes through the department, lined with large desk fans to keep staff cool. Work often begins from a base machine – say, Novatech’s standard Core i3 desktop – and while half of Novatech’s PCs are customised, this customisation

a big order comes in, the team will do tens or hundreds of the same machine – otherwise, every PC on the line could be different. The chassis rolls along to the next station, where components are doled out and tucked into the case. The PC then rounds a corner on the conveyer belt and assembly begins. Each employee installs a

different component, meaning they’ll spend their day installing only motherboards, for example, squeezing in cables as they go. When each worker’s task is complete, the PC is rolled to the following bay for the next installation. Once the physical assembly is complete, it’s passed to the software installation and testing team. “We have 80 test bays down there, and now we have an automated test system – once you’ve plugged up, you can simply start up the test system and it will do all the testing and diagnostics on the machines for you,” says operations director Steve Longmore. Then, USBs and other ports are approved. “Every single socket is checked,” Longmore adds. He admits assembly errors can occur, but that’s why an emphasis is placed on testing. “We check and double-check,


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FEATURE British PCs

then we check again,” Longmore says. “The essence is, if we make a mistake, we make it in-house. What we don’t do is make a mistake the customer sees.” While the step-by-step assembly and checking procedure may seem straightforward, the process has been developed over a number of years. “Originally, it was two little roller conveyers, and one person testing one machine at a time – it wasn’t very efficient,” he says. Now, the company uses what Longmore calls “flow production” – the PC flows from one stage to the next, with each worker carrying out their specific task. Such a system is efficient and gives “repeatable quality”, he says. The process needs to be finely managed to avoid bottlenecks. “Barebones PCs will go through that line faster than a top-end machine with lots of memory, large hard drives and big graphics cards,” Longmore says. “It really depends on the mix.” Production supervisor Lisa Reeves is charged with ensuring the machines keep moving. “If too many large PCs are put through at once, it will slow down the line, so either side of the slow one she’ll put in a faster machine,” says Longmore. The PCs made in this production area are of the standard type: customised to balance budget and performance, but fairly straightforward. The other computers assembled by Novatech are performance-driven specialist machines, engineered for a specific job. “We just built a big machine for a police force for digital forensics – it’s basically codecracking – and it’s this massive Darth Vader kind of thing with four graphics cards and two [Intel] Xeon processors,” says LeRoy. “That’s when the guys really enjoy it.” Such one-off creations are assembled in a cooled room with server racks. On our visit, a beast with eight graphics cards – to manage an IP CCTV network – was loaded for testing. There were no more than ten members of staff in the whole PC production area – although some had apparently wandered off for lunch. While the team isn’t large, it manages to build an average of 5,000 machines per month. Not bad for people, rather than robots.

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WHY BRITISH MANUFACTURING MATTERS

Chillblast has a 100-bay testing area, where PCs are given a “24-hour shakedown”

We asked British PC manufacturers whether it truly matters if a PC is assembled here or elsewhere. Here’s what they said. Marco Della Vedova, marketing manager at London-based Dino PC, said: “I don’t think it matters so much for the production process, but I’m positive that it matters when it comes to customer and technical support, and pre- and after-sales.” John Medley, marketing manager at Huddersfield-based PC Specialist, said: “We feel it’s vital that our PCs are made in Britain. Our main objective is to deliver the best buying experience for our customers – if we outsourced the production of our PCs, how would we achieve this?”

Chillblast has 37 full-time staff at its factory in Poole, building as well as supporting its PCs

Women’s work

Aside from the lack of robots, there’s another surprise at Novatech: the PC production line itself is manned – for lack of a better word – almost entirely by women, and led by Reeves.

David Scott, production manager at CyberPower, a PC maker with 20 employees based in Gateshead, said: “Being a global company, we feel it’s important to build PCs for the UK market in the UK. The UK has a unique standard of quality that needs to be upheld. The custom-built side [of PC manufacturing] needs to be controlled, even to the point of knowing the builder and quality-control engineer who will be working on the PC and explaining what the customer expects from their PC.” Peter George, co-founder of Wired2Fire, a five-person PC manufacturer in Dorking, listed a host of reasons: “You can choose exactly what you want. With us, you can change anything. If it goes wrong, you can speak to someone here, who isn’t in a call centre, which means they are easy to communicate with and know the subject. If it needs to come back for repair, you’re returning it within the UK. Also, knowing a UK workforce is employed and the profits of that company go directly back into the UK economy has to be a good thing for the consumer.” Ben Miles, spokesperson for Poole-based PC manufacturer Chillblast, added: “Many of our customers tell us that buying British is an important part of their purchasing decision. Customers find it reassuring that they have the peace of mind that the equipment they’re purchasing is built to the highest standards by professional system engineers here in the UK.”

Longmore says Novatech’s experience casts doubt on the prevalent idea that women aren’t interested in PCs. “I don’t think that’s the case – I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a 50/50 split, or it’s even more ladies than men

in here,” he says. “A lot of ladies are interested [in technology]. On the repairs side, for instance, when we’re trying to recruit staff, we often get men applying, but we’ve had ladies apply, too, and they’ve been excellent.”

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FEATURE British PCs

Novatech’s production line produces and customises an average of 5,000 PCs of all types over the course of a month

Laptops are less customised than PCs, but still require testing

While he admitted the smaller, “nimbler” hands of women help on the assembly line – especially when it comes to customising laptops – he said the gender divide is “a non-issue” for Novatech.

Hiring times

While Longmore says the most successful staff tend to be those who join the company because they have an interest in PCs, employees on the assembly line don’t require any specialist skills – the modular nature of the production process means it’s easy to train new employees. Novatech also makes bespoke, specialised machines

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“The stages of assembly make it easy to train staff to build computers,” says Longmore. “Over time, we move the staff around and cross-train them, so at the end of the day, they can walk out of here knowing how to build a computer from scratch.” However, building the specialised high-end PCs requires more experience. “Many of our more experienced staff, and our repair staff, complete CompTIA qualifications, and many have a degree in IT; they understand the hardware process, the construction of server systems,” he says. While he’s happy to invest in training workers, he admits there was a time when he considered using robots – before deciding

Novatech considered automated testing, but robots lacked flexibility

against it. “Robots are a huge investment,” he says. “If you’re in a situation where you’re building the same product day in, day out with the same structure and assembly process, you could ask a robot to do that. However, the investment side of putting robots in place to [work with bespoke machines] wouldn’t pay off.”

Tablet testing

Novatech is undoubtedly focused on customisation, but the shift from standard PCs to tablets means it plays a part in this side of the market, too. The company offers tablets from manufacturers such as Asus and Lenovo, and while it can’t customise them, it can offer support. Novatech also tests hardware at its factory. At the time of my visit, tester Steven Kerrin had an odd device laid out on his table: an Android tablet running a faux-Windows 8 skin. LeRoy says Novatech has seen three or four dozen tablets from Chinese OEMs come through its plant. Many of the devices are similar – “there’s only so much you can do with a black rectangle” – but the company hasn’t come across any of sufficient build quality or component quality to bear the Novatech brand.

What’s next for Novatech?

So, will Novatech one day be a tablet manufacturer? “People are thinking, ‘What’s the next big thing?’, but Maude from accounts isn’t going to swap her desktop for a tablet,” says LeRoy. “You don’t need to sit at your desk in [the accounts department] and swipe [at your computer] like you’re Tom Cruise in Minority Report.” Still, there are challenges in the PC market, especially from online retailers. He says Novatech has been the victim of “benign showrooming” – where people come in, ask the knowledgeable staff what components to buy, then order them online at a lower price. “We can’t compete with the likes of Amazon and Tesco, so we don’t even try.” That’s one reason the firm has shifted from consumer sales to business: the latter is more likely to consider quality and invest in support. Despite these challenges, there are reasons for Novatech to be optimistic. LeRoy says the looming XP refresh is a “massive opportunity”, and rival OSes such as Chrome are encouraging companies to upgrade their hardware. “We have to fight for it,” says LeRoy, “but the death of the PC is greatly overestimated.”

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IN DEPTH Mobile minder

IN DEPTH GET MORE OUT OF YOUR PC WITH OUR COMPREHENSIVE ADVICE

Build a “mobile minder” to monitor your devices Kevin Partner explains how to assemble a cheap, sensor-based system to track how much time your kids are spending on their mobile devices

T

he “Internet of Things” (IoT) is a grand idea – a vision of a world in which everyday appliances can talk to one another seamlessly, and be monitored and controlled remotely. So far, we’ve yet to see a truly exciting application for the IoT concept. However, the technologies involved are now so cheaply available, and so easy to set up, that it’s perfectly feasible to set up bespoke IoT-style systems in your own home. We’ll demonstrate this here by showing you how to build a simple wireless system that parents can use to monitor the time their children spend using mobile devices.

The anatomy of an IoT system

Most IoT projects consist of one or more “nodes” connected to a network. A node ordinarily comprises a simple electronic controller, one or more sensors (bits of hardware that measure or detect something) and, sometimes, one or more actuators (bits of hardware that do something, either physically or electronically). In use, the controller collects input from the sensors and passes the information to a central control system. It may also instruct its actuators to carry out work in response to messages received over the network, or in direct response to sensor input. For example, a farmer might install a system in his greenhouse that employs nodes throughout. Each node could take input from soil, temperature and humidity sensors and use its built-in processing capabilities to take action, such as opening or closing vents, turning water valves or directing automated picking rigs as needed. All of this could be achieved without direct human involvement,

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The mobile minder is a simple but effective piece of kit, consisting of an Arduino clone, a breadboard and a few bits and pieces attached to a box containing a magnetic sensor

but the data could also be fed back to the central control computer so that the farm managers could monitor and control the system as a whole. See Four great Internet of Things projects, opposite, for some other examples of real-world IoT applications.

The mobile-minder project

Most of us don’t have farms to manage, but IoT principles can easily be turned to domestic purposes. Our chosen project is monitoring the

time your children spend on their mobile devices, whether that’s playing games or using Facebook. However, since most children use a wide range of devices across numerous platforms, installing monitoring software on every one isn’t feasible. However, if we take an IoT approach, we can instead keep a physical track of every device – from a Nintendo DS to an iPad – and record when it’s picked up, what device it is and when it’s put down again. We can achieve this by placing a node in each child’s bedroom and

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IN DEPTH

Mobile minder

Contents ● Build a mobile minder...............p52 ● LibreO×ce vector graphics.....p56 ● Online content on your TV......p62

Four great Internet of Things projects Sensordrone (http://sensorcon.com) is the closest real-world equivalent of a Star Trek tricorder. Connecting via Bluetooth to a smartphone, the Sensordrone can be used to measure temperature, humidity, light and carbon monoxide levels, among other variables, and transmit this data to a series of companion apps. BodyGuardian (www.pcpro.co.uk/ links/229idm5) is a tiny, stick-on sensor that allows a patient’s vital signs to be measured remotely by their doctor on an iPad or via a web interface. Water Canary (www.watercanary.com) is an easy-to-use, low-cost device for testing

a sensor in each device. Many types of sensor are available that can be easily attached to a microcontroller; in this case, we’ll use a simple magnetic switch. Attaching a small magnet to each of the devices you want to monitor means the switch will close whenever the device is placed next to it. When a child picks up the device to play with it, the switch opens, notifying the microcontroller – and the parents in question – that the device is no longer there. It certainly isn’t a foolproof system – it could be tricked with a fridge magnet, for example – but it offers a simple way of making compliance with the rules easy for the parents to administer, and equally easy for children to comply with. To make the system easy to use, some sort of visual or auditory feedback should be built in, so it’s clear when the device has been successfully docked. To complete the system, we’ll need a central hub to collect input from each controller and log usage. Most of the processing takes place at this level, so we’ll base it on the Raspberry Pi microcomputer, which gives us the flexibility to create any reporting system we want. The controllers themselves have a much simpler job – they merely need to monitor the state of the magnetic switch, provide feedback to the children and relay events to the hub. Accordingly, we can use a simpler, cheaper microcontroller, such as an Arduino hooked up to a switch, with the addition of a light and a buzzer for feedback.

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the quality of water. Designed for use in places without a secure source of safe water, the Water Canary uses light to analyse the quality of water and uploads the results so that problem areas can be identified quickly. The BRCK (http://brck.com) is a rugged device offering internet connection to parts of the world without reliable power supplies or broadband infrastructure. Featuring an eight-hour backup

battery for when the lights go out, it switches between Ethernet, Wi-Fi and mobile-phone connections to find the best connection at any particular moment.

The BRCK searches Ethernet, Wi-Fi and mobile-phone networks to connect to the web

Talking on the radio

In order for our system to work, our controllers need some way to communicate with the Raspberry Pi. Wi-Fi is a possibility, but it’s overkill for a job such as this. Conventional radio is a much easier way to communicate, and British firm Ciseco specialises in this area: for £50 inc VAT, its Raspberry Pi Wireless Inventor’s Kit (www.pcpro.co.uk/ links/229idm1) bundles together a “Slice of Radio” RF board for the Raspberry Pi and a XinoRF microcontroller – essentially, an Arduino Uno with a built-in transceiver. The kit also includes an SD card containing a version of the Pi’s Raspbian operating system, with all the software needed for radio communication preinstalled and configured, so it’s ideal as the basis of our project. We only need to add the Raspberry Pi itself, a couple of ABS boxes and a magnetic switch from UK supplier Bitsbox (www. bitsbox.co.uk). This, along with a self-adhesive magnet, is enough to build a working system, although you can customise it to your particular requirements. You can see the complete list of items we’ve used in the Components boxout on p55; apart from the Raspberry Pi and the Wireless Inventor’s Kit, they cost only a few pounds in total.

Setting up

Connecting the Slice of Radio to the Raspberry Pi is a simple matter of pushing the RF module onto its GPIO pins and powering up. If you’re not using the SD card from the Ciseco Wireless Inventor’s Kit, the product page on Ciseco’s website gives full instructions covering the minor configuration changes you must make to get it working. It also makes sense to set the Pi up so that we can control it remotely using Secure Shell (SSH), so that we don’t need to hook up a keyboard and monitor to it every time we want

Add this little blue board to your Raspberry Pi and you have a fully working, short-range radio transceiver you can control in Python


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IN DEPTH Mobile minder

to test our program or check the logs. This is done by typing “sudo raspi-config” into the command line (or an LXTerminal window, if you’re using the GUI), selecting Advanced and enabling SSH. Now, type “sudo ifconfig” and take a note of the IP address assigned to the Pi. Be warned, however, that this isn’t fixed permanently – it may change occasionally. Now, switch to your Windows PC, download the PuTTY SSH client (www.pcpro. co.uk/links/229idm2), extract the EXE file, run it and enter the IP address. A terminal window will pop up: enter the username and password (“pi” and “raspberry” are the defaults). You can now use the terminal window on the PC

as if you were typing directly into the Pi’s command line. Finally, it’s worth setting up the VNC remote desktop tool, so you can access the GUI from a PC. Do this by typing “sudo apt-get install tightvncserver”. When it’s installed, type “sudo vncserver :1” and choose a username and password. To install a VNC client on the PC, go to www.tightvnc.com and download the full installer. Run it and choose Custom Setup, then remove the entry for the TightVNC server, leaving only the viewer to be installed. Next, it’s time to set up the XinoRF. To do this, go to www.arduino.cc and download

Making your mobile minder

the latest 1.5.x release of the Arduino IDE. Connect the XinoRF to the Windows PC using the USB cable and, after a while, Windows will download the appropriate drivers. You can now program the XinoRF in the Arduino IDE and upload the code to the microcontroller. This code is run automatically whenever the XinoRF is turned on, so once it’s working properly, the microcontroller will operate independently of the PC. The XinoRF has a series of header sockets into which you can plug cables; most can be configured either to output or read a voltage. We want to check whether the switch has been activated, which we’ll do by running a cable from pin 2 of the XinoRF to the switch. When the device is removed, the switch opens and the voltage drops. When we read this, we can respond by activating the light and the buzzer, so the child knows the event has been noted. We can also send a message to the Raspberry Pi so it can be logged. See Making your mobile minder, left, for assembly instructions. Once you’ve completed the wiring, you can test it by plugging the USB cable into the XinoRF and moving a magnet across the switch. You’ll know it’s working if the LED switches on and off.

Can you hear me?

We’re now ready to test whether the Raspberry Pi and XinoRF can talk to each other. From the Pi’s command line, type “sudo apt-get install minicom” to install the requisite software. When that’s done, start it by using the command “sudo minicom –b 9600 –o –D /dev/ ttyAMA0” (the last digit is a zero); the Pi will start listening to its serial port (the path at the end) at 9,600 baud. Now, on the PC, start up the Arduino IDE and type the following code:

We mounted the XinoRF in the lid of an ABS plastic box using standard PC board spacers, and mounted the breadboard in the other half of the box using its adhesive back. In the main part of the breadboard, electricity flows along rows (in the diagram above, this means vertically). It also flows along the four outer rails, so the red power lead connects to the yellow cable but not to the black ground cables. Making sure the XinoRF is turned off, connect the 5V pin to one of the rails on the breadboard. Connect the GND (ground) pin to the other rail. Connect the magnetic switch to two cables (the yellow ones in our diagram);

1 2 3

054


plug one end into the 5V rail and the other into row 14 of the breadboard. Connect pin 2 on the XinoRF to another socket in row 14: this will sense when the switch is opened. Connect the longer (positive) leg of the LED to another socket in row 14, and the shorter lead to row 13. Plug the resistor to join row 13 to row 9, then use a cable to connect row 9 to the ground. We now have a complete circuit with electricity flowing from the power rail through the switch and the LED back to the ground. Connect the piezo buzzer’s ground connector to the ground rail and its power connector to pin 9, so we can sound it as necessary.

4 5 6

7

void setup() { pinMode(8, OUTPUT); // initialize pin 8 to control the radio digitalWrite(8, HIGH); // turn the radio on Serial.begin(115200); //set the baud rate } void loop() { Serial.println("Can you hear me?"); delay(2000); }

All Arduino programs contain two main sections: setup contains code that runs only when the microcontroller is turned on or rebooted; loop, as the name suggests, runs continually. The XinoRF has the radio connected to pin 8, so this code sets that to output a voltage, then turns it on. It then sets the serial port to the default baud rate of the radio and prints a message every two seconds.

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IN DEPTH

Mobile minder

Monitoring mobile use

Now it’s time to focus on making the Raspberry Pi do something useful with the incoming data. The first job is to record the data as it comes in. For a proper long-term project, a full-fat database such as MySQL may be the best bet, but to keep things as simple as possible, we’ll save it as a CSV file. This is easy to implement in Python on the Raspberry Pi, and it allows us to import the data into a spreadsheet program and analyse it at any time. To give us an easy way to view the data instantly, we’ll create a web page containing the data as a table. This involves installing a lightweight web server on the Pi. To do this, enter “sudo apt-get install lighttpd”. Now, when you type the Pi’s IP address into a web browser, you’ll see a holding page from its /var/www folder, and any files placed in that folder will be accessible from the browser. By appending “/data.csv” to the IP address, you can download the data log to open in Excel. You can download the short Python file that achieves all this from www.pcpro.co.uk/ links/229idm4.

Next steps The Arduino IDE allows you to use simple C++ code to program your microcontroller – this code is broadcasting text over a radio connection

Upon clicking the upload button, the script is compiled and transferred to the XinoRF. The words “Can you hear me?” should then appear in the Minicom window on your Raspberry Pi. Our project’s hardware is now set up.

Mobile minder 0.1

We can now exchange any information we want between the Raspberry Pi and one or more XinoRF units.

Components • Raspberry Pi (either model) • XinoRF (Arduino Uno clone including RF module) • ABS boxes to house XinoRF and sensor • Breadboard (80 x 60mm) • Piezo buzzer • Red 5mm LED • Single core wire • Self-adhesive magnets • Magnetic proximity switch • 1K resistor • Terminal block or insulation tape for joining cable to switch if you don’t want to solder • Parts available from http://shop.ciseco. co.uk and www.bitsbox.co.uk

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For the purposes of this project, we want the XinoRFs to tell the Pi when a device is removed from the sensor pad and when it’s replaced. The message should contain a unique identifier so that the Raspberry Pi knows which controller sent it, along with the data itself, which can be any sequence of ASCII characters. The XinoRF should wait until the Raspberry Pi acknowledges receipt of the message, so it knows that the data has been successfully received. Each time a child removes a device, we’ll program the XinoRF to transmit a message that looks something like this:

The system we’ve created can log when any number of children pick up and replace any of their devices. With this information, we can monitor usage over time, and bring the data into Excel to find out whether the children are sticking to the rules. We could do much more than this, however. For example, we could program the Raspberry Pi to generate web-based summaries, perhaps on a daily basis. Since radio communication is two-way, we could also make XinoRF sound the buzzer as a warning alarm when the children’s time is up. Similarly, we could have the Raspberry Pi send us an email or SMS if and when the critters abuse their playtime, and print out a summary at the end of each week that breaks down the usage of each child – perfect for the fridge door.

#Xino1#Gilbert#DS#U#

This means the controller called “Xino1” is reporting that Gilbert has picked up his Nintendo DS. The Pi can read the message, using the “#” symbol to delineate the different fields, then note the time and add the entry to its database. It also sends back a symbol to indicate that it’s received the message: we’ve chosen “|”, as it should otherwise never be used in any message content. The code to make this work amounts to only 100 lines or so – which is just as well, as the XinoRF has only 32KB of storage. That’s still a little too long to print here, but you can download the code from www.pcpro.co.uk/links/229idm3.

By installing a simple web server on the Raspberry Pi, we can access real-time reports


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IN DEPTH Vector graphics

HANDS ON

Create vector graphics with LibreOffice Draw Need to create clean, pin-sharp designs for illustrations or logos? Darien Graham-Smith shows you how to get started for free

I

f you need to create a simple diagram or illustration, vectors are the way to go. Simply put, vector graphics are images made up of lines and curves that remain perfectly smooth and sharp no matter how much you edit them, and which can be viewed and printed at any size without succumbing to “jaggies”. Working with vector graphics involves a small learning curve, but the fundamentals are simple to grasp – and you don’t have to pay a penny for the software. Admittedly, the most powerful vector packages come with steep price tags, but it’s perfectly possible to create clean vector designs with free software.

Vectors versus bitmaps

Creating and editing vector graphics is very different to working with bitmaps. A bitmap image – such as a digital photograph – is simply a dense matrix of coloured pixels. If you load one into a paint package and zoom in closely, you can easily see the individual squares that make up the image. You may also see the same effect if you print a digital picture at a large size. Some programs try to smooth over the jagged edges, so instead of turning into a blocky mosaic, your picture will come out looking soft and blurry. Either way, bitmaps don’t respond well to being enlarged. Vector graphics represent a completely different way of thinking about images. Instead of containing pixel information,

circumference. When the circle is displayed onscreen, it’s naturally represented in pixels, but if you resize it or zoom in, the magnified representation is redrawn based on the original vector instructions, so it stays sharp. As such, vector graphics are perfect for print – where they can be rendered at the fullest, sharpest resolution of the output device – but they can also be used online. For sure, most of the graphics you’ll see on the web are bitmaps, such as photos or company logos. Bitmaps are more convenient for most web-type applications, and it takes very little processing power for a computer to paint one onto the screen. Working through the calculations required to render a set of vector instructions (also known as a structured graphics file) is much more demanding.

“Vector graphics represent a completely different way of thinking about images” a vector graphics file contains a mathematical representation of your image. For example, if you were to draw and save a circle in a vector graphics program, the vector file would store information about the origin and radius of the circle, along with its colour and various details of the line, if there is one, around the

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However, all modern browsers support the scalable vector graphics (SVG) format, which was introduced in 1999. This lets you easily place vector illustrations and maps on your web pages in vector format, so visitors can zoom in for a closer look, or print out the images at a more convenient size. It also means you can use exactly the same vector graphic for a small image and a large poster. Even if you prefer to put bitmap graphics on your web page – perhaps to ensure the fastest possible loading times – it still makes sense to design illustrations as vectors and create bitmap copies of them for online use. This provides the flexibility to cleanly resize them without losing quality: simply make your changes to the original vector file, then re-export the bitmap at the desired size. For these reasons, it’s well worth getting to grips with vector graphics – even if you only need to knock up the odd poster or diagram. Here, we’ll show you how to get started.

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Vector graphics

Vector-editing software

The best known vector-editing packages are probably Adobe Illustrator and Corel CorelDRAW. Both support a wide range of visual effects such as drop shadows, pattern fills and textures, and allow you to create sophisticated multilayer documents that combine vector and bitmap images. They’re professional drawing packages, and they’re not cheap: the latest versions sell for more than £300, although Corel offers discount packages for non-commercial customers. If you merely want to knock up the occasional vector, however, you can get by perfectly well with free software. Two popular options are Inkscape and Creative Docs .NET, but we’ll focus on one that might well be installed on your PC already – LibreOffice Draw, the structured drawing package that’s included in the free LibreOffice suite. Draw contains all the basic drawing tools required to create vector-based logos and diagrams, and it can open and save PDF files, giving it a good degree of interoperability with other vector-drawing packages. It also offers a fairly conventional set of tools. Naturally, it has its own quirks and

IN DEPTH

By default, the line is a very thin “hairline”; you can make it heavier using the Line & Filling toolbar, which sits directly above the drawing area. Select the line and click the up arrow to change the width spinner from 0cm to 0.1cm: you’ll see the difference immediately. The dropdowns to either side of this control let you adjust the style and colour of the line. Once you’ve got the hang of this, try Free vector-drawing packages work on the same principles as industry-standard applications, such as Adobe Illustrator using the icons to the right of the line tool to For particularly creative designs, you draw arrows, rectangles and ellipses. If may want to take advantage of the perfectly you want to draw multiple shapes without smooth, mathematically defined curves that Draw automatically reselecting the arrow vector graphics can provide. These are known cursor after each one, double-click on the as Bézier curves, after the French engineer relevant tool icon. You can hold down the who popularised them. Shift key when drawing The tool for drawing Bézier curves is the rectangles and ellipses seventh icon in the drawing toolbar (directly to produce perfect to the right of the Text tool). In fact, this icon squares and circles, activates several different drawing tools, so and their fill colour click its dropdown icon and select the Curve can be set using the tool at the bottom left of the pop-up panel toolbar above. that appears. To use the Curve tool, drag a line onto the page as before. After you release the mouse Curves and custom shapes button, you’ll see the end of the line continues Lines and rectangles are enough to create to follow your mouse, curving away from the basic diagrams, especially if you combine point where you let go of the button. You can them with text labels, created using the “T” double-click to create your curve object, or text tool and formatted from the Character single-click to accept the curve and draw a and Paragraph dialogs, which you’ll find second line segment joined onto your curve. under the Format menu. You can also edit You can repeat this process as many times text directly (see Designing a brand logo, p58). as you like to create a whole series of connected lines. If you want to add a new curve, rather than a straight line, click at the point on the canvas where you want your new curve to end, then drag the mouse to define its shape. The next line segment you draw will curve away from this anchor, like the first segment did. There’s no denying it’s a rather difficult process to get your head around, so it’s worth spending a little It can take a while to get the hang of drawing and editing curved lines, but persevere – the results can be excellent time experimenting.

“LibreOÖice Draw contains all the basic tools required to create vector-based logos” specific ways of doing things, but if you end up moving on to a more advanced package, learning with Draw will stand you in good stead. For the same reason, you should be able to follow our tutorial below without too much difficulty, even if you’re using a different package.

Creating your first lines and shapes

When you first open Draw, you’ll see a blank A4 page. Of course, the images you create can be any size and shape, but an imaginary A4 sheet is a convenient canvas to work with. The tools you’ll use for drawing are found in a strip along the bottom of the window. At first, the leftmost icon (the white arrow) will be active. This is used to select and move objects, but right now there are no objects to move – so let’s draw one. Click on the line icon (second from left), and click and drag to draw a line across the page. The selected tool will automatically revert to the arrow, and you’ll see the line you’ve drawn now has a blue, square handle at each end. You can use the mouse to drag either handle – and change the angle and length of the line accordingly – or you can drag the line itself to move it while keeping its orientation and length the same.

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IN DEPTH Vector graphics

WALKTHROUGH

Designing a brand logo

1

In this walkthrough, we’ll design a logo for an imaginary business called Magenta Cat. We’ll start by drawing a magenta oval, which will become the cat’s head. We could use a regular ellipse, but to give our shape slightly more character, we’ll draw it with the Curve tool, then manually edit and smooth the points as required.

2

3

A cat needs whiskers, so draw these using the Line tool: to make them stand out, set the line width to 0.03cm, and in the Line properties (right-click and select Line…), set the Cap style to Round to give them rounded ends. With these details in place, we can tweak the contours of the cat’s face to give it a more natural shape.

4

5

6

Now we’re free to deform the letters as we wish. In this case, we’ve given the initial letter some “ears” and extended one of its legs. You can move multiple points at once by shift-clicking to select them, so making edits like this is easy. You might find it helpful to drag in Snap Lines, as shown, to keep everything straight.

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Using the Polygon tool, draw two irregular triangles – for ears – and move them into place. To attach them to the head, select all three objects, right-click and choose Shapes | Merge. To create the eyes, do the same thing with two ellipses. This time, however, select Shapes | Subtract to “punch” the eyes out of the face.

Use the text tool to write the company’s name next to the logo. To give it a bit of distinctiveness, tweak the shape of the letters. This is easy to do, since letters are structured shapes, like everything else on the page. Right-click on the text object and choose Convert | To Curve to turn it into a group of shapes with editable points.

Our lovely logo is almost ready to face the world. We’ve added a drop shadow to the text (via the Area Properties dialog, accessible from the context menu) and shrunk the page so we can export the logo as a conveniently shaped bitmap. Our design can now be exported, printed or embedded wherever we want.

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Vector graphics

Closing and tidying up shapes

IN DEPTH

Keeping on the straight and narrow

Once you’ve drawn all the sides of your shape, you might want to “close” it – that is, You can neatly align any make it a fully bounded object, rather than a number of shapes in Draw series of conjoined lines. You can close a shape by multi-selecting them while you’re drawing it by double-clicking and using Draw’s built-in on the point where it started. Alternatively, if Alignment tools: you’ll find you’ve double-clicked to complete your object the dropdown in the toolbar without closing it, you can right-click it and above the canvas, or in the select Close Object from the context menu to right-click contextual menu. automatically join the two “open” points at With a single click, you can either end. Once this is done, you can apply shunt all the selected objects colours and fills, just as you can with so that their tops, bottoms, rectangles and ellipses. sides or centres are aligned. Once you’ve created your shape, it’s likely For a greater degree it will be a little rough and require smoothing of regularity, you can also and tidying up. You can do this by selecting enable Draw’s grid – to do it with the arrow tool, then right-clicking and this, select View | Grid | selecting Edit Points (or by pressing F8, or Snap To Grid. selecting Edit Points from the drawing toolbar). With LibreOffice Draw’s grid and alignment tools, it’s With this option active, You’ll now see all the points that make up the easy to organise shapes into neat, regular arrangements any points you create or object, which can be dragged around or visually consistent as well as regularly move will snap to a coarse virtual grid, so deleted to tidy up your shape. aligned. Select Format | Styles and you can easily create objects with regular If you click on a point that’s part of Formatting (or press F11) to open the angles and consistent sizes. You can drag a curve, you’ll also see the “handles” that Styles and Formatting palette: from here in additional “Snap Lines” from the top or define the curve protruding from either side you can create, edit and apply styles that side ruler: when the View | Snap Lines | of it. You can adjust these handles to tweak can be used to give objects common stroke Snap To Snap Lines menu option is selected, the curve, or automatically smooth and and fill properties – plus dozens of more points will snap to these lines, helping you balance it using the contextual Smooth advanced properties such as shadowing, to keep things aligned. Draw’s support for Transition and Symmetric Transition buttons transparency and text properties. object styles means you can keep things that appear on the toolbar below. If you want to turn a curve into a sharp corner, click on the point and click the Corner Point button; to turn a corner into the centre point of a “cookie-cutter” method that makes it very easy Creating more complex shapes curve, click the point and select Symmetric to produce complex shapes. For an example Draw offers a wide range of one-click shapes, Transition, or right-click and select Convert | of how the Merge and Subtract tools can including arrows, diamonds, pentagons, speech To Contour. Again, it’s worth spending a be used, see our walkthrough opposite. bubbles and stars. You’ll find tools for drawing few minutes playing with these tools, as all of these shapes, and many more, to the right well as Draw’s other controls, such as of the first section of the drawing toolbar. Insert Points and Split Curve. These can be a big help when it comes to Saving your work Once you’ve mastered drawing open By default, drawings created in Draw are putting together signs, infographics and so and closed curves, it’s time to take a quick on. There’s also a tool for drawing Connectors saved in ODG format. It’s an open format, look at the other tools available from the but very few real-world applications use it. – lines which join shapes together and stay same icon. connected even if you subsequently move the For most practical purposes, you’ll want to The top row simply duplicates the lower use the File | Export function to save a copy shapes around, making flowcharts and row, the difference being that shapes drawn organisation charts a breeze. of your work. As we’ve discussed, SVG is a with top-row tools are filled by default. The widely supported vector format, but you can filled and unfilled Polygon tools work in almost If you want to create more complex custom also export the instructions for drawing your shapes, you can easily build them out of exactly the same way as the Curve tool, simpler shapes. If all you want to design in HTML or XHTML format, should except that they only draw straight Top tips do is move and format multiple you wish to embed them directly into a web lines. Polygon (45 degrees)does You can zoom into shapes at once, simply select page. If your image is for print, or embedding the same, but will only draw and out of your drawing in another document, PDF format is the them all at once (use shiftlines that are perfectly vertical, by holding down Ctrl and industry-standard choice. click to multi-select), then horizontal or angled at 45 rolling the mouse wheel. On its right-click and select Group Another option is to export a bitmap copy degrees – convenient own, the mouse wheel moves of your work in various formats, including for drawing diagrams. from the context menu. your view up and down, and JPEG and PNG. When you select one of these Selecting Combine merges The final tool in this if you hold down Shift it your selected shapes into one options, you’ll be prompted to specify a size drawer is the Free-form Line moves your view left editable, composite shape, with and resolution for the output file, since Draw tool, which lets you trace an and right. overlapping areas excluded – must know how many pixels to use to represent outline as you would in a regular it. You’ll notice that Draw assumes you want to an easy way to create shapes with paint program, then creates a close export the entire A4 page; if you want to create holes in them. Shapes | Merge will join approximation of it using Bézier curves. If the two together and ignore any overlap, while a graphic that’s a different shape, you can you want to draw a particular artistic shape, reformat the page by right-clicking on a blank this is an easy starting point – but you’ll Shapes | Intersect will keep only the overlapping area, selecting Page | Page Setup and typing in section. Shapes | Subtract uses the upper shape almost certainly need to tidy up and tweak new dimensions in the dialog that appears. as a template to crop the lower one – a the curves by hand afterwards.

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IN DEPTH Displays

HANDS ON

Use your TV as a secondary display Darien Graham-Smith shows you how to beam videos, pictures and web pages onto your big screen

O

nce upon a time, home entertainment was all about broadcast television. Increasingly, though, we’re turning to PC-based services. According to the TV Licensing Authority, 29% of UK adults surveyed in 2012 were using catch-up services such as BBC iPlayer and 4oD – and this doesn’t even take into account PC-based services such as Netflix and YouTube (see our infographic on p20 for more on the UK’s TV-watching habits). Yet so-called “smart” TVs, with built-in internet connections, haven’t caught on. The licensing authority found that only 5% of homes surveyed had a smart TV – and more than a third of those who did own one had never actually used it to go online. This may be because web-based services are typically accessed by typing, scrolling and navigating links, which translates poorly to a traditional remote-control interface. Proprietary systems such as Virgin Media TV On Demand use vastly simplified interfaces for this reason. You don’t need a special box to display online content on your

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TV, however. There are numerous ways to hook up a PC to your television, so you can enjoy the flexibility of a full keyboard-and-mouse-driven interface, while taking advantage of what is probably the biggest screen you own in order to get the best from streaming and downloaded films and TV programmes – not to mention presentations, music and web-based services.

HDMI and DisplayPort

be automatically detected: if you already have a monitor or laptop display connected, your TV will by default be set up as a secondary display. If you’d prefer it to mirror your primary display, you can set this in Windows’ Screen Resolution settings – or, in Windows 7 and 8, you can simply press Win+P to bring up a quick set of Second Screen options.

“Increasingly, we’re turning to PC-based services for home entertainment”

Most modern PCs can be physically connected directly to a television. A desktop system will typically offer at least one full-sized HDMI socket, and some larger laptops do as well. When you connect a TV to this socket, it will

If you’re using a laptop, it’s more likely to use mini-HDMI or micro-HDMI than the full-sized connector (mini-HDMI looks like a

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Displays

Other cable connections

If your computer doesn’t have any of these ports, you still have options. Many TVs offer a regular 15-pin VGA socket, so if your laptop Most modern PCs can be connected directly to a TV using HDMI or desktop has an analogue VGA connector, you can use this to hook it up. VGA shrunk-down version of regular HDMI, while doesn’t carry audio, however, so you’ll want micro-HDMI is almost identical in size and to attach a secondary cable from your PC’s shape to micro-USB). If you’re lucky, your audio-output socket to your TV’s audio input. laptop will have come with an adapter; It’s also sometimes otherwise, you’ll need to buy a mini- or possible to use a DVI micro-HDMI-to-HDMI cable. connection. If your PC Another possibility is mini-DisplayPort: this has a DVI-I socket, too can be connected to an HDMI television you can use a simple with the right cable, or via a simple adapter. DVI-to-VGA adapter The signals can also travel over a high-speed to connect it to a Thunderbolt bus, so you might be able to 15-pin socket on connect your TV to a Thunderbolt port. the TV, and connect the sound via a separate HDMI and DisplayPort connections cable as described above. can carry sound as well as vision, so a single If it’s a DVI-D socket, however, that cable should do everything you need – but means it’s digital-only, and your only option you may need to manually switch audio is to use a DVI-to-HDMI adapter cable to plug devices to get audio to play through your it into an HDMI socket. This may sound more TV. You can do this by right-clicking on convenient than using VGA, but DVI doesn’t the volume icon in the Windows system carry audio, and your TV probably won’t offer tray, selecting Playback Devices from the the option to play audio from an external pop-up menu, selecting the appropriate source while displaying HDMI video. So if device and clicking Set Default.

IN DEPTH

you want sound, you’ll have to use a separate amplifier (or your laptop’s internal speakers). You can tell what sort of DVI socket your computer has by looking at the long, flat aperture at the left-hand side of the port: if it’s surrounded by four pinholes in a square configuration, it’s DVI-I. If the flat hole is stuck out on its own, with no other holes around it, it’s DVI-D.

Wireless mirroring

Physical connections are simple and robust, but they’re not always convenient. If you want to call up videos and web pages from the comfort

“Physical connections are simple and robust, but they’re not always convenient” of your sofa, without cables trailing across your front room, you want a wireless connection. If you have a modern laptop, you may be in luck. For the past few years, Intel has been developing and promoting a mainstream technology called WiDi – short for “wireless display” – which does exactly what you’d hope. To use it, you simply need to put the TV into receiver mode, activate screen mirroring in the driver, and enter a pairing code (there’s no need

A secondary PC For many people, the ability to wirelessly connect laptops, tablets and phones to your TV means there’s no more reason to station a PC permanently in the front room. But there are still advantages to keeping a dedicated PC connected to your TV. Such a PC could conveniently host a shared media library – a task unsuited to a laptop, which will spend much of its time asleep, and which may offer only limited storage. An always-on front room PC can also serve as a personal video recorder; after all, not all programmes end up on iPlayer, and when they do they’re typically removed soon afterwards. It can even be used for gaming and other real-time activities, since there’s naturally no latency. Clearly it’s inconvenient to drag a keyboard and mouse across your living room floor, but compact wireless keyboard and mouse controllers are cheaply available. Alternatively, you can use remote desktop software, perhaps running on a laptop, to control a front room PC wirelessly. Not all remote desktop tools are suitable for this task: Windows’ Remote Desktop Connection, for example, shows the remote desktop on your

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OS X’s Screen Sharing feature enables a Windows laptop to control a Mac mini

connecting PC, rather than on the TV. The compact, free RealVNC tool, however, will let you virtually attach your keyboard and mouse directly to the remote PC, as will web services such as LogMeIn. The Screen

Sharing feature built into OS X will work too, and it’s VNC-compatible – so you can easily control, for example, a Mac mini from a Windows laptop. You can set it up from the Sharing settings window.


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IN DEPTH Displays

to actually join a wireless network). The TV becomes a secondary display, with video and audio seamlessly carried across. As yet, we’ve seen few laptops that support WiDi, but Intel’s latest update to the Ultrabook specification mandates WiDi, and the technology is compliant with the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Miracast standard for wireless streaming. What’s more, software support is built directly into Windows 8.1, which should ensure more new PCs are manufactured with the technology. As for the other end of the connection: if you buy a TV today it may come with WiDi, but any set more than a few years old is unlikely to have built-in support. To get around this, companies such as Belkin make WiDi receiver boxes, costing around £70, which can pipe WiDi into your TV’s HDMI input.

AirPlay requires an Apple TV box to be connected to your TV

The one downside of WiDi is latency: as a result of the time it takes to encode and transmit the image, the remote display lags around a quarter of a second behind the main one. This will probably make fast-moving action games completely unplayable.

bar (a square with a triangle pointing into it); click on it to open a dropdown menu that shows the option to enable or disable mirroring. In the forthcoming OS X 10.9 Mavericks release, you’ll also be able to use your TV as a secondary display, so you can play videos on it at its native resolution, while keeping your MacBook or iMac’s display for desktop applications. The catch is that AirPlay requires an Apple TV box connected to your television (it’s detecting this box that tells OS X to show the icon). If you already have one of these, AirPlay is a great bonus, but if you don’t, the £99 price might seem steep. Still, AirPlay is a supremely simple system, and while there’s still a small amount of visible lag, the mirrored display feels more responsive than WiDi. AirPlay also has the advantage of working with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch (see Mobile devices, below).

Apple AirPlay

Other approaches

“Apple’s AirPlay has the advantage of working with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch”

If you’re using a Mac from 2011 or later, Apple’s proprietary AirPlay system lets you mirror your display wirelessly onto a TV. It’s a terrifically simple system – when mirroring is available, the AirPlay icon appears on the menu

If you don’t have a WiDi-equipped PC, or an Apple TV box, all is not lost. AMD’s latest A-Series processors support the company’s own wireless display

Chromecast Just launched in the US, and due for imminent release here in the UK, Google’s Chromecast takes a novel approach to display mirroring. This compact gadget plugs into the back of your TV and mirrors web pages from the Chrome web browser, using your home wireless network to connect to a laptop or mobile device running the browser. For video, dedicated apps stream from YouTube and Netflix directly to the device. Support for more services is promised soon; for now, the likes of iPlayer and 4oD can be streamed via regular display mirroring. This also works for local files that Chrome can open, such as MP3s and downloaded videos, and it’s even possible to beam the whole screen – although this feature is “experimental”. Owing to the limited and inconsistent bandwidth of domestic Wi-Fi,

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Google’s own mirroring system is Chrome-branded

however, US reviewers have found it sometimes necessary to turn down the Chromecast’s resolution settings in order to make full-screen video run smoothly. Since there’s a public SDK available, third-party app developers are already busily expanding the Chromecast’s capabilities. And the best news is the price: in the US, the Chromecast costs $35, which is expected to translate to around £30 inc VAT. We’ll wait to try the Chromecast ourselves before making a final judgment, but it looks like an irresistibly simple and affordable way to get everyday content onto the big screen.

technology, called Screen Mirror. Rather than taking the Miracast approach like Intel – or relying on proprietary hardware like Apple – Screen Mirror runs over your domestic wireless network and streams the image of your desktop using the well-established DLNA standard. This means you need a DLNA media receiver connected to (or built into) your TV to receive the stream; but there’s a good chance you already have one, in the shape of an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 console, making this potentially a convenient, cost-effective option. A third related technology you may come across is WiGig, also known as 802.11ad. It’s a multigigabit protocol that enables the direct wireless connection of PCs to peripherals, and it’s designed to support wireless DisplayPort connections. However, the technology hasn’t been widely adopted, despite now being almost three years old. With Intel, Apple and AMD all pushing their own alternatives, we suspect WiGig displays have missed the boat.

Mobile devices

It isn’t only PC displays that can be beamed to your TV. Apple’s AirPlay system supports iOS devices as well as OS X: when you’re watching video, listening to music or browsing photos on an iPad or iPhone, you can simply tap the AirPlay icon to have the output routed via your Apple TV box. If you’ve stored a large library of video and music on your mobile device, that’s a great convenience. Android users can also get in on the action. The simplest way to stream content from Android to a TV is using a Chromecast device (see Chromecast, left); but Android 4.2 also includes native support for Miracast, which is implemented in a good range of smartphones and tablets, including the Nexus 4, HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S III and S4. By default, when you use Miracast on Android, the device’s primary display is mirrored, so the technology can be used not only to watch videos on the big screen, but also to browse the web, use apps and carry out any other tasks you may wish. However, that inescapable problem of latency means that, like most mirroring systems, it isn’t suitable for playing action games.

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RWC Contents

REAL WORLD COMPUTING EXPERT ADVICE FROM OUR PANEL OF IT PROFESSIONALS

Our expert line-up Advanced Windows & Mac

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Jon Honeyball loses his rag over Microsoft update issues, but a few Mac-based improvements help to calm him down.

Mobile & Wireless The land rush for new web domains

A host of new top-level domains are about to flood onto the market. Barry Collins explains why your business can’t afford to ignore them.

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79

Paul Ockenden finds a true, real-world alternative to technology analysts, and examines a couple of upgradeable cameras.

Online Business

82

Kevin Partner explains how a helpdesk system could give your business a boost, elevating it above the corporate competition.

Security & Social Networking

85

Davey Winder is sick of paranoia over Facebook’s privacy settings, and finds a way to revert Gmail back to the classic settings.

Careers

Stuart Andrews explains how to get started with a rewarding career selling IT products and services.

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BUSINESS CLINIC FREE BUSINESS ADVICE FROM PC PRO’S EXPERTS Do you need help with a business IT problem? PC Pro’s Real World Computing experts will visit your company to deliver free advice on your firm’s IT setup. Send details to [email protected] and we could pay you a visit!

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Office Applications

88

Simon Jones guides you through more PowerPivot features, and looks at how to translate phone numbers into E.164.

Web Apps & Design

93

Tom Arah gets to grips with the new apps on Adobe’s Creative Cloud, and wonders whether the new subscription strategy is best for all.

Networks

96

Steve Cassidy has doubts over the cost efficiency of the cloud, and is horrified at the use of USB drives for serious computing.

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Idealog

RWC

Words may not break your bones, says DICK POUNTAIN, but they can hurt you

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’ve been reading a lot of anthropology recently. Not sure why, maybe because there’s something about the current state of the world that makes me want to know more about the workings of the pre-civilised mind. David Graeber’s excellent paper, “Toward an anthropological theory of value”, has a fascinating section about the ancient Maori and their world view, in which I found one item particularly provocative. That Maori custom of sticking the tongue out during their haka war dance, so familiar to all rugby fans, always strikes us as a gesture of cheekiness or insult, because that’s what it now means in most European cultures. However, this isn’t what it originally meant to the Maori: when aimed at an enemy during a battle it meant “you are meat, and I’m going to eat you”, and true to their word, if they defeated you they may well have done so. For some reason, this put me in mind of internet trolls. There’s recently been a surge of outrage about trolling on Twitter, sparked initially by rape threats against Labour MP Stella Creasy and feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, then amplified by bomb threats against various female journalists, including The Guardian’s Hadley Freeman. This stuff plays directly into debates about internet censorship (Cameron’s anti-porn filters) and freedom of speech, all of which constitute such a moral quagmire that one enters it very cautiously indeed. I’ve always been largely in favour of the freedom to robustly criticise, in any medium at all, since to take the opposite view would mean to toe the line, to accept things the way they are. However, in recent years this issue has become more complicated after various laws against “hate speech” have been enacted. These laws make certain kinds of speech – often racial insults – into prosecutable crimes, and that raises two, very difficult points: first, is it permissible to ban any form of speech, as opposed to action, at all (the pure freedom-ofspeech argument)? Second, how do you gauge the degree of offensiveness of a speech act (necessary in order to decide whether it’s prosecutable or not)? The argument for freedom of speech can be defended in abstract philosophical terms, but it always depends upon the old adage that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”: that is, verbal threats aren’t the same as the actions that they threaten, and don’t cause the same damage. That’s certainly true: the threat of rape isn’t as

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harmful as the act of rape, and the threat to bomb doesn’t kill or demolish buildings. However, that isn’t to say they cause no damage. One result of the recent revolution in neuroscience is confirmation that fear and anxiety do indeed cause physical damage to people. These primitive emotions are useful from an evolutionary point of view: fear keeps you from stepping off cliffs or picking up rattlesnakes, while anxiety forms part of the necessary binding force between mammals and their highly dependent offspring. However, both operate by releasing corticosteroid hormones that have all kinds of long-term effects if repeated too often – high blood pressure, hardening of arteries and much more. Like fire extinguishers, they’re necessary and welcome during an emergency, but make a mess of the furniture and aren’t to be played with. Trolling is playing with the fire extinguishers. It’s meant to induce anxiety, fear or confusion in order to dissuade the victim from some attitude or action of which the troll disapproves. To that extent, it’s a form of politics, and to that same extent it’s a kind of

To some extent, trolling is a form of terrorism, since both seek to achieve political ends by inducing fear terrorism, since both seek to achieve political ends by inducing fear. The crucial difference is that terrorists don’t just speak but act: they don’t merely stick out their tongues but really do eat you. None of this is news, since bandits, tyrants, robber barons and military officers have known for millennia that you can bend a population to your will by terrorising them. In fact, there’s now a whole new discipline that views our efforts to manipulate each others’ emotions as the driving force of history. We manipulate our own emotions with music, dance, art and drugs: why else would alcohol, tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco and opium figure so highly in the history of trade? We manipulate others’ emotions with scary stories (religion), clever rhetoric and the threat of violence. Democratic governments insist we delegate the use of force to our police and army; whether or not they can demand we also give up the threat of force remains a fraught question, but never believe that threats do no harm.

DICK POUNTAIN edits PC Pro’s Real World Computing section and won’t tolerate any insults about his hat. Blog: www.dickpountain.co.uk Email: [email protected]


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RWC Feature

FEATURE

The landrush for new web domains A host of new top-level domains are about to flood onto the market. Barry Collins explains why your business can’t afford to ignore them The new gTLD system

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he starting gun is about to be fired on the biggest land grab in the history of the web. Beginning this autumn, thousands of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) will be unleashed, giving businesses the opportunity to be more creative with their website addresses. No longer will businesses be restricted to .co.uk, .com or the slightly more esoteric likes of .net or .tv. Instead, they’ll be able to put their brand name in front of gTLDs such as .play, .secure, or .app. They might choose to “dot move”, allowing the insurance company Claims Direct to switch from www.claimsdirect.

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co.uk to simply claims.direct, for example. They’ll also have to keep a close eye out for their brands being tarnished on more derogatory domains such as .sucks and .adult, both of which are in the initial batch of gTLDs to be released in the coming months. Although the plan to release these gTLDs has been on the table for many years, awareness is still low. Many businesses may switch on just in time to find that the domains they crave have already gone. We’re going to give you a heads-up on the new gTLDs to make sure you’re not caught out by this fundamental shift in the way websites are labelled.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. If like Barclays, Del Monte or Hermès, you liked the idea of landing your own top-level domain name, you’re already too late – for the initial batch of releases, at least. Although considering you’d need $185,000, alongside a host of expensive infrastructure requirements, it’s unlikely most SMBs could afford to get involved in the first place. This doesn’t mean you should write off all chance of landing a prestigious new domain name, however. There are three main types of gTLD being released: closed, restricted and open. Most closed registrations are brand extensions, where a company has bought its own name and plans to use it for its own purposes internally (reviews.pcpro, for example). Restricted domains are only open to applicants who meet a certain criteria – companies applying for a .london domain will have to be based in the city, for example. Open domains will accept applications from anyone, in much the same way anyone can buy a .com domain today. The application process has, predictably, been mired in controversy. “A number of organisations didn’t apply in the spirit of the programme, and applied for what’s known as ‘closed generics’,” says Stuart Fuller, director of commercial operations and communications at corporate domain-name management firm, NetNames. This means in addition to applying for their own company names, some firms have applied to close off non-brand-specific domain names, too. “Amazon, Google and L’Orèal all applied for generic terms. L’Orèal applied for .hair, Amazon applied for .book. There’s been a huge uproar.” Around 600 open domains are expected to be released in the first batch of around 1,900 gTLDs, starting this autumn. The order in which the domains will be released has already been set, after the governing body ICANN held what was possibly the world’s most expensive – and dullest – raffle. All of the gTLD applicants had to buy a $100 ticket, and a seven-hour-long draw at ICANN’s New York headquarters decided in which order the domain names would be released. The running

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Feature

order is published on ICANN’s website at www.pcpro.co.uk/links/229gtld and, as you’ll notice, many of the domains are in international, non-Latin script. This allows for Cyrillic, Hindi or Japanese iterations of .com, for example, which are foreseen to be in high demand. Many of the domain names are being sought after by more than one applicant. The .play domain, for example, is part of a three-way tussle between Amazon, Google and Famous Four Media (a fourth applicant has already bowed out). In such circumstances, ICANN wants the parties to meet and come to a private arrangement – no doubt involving a large cheque or other form of bartering. “There are lots of small companies making bids for domains such as .app or .music, making a calculated bid that they’ll be paid off,” says Fuller. “They’ll say ‘give me 300 grand to walk away’.” If the parties can’t agree a settlement, ICANN will hold a private auction, with the highest bidder taking the domain, and the

After that, the domain names enter general availability, and are issued on a first-come, first-served basis, in the same manner that .com names are currently.

What’s a new domain worth?

The big question business owners will be asking themselves is whether there’s any value in registering a new domain name. Are customers more likely to find your website with a swanky new domain name than with a plain, but established, .com or .co.uk? Who types in web addresses these days anyway? Doesn’t everyone simply type the company name into Google? These are all valid questions, and ones that we don’t yet have the answers to, and probably won’t until the new gTLDs have been up and running for some time. What is clear is that many of the web’s biggest names are clearly attaching plenty of value to the new gTLDs: Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all applied for several of their own at considerable cost, and as we’ve noted before, not merely to protect their brand names. Atallah argues that, even in the age of search being built into every browser address bar, there’s still enormous value in a distinct domain name. “Domain names are identifiers,” he says. “You’ll always need an identifier, that will not change.” A 2012 research paper from Microsoft suggests that domain names can be even more valuable than high search rankings. The researchers found that, when presented with a page of search results, the domain the site is hosted on can actually “flip a user’s

“Domain names can be even more valuable than search rankings” proceeds going to the losing parties. ICANN executives told PC Pro that around 10% of contended names have been settled already. “As we get closer to the auctions, the light will become clearer, and we’ll see how many settle and how many go to auction,” says Akram Atallah, president of ICANN’s generic domains division.

Registering a new domain

The first open domains could already be appearing on the market. Before an open domain reaches general availability, there will be two crucial periods, called “sunrise” and “landrush”. The 60-day sunrise period will see registered trademark holders notified and given the option to purchase domain names using the new gTLD. This is designed to prevent opportunists registering coke.web, for example, and then attempting to hold the drinks firm to ransom. But given that around 20 new domains will be released every week, it’s a headache for well-known companies. “For a brand-holder, it’s an absolute nightmare – knowing when to apply, how many to apply for,” says Fuller. Thereafter follows the 30-day landrush period, in which anyone can apply for the names the trademark holders haven’t already reserved. If more than one party applies for the same domain name during this period, they’ll typically go to auction to decide who gets the virtual real estate.

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Most wanted These are the ten most in-demand gTLDs being pre-ordered by 1&1 customers: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

.online .web .shop .london .app

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

.ltd .website .site .blog .limited

preference about 25% of the time”. The study found that “users have learned to trust some domains over others” and that “users click on results from reputable domains even when more relevant search results are available”. While the study was based on traditional domains (bbc.co.uk, for example), you can easily see how users may be swayed to read a news story from .bbc (a gTLD that the BBC has claimed) rather than another source. That same principle may be extended to other industries. Barclays is planning to allow business banking customers to register .barclays domains, for instance, in the belief that they’ll pay a premium to be associated with a trusted brand. From a search engine optimisation (SEO) perspective, it’s uncertain how Google will treat the new domain names. Although current TLDs are believed to have a significant bearing on Google search results – a search from Google UK appears to give priority to .co.uk domains, for example – it isn’t clear whether .london domains will be afforded the same respect, for example. In one of its few public statements on how it will handle gTLDs, a Google Webmaster Help video on YouTube says the company

It’s possible to pre-order some domains: 1&1 has already received thousands of UK orders


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RWC Feature

will go through a process of “trial and error” after the domains are unleashed. “We want to return the best result, and if the best result is one particular TLD, then it’s reasonable to expect we’ll do the work in terms of writing the code and finding out how to crawl different domains where we’re able to return what we think is the best result,” the company claims. “So if you’re making Transformers 9 and you want to buy the domain Transformers9. movie, it’s reasonable to expect Google will try to find those results, try to be able to crawl them well, and try to return them to users.” Richard Stevenson, head of corporate communications at web host 1&1, believes there’ll be value in regional domains. “I expect there to be a huge demand for gTLDs such as .london,” he says. “As SMEs are most often focused on their local market, and local search engine results are vital to them, geographical domains such as this will be an important consideration for them in the years ahead.”

Special domains

There are other, non-regional domains that might hold extra appeal. Security company Artemis is hoping to make the .secure domain a trusted place to do business, for example, so that consumers and businesses can rest assured that sites using that gTLD are trustworthy. To qualify for a .secure domain, sites will be “required to agree to rigorous security policies that will strictly prevent the intentional use of .secure domains for malicious activity or the inadvertent creation of vulnerability through misapplication of security technologies”. Site owners will also have to provide identity documentation, which will be checked manually, to ensure that companies are who they say they are, unlike normal .com addresses, which can effectively be registered in the name of your pet dog, if you so wish. They’ll also face regular audits of their security setup. The price for being part of this exclusive security club is likely to run to tens of thousands of dollars, although Artemis is

Companies such as NetNames can manage the whole process for businesses

address is likely to surface higher in search results than one without. Other similar domains include .finance and .shop.

Blocking domains

There are also a fair few new gTLDs that most businesses wouldn’t want their brand to be seen anywhere near. Domains such as .sucks, .gripe, .adult, .sex and .porn are among the first batch of approved gTLDs, even if the latter three are designed to segregate adult content, rather than drag brands into the seedier side of the web. Nevertheless, many businesses will want to take advantage of domain blocking to make sure their brands or trademarks aren’t used mischievously. Registrars will offer the opportunity for businesses to block domains (pcpro.sucks, for example – not that anyone would ever dream of such a slur) at a reduced price, but they can’t make active use of that domain (by redirecting it to their brand homepage, for example): it simply returns a holding message.

“Geographical domains will be an important consideration for SMEs in the years ahead” believed to have hundreds of businesses already signed up to run .secure domains, including several leading banks. There are other sector-related gTLDs that could appeal. Companies offering or reselling web hosting services might decide, for example, to purchase a .hosting domain – not only because it’s likely that many of their rivals will do likewise, but because Google uses a site’s URL to judge relevancy of search terms; a hosting company with a .hosting in its web

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Registering domains

So how do businesses go about registering new domains, and making sure their brands aren’t being abused? It is, of course, possible for brands to keep an eye on the release of new domains and register or block individual domains themselves, but with 20 new gTLDs

expected to be appearing on the market every week, this could be quite labour-intensive. Companies such as NetNames can handle the whole process on behalf of businesses. NetNames starts by compiling a list of all the company’s brands, considering them against three different types of domain registration – generic, geographic and dot moves – and then gives each a score out of 100. The report will generate recommendations on which domains a company should register and which it should block, and then NetNames deals with the process of registering the relevant domains on the company’s behalf. Registrars are already beginning to take pre-orders for forthcoming gTLD releases. “We’ve been genuinely surprised by just how brisk UK demand has been for pre-orders of new gTLDs,” says 1&1’s Stevenson. “Our portal has received thousands of orders since launching on 1 July.” However, Stevenson believes most small businesses are likely to be caught cold by the domains. “Not surprisingly, the big brands – as well as media and creative industries worldwide – are well positioned to move on new gTLDs,” he says. “However, my suspicion would be that the average UK small-business owner isn’t sufficiently aware of them. Indeed, recent research commissioned by domain broker Sedo found that awareness and understanding were low within European SMEs.” It’s time to start paying attention. You can’t say you haven’t been warned.

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RWC Careers

CAREERS

So you want to work in… IT sales Stuart Andrews explains how to get started in a rewarding career selling IT products and services

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here are thousands of IT resellers and solution providers working in the UK, with the top 250 employing almost 243,000 people and generating £46.5 billion in revenue, according to analysts IT Europa. Salespeople play a key role in driving this vast business, whether they’re junior staff manning the phones or senior managers handling major corporate accounts. Yet few people really appreciate what they do. “Sales sometimes gets a bad name,” says Steve Warburton, sales director for Zen Internet, “but it can be a rewarding and exciting job. I’d encourage people to be open-minded about a career in sales, and particularly IT sales, because it may not be what they expect.” In many ways, IT sales is no different from any other sales job: you take the products or services your organisation makes or resells and sell them. However, at higher levels it may involve managing long-term relationships with companies that could last many years. Here, sales becomes more interesting, moving to packaging hardware and software products together as solutions. However, this involves a level of expertise. Does that mean IT sales requires an in-depth technical knowledge? Not necessarily, says Tim Holton, marketing manager for reseller Uniq Systems. For him, the

benefits of the technology,” he says. “There’s value in having an understanding of the technology, but over the years I’ve seen our business change. We used to see people come in with IT degrees and technical qualifications, but more recently we’ve been able to train people in the technology, particularly in the entry-level sales roles.” However, he adds that “for the senior roles, a degree of technical knowledge – and also experience in an IT business or a telco – becomes more important, since the enterprise customers you’re talking to expect a level of knowledge, background and experience.” For Mark Tomlinson, assistant manager of Novatech’s business team, technical expertise is important because it builds confidence. “Everyone who’s being sold to, in whichever shape or form, has to have confidence in the company or organisation they’re buying from, ” he says.

“Good sales is about being able to explain the benefits of IT beyond a technical audience” more crucial thing is “the ability to understand the needs of the prospect, and meet those needs”. “Experience can be more useful,” he adds. “If you’re explaining the benefits of a contact management system, it’s more important to understand the marketing, sales or service benefits than to have technical knowledge.” Up to a point, Warburton agrees. “In any sales job, there’s a process of gathering requirements and trying to understand what the customer is trying to do, and explaining the

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Getting started

There’s no fixed pathway into IT sales, no specific course or qualification that companies look for. Companies take graduates from every

field, and while it can be advantageous to have an IT-specific degree, a degree in a business discipline might be just as relevant. What’s key, says Uniq’s Holton, is that the job provides “structured training and the opportunity to learn from successful salespeople”. “We do a lot of training in both sales and technical knowledge,” says Tomlinson. “The first two or three weeks give quite intensive training on our products – at least the basics – and we do the sales side of training, too, so it’s a good combination.” After three weeks of intensive training, Novatech continues to train staff for anywhere between six to 12 months before salespeople join the senior teams handling large accounts. “The training will continue there,” says Tomlinson, “but you’re trained effectively. You can make recommendations to customers, and you genuinely understand what you’re talking about, so you can do much more of the solution sell.”

Attributes of an IT salesperson

Beyond sales experience and technical expertise, what else do you need in order to be an effective salesperson? Both Holton and Warburton consider passion and enthusiasm important, as does Tomlinson. “You have to

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Careers

Challenges and rewards

It’s been a tough few years in IT, and particularly IT sales. Holton pinpoints “the economic climate and the lack of budget” as key problems. “Many people aren’t expanding, so aren’t looking to spend on IT projects.” For Zen’s Warburton, the biggest challenge is working in a constantly changing marketplace. “Businesses are always introducing new technology,”

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A day in the life of an IT sales manager

PROFILE

be enthusiastic, and you have to care about what you do,” he says. “The most important quality is to be able to listen,” adds Holton. “The ability to explain the business benefits of technology is one of the most important things,” says Warburton. “Many people can talk about technology, but it’s a rarer breed that can explain the business benefits and how that technology can help the company.” For Warburton, good sales is all about being able to explain those benefits beyond a technical audience, and also ensuring that the solutions you’re selling are relevant to the people you’re talking to. “There’s no point talking about the latest technology if that particular business can’t benefit from it. That ability to understand the customer, and what they’re looking for, is really important.” Tomlinson thinks that it helps to be a logical thinker, but that reliability is also key. “That’s what makes people come back, and what makes people want to use you,” he claims. For Tomlinson, it’s all about building long-term relationships and a degree of trust. “People are happy to pay for what they see as a justifiable service,” he says, “because you don’t let people down, or if something does go wrong you fix it quickly, and you’re very efficient.” Being willing to go the extra mile when customers do have a problem is also important. “Some parts [of the role] need a high level of technical knowledge, and you can’t know everything,” says Tomlinson. “Sometimes you have to go out of your way and make a conscious effort to find out information and support people. If [customers] genuinely believe that the person they’re talking to or work with – their account manager – is keen, and will always be there to try and help them as best they can, then you’ll always be their first port of call.” Warburton agrees, and believes that the days of the pushy salesperson and the organisations that rely on that model are numbered. “Businesses are becoming much more aware of what they need”, he says. “They want to work with organisations that see it more as a partnership, and are able to offer solutions that complement what they’re doing.” Finally, you need resilience. As Uniq’s Holton says, “The unique sales quality is being able to take a knock back and still believe that the next person you meet will be a sale.”

RWC

Name: Steve Warburton Job title: Sales director, Zen Internet Experience: Degree in business information systems, 14 years at Zen Internet I’m an early riser, so I tend to be in the office between 7.30 and 8am. Before I start anything else, I look at my calendar and think about the meetings I have, and what’s going to be the focus. I then see if there are any projects or activities that need special attention. I try my best to do that before I look at my email, since there’s always a danger that your email drives

from the sales team. They’re very much at the coalface, and they provide useful feedback about what our customers are looking for. Sometimes I’m on the road a few days a week, but, increasingly, much of that is done through conference calls. Other salespeople, particularly in the field-based jobs, may be out of the office three or more days a week.

“I’m very keen to understand the customer’s needs. What’s their business? What are their current drivers?” your activity. In my role, it’s particularly important that I drive my own. I check my email to see if there’s something from customers or anything internal that requires urgent attention. After that, it varies. The morning could be preparing to go out and see a customer that afternoon, or even later that morning. I’m very keen to understand the customer’s needs. What’s their business? What are their current drivers? What are their focus areas and priorities? I could also be attending a meeting to provide feedback to the team, or to get feedback from them that I’ll take on to internal product development meetings. It’s really important to Zen to hear customer feedback

he says, “and the biggest challenge for salespeople is keeping abreast of those changes.” This isn’t only “making sure that what you’re talking about is still relevant”, but “also knowing when something isn’t ready to be talked about”. “There have been times in the past where we’ve heard about the latest and greatest,” he continues, “but in reality the market isn’t ready for it.” As for the rewards, the financial benefits certainly help. According to figures from IT Jobs Watch, IT salespeople can earn between £23,000 and £75,000, with the majority in the £35,000 to £55,000 range. However, sales roles are always commission-based, which could make actual take-home pay much higher or lower than the nominal salary. Not that money is the sole reward. For the true salesperson, there’s a pleasure in simply winning business. “We operate in a

I don’t stop for lunch as often as I’d like to. It’s often a working lunch, although now and again I have lunch with customers or the team. After that there may be customer meetings, but there’s no real pattern; it tends to be a case of whatever the topic is for the day. Towards the end of the day, I often like to catch up on any actions that came from that days’ meetings and tie up anything that needs tying up. I’ve got a young family at home, so I try my best to clock off between 4.30 and 5pm. We avoid working from home wherever possible, although there are times when I may have to do so in the evenings or at weekends. Overall, though, we try to keep a good work/life balance.

fiercely competitive market,” says Zen’s Warburton, “and I think that when we win contracts, the salespeople get a lot of satisfaction from it.” For Novatech’s Tomlinson, it’s the relationships you develop that are the biggest plus. “You end up knowing a lot about each other, and it’s great in that sense,” he says. “You get to talk to people on a daily basis who you really get on with and who you can really have fun with, but who you can also offer help to, offering solutions that really improve their IT infrastructure.” When it all goes well, it’s good for all concerned. “Everyone likes praise, and everyone likes to be told when they’ve done something well,” Tomlinson adds. “When you get that, and you find that this person who you’ve built that relationship with over a period of time is being patted on the back at their end, then that’s a great feeling.”


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RWC Advanced Windows & Mac

ADVANCED WINDOWS & MAC

The seven circles of update hell Jon Honeyball loses his rag over Microsoft update issues, but a few Mac-based improvements help to calm him down

JON HONEYBALL Computer journalist and consultant specialising in both client/server and office automation applications. Email jhoneyball@ woodleyside.co.uk

I

’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Office 365 is one of the best things to come out of Microsoft in a long time. I’m referring, of course, to the cloud-hosted Exchange Server implementation. We’ve been using it here for a while now, and we have a number of E3 Enterprise licences. For what it costs me every month, I couldn’t realistically keep a local server running in a cluster, manage it, update it and repair it when things go wrong. This is a classic example of a cloud solution working out cheaper per user per month than an on-site hosted solution. I’m sold, and I recommend it as the de facto email solution. What I’m not so pleased about is the way Microsoft has handled the upgrade to the 2013 wave. In February, Microsoft announced that all the new accounts on Office 365 would be “Office 2013-enabled”, meaning you’d gain a shiny new administration portal, and access to Office 2013 to install and run on all your machines. You pay for this as part of the monthly subscription, of course.

We were told we’d receive an email one month before the transition to alert us, and that we could delay the transition if it wasn’t convenient. For example, if I was in the middle of a complex multiserver transition from pure on-site hosting to mixed on-/off-site hosting, I’d want – and demand – control over the timing of the transition. That’s only right and logical – unlike the ham-fisted, opaque and frankly insulting way Microsoft has bungled this entire process. Writing in late July, my installation still hasn’t been upgraded, nor have I received an email to indicate when it might happen. I went nuclear at Microsoft through the UK press team, which looked into the matter. In essence, they came back to tell me it was impossible to find out the status, since no-one knew or would say, and that it wasn’t

“This is appalling behaviour by Microsoft, and it’s enough to make me seriously worry” It was understood that new installers would receive the 2013 version immediately, that existing customers would be transitioned to it over time, and that this would be done on a per-server basis, with all the installations on that server being upgraded at the same time.

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possible to know when I’d be migrated. I have no idea whether this delay is caused by another organisation on the same server having had a bad hair day, or whether they’ve just forgotten my server entirely. A few days after I went nuclear, Microsoft posted one of its typical soothing blog posts on the subject, saying that more than 75% of users had already been transitioned, and the rest would happen by the end of July. Nonetheless, I remain part of the forgotten 25%. What’s really annoying is that I’m paying for Office 2013 licences as part of my E3 licence set, yet I can’t access the software in any useful way. I can download a site setup tool, which I’m sure is just wonderful if your company is called BP or GlaxoSmithKline, but it isn’t really suited to a small business such as mine. I’ve been asking around, and everyone has come back with the same view: most people have now been transitioned, but no-one has any clue about what’s going on. One person said

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Advanced Windows & Mac

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they were thinking of cancelling the whole thing and starting again from scratch just to get this sorted. This is frankly appalling behaviour by Microsoft, and it’s enough to make me seriously worry about its ability to roll out changes that are promised for 2014. If it continues to operate in such a vague and high-handed manner, it will be hard to recommend Office 365 to my friends and clients. I’m bitterly disappointed about all this. Microsoft must find some way to show the status of each user’s transition schedule in a clear fashion. If you get new capabilities such as Office 2013, there has to be a workable transition path from the old world to the new. Anything less is taking the mickey.

Windows 8 update hell

I may as well continue along this thread of my upset with Microsoft, because I’ve just had to do a full “refresh” reinstall of Windows 8 on my Dell XPS One 27 touchscreen desktop. I was trying to install a driver package for an HP colour laserjet all-in-one device, but every time I tried to run the installation it reached 90%, then failed with a generic “oh dear”-style error message. I tried ripping out everything that

The Refresh Installation option lets you reinstall Windows without losing your data

Get the picture? In my lab, we’re finding a fresh Windows 8 machine takes more than a day to patch, even if you don’t have to sit in front of it the whole time; the last Apple I booted and started, a new MacBook Air, took 40 minutes. Microsoft has to make this better. It must roll up changes into quarterly incrementals and make them available. I need to be able to take a virgin Windows 8 installation and roll a “Summer 2013” update across it, followed by a small handful of deltas after that. I’ve lost entire days to machines that require a bunch of updates, only to discover that after the obligatory reboot they need more. And more again. This has to stop.

“HP deserves its reputation for horribly complicated installation routines” could be causing the problem – old drivers, old apps, the dried-up sandwich behind the processor fan – but to no avail. To be fair, I should point the finger of blame at HP. It fully deserves its dire reputation for horribly complicated installation routines, which are a nightmare to perform and manage, and impossible to deal with if anything goes wrong. Something in my computer was upsetting this installer, but it couldn’t tell me what it was, which simply isn’t good enough. However, I’m going to point another finger at Microsoft, since Windows 8 was supposed to be the operating system that didn’t suffer from OS rot, that nasty degradation of OS performance that occurs over months and eventually requires a clean installation to sort out the mess. At least with Windows 8 there’s the Refresh Installation option, which is like a full reinstall except that all your data is left in place. Your apps continue to work, too, providing they’re Metro apps – any “old-fashioned” Win32 apps will need to be reinstalled from scratch. In the end, I ran this option on my Dell and it proceeded with no major issues. After the obligatory reboot, I tried to do an update and found myself in Windows 8 update hell. No less than 65 updates were required, followed by a few more – then more still. And a few more.

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Fumbling firmware

While I’m on the subject of HP, my trusty 5550HDN A3 office printer has died. Deader than a dead thing, it needed the attention of a engineer, so we hunted around on the HP website and ended up with a large UK firm of HP-specialist engineers. What has transpired since has been nothing less than a catalogue of egregious errors by the firm: the wrong motherboard was ordered; the new parts took a week to arrive; work was delayed further while we waited for the engineer to arrive on site; and the toner cartridges were rejected My trusty HP 5550HDN has died, and getting it fixed isn’t easy

by the new – correct – motherboard, which insisted they’re not genuine HP parts. They most definitely are, however – and I had the source trail to prove it. So, we fitted a completely new set of toners (at a cost of almost a grand – they’re not cheap), only to discover that the printer had lost all its status information when the new motherboard went in, and that therefore there had been nothing wrong with the old toners after all. Then I discovered they’d fitted the wrong firmware, so that the printer reported itself as a 4560 instead of a 5550 (which I wouldn’t mind except that the 4560 is a 5550-lite that can’t do A3). I’d very much like to scream and shout, but the engineer is standing behind me peering into a laptop screen full of servicing info. Time taken so far? Six weeks and counting. I’d assumed it would be possible to get my 5550 fixed quickly and easily, and thus avoid spending a few grand on a new printer. However, looking at it today, I’m far from convinced I’ve made the right decision. If this engineer can’t get the firmware sorted, I’ll name it and shame it. As with Office 365, wait for next month’s thrilling episode – this one will roll and roll...

O×ce 2013 falls flat

I’m an Office 2003 kind of guy. I know where everything is; my muscle and eye memory is efficiently tuned to these apps and they work. They may not be filled with the latest glittery baubles, but I don’t care. It’s a workhorse that works for its living. Recently, I’ve been forced to move “up” to Office 2010, mostly because of file compatibility issues when using newer files on older


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versions of Excel. I’ll confess I don’t like the ribbon one bit, but I’m learning to master it. However, today, in a fit of pique and as part of the aforementioned Great Dell Refresh, I went radical, hip and chic and installed Office 2013. I don’t like this any more than Office 2010. In fact, I like it less, especially its version of Excel, which features a gratuitous sliding animation whenever you move the cursor from one cell to another. It doesn’t help in any way, but I’m sure dozens of engineers sweated to ensure this “kewl” feature was there for release. Personally, I’d prefer them to be working on getting Outlook 2011 for Mac to import OS X Mailboxes. Anyone can dream, can’t they? To be quite clear, I hate this garbage, which grates horribly against my 25 years of using Excel. As a result, I started digging into the configuration menus to turn off this animation stuff, only to discover that you can’t: the user interface contains no switch for “Gratuitious 2013 animations ON/OFF”. You’ve got it and you’d better like it. It turns out you can disable it – if you decide to disable animations across the entire OS. Alternatively, you can dig around in the

The new Mac Pro boasts six Thunderbolt 2 ports – I was hoping for four

I was hoping for four, but six put the sparklies on top of the cream on top of the apple turnover. This will be my next desktop machine, along with a pair of 4K monitors. I feel my wallet trembling already. That makes it doubly good to see Apple finally release a major rewrite of its audio and music program, now called Logic Pro X. This is a rewrite in the same manner as Final Cut Pro X, but without most of the initial screw-ups that plagued that release. I love Logic, but I’m still baffled by its complexity. Logic Pro X looks to be a careful and sensible rewrite, and I look forward to getting my head around it over the next few months. Those who’ve said recently that Apple is moving away from the professional market should take a look at Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X, along with the Mac Pro – they might reconsider their position. I’m not saying these are ideal tools for all users and problems, but you can’t doubt their professional qualifications. Finally, do you need to sort out your iTunes library? Do you have lots of songs with the wrong metadata in the wrong place? I’ve found the paid-for version of TuneUp to be worthwhile when it comes to sorting out the huge mess my iTunes library had become. I’ll

“Only the Office team could have such downright disregard for its users” Registry and start fiddling with keys in an attempt to knock some sense into the program. Only the Office team could have such downright disregard for its users. Imposing something like this on a new version of Excel and not providing a way to turn it off is beneath contempt, and shows how little Microsoft understands its users. Check out the suggestions at www.pcpro.co.uk/links/229aw if you want to try to nail this sucker.

admit it isn’t the most stable – it’s prone to crashing and burning – but it can work magic on your iTunes library. Give it a go – it might work for you, too.

Leap of faith

Initally, I was going to make the Leap Motion Controller (see our review on p114) the lead item for this column. I was so excited when I first saw videos of this product more than a year ago: everything I hated on the touch desktop could be fixed by this device. Maybe it could deliver where Kinect for Windows had proved to be a damp squib? I placed my order for two and waited. And waited some more. Finally, they arrived this week, a year later. I’m very tempted to say “oh dear” and “what a huge letdown”. The people behind it need a slap around the head. Making Windows pointing support an optional download, hidden deep in their online app store, is the height of stupidity – it makes it clear they don’t know what problem they’re trying to solve. Yet, despite this, I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt. It might complete its transition to “Turkey of the Year” and become the huge letdown it first appeared to be, but it may pull itself together and get this technology to work effectively. I’m still incredibly excited by it, which is probably why I’m not throwing it straight into the nearest bin. But the clock is ticking, and Leap Motion’s window of opportunity isn’t wide. I hope it can bring things into focus.

Mac makeovers

And now, thankfully, for some Mac stuff. Mavericks, the 10.9 release of OS X, is now in beta, and seems stable. It’s stuffed with nice little tweaks and adjustments, although a few of them take some getting used to. If you run multiple monitors, which I do on my desktop iMac setup, it comes as a bit of a surprise to find that the traditional Mac menu bar that sits at the top of the screen now sits at the top of every screen; the app that is foreground on that screen gets to display its menu. My muscle memory was a little confused at first, given that it was used to making a quick flick on the touchpad to take the cursor to the left, but I’m getting used to it. Unlike those Excel animations, this change makes sense, especially if you’re running virtual desktops. Apple has also announced the Mac Pro – along with six Thunderbolt 2 ports. Yes, six.

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I’ve been excited about the Leap Motion Controller for a year, but it might be a letdown

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Mobile & Wireless

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MOBILE & WIRELESS

Game of phones Paul Ockenden finds a real-world alternative to technology analysts, and takes a look at a couple of upgradeable cameras

PAUL OCKENDEN Owner of one of the UK’s oldest web agencies, Paul works on award-winning sites for many bluechip clients. Twitter: @PaulOckenden

Photography: Danny Bird

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s a result of writing this column, I’ve been sent all kinds of press releases over the years from technology analysts, full of their pontifications on the mobile phone industry and where it’s heading next. Their stuff is pretty useless for this column, since it’s the very opposite of the hands-on, real-world approach I employ. I don’t know where they find the so-called experts who write these tech prediction reports, or why anyone would pay for their future-gazing – most of it appears to be complete and utter tosh. How do I know that? Do I have a crystal ball that’s better than theirs? No, I have a time machine. Seriously – I have a time machine that allows me to go back and look at things people said in the past; it’s called Outlook. My email archive folder lets me look at what these analysts were saying last year. Or five years ago. Or a decade ago... For example, in 2007, I was sent a report telling me Apple didn’t stand a chance in the mobile phone market, and I have others from a few years later assuring me the iPad was a stupid idea because no-one wants to buy tablet

Windows Mobile (the stylus-based handset that predated Windows Phone) would become Microsoft’s biggest profit centre. Needless to say, I’m picking out the worst samples. I’m sure that, based on the law of averages, some of these analysts’ predictions have come true. But most of their reports are expensive fiction. There’s a much cheaper, more reliable way to know which way the mobile tide is turning, and it’s simply to keep your ears open in public spaces. I was eating my lunchtime sarnie in the park the other day when I overheard a group of youths comparing their phones. Several had Android models, which were a bit “meh, they’re all the same”. One had a Nokia Windows Phone – I couldn’t see which model – which apparently was “well cool”. Another had a BlackBerry – a Curve OS 7, I think – for which he was roundly mocked. He protested that he was the only one of them with BBM, to which a friend retorted, “What’s the

“I was sent a report telling me Apple didn’t stand a chance in the mobile phone market” PCs. I’ve also received emails informing me that no other manufacturer stood a chance with business smartphones, since BlackBerry had the market sewn up and companies were too locked in. Those same analysts said Google’s Android operating system was destined to be a niche player – of interest only to techies – and that

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point of BBM if none of your mates are on it?” (I see his point.) Then, just as I thought phone scorn couldn’t get any worse, the last of the group pulled out his iPhone and the rest started sniggering. One even said, “The iPhone is for old people”. That sums up Apple’s mobile woes better than any professional analyst ever could. Of course, the iPhone isn’t only for old people: I’m sure many of you reading this have iPhones and don’t consider yourself old, although perhaps that group of youths would disagree. More and more of the people I see carrying iPhones are, um, mature, and although I have a largish circle of teenage family and friends, I can’t remember the last time any of them became excited about an iPhone. This is a device, rather than a company, thing. It isn’t that people have become particularly anti-Apple, since iPads still have a degree of credibility, while the company’s computers – MacBooks, in particular – are very much lusted after by Generation Innit. I wonder whether part of what’s taken the shine off the iPhone is its affordability. Once upon a time it was an aspirational


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It could be argued that the iPhone has lost its kudos by becoming affordable

product that cost a substantial amount more than other smartphones, but now you can’t open a daily newspaper without seeing ads for it on a bargain contract. By becoming affordable, the iPhone has lost its kudos; the iPad and various Macs, however, remain reassuringly, conspicuously expensive. Can Apple turn this situation around to recover its mobile cool? If rumours are to be

Take digital cameras as another example: the best-loved DSLR brands in the consumer market are those that also make eye-wateringly expensive models aimed at professionals. Huge profits are made on these models, as well as from the volume of lower-specification, lower-margin cameras sold. The “coolness” of the lower-cost devices is boosted by association with their premium stablemates. The same effect could work with the new budget iPhones. The flagship device might become a premium product again, with all the cheap contracts being offered for the new budget model. Apple has tested the waters by launching the iPad mini, which seems to be working out okay, but there remains a nagging doubt about whether the iPhone’s “phone for old people” perception can be reversed. Only time will tell.

“By becoming affordable, the iPhone has lost its kudos; the iPad is reassuringly expensive” believed, it will soon unveil a new flagship phone, plus a budget device. You may think that moving further downmarket would be a terrible mistake, if the reasons I describe for Apple’s loss of mojo are accurate, but I think it’s a clever move. Take an example from the car market: BMW’s M Series is expensive, so much so that you hardly ever see one on the road. However, the aspirational value the M Series confers on the brand as a whole helps to sell many cheaper models: the bog-standard 3 Series still outsells the Ford Mondeo. This trickle-down marketing tactic isn’t only used to sell cars. Consider restaurant wine lists: if you add a couple of very expensive wines to the list, few people will buy them. But just by having these as top markers, you’ll find people select more expensive bottles from the rest of the list than they would have otherwise. Cognitive psychologists call this “priming”.

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with any new release. Of course, phones and tablets aren’t the only electronic gadgets that can benefit from updated firmware. My Blu-ray player, for example, often uses its internet connection to grab the latest version of its operating system from Sony’s servers, and the DAB radio in my kitchen periodically calls home via Wi-Fi to check if there’s an upgrade available. It’s convenient having devices with their own internet connection, since they can grab the new code by themselves. However, it’s easy to forget that plenty of other, “non-connected” gadgets have embedded firmware, too. Manufacturers often provide updates for these as well (I recently updated the firmware in my washing machine). One area of tech that’s often overlooked for updates is digital cameras. We often connect these to our computers to transfer photos, but people rarely make full use of that connected state to check if a firmware update is available. That’s a real shame, since new firmware often comes with significant improvements, as well as bug fixes. A case in point is Canon’s mirrorless, interchangeable-lens EOS M. At first glance, it looks like a neat bit of kit, but as various reviews – including PC Pro’s (web ID: 380002) – will testify, its appallingly slow autofocus speed lets it down. That’s unfortunate; appalling one-shot focus performance aside, it’s an excellent camera. Think of it as the guts of an EOS 650D – minus the mirror, but with a lens mount with a much shorter flange focal distance. You can also buy an adapter that allows you to mount any Canon or third-party EF or EF-S lens. It might look a little odd having such a tiny camera strapped to the end of a huge lens – my biggest is the Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS zoom – but it works well. That brings me back to firmware. A few weeks ago, Canon released new firmware for

Firmware fettling

In a previous issue, (see issue 213, p77), I covered the pros and cons of updating the firmware on your mobile phone or tablet. In most cases, it’s a good idea, although it’s wise to wait a few days to see if other people have reported problems Canon’s EOS M becomes a great little camera when you update the awful initial firmware

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Mobile & Wireless

the EOS M that completely cures the sluggish focus problem, so it’s now pretty much on a par with all the other mirrorless cameras on the market. However, I wonder how many people realise this update is even available. It totally transforms the camera and makes it far more attractive to anyone with a large collection of Canon lenses. If you’re interested in the EOS M, keep an eye out for bargains on the internet. A couple of weeks before I wrote this column, Park Cameras in Sussex was offering the EOS M, an EF-M 18-55mm kit lens, a Speedlite 90EX mini-flashgun and an EF/EF-M lens mount adapter for £350 (unfortunately, this deal is no longer available). Throw in a £50 cashback

RWC

a small gap between the device and the mount. Then, wrap sugru around the base of the device, the car, and I don’t want overlapping the sides (but power cables trailing all not the corners) so it’s held over the place. They securely but can still be easily were rather bulky, too, removed. Once the sugru has set, with built-in screens simply remove the camera and peel for reviewing the footage. away the cling film. I want something discreet I also performed this procedure around that, above all, doesn’t block the stem that holds my car’s rearview mirror, so my field of view. I now have an unobtrusive place to quickly Thinking slightly outside the box, I and easily mount the Mobius. You could use wondered whether I could adapt one of the a traditional suction-based windscreen mount, new breed of action cameras to work as an which the UK distributor of the Mobius sells in-car recorder. When you think of action quite cheaply, but I much prefer the hidden cams, you probably nature of my setup. picture devices such The camera is very simple, with a lens at as the excellent GoPro one end, a microSDHC card slot and a USB Hero3 or the Drift HD connector at the other, and three buttons and Ghost. Both of these a multicolour LED on the top. It records were still too big and video in 1080p at 30fps, or in 720p at 30fps boxy for me, though. or 60fps, and takes photos at 2,048 x 1,536. I turned my eyes to It also records audio. Usefully, you can reduce the Mobius Action Camera, which you can the video quality if you want to keep the file pick up in the UK for around £60. size down, but that shouldn’t really be a It’s a fantastic device, about the same size problem, since the camera can take 32GB and weight of a car’s central-locking key fob, memory cards (and some users have had but containing a 1080p camera with a highsuccess with 64GB ones). quality, 120-degree lens. The picture quality Of course, using the Mobius as is excellent, and the Mobius adapts well a dashcam is only one possible to bright sunshine and nighttime Gru who? application. As an action driving conditions. Crucially, For anyone who’s never camera, it can be used for it contains a rechargeable heard of it, sugru is a self-setting capturing extreme sports battery that’s good for rubber compound – available in footage when attached to around an hour and a various colours – that’s great for a helmet or bike, or even half of recording time, doing all kinds of repairs. It sticks as a recording platform which is long enough to most surfaces and remains on a remote-controlled for my usual journeys. pliable enough to adjust once set. plane or quadcopter. It’s If I want to record a It’s also a good electrical insulator. a lovely piece of kit with longer trip, I’ll attach It’s replaced Blu-Tack in my IT so many uses. something like the Innergie toolbox as the universal There’s a semi-official PocketCell power source bodge-fix solution. support forum for the camera (see issue 217, p77). at www.pcpro.co.uk/links/229mw, At first, I simply used a bit of where you’ll find plenty of details about Velcro to attach the Mobius to the the hardware, plus links to sample videos, headliner of my car, and it stayed put firmware updates and all kinds of hacks pretty well. However, I was worried it might and mods. There’s even an Android app for fall off, especially if I had a little bump with configuring the device (the alternatives are another car. Eventually I fashioned a removable a GUI app for Windows users or an easily mount out of sugru, a putty similar to editable text file for Linux or Mac users). Play-Doh that sets as a strong, silicone rubber overnight. It’s dead easy to make removable mounts for small gadgets using this magical material. First, cover the device – my Mobius camera, in this case – with a thin layer of cling film to prevent the sugru from sticking to it, making sure to leave The Mobius Action Camera is compact and lightweight

“It’s dead easy to make removable mounts for small gadgets using sugru” promotion from Canon and you’re effectively getting more than £1,000-worth of kit for £300. Of course, nobody in their right mind would pay a grand for that bundle, but at £300 it’s a steal, and a no-brainer for anyone with an investment in Canon glass. I’m sure similar bargains will appear again, so keep your eyes peeled.

Dashcams and self-setting rubber

Speaking of cameras, I’ve been looking at buying a dashcam for my car. If you haven’t come across these devices, go to YouTube and search for “dashcam”; you’ll find lots of videos of people having road traffic accidents, most of them taken in Russia. Apparently, this is because Russia’s law enforcement is so lax (and sometimes corrupt) that whenever such an incident ends up in court, video evidence is often given more weight than dodgy eyewitness’ testimony. As it happens, that’s the reason I’ve been looking at dashcams, too. We were involved in a minor prang recently, and the other party told his insurance company a story that was very different from the event we witnessed. If we’d had video evidence, it would have made the claims process far simpler. If you do a web search or look on eBay, you’ll find all manner of dashboard-mounted cameras. Some of them have GPS positionlogging, accelerometers for crash detection and front- and rear-facing cameras to record what’s going on inside and outside the car. The more sophisticated models cost several hundred quid. The trouble is, I didn’t like anything I saw. Given the title of this column, it should come as no surprise that I prefer gadgets that operate wirelessly. Most of the dashcams I came across require a power connection in

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sugru is brilliant for mending or sticking just about anything


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RWC Online Business

ONLINE BUSINESS

Creating a supportive environment Kevin Partner explains how a low-cost helpdesk system could give your business a boost, elevating it above the corporate competition

KEVIN PARTNER Online businessman and app developer. Runs MakingYour OwnCandles.co.uk and app firm NlightN.co.uk. Email kev@fixedprice website.co.uk

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’m only a half-hearted user of Twitter. It’s filled with vast amounts of meaningless guff; it can be like listening in on the thoughts of the world – and very nasty at times. Call me a hypocrite (@kevpartner, of course), but I use Twitter to broadcast myself, and almost 2,000 people willingly expose themselves to my invective. However, I rarely read tweets written by others, and I don’t tune in when a big story is breaking – the newsworthy needle is usually hidden in the hashtag haystack. So who’d have thought it would prove the best route for getting customer service from big retailers? Recently, a contractor’s digger cut the Virgin Media cable connecting its Portsmouth hub with towns to the north and west, and the first I knew of it was when I couldn’t get online that morning. Virgin Media’s status page was characteristically useless, first acknowledging a fault that would be fixed by 1pm that day, then pushing that back to three days, before a few minutes later claiming there was no fault. Meanwhile, I still had no broadband, so I took to Twitter to vent. I received a response fairly quickly; as a result, I had at least part of the truth an hour or two before the local news media. (Naturally, Virgin’s status page remained in blissful denial.) Over the next few days, the Virgin Media Twitter account provided useful information, far more than their web-based fault-reporting system. This puzzled me – if the company is as committed to customer service as it claims, its first priority should be keeping the paying punters up to date. It’s true that the fault-reporting system requires a working internet connection, but so does Twitter.

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A few weeks later, I had the misfortune of buying something from Argos online, as I wanted to use up my PayPal balance. Argos boasts a commitment to customer service, but that isn’t matched by the online support, which is truly appalling. It begins conventionally enough by issuing a ticket, but each time you reply to a customer service email it opens a new ticket, rather than adding the reply to the existing ticket. The support staff take at least 24 hours to answer each ticket, so you can imagine my frustration. In the end, I emailed them every piece of information they could possibly want, after which I heard nothing at all. Angry though I was, I’d had my interest piqued by my Virgin Media experience, so I tweeted a complaint. Sure enough, Argos responded within minutes with an invitation to direct-message my details. The entire problem was sorted in a brief exchange of messages, a courier was booked and an apology was made. So, why the massive contrast between the online support and Twitter support? There are plenty of robust customer support systems to choose from, yet my experience of the service offered by big corporations – retailers in particular – is universally poor (with the exception of Amazon). Also, Twitter is hardly the ideal support environment, limited as it is to short text messages. What’s more, these retailers must have invested in some fairly powerful technology to enable several Twitter agents to deal with multiple ongoing cases. I don’t think it’s too cynical of me to conclude that retailers are forced to engage with Twitter because of its public nature.

In other words, the very problem that makes Twitter increasingly less useful to me as a social medium makes it excellent for getting helpful customer support. I don’t think these companies worry much that Joe Public might notice angry tweets about poor service among

“Twitter makes companies’ customer service both public and searchable” their Twitter streams, but rather that Twitter makes their customer service both public and searchable. My email to Argos’s support team, on the other hand, was just between the two of us and could be ignored quite safely. It’s sad if some big companies are being forced to embrace Twitter – and good customer service – simply because they fear their practices might otherwise be exposed, but it makes Twitter a useful weapon for angry customers. However, I’m still not convinced it’s a good choice for smaller online businesses. It’s better by far to install an effective, ticket-based support system on your site than to expect customers to vent publicly to attract your

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Online Business

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of which feature in the systems used by most at the handwritten of these corporations. note. Adding a human Zendesk’s sophistication makes it quite touch to the largely difficult to set up, but its biggest drawback is impersonal process that it charges per agent, per month, so it can of buying online become expensive quickly. Ironically, this pays off in better means Zendesk’s pricing structure makes it less feedback and a higher likely you’ll grow your support team, which conversion rate. may impact on service levels. In other words, The same applies the price works against the point of Zendesk. when there’s a problem This is a problem shared by almost all of these with an order, or a site services, and it has a particularly negative effect visitor has a question. on fast-growing businesses. They shouldn’t need WishList Products, the developer of a to resort to Twitter leading WordPress plugin for membership sites, to get an efficient, is one such company. Co-founder Stu McLaren constructive and was facing the prospect of committing an extra timely response – $600 per year, per seat as part of the process of good support should recruiting people to his support team. The best be built into the site. business ideas are often borne out of frustration That said, as your at what’s on offer, so his firm built Rhino business grows, If you want responsive customer service from a big retailer, you Support (www.rhinosupport.com), a helpdesk relying on email as should publicly tweet, rather than privately email system that works the way he wants, rather the primary method of than conforming to industry defaults. dealing with customers becomes cumbersome attention. I’d go so far as to suggest that The temptation when entering any new and time-consuming, particularly at busy times. resorting to Twitter is acknowledging that market is to look at its existing conventions As such, I’ve been looking at off-the-peg your customers don’t trust you enough and automatically adopt them. This might systems that claim to help. to contact you directly. seem like a safe option, but it results in a I’ve often said here that great customer product that disappears into the crowd of service is the ace up the sleeve of small other, longer-established products offering Online help businesses, especially those that trade online – the same thing. What’s more, your customers Spend even a few minutes researching helpdesk at least, it should be. As an online retailer, you probably aren’t familiar with industry services and it won’t be long before you come don’t have the recognition of companies such convention anyway: I had no idea that paying across Zendesk; indeed, I used the system on as Next, Debenhams and Argos, so it’s harder per seat was normal practice for helpdesk www.passyourtheory.org.uk for some time. to make that first sale. One of the reasons the services until I’d researched a few of them. Zendesk boasts the widest range of features conversion rate of the average e-commerce site By choosing a fixed monthly fee, Rhino I’ve seen, and could revolutionise the service is as low as 3% is that customers are frightened Support immediately differentiated itself from provided by retailers such as Argos. For to type their credit card details into any old its competitors. It may not appeal to all buyers, example, even the “Regular” plan includes website; they’re far more likely to trust but they have dozens of alternatives to pick forums, topic suggestions (which finds Debenhams’ site to be secure and not run off from; if fixed pricing does appeal, Rhino is the articles that might match the customer’s with their Visa card number. only game in town. As owners of a growing query) and social media integration, none There are other ways to build trust, including having a worthwhile social media presence, a good payment provider and clear, open policies, but it’s once you’ve made your first sale that you can exploit your small size to increase the chances of selling again to that customer. It baffles me why the big retailers make so little effort to make subsequent sales: only Amazon is any good at it, and even then its approach is scattergun. The biggest turn-off for repeat customers is feeling that they’re being treated with disinterest, or even contempt, by the company they’ve bought from. Smaller online businesses can differentiate themselves by offering truly personal attention, both during the ordering process and when things go wrong. At my online retailer, we add a handwritten personal note to every order, thanking the customer for buying from us and, where appropriate, commenting on their choice or wishing them success. We do this because, despite having shipped around 15,000 orders, we still get a thrill when people buy from us. It costs nothing and may seem trivial, but I’ve lost count of the customers who come back to review their purchase and mention their delight Zendesk provides better customer service than most big corporations

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online business themselves, the creators of Rhino Support made the crucial realisation that their customers like to know what price they’re committing themselves to. If I sign up to the Pro product, for example, I’ll pay the same even if I double my number of support staff. We decided to sign up for a 45-day trial of the Solo membership, with the intention of upgrading to Pro when our silly season starts in October. Setup was simple, and you can build the helpdesk right into your site as a JavaScript-

which makes it possible to keep customer notes and reassign and close the ticket. You can also add a contact form to your site to replace any existing “get in touch” form, and set up Rhino Support to generate a ticket whenever an email arrives at your support address. The product includes a built-in knowledgebase that should enable visitors to discover the most common answers themselves (once you’ve worked out what your customers tend to ask, that is). Similarly, you can create “canned responses” to frequently asked questions that get through to the support staff, which enables them to pick from a list of responses, rather than retype the same answer over and again. Incidentally, if you find yourself using canned responses and knowledgebase articles frequently, you should look at the information you’re providing about these topics, since it suggests there’s something many customers misunderstand. Finally, Rhino Support includes live chat, which is both useful and simple to disable (so visitors won’t be frustrated when you’re offline). For an online retailer, being able to switch

“If fixed pricing does appeal, Rhino Support is the only game in town” driven tab. When a visitor clicks on the tab, a contact form pops up that automatically injects a new ticket into the system. The support staff are notified via email, using rule-based filters that make it more likely an appropriate member of staff will see the query first. Subsequent email replies are added to the same ticket (are you reading this, Argos?) so the entire conversation takes place within your email client. There’s also a nicely designed control panel interface,

Backup broadband Every online business needs reliable broadband. I’ve been tempted by business packages, but I can’t stomach the higher prices and lower speeds on offer compared to consumer versions. For the past few years I’ve subscribed to the fastest provider in my area at the time, which until recently was Virgin Media. Overall, this has worked out well – after all, merely having a business account won’t help when you lose your connection for several days because a contractor has dug through the cable… However, it’s as important to have a backup plan for your broadband as it is for your data. After dallying with several approaches, I’ve settled on one that employs Three’s mobile data network. Our home offices have a wired network complete with NAS devices and several workstations, so I opted for a router we can drop into place. If the main connection drops out, I can replace the Virgin Media router with the backup and all will work as before, albeit more slowly. I chose the TP-Link TL-MR3220, since it features a USB slot in the back that accepts

a mobile broadband dongle – a quick Ethernet lead shuffle is all that’s needed to switch. This all swung into action during the recent outage, and once I’d established it was going to be several days before the Virgin Media service would be running again, I dropped in the TP-Link, fed the USB dongle with a £10 Three SIM card and 3GB of data and we picked up where we left off. I’ll confess to being smug about how well it worked – until the next morning when Three suffered a rare nationwide outage and rendered my backup plan useless. I was saved by my Giffgaff plan’s generous data allowance – I spent the morning working from a tethered Nexus 4 – but it left us without a connected network for a few hours. A couple of months later, we relocated our offices and the TP-Link worked perfectly as a stand-in while we waited for BT to install Infinity. Indeed, the sorts of speeds we were achieving over 3G would have had my mouth watering a few years ago, when I was struggling to squeeze 2Mbits/sec from an ADSL line. The moral of the story? When your livelihood depends on an internet connection, have a backup – and a backup for that backup. One day, it will happen. Our TP-Link router allows us to easily switch between connections

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Rhino Support needs to make it possible for us to customise the contact form

to live chat when you know a customer is browsing your site not only helps you instantly handle support queries, but also helps you manage other kinds of communication – it’s the electronic equivalent of discreetly standing alongside a customer as they select something. Rhino Support currently handles communications on my retail site that would previously have been dealt with via email and contact forms. However, as I write, it’s still on trial, since I have a few concerns. First, the contact form employs a slider that the user must drag across to submit queries (and, as if that weren’t wacky enough, the slider appears right next to a Submit button that does nothing). Now, I understand the need to deter automated spamming, but I’d prefer the option of a CAPTCHA test, and I suspect this idiosyncratic mechanism will actually provoke support issues of its own. Fortunately, our business has been around long enough that we know how many support queries to expect; if this drops substantially, we’ll suspect the worst. I’m also frustrated that I can’t customise our support page as much as I’d like. I’m sure more options will be added as the product matures, but I can’t even add a logo at this point, despite Rhino Support’s website claiming I can. I’d also like to be able to customise the contact form itself, not only to remove that stupid slider but also to get rid of an ill-conceived stock photo of a woman who looks as though she’s been sawn in half. Of these issues, the slider is the one most likely to scupper Rhino Support (when I find myself considering writing a knowledgebase article about how to submit a ticket, it’s probably time to consider other options). So far, our experience has been very positive, but the biggest test will come during our busy period in the run-up to Christmas. Our task at the moment is to decide whether Rhino Support, or one of its competitors, will contribute both to our bottom line and reducing our stress levels when all hands are on deck.

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SECURITY & SOCIAL NETWORKING

Facebook Graph Search privacy syndrome Davey Winder is sick of paranoia over Facebook’s privacy settings, and finds a way to revert Gmail to the classic settings

DAVEY WINDER Award-winning journalist and smallbusiness consultant specialising in privacy and security issues. Email davey@happygeek. com; follow him @happygeek on Twitter

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t was back in January that Mark Zuckerberg revealed plans for Facebook Graph Search, and the functionality has been rolling out in dribs and drabs since. By the time you read this, the vast majority of the site’s 1.1 billion or so members will be using it, and there are concerns about the privacy implications. The fear factor has been amplified by a number of hoax messages that have been doing the rounds, the latest of which has morphed from being about the Graph Search to a “Graph App” and now a “Graphic App”. Apparently, this comes at the same time as Facebook is changing global privacy configurations so that anyone searching with the app will be able to see your photos, likes and comments, no matter where they are posted. The workaround – Facebook won’t let you opt out, if you believe the hoax – is to hover over a friend’s icon on your timeline and jump through a number of pointless hoops to disable what’s shown on your feed. Actually, all that will happen is you won’t be able to see

further. If you want something to remain totally private and unseen, don’t post it on Facebook (or any other social network or online forum); if you don’t want Graph Search scraping up everything you’ve posted for anyone to see, make sure your privacy settings are configured accordingly. Sure, Graph Search makes it easier for people to search for stuff – including your stuff – but it doesn’t change who that stuff is visible to. If you’ve locked down your privacy settings, Graph Search won’t see your posts, photos or anything else. Information is king, and on social networks information about your friends and what they’ve been up to is valuable, so any method of searching it more effectively – I have to admit I haven’t yet been able to use Graph Search, so I

“If you’ve locked down your privacy settings, Graph Search won’t see anything” much of what your friends are doing – all the stuff you joined Facebook for, in fact. These hoaxes are annoying, since they generate paranoia about the world seeing everything that you post on Facebook. So, let’s get a couple of things straight before going any

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can’t report back on real-world usage – has to be a good thing. As a vegan with a whole network of vegan Facebook friends, I can’t wait to be able to ask Facebook which restaurants they’ve been visiting, for example. The key point from a privacy perspective is that these friends should be aware this information can be found, and by whom. I’m not sure Facebook is doing a sufficient job of getting this message across, my evidence being the number of hoaxes that have appeared in the Timelines of friends who are usually sensible. So let me help you out: if you use Facebook and are worried about what data the Graph Search will reveal, and to whom, stop right now. I don’t mean stop using Facebook, as some of the tinfoil-hat brigade have been suggesting, but stop worrying. The “who” is whoever you’ve already chosen to share things with: post a photo and set it to “only me” and only you can find it, even in a Graph Search;


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be the cause of much debate, with opinion split evenly between “at last, I can use my inbox” and “my inbox has become unusable”. I liked the old Priority Inbox system, since it meant I could see all the important and unread stuff at the top of my mail pile each day, but that at-aglance view vanished as soon as the new It’s time-consuming, but you can remove your tags from searchable photos with relative ease tabs came into play. That’s rather at odds with Google’s promise of a redesigned set it to “friends” and only your friends can see inbox that “puts you back in control” and is it. If you’re not sure of the audience settings for “organised in a way that lets you see what’s stuff already posted, you can review them at new at a glance and decide which emails you any time and change the settings per post. want to read when”. Instead, I feel out of If someone else has posted a photo of you, control and unable to see what I want to. The it’s more difficult. You’ll have to ask them to problem is the way Google determines which remove it, or report it as a violation of some emails end up in which folders, and the fact sort, but that’s how it’s always been. Stories there’s no way to choose how the messages are about people scraping millions of phone displayed within the folders. At first glance, it numbers and email addresses from graph makes sense, with five tabs available – Primary, searches into a database are headline-grabbing Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums. sensationalism – there’s no real story, since Primary contains the stuff Google thinks these details must have been in the public you really want to read, or “person-to-person domain in the first place. I recommend, as I’ve conversations”, as it calls them. Social houses recommended many times before, that everyone things from social networks and media-sharing checks their privacy settings – right now. and online dating sites (so a mouse-over dialog informs me). This is where things start to go wrong, and not only because I don’t use dating sites. To me, “social” and “person-to-person” conversations are one and Click on the cog icon at the top of the the same: there isn’t enough differentiation to Facebook screen and select Privacy Settings. start dividing them into such broad-stroke Now you can lock down who can see your categories. Indeed, the Social tab contains future posts and, importantly, apply the same nothing but dozens of notifications of friend settings to previous posts that were shared with requests on LinkedIn and “you’ve been tagged friends of friends or the public (although people in a post on Facebook”-type messages. tagged in posts, and their friends, will still see Surely these should be filtered into Updates, them). You can also restrict who’s able to search which is meant to contain “auto-generated for you using the email address or telephone number associated with your account. Photos, and photos you’ve been tagged in, present more of a task. You can review these by clicking on the Activity Log from your timeline and selecting photos of yourself, then using the dropdown on each photo to review the tags one at a time. There you go – Facebook Graph Search panic over, before most of us have been granted access to the thing…

“The Social tab contains nothing but notifications of friend requests on LinkedIn”

updates including confirmations”? (As it happens, that tab seems to contain a mishmash of purchase confirmations, newsletters, press releases and event invites, most of which I want to see in my Primary folder.) There’s a way to filter them yourself, by “starring” messages one by one and ticking the configuration checkbox that says “include starred in Primary”, but while that may give me back a measure of control, it isn’t intuitive and it misses the point, since I need to have found the message already. Whatever intelligence – and I use that word in a loose sense – Google is applying to email to sort it into these folders, it’s missing something. The Promotions folder is supposedly where all the deals, offers and marketing rubbish goes, although I’d have hoped all three could have been directed to my Spam folder, where they belong. Having talked to many people about this during the past month, I’m convinced that if users were allowed to rename the tabs, Promotions would be labelled Spam 2. Anyway, guess what? My Promotions folder isn’t full of rubbish, but rather important press releases and announcements from organisations I belong to, all helpfully mixed up with the aforementioned detritus. The same kind of organisational announcements and press releases also appear in my Forums folder, which claims to be messages from discussion boards and mailing groups. I can imagine this confusion being caused by some PR agencies and organisations, which quite sensibly employ mailing lists to send out their communications. Gmail appears to think it knows best, and as is often the way with such machine-driven dumbness, proves it isn’t. Apparently, you can correct such misfiltering by dragging and dropping every wrongly categorised message into the folder you think most appropriate, at which point a dialog will appear asking whether you want all further communications from that sender to appear in the new folder. Since this appears to be done by implementing a whitelist based on the senders’ details, it won’t prevent similar categorisation errors relating to other senders. In other words, it’s no long-term fix. As you should have gathered by now, the filtering mechanism Gmail is employing with

Fixing an unsocial Gmail inbox

If you’re a Gmail user, you should be experiencing the new tabbed system that’s been rolled out to inboxes over the past few months. Whether or no it’s a good experience seems to

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Warning: switching inbox tabs back on can seriously damage your social wellbeing

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Security & Social

With only a few clicks, Gmail usability nirvana can be restored

if you want to keep your folder display intact. Even more problematic is the fact that unread messages, which many of us (including yours truly) leave unread to flag for later, simply vanish from view as the folder fills up. The tabs indicate if any new messages have arrived, but nothing shows how many unread messages there are. Unless I scroll through five tabs, I no longer have any idea how many unread messages I have to deal with. Explain to me again how this is meant to save me time and bring my inbox under control? categorised folders. What I’d want to see at Ah – hold on, that isn’t quite true. If you a glance within those folders – and I imagine click on the Categories dropdown hidden at most people feel the same – is the most the bottom of the menu on the left of the important and unread messages. Google screen, the folder names appear with an evidently knows how to achieve this, since unread count beside them, but personally I it introduced such a system via the Priority find such interface inconsistency counterInbox feature almost exactly three years ago. intuitive. All in all, I think this new interface This rather cleverly extended the reach of its removes functionality, rather than adds it, and already-efficient spam-filtering algorithm to despite the second tab sitting there shouting to separate the email wheat from automated the contrary, it makes Gmail a far less social chaff. Automatically generated messages email system than it used to be. and list-based stuff were weighted as less Thankfully, it’s possible to unravel all this important than email from people you madness in only a few clicks. If you replied to regularly, for example. click on the cog icon in the top Straight out of the box, this right and select the Configure system started working I don’t Inbox option, you can for me, flagging some like Mondays uncheck all the folder messages as important Ask any security outfit that monitors options, which will and enabling me to see malware, and they’ll tell you there’s a cause your inbox to them at the top of my spike – up to 200% – every Monday. The revert back to the inbox. If I didn’t agree researchers reckon the explanation is that classic view. Now, with the weighting, all the laptops that have been taken home head to the opposite Gmail allowed me to over the weekend are plugged back in side of the screen and click a “-” flag to and drop off all their malware. The good click the dropdown remove a message news is the detection spike is just that – the arrow to the right of from the important malware is detected and dealt with. Inbox (which shows list; likewise, if it missed The bad news is for companies your unread count); something important, I whose networks aren’t here, you can select from could click a “+” and add so proactively protected. Important First, Unread First, it. The really clever bit was Starred First or my choice, Priority that the filter learned from these Inbox, which displays important and mistakes, so within a month, I hardly unread mail first. The first option, Default, ever had to touch those flags. will take you back into the folder view, so All that’s changed with the tabbed inbox. you might want to avoid hitting that. Important messages no longer float to the top The irony of all this is that tabs – an attempt within individual folders, and everything is to enable better visual traversing of the email thrown at you in date-received order. There’s maze – are unnecessary anyway, since Gmail no option to configure yourself out of this hell this tabbed inbox system is, in my opinion and experience, far from smart; indeed, it’s broken. But that isn’t even my biggest gripe. You need to look at the way messages are displayed within the folders to understand that. For the sake of argument, let’s say all my emails were being sorted into the appropriately

“Important messages no longer float to the top within individual folders”

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has had a much more flexible and user-friendly system to do just that for a long time, in the shape of labels. When labels were introduced, there was some online whinging about Gmail not adopting a tabbed approach like other email clients. Google responded by suggesting that labels were better as they allowed the flexibility of attaching multiple labels to a single message. As it turns out, labels are better than Gmail’s new implementation of folders, too, because they’re user-configurable to boot. Creating labels is easy enough, although like everything in Gmail, they require a bit of time to start with. In the left-hand menu, click on More at the bottom, then scroll down to reveal the last option, Create New Label. You can choose the name for the new label itself, as well as its parent label, should you wish to nest them for easier sorting. Adding labels to messages is simple, too: tick the checkbox next to any message you want to apply a label to, then drag it to that label in the list. The dropdown arrow next to the label name lets you apply a colour to that label, so that all the messages in your inbox listing associated with that label are clearly identifiable. And, of course, a click on the label name in the list itself will show you all mail with that label. If you want a truly social email experience, don’t be fooled into thinking that Gmail folders are the answer – just go for the old Priority Inbox option, coupled with the sensible application of labels.

An organisational function for Gmail has always been there, in the form of labels


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OFFICE APPLICATIONS

PowerPivot essentials: part II Simon Jones guides you through more PowerPivot features, and looks at how to validate phone numbers and translate them into E.164

SIMON JONES An independent IT consultant specialising in Office Automation, Visual Basic and SQL Server. He lives up a mountain in Wales. Email simon. [email protected]

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ast month I wrote about getting started with PowerPivot for Excel (see issue 228, p88), which lets you quickly analyse large amounts of data. I looked at importing data; creating relationships between data tables; creating hierarchies and calendars; and also how you can easily add measures using functions such as SUM() and AVERAGE() in the calculation area at the bottom of the Data View. I also explained how to include a Calendar table in your PowerPivot model, either one you had built yourself or one imported from Azure Marketplace. The Calendar table is important for several reasons. It allows you to work with your own fiscal years, quarters, months and weeks, where these differ from the Gregorian calendar. It also guarantees you’ll still have a row in your Pivot Tables or Reports where there’s no data for that period. This is important if you want to

SUM() or COUNT(), and name them. For this month’s example, I’m going to work with a set of restaurant inspections from the King County health department in Washington. The data is available on the web at www.pcpro.co.uk/links/229oa. If you wanted to know how many inspections are performed in each period or on each establishment, you’d need a measure such as this one:

“PowerPivot makes short work of creating interesting datasets you can explore interactively” positively report a zero for a period rather than miss it out; skipping from April to June only because there’s no data for May isn’t normally a good idea, and also makes it impossible to compare periods from one year to the last. This is where you need to be creative with DAX functions in the calculation area at the bottom of the Data View. Last month I showed how you can add simple functions such as

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Inspection Count:=COUNTA([Name])

In this example, [Name] is the first column in the data, and happens to contain the restaurant name. The COUNTA() function counts non-blank data values. Now, if you wanted to know how this compared to last year’s performance, you could use two other

functions, CALCULATE() and SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR(), like this: Prior Year Count:= CALCULATE([Inspection Count],SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR(Calendar[DateK ey]))

The CALCULATE() function in this instance takes two arguments, the first being the expression you want to calculate, the second a filter using the SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR() function and passing it the date key column from your Calendar table. This does all the hard work: you’ll get the numbers you want whichever way you slice or dice the data. This is one of the great things about PowerPivot – you don’t have to code for every possible data-analysis approach. You only have to provide the dimensions and measures so your users can combine them however they want. When you’re entering formulae, you’ll see IntelliSense tooltips designed to help you pick functions and values and get their syntax right.

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right-click Total Violation Points and choose Create KPI from the menu. In the KPI dialog, you can say how you want this KPI to appear; you want it calculated from Prior Year Points, so select that in the Calculated Field dropdown. If you wanted a more complicated calculation, you’d add it as a separate measure before creating the KPI. You want lower scores to mean better, so select the green, Prior Year Count:=IF([Inspection yellow and red colour Count]=BLANK(), Defining KPIs in PowerPivot pits one measure against another scheme (bottom right BLANK(),CALCULATE([Inspection Count],SAM in the thresholds box) EPERIODLASTYEAR(Calendar[DateKey]))) Excel’s modern table syntax, but sufficiently and set the thresholds to 90% and 120% – you different that you’ll need to take some time to can either drag the markers or type in their Now you won’t get a spurious previous learn how to do things neatly and efficiently. boxes. So, if you manage to reduce this year’s figure if the current figure is blank, and the However, once you’ve grasped the basics, you violation points to 90% of last year’s value, resulting data will make more sense. You can can easily create good-looking models for you’ll see a green marker; if you’re between make other measures from this data such as: others to play with. If you find a need to move 90% and 120% of last year’s value, you’ll see a up to a more powerful environment, your yellow marker; and if you’re over 120% of last Total Violation Points:=SUM([Violation PowerPivot models and knowledge can be year’s value, you’ll see a red marker. Points]) moved almost seamlessly into SQL Server It’s worth noting that these standard icons Analysis Services, since it uses the same are filled circles, which are no good for the And: language and data storage engine. 4.5% of people who are colour-blind. If you’re using red/yellow/green icons, it’s best to choose Prior Year Points:=IF([Total Violation ones that have different shapes or symbols, too. Points]=BLANK(), BLANK(), Phone number validation When you click OK on the dialog, the CALCULATE([Total Violation Points], SAME We’re building a new line-of-business system for measure is given a traffic-light symbol to show PERIODLASTYEAR(Calendar[DateKey]))) one of our customers, and need to migrate tens it’s a KPI. Whenever you use this measure in a of thousands of contact records, along with PivotTable, you can choose whether to see its If you wanted to compare measures to address and phone-number information. The value, target or status, which is the appropriate a target, you could set up Key Performance client has requested the system has validation icon from the set you selected for the KPI. Indicators (KPIs). Say, for example, you wanted for the phone numbers, and translates them PowerPivot makes short work of creating to attempt to achieve a 10% reduction in into the international E.164 format. interesting datasets that you can explore violation points every year. You can create a The E.164 format shows what you need to interactively. The DAX language is very KPI on the Total Violation Points measure dial to reach that phone from any other phone powerful, and similar in many respects to based on the Prior Year Points. To do this, on the planet. All the different telco regulators specify how phone numbers must work within their respective jurisdictions, but E.164 is the overarching standard. If you write your number in that format, anyone will be able to call you, no matter where they’re phoning from. To understand E.164, you have to understand the anatomy of a phone number. The basic subscriber number is the last part, and it can be anywhere from three to 11 digits long (sometimes longer). Before that comes the area code, which may or may not include a trunk prefix – that is, a digit or two that tells the phone system you’re dialling a number on a different exchange. In the UK, we use the trunk prefix 0, but we lie to ourselves by pretending this is part of the area code. It isn’t, as you’ll see when you format a UK phone number in the E.164 format – you drop the initial zero. Before the area code is the country code – Is food hygiene getting better or worse in King County? 44 for the UK, 61 for Australia, 353 for Ireland It isn’t immediately obvious, but if you press the Tab key it will automatically complete the words shown highlighted in the list of choices; if you started typing a table name, PowerPivot will show you the list of all tables and fields with the names that match what you’ve typed so far. Press the Up or Down arrow keys to move to the one you want, then press Tab to accept it. If you looked at a PivotTable of the King County hygiene-inspection data, you’d see rows for 2006 to 2014, which looks a little strange. The rows for next year are included because PowerPivot calculates the Prior Year Count for 2014 from the 2013 data. If you want to remove this – and you probably do – change the formula to include this simple IF() function:

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and so on. Virtually every country in the world has only one country code, but a few places have two or three, usually because they’re in the process of changing from one country code to another, or because their phone service is provided by two or more neighbouring countries. Finally, at the beginning is the exit code, which is the number you need to dial to tell the exchange that you’re dialling an international number. The exit code differs according to where in the world you’re calling from – it’s 00 in most of Europe, but 011 in the United States, for example – and E.164 specifies that you replace the exit code with a plus sign to cope with such variations. Mobile phones actually let you enter a “+” as part of the number and will send it to the mobile service to which you’re connected to force it to dial the correct exit code. So, if your UK number was 01234 123456, the correct way to write this in E.164 format is +44 1234 123456: the plus sign replaces the exit code; 44 is the country code for the UK; 1234 is the area code (minus the trunk prefix, 0); and 123456 is the subscriber number. Note there are no brackets in an E.164 number, and you don’t put a zero in brackets between the country code and the area code. If you wrote it as +44 (0) 1234 123456, any call to that number would fail. Don’t do it; don’t let anyone you know do it; stop van drivers in the street and tell them the number on their van is wrong.

Image: Wikimedia


The world coloured according to the first digit of country codes

Countries table to include not only the ISO Country code (US, GB, FR, DE and so on) but also its dialling code (1, 44, 33, 49 and so on). This way, we can check that the phone number starts with a plus and the appropriate dialling code for that country. We also need to know whether the country uses a trunk prefix that should be removed from the E.164 format. The most common trunk prefix is 0, but you’ll also find 1 (North America), 8 (Russia and its former republics) and 06 (Hungary). Most countries that use a trunk prefix expect it to be removed if you’re dialling from outside the country, but there are exceptions, such as Italy, where the trunk prefix should be dialled as part of the This misuse is a crime against international area code both within and outside Italy. Italians telephony, far worse than when you see have to dial all the digits of their area code London phone numbers written as 0207 123 and subscriber number, but to confuse matters 4567 or (0207) 123 4567. The area code for further, Italian mobile numbers start with a 3, London is 020: if you’re within the city, you not 03. So, although Italy officially has a trunk need to dial eight digits to reach another prefix of 0, its telephone numbering scheme London number, for example 7123 4567. works as if it didn’t. Similarly, Cardiff’s area code is 029, and all its This is effectively the same as the North subscriber numbers are 20XX XXXX. They American Numbering Plan (NANP), which should never be written as (02920) XXXXXX, covers the USA, Canada and many Caribbean but rather (029) 20XX XXXX or E.164 format islands. The trunk prefix for these countries is +44 29 20XX XXXX. If you’re in Cardiff, you nominally 1, but this is also the country need to dial eight digits to get to another code – or the first part of the Cardiff number, which is why the Spaced country code for the islands – so 20 is part of the subscriber There’s no way to know dialling a trunk call from one number, not the area code. the correct or usual spacing area to another requires you To get back to our of the area and subscriber to dial the 1, even if the area original problem – how to codes in a phone number, since is in a different country. You validate the phone numbers these vary so much. We’re just only have to dial the exit – we need to know from having to assume that the user code (011) if you’re dialling where in the world a typed them in correctly. It won’t a number outside the NANP particular phone number make any difference when area. As such, dialling a hails. Luckily, all the it comes to dialling the number in the Bahamas, information we’re supplied number anyway. country code +1 242, from with for each contact contains Jamaica, country code +1 876, a country, so we can extend the

“To understand E.164, you have to understand the anatomy of a phone number”

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requires you to dial 1 242 XXXXXXX, just as you would if you were dialling from Chicago to the Bahamas or New York to Baltimore. As far as E.164 formatting is concerned, there’s essentially no trunk prefix in NANP countries – the trunk is part of the country code. Having investigated all cases of trunk prefixes in use today, I can only find three countries that have a trunk prefix but don’t want it to be removed for inward dialling from abroad: Italy, San Marino and Vatican City. All three are run by the Italian telephone regulator, and as far as E.164 formatting is concerned, work as though there were no trunk prefix. To validate a phone number and transform it into E.164 format, we just need to know the country and follow a few simple rules: • Remove all dashes and brackets from the number; • If the number starts with “00” or “00”, remove these and substitute a plus sign; • If it now doesn’t start with a plus sign and the correct dialling code for the country, add these elements; • If it starts with a plus sign and the wrong country code, correct this code. In any case, we let the user know we’ve changed the data and that they should check the changes are correct. If the country employs a trunk prefix and we find it immediately after the country code, we remove it. The rest of the number we leave alone, since – short of making a trial phone call – there’s little more we can do to validate a phone number during data processing. Following this procedure at least means the numbers are all shown in a consistent format, which makes it easier to spot mistakes visually, and also means unified messaging systems that let you click to dial phone numbers are more likely to work. Also, if this information is synced to your mobile phone, you’ll be able to dial that number no matter where you are in the world.

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Web Apps & Design

RWC

WEB APPS & DESIGN

Clouded judgement Tom Arah gets to grips with the new apps on Adobe’s Creative Cloud, and wonders whether the new subscription strategy is best for all

TOM ARAH Set up his Edinburghbased design company in 1987. As well as design work, he provides training and consultancy. Email tomarah@ designer-info.com

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’ve devoted several columns to the way Adobe is coping with the rise of mobile and HTML5 and the decline of Flash. They’ve included coverage of the new Creative Cloud (CC) software model (see issue 219, p97) and Edge applications (see issue 225, p93), and I hope that these have helped to explain what these seismic changes mean for users. Even so, Adobe’s recent launch of the CC applications still managed to shock me. The most obvious change is a new Creative Cloud desktop app – a simple tabbed dialog quickly accessible from the status bar. In future, this is where you’ll control cloud-based file syncing and folder sharing, and download fonts from Adobe’s Typekit collection for local and web use. Since these functions aren’t ready yet, the Files and Fonts tabs are merely holding pages, which makes this new front-end feel distinctly ramshackle. In the end, though, the software on the Apps tab is what Creative Cloud is all about. Despite all the cloudy terminology, CC programs don’t actually run remotely in a browser, but are

publishing tools such as InDesign and the Digital Publishing Suite, all the way to the market-defining graphics applications Illustrator and Photoshop. For professional designers, having access to all of these top-of-the-range tools is crucial. That said, Adobe hasn’t quite opened up its entire creative armoury – the web tools Captivate and RoboHelp aren’t included, which is a disappointment. So which dedicated web tools are included? The CC desktop app has a dropdown that filters by category, so you can view, say, Audio/Video or Publishing. If you select the Web category, be ready for a shock. For the past eight years, Adobe’s whole strategy has revolved around Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash, the veteran web tools it acquired by taking over Macromedia. Sure enough, a new CC version of Dreamweaver appears on the list, but that appears to be all. In fact, both Flash and Fireworks are still there, but only just. Fireworks is still available to download, but it hasn’t been updated – it’s the old CS6 version. Fans may hope this is a temporary

“Adobe has quietly announced that Fireworks is no longer being actively developed” downloaded and installed locally. This means you’re running the full desktop versions just as you’ve always done (so you don’t need to worry about internet connection speed or downtime). The creative power on offer is extraordinary, with dozens of CC apps and supporting services that range from video-production tools – centred around Premiere Pro and After Effects – through print and electronic

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measure and that a new CC version is in the pipeline, but it isn’t. Adobe has quietly announced that Fireworks is no longer being actively developed. The argument is that Illustrator and Photoshop already provide all the vector- and bitmap-handling power you could possibly need. This really doesn’t wash – Fireworks’ great strength was mixing vectors, pixels and multipage layouts within a streamlined and dedicated web-orientated workflow, and it will be sorely missed by web designers. So how about Flash? Again, you can still download the app-orientated Flash Builder, but it’s no longer being actively developed. There is at least a new CC version of Flash Professional but, significantly, it’s no longer listed under the Web category, but under Gaming. This may seem odd considering that the Flash Player still supplies state-of-the-art rich content to a cross-platform audience of more than a billion across all desktop browsers, and remains the only way to reliably deliver such content (including video) to pre-HTML5 browsers. The thing is, as plugin-free tablets and smartphones become increasingly ubiquitous, Flash has much to offer in terms of producing standalone native apps, but has no future


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RWC Web Apps & Design

dramatically improve graphical formatting options (in supporting browsers). This new CC release adds further important advances such as non-linear motion paths, reusable templates and the option to link to the necessary JavaScript animation libraries through a CDN. After two years of active development, Edge Animate is finally production-ready Edge Muse provides a wysiwyg approach to rich web design and able to create reasonably rich awkwardly cutting and pasting CSS code and interactive HTML animations natively snippets to gain any benefit. via JavaScript and CSS3. However, there’s There’s one other new web application that still a long way to go before Edge Animate is ready for serious use, and that’s Adobe Muse and HTML5 are mature enough to provide CC. I plan to look at Muse in more detail in a the sort of power and universality that future column, but its central idea is to enable Flash users used to take for granted. you to create engaging design-rich sites, in a Edge Animate CC fully wysiwyg environment, without writing may be leading the a single line of code. What’s more, a CC charge of Adobe’s new subscription comes with free hosting for up to Flash-free, HTML5five basic websites on Adobe’s Business Catalyst based web strategy, but platform (complete with new support for simple it’s only the beginning. in-browser editing by your customers). Muse Equally vital to will be an absolute godsend to many of Adobe’s Adobe’s vision are two traditionally code-phobic, print-orientated other Edge tools: Edge Reflow, which provides and CreateJS is a sticking plaster rather than a designers, who can now translate their graphic a fully visual approach to responsive page panacea. For the long term, it makes far more design skills directly into websites. Muse CC design; and Edge Code, which provides a sense to use a dedicated HTML5 tool. This has many strengths, but it’s largely irrelevant to streamlined IDE for coders. I’ve looked at both is where Edge Animate CC comes in. Adobe’s existing web professionals who need to of these programs in past issues, too, and again I tested a preview release of Edge Animate be able to get in and directly handle their code. their longer-term potential is strong. However, (see issue 221, p97) with mixed feelings, but This brings us back full circle to Dreamweaver. the bottom line is that both are only previews things have moved on: the recent introduction and nowhere near ready for production use – of web font support means you no longer have Edge Reflow doesn’t even provide the ability to to import graphics to employ typographically What’s new? export projects to HTML/CSS, so you’re left rich text, while gradients and CSS filters What does the new Dreamweaver CC have to offer? That depends on whether or not you’re already a CC subscriber. If you aren’t, all the features Adobe has rolled out to CC members since the last CS6 release will be new to you – including enhancements to media handling; improved fluid grid layouts that intelligently adapt to different screen sizes; a wider range of jQuery form and page elements; and web font support – which, taken together, help you to exploit HTML5’s growing design power. Even better is the tight integration with Adobe’s cloud-based support services: PhoneGap Build (free for CC subscribers) lets you convert your HTML5 projects into standalone apps compatible with both Android and iOS devices, and Edge Inspect (again, free for CC subscribers) lets you preview your work across multiple connected devices. So what does the new CC release offer over and above these? The highlight is undoubtedly the reworking of Dreamweaver’s CSS capability. Flash Professional CC can output projects directly to HTML5 – but don’t expect too much A new full-sized CSS Designer panel lets you producing rich browser content. Adobe’s main mission for its web users is therefore to help them transfer their existing skills (and clients) into this new HTML5-only era. With that in mind, perhaps the most welcome new feature in Flash Professional CC is its ability to output even the most complex timelines and script-driven animations as full high-definition video and audio, with no dropped frames. This is a useful workaround, but outputting Flash projects as video clearly isn’t ideal: you lose the efficiency and scalability of vectors and, more importantly, the possibility of interactivity. So how do you convert your interactive Flash projects to HTML5? Flash Professional CC now has the CreateJS extension built in, complete with enhanced support for buttons, hit areas and motion curves. For simple projects, this means that Flash Professional CC can now output directly to either SWF/ ActionScript for Flash-enabled desktop browsers, or as bitmap/JavaScript for mobile. However, it’s important to realise that this can go only so far. The bottom line is that Flash and HTML5 are very different beasts,

“Muse will be a godsend to many of Adobe’s code-phobic, print-orientated designers”

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Web Apps & Design

create and see all of your page’s CSS sources, media queries and selectors: select an element and all CSS rules that affect it are computed and listed so you can change their formatting directly, and visually where possible, in the Properties pane. Here, Dreamweaver’s Design View updates immediately, and Live View updates as you drag. There are still rough edges and it isn’t as visual or simple as working with Edge Reflow’s fully live HTML5 design surface, but it’s a major step forwards. The problem is that it’s the only major step forwards. When Adobe launched CC, it talked about giving early access to new functionality over and above the traditional 6, 6.5, 7 release schedule. Instead, it looks as though the CC will instead see a constant stream of minor point releases, with far less focus on those eye-catching new functions designed to persuade standalone users to upgrade. It isn’t only Dreamweaver CC – the whole CC suite feels strangely lacklustre, with even Photoshop CC lacking any standout headline-grabbers. In fact, Dreamweaver CC does offer one more major new feature – the streamlining of its interface. As the Dreamweaver team blog puts it: “We have begun to identify and remove parts of the application that are redundant. We have already removed ten panels, 14 dialog boxes, and 62 menu items.” The problem is that many of Dreamweaver’s existing users disagree strongly with Adobe’s decisions as to which features are no longer required: dropping the Spry panel in favour of the new jQuery

RWC

the Edge Reflow and Edge Code previews are practically useless as they stand; and while Edge Animate does now provide an HTML5 alternative to Flash, it’s still only a pale imitation. This leaves the veteran Dreamweaver carrying the flag into the new HTML5 era (for which it was never designed), and with a new version that adds only one major feature for The main advance in Dreamweaver CC is the CSS Designer panel existing CC users, and loses many more. and upgrades. From now on, all CC apps and Put this all together and the new CC future versions will be available only through suite hardly looks a compelling proposition annual and monthly subscriptions, either to for professional web designers, but this needs the full CC suite (currently £47 inc VAT per to be put into perspective. Five years ago, month), or on an individual app basis (with Adobe didn’t expect us to be where we are Dreamweaver currently £18 inc VAT per today. Back then, the web was defined by the month, and Muse £14). ten-year-old HTML4.1 and CSS2.1 standards, Adobe says that the CC is a runaway and for web professionals wanting to push the success, with such high approval ratings that envelope, the obvious – indeed only – solution this is the natural next step. I don’t agree. was Flash. By acquiring Dreamweaver, For many users subscription is a superb Fireworks and Flash, Adobe effectively option, but for many others it isn’t. Many bought the design-rich web. However, the web designers are only really interested in advent of the Flash-free, HTML5-only iPad Dreamweaver for creating their code and changed the picture almost overnight. pages, and Fireworks for creating their Seen in this light, Adobe has achieved graphics. These users have paid for their wonders by turning its supertanker around. software and are happy to wait until the Under CTO Kevin benefits of a new release are sufficient to Lynch (another justify the cost of upgrading. acquisition from Now, this traditional form of software the Macromedia purchase has been unilaterally removed. takeover), Adobe has Under the old approach, they could still do entirely redefined its their work and make money even if they web strategy. Where didn’t keep up with the latest release, but once it was “the Flash as soon as they stop subscribing to CC company”, it’s turning itself into “the HTML5 they’re effectively left with nothing. It may company”. Indeed, with the Edge tools and be attractive and easy to join CC, but it’s PhoneGap-based app creation, Adobe is well very hard to leave it, and of course those set to turn the existential threat posed by modest monthly payments soon add up. HTML5 into a great business opportunity In the end, it’s a question of principle. for both its users and itself. At the same When Steve Jobs announced that he wasn’t time, through its CC initiative, Adobe has going to allow Flash onto the iPad, Adobe’s found a way to leverage the full range of its response was to bring out its founding fathers extraordinary creative software. For new Chuck Geschke and John Warnock to make an users in particular, the ability to tap into impassioned case for freedom of choice such extraordinary creative power without and letting the consumer decide. shelling out thousands of pounds If you can’t Now Adobe is denying its upfront is extremely attractive, beat ‘em… own users choice. Adobe’s and in the right hands a CC The architect of Adobe’s ultimate response to Apple’s subscription can pay for itself response to the death of introduction of a hardwaremany times over. browser-based Flash and based walled garden has the rise of HTML5 has been been to create its own CTO Kevin Lynch. Now software-based equivalent. The real shock Lynch has left to become vice Many will be entirely happy This all brings me to the real president of technology within its walls, while others shock in CC: namely, Adobe’s for Apple... will want to think long and decision to stop selling the CC hard before entering. applications as standalone programs

“It may be attractive and easy to join Creative Cloud, but it’s very hard to leave it” alternatives makes sense, but many users have been appalled at the loss of the Server Behaviors panel. It’s true that most users who produce data-driven sites are moving towards content management systems such as WordPress and Drupal, and also true that Adobe responded to this outcry by restoring most data-handling capabilities via an optional extension, but it’s still clear that Adobe now deprecates the creation of data-driven sites from scratch, leaving many users less than happy. To take stock, the new CC suite introduces a new front-end for managing its cloud-based services, but it’s only half-working, with the main benefits deferred. Meanwhile, old favourite Fireworks has been put out to pasture, while Flash – which used to provide the USP of Adobe’s web strategy by enabling users to extend the capabilities of HTML4 – is rapidly being driven out of the browser. In their place, Adobe offers a whole host of new apps, but at the moment these are a mixed bag: Muse is primarily aimed at traditional graphic designers;

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RWC Networks

NETWORKS

A cloud of charges

Steve Cassidy has doubts over the cost efficiency of the cloud, and is horrified at the use of external USB drives for serious computing

STEVE CASSIDY Steve mixes network technologies with human resources consultancy work. Read his blog at www.pcpro.co.uk/ blogs/stevecassidy. Email cassidys@cix. compulink.co.uk

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ever renowned for my ability to hold it in, if I have to listen to another cloud presentation that sagely reminds us that once upon a time there was no power grid and everyone made their own electricity, I shall let go entirely and start screaming. Cloudy types love this analogy, that the centralisation of computing is every bit as inevitable as was centralised power generation, but I would argue that the cloud has yet to find its Edison, let alone its Tesla. I was reminded of the 21st-century counter-argument by fellow Real Worlder Paul Ockenden, who remarked that his home solar array had changed his perception of the weather; during the recent heatwave, he was saying to all his pals “it’s a nice 2.4kW outside”. So while the cloudy types are looking back to history to justify their centralisation, right or wrong, the analogy they employ is galloping off in the other direction – and what’s more, the surrounding infrastructure is weakening their argument still further. Just recently I’ve had a quote (as yet unrealised, which is an important qualifier as I explain in the boxout) for 100Mbits/sec fibre on a business tariff at a price I’d previously

have expected to see associated with a tenth of that speed. I’ve described here my “data centre on a bookshelf” project, which cuts back the power consumption of my server stack by using basic but current tech devices, which are every bit as fast as – and many times more power-efficient than – their predecessors. Here’s where these themes collide: even allowing for my luxuriance of terabytes, which is far larger than most small businesses (and more fault-tolerant, too), my little data centre could very happily run on Paul O’s summer-day solar power – in fact, I could run three such stacks off 2.4kW.

Beware fibre geeks bearing gifts Always treat your first attempt at getting fibre into your business with considerable care, since the last mile can be a nightmare. Even if BT Openreach already has dark fibre in your building, it will always start the quotation process by pretending it doesn’t. This draws you into a catch-22 situation where you have to sign the

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contract before BT will do the survey and establish the specific physical trench-digging costs to get fibre to your location. The salesperson will say the contract can be cancelled should those costs prove prohibitive. These costs can indeed become painful: it can cost as much as the annual line rental just to get the cable to you.

One of my clients has offices in an outof-town business park where a server room houses solar roof control and power feed system boxes: even on a cloudy day, they get around 4kW, which would even run their existing servers (never mind any lower-power upgrade) and the room chillers, too. Couple this kind of technology with widespread, superfast fibre and then ask yourself: what was so great about keeping everything in a remote data centre anyway? The original conception of the cloud was that you could call upon compute power at times of high demand, then release it once you were done using it. As I wrote recently for our sister site Cloud Pro, the pricing models for cloud services that are beginning to appear aren’t quite based on this notion. If you want to understand what this means for your cloud computing plans, then sign up for the free Azure trial – it’s suitably lengthy at six months, and is by far the cleanest and clearest example of on-demand, pay-per-use cloud services that you’ll find today (especially if you’re a long-experienced Windows network admin). The “ouch!” moment comes when you add up all of the work you have to do to get your

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Networks

You may be in for a shock when you calculate all your costs for Azure

data into Azure and then get the results back out again. That’s because Azure charges you not only for that classic run-ten-instancestogether cloud model, but also for uploading; storing; downloading again; computing; and for other peripheral net traffic (supposing you were running an HTTP server that customers could reach, for instance). It even charges you when your cloud Windows machine isn’t running, and it charges you whenever Microsoft presents an update, too. Normally, it would be polite of me to insert a little box or table of likely prices here, but

operating system version (although, like everyone in RWC, I greet the presence of Windows Small Business Server as a sure sign of trouble). But I’ve now added a new omen to my book of Evil Signs: the number of 2.5in external USB drives tucked in and around the server rack or box. I’ve blogged about the correct name for these damnable devices – they’re not drives, they’re data mousetraps waiting to go “snap!” and send everything stored on them to that mysterious place where lost files go. BT designed an entire advertising campaign for its home consumer, internet-based backup product, solely around the fact that these things give no visible, rational warning of approaching doom, no lifetime counter that says “one month to meltdown”. The first sign of trouble is when it’s too late and your partner (according to BT’s little drama) is in floods of tears asking where all our baby pictures went. Of course, there is S.M.A.R.T. monitoring, but let’s be honest, how many people watch that for any of their drives, let alone those in external USB casings (and on top of that how many people have the stats on how reliable these warnings really are?). My guess is that this technology was alright for a 40GB disk, meaning that the moment when S.M.A.R.T. starts to bleat is just early enough that you can recover your files onto another medium. But these days that little box – the one you knock loose from the Exchange server when your hand quests in the dark at the back of a rack – could easily be holding 1TB of

“What was so great about keeping everything in a remote data centre anyway?” that isn’t so simple, since Azure is a dynamic place that fully exploits the “soft” nature of prices. Microsoft stays in touch with its Azure customers and presents fairly regular deals and one-off opportunities, teasers and tasters for those who haven’t yet tried the service, so your costs will vary as promotions come and go. It’s all rather reminiscent of buying an airline ticket, only on a vastly greater scale. At the time of writing, Azure was proposing a special deal on cloud VMs for the video-encoding business: if you have hundreds of hours of video to transcode overnight, then they have just what you need. At this scale, the airline ticket metaphor breaks down because it’s actually closer to chartering your own 747 (or ten).

How to build a really bad network

I used to gauge how poor the support relationship between a business and the company contracted to look after their systems was from the amount of fluff in their server. The age of the box isn’t a reliable guide, nor is the

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RWC

vital files. It isn’t only baby pictures, either, but whole databases, software installations and multi-user project folders – the variety of stuff found on these things when I scan them is staggering. (And yes, before you ask, doing such a scan off my laptop does often stop the business dead, which makes for an exciting project meeting.) It horrifies me that any professional IT support business could seriously employ such a device as additional storage for a server. Whenever I come across one, I ask if anyone knows whether the server will continue to function if I remove the dangling box. Most often, they won’t know (although a few will yell “oh, don’t touch that! It’s really important” out of general principle). In my most extreme case, there was an almost-empty, data-centre-grade, 1U-high, superfast rack server, in an otherwise-empty full-height 42U cabinet. Yet this little 750GB disk would pendulum merrily about when the office was busy, because it contained their Exchange Message Store. They’d run out of room on the single 2.5in SAS disk located in their four-cage drive array you see, so “the engineer” had “brought in this helpful extension, and so cheap too!” After I stopped hyperventilating, we spent a few hundred pounds online and a few days later some proper drives arrived. By using the standard manufacturer’s RAID management utility, we put these drives inside the cage and achieve some trivially simple fault-tolerance. That particular 2.5in USB drive is now in the drawer with their backup tapes. I can understand using a USB drive to hold an Acronis or Paragon session, or take images of the existing storage. Maybe that’s how the rot sets in, when people start to imagine these devices are safe for more demanding scenarios. Personally, I believe in a bit of server-management theatre. Everyone should stage some occasionally to instil in people a sense of ownership and engagement with their IT overhead – I turn up with an ancient external drive called a Venus something, which may only present a terabyte, and may only use two 500GB IDE disks to do that, but is very heavy, and has a fan and a carrying handle on top. This seems to reassure people that this is a step up in the world of nerds and that they’re now in good hands. No laughing at the back there!

External USB drives should be known as data mousetraps


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RWC Networks

Finding fault with fault tolerance

Are you active or passive? An assertive sort who takes the lead or a follower? Don’t run away – I’m not trying to corral you into a team-building exercise. I’m in the frame of mind to ask questions like this because I’ve just helped to post-mortem an especially distressing case of fault-intolerant fault tolerance. This is another variation of my long-standing enquiry into the fallout and operating limitations of several internet access pipelines. Again, let me reassure you, this isn’t about fumbling around with hardware more suited to falling out of a Christmas cracker than passing traffic down a spread of DSL lines. Rather, this is an interesting and salutary tale from way up the ranks, far above the kind of small-business hardware we commonly handle in that grey area between home and work networking. This is a tale not of multiple links and one firewall, but one link with several firewalls. Good fault-tolerant design is a moving target. It has taken several generations (as defined by Steve Jobs, who said good PC architecture could be expected to last ten years: a brave statement at the time, since no decent PC design had yet lasted that long) for enough incidents of disaster to be accumulated to establish whether the initial assumptions people make turned out to match the conditions within the actual disasters that happened. A lot of the initial work that went into fault-tolerant design was, for instance, about observed failure rates in printed circuit boards and microchips. Surely, they reasoned, these things are going to break down, with all those electrons whizzing about on puny trails of metal on fibreglass. These days, the process of circuit lithography is so well understood, and the

lead running between the two devices that lets the “trail” unit know when something evil and unexpected has befallen the “lead” device. This isn’t an uncommon design decision – dear old, almost-forgotten Novell NetWare used to do something similar with its heartbeat signalling between SFT server pairs – and you can immerse yourself in this mindset in the more contemporary world of Microsoft Cluster Service by skimming quickly through TechNet (see www.pcpro. co.uk/links/229nt1). Let me say first that when it comes to devices made out of poor-quality PCBs, or chips that are prone to total meltdown in milliseconds, I don’t think of marketleading, enterprisegrade firewalls as being at risk; in fact, some Ciscos I put in at the turn of the century only went out of service in 2012. As such, I feel safe saying the risk this design purports to minimise isn’t one I’d put high up the priority list. What took the business out, of course, was a fault with the fault-tolerant monitoring subsystem. The link between the active and passive partners is a multipurpose Ethernet port, with other uses in other configurations. The two firewalls were chatting away using perfectly ordinary network packets until the “lead” unit finally malfunctioned, and started to stutter – that is, to send half-formed and malformed repeated packets at the “trail” unit, which has no provision for a bad port suddenly cropping up on its heartbeat indicator connection. Accordingly, both firewalls stopped completely.

“Imagine what happens when there’s a 48-hour outage at a large enterprise” quantity of devices out there so vast, that this concern in early fault-tolerant design is greeted with derision. However, there are still software architects out there who stick a nice fault-tolerant label on a feature that is so antediluvian it might as well be making allowances for valve warm-up delays or flyback buffering (one of those terms that sounds authoritative, yet is so anachronistic it must have a place in your next, most agonising PowerPoint stack). That doesn’t seem to matter, though, if you have a suitably paranoid internet connection architect and enough money to buy four identical Cisco firewalls. Apparently, the right answer to fault-tolerance requests is to couple together pairs of firewalls into activepassive sets, with an interlink network patch

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I know what you’re going to say: that’s hardly a frequently encountered failure, taking the world’s installed base of clustered firewalls as a sample. The counter-argument is that not only was it just about the sole occasion of this pair dying, it was also the only instance of any kind of failure on this kit since the day the lights first went on. From the perspective of the hapless users, all the money spent on the promise of fault tolerance was wasted. In defending against one class of bygone fault, the system designers left themselves wide open to another from the same era of architecture, with no sensible way of recovering the situation within a couple of days. If you think a few hours without connection is a pain in a small business, imagine what happens when there’s a 48-hour outage at a large enterprise. I came into the picture when senior management had spent a little too much time asking how such a thing could happen and making rumbling noises about a crisis of confidence in suppliers, service providers and integrators – anyone, in fact, who had participated in over half a decade of entirely seamless, continuous operation up to the moment of this incident. I can’t leave it there, of course. I far prefer fault-tolerant designs that give up on the idea of heartbeats, and gear that sits and waits, doing nothing for periods of time longer than the interval between Olympic Games. I’m an active-active person, who believes that participating devices (be they servers, routers, website farms or whatever) can be seamlessly folded in and out of a faulttolerant configuration, instead of being tied to each other like a pair of spinning nunchuks thrown in the air by Bruce Lee in a hissy fit. That isn’t fault tolerance, as I understand it.

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REVIEWS Contents

REVIEWS LABS REVIEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus

FOR A FULL INDEX, SEE PAGE 5

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Canon EOS 70D

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Samsung squeezes a Retina-beating display into its latest Ultrabook.

A new autofocus system turns the 70D into a movie-maker’s delight.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini

Leap Motion Controller

The smaller version of the over-hyped S4 arrives.

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This box of tricks lets you control your PC with a wave of the hand.

IN THE LABS

Parental controls

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There are plenty of software packages and services claiming to protect your kids online, but which is best? We’ve put 15 to the test.

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Opinion REVIEWS

We rely on computers for many things, but they’re far from perfect, says JONATHAN BRAY

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omputers are experts in many fields. They can crunch numbers faster than any human; they make researching complicated subjects quick and easy; they allow us to talk to each other face to face across the world; and they let us keep tabs on the test match from our desks at work. These silicon marvels are wonderful, but as two separate occasions have brought home to me recently, we’d be wise not to hand over too much responsibility just yet. This was first highlighted during the first leg of my drive home from my family holiday in France a few weeks ago. As usual, I didn’t worry about the route-planning until I jumped behind the wheel at 9.30am on the morning of departure with a 603km journey ahead of me. Instead, I punched in my destination resort and put my faith in the satnav. This was, I admit, a mistake. Not because the TomTom Go 500 (web ID: 383008) is bad at its job, but because, like many technological devices, it has its limitations. In this case, I discovered it has no facility for common sense, nor – to put it bluntly – any way of reliably predicting the future. As we followed its instructions blindly across France, we hit bouchon after bouchon (that’s French for traffic jam, you know). Every one of them was triumphantly spotted by the satnav, but in each case we had to stick to the original route and sit in the traffic, since the jams emerged after we’d passed the points at which faster alternative routes were available. What should have been a six-hour journey turned tortuously into a marathon, and we eventually arrived at the hotel more than two-and-a-half hours after the original prediction. If I’d engaged my brain first and chosen a slightly longer alternative that passed fewer big cities (as my wife pointed out tetchily), we’d have been much better off. If this doesn’t sound too serious, take the second example I encountered this month: the problem of parental-control software (which we cover in our Labs on p130). If you were to take the claims of software companies and government do-gooders at face≈value, you might expect that simply switching on a filter would solve the ills of the internet, and allow our children to browse in perfect safety. As with route-planning and bouchon prediction, though, it’s far from advisable to hand over such an important job to technology, no matter how good it is.

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You have to apply a little old-fashioned common sense to the job. Our test results (see p135) reveal that even the best filters have major weak spots. They might block most pornography, but if you blindly trust software, there’s plenty of other objectionable material that slips through the net. What about the obnoxious sites promoting hate and hosting disgusting pictures of the recently deceased? During our mission to test these packages to their limits, we had to look at plenty of this material, and – trust me – it’s at least as bad as any of the pornographic content in our list of test websites. And don’t forget the scourge of online bullying, highlighted recently by a handful of cases in the news. As a parent, you could simply block the sites on which this sort of behaviour occurs, but to do so isn’t practical or sensible. What you need to do is keep an eye on your kids’ online activity, educate them about what to expect and how to behave; don’t isolate them socially by imposing blanket bans. This isn’t to say such filters are a bad idea – far from it. In some circumstances, they’re

Educate your children about what to expect and how to behave online; don’t isolate them socially with blanket bans a good way to highlight to a child that a website he or she is attempting to access may not be acceptable to their parents – or society. Filters can also act as a safety net to prevent potentially innocent web searches triggering an awkward conversation about the birds and the bees rather earlier than you might have anticipated. Fortunately, both of our award-winners this month are free, so using one won’t even make a dent in your wallet. But make no mistake, in this modern age of unlimited information access, parents are going to have to answer awkward questions sooner or later – and there’s no computer or clever piece of software in the world that will do that job for you. So, while there are many jobs they do well – brilliantly, even – computers are far from perfect. It always helps to use common sense. Indeed, if we come to rely on computers too much, being stuck in a lengthy traffic jam will be the least of our worries.

JONATHAN BRAY is PC Pro’s reviews editor. He’s a little traumatised by what he’s witnessed this month, so go easy – and send cake. Blog: www.pcpro.co.uk/links/jonb Email: [email protected]


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Photography: intro, Danny Bird; cutouts, Julian Velasquez; repro, Jan Cihak

REVIEWS Hardware

Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus There’s plenty to like about this sleek Ultrabook, but better application support is necessary for the incredible, Retina-beating screen to make the Ativ Book 9 Plus worth the outlay

❱❱ PRICE £1,081 (£1,299 inc VAT) ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.currys.co.uk

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hen Apple’s WWDC event concluded in June, there were a few disappointed faces. Product announcements came and went, but a MacBook Air with a Retina display wasn’t among them. Now, Samsung has beaten Apple to the punch with the Ativ Book 9 Plus. A small crowd gathered in the PC Pro office as soon as it was out of the box: the matte-blue finish and thickness of only 13.9mm at its slimmest point make it a good-looking piece of kit even by Ultrabook standards. Unusually, however, the crowd stayed after it was switched on, thanks to the gorgeous 13.3in, 3,200 x 1,800 screen. It plays the MacBook Pro 13in with Retina

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display (web ID: 378118) at its own game – and beats it, thanks to a slightly higher pixel density and a superbly responsive touchscreen. Reviewing the screen requires two approaches. From a hardware point of view, it’s fantastic: it’s bright and clear, and the Windows desktop – preset to display at 200% of its usual size – is incredibly crisp. Other displays look pixellated and dated in comparison. The arrival of high-PPI screens on Windows laptops is undoubtedly positive. There are signs the Book 9 Plus is ahead of its time, though. Out of the box, the right-hand edge of the mouse pointer showed evidence of jagged artefacts. These cleared up once we’d installed the preview of Windows 8.1, which improves support for high-resolution screens, but the Book 9 Plus still placed the odd hurdle in our way.

Most applications work fine: the Microsoft Office apps look terrific – especially text – and Internet Explorer works perfectly, but elsewhere we hit problems. After installing Chrome and setting the default zoom level to 200%, we were able to read web pages in the app’s Metro mode, but the URL bar stubbornly remained 3mm high, which is too small to be usable. Switching to desktop mode improved things, but the application looked pixellated, and text was no longer razor-sharp. Things were worse elsewhere: Photoshop CC – a natural application to run on a machine with such a high-specification screen – was unusable, thanks to tiny icons and menu bars; Photoshop Elements suffered from the same lilliputian problem. Even Samsung’s own software had

problems with the cutting-edge hardware: a bundled system utility warned that “screen resolution is very high” and urged us to change it. As with the MacBook Pro, the effectiveness of the Book 9 Plus will depend on developers rolling out support for high resolutions. Apple’s OS-wide scaling makes non-optimised software much more usable than this. Even if you focus purely on the hardware, the Samsung is a mixed bag. Its good looks are indisputable: the tapered base swoops smoothly towards the front of the laptop, with the

KEY SPECS 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-4200U • 4GB DDR3 RAM • 128GB SSD • 13.3in 3,200 x 1,800 PLS touchscreen • Intel HD Graphics 4400 • dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi • Bluetooth 4 • micro-HDMI • Gigabit Ethernet and DisplayPort via adapters • 2 x USB 3 • SD card slot • 1yr RTB warranty • 319 x 222 x 17mm (WDH) • 1.4kg (1.8kg with charger)

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Hardware REVIEWS

There’s no doubting the style of the Ativ Book 9 Plus, but poor application support for the 3,200 x 1,800 display dents its appeal

BATTERY: HEAVY USE 2hrs 28mins

BATTERY: LIGHT USE 8hrs 3mins

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3.4GHz Intel Core i7-2600K, 4GB DDR3 = 1 0.64

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0.74

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thicker back edge used for the Book 9 Plus’ ports. A pair of USB 3 ports, a micro-HDMI slot, and proprietary ports supporting D-SUB and Gigabit Ethernet adapters make it reasonably at home on a desk, while a springloaded flap on the left-hand side reveals an SD card slot. Beyond the pixel count, however, the display is mediocre. It’s bright enough, at 361cd/m2, but contrast is average, at 220:1, and out-of-the-box colour performance is significantly off-beam, with a Delta E of 8. It doesn’t compare well to the Retina display of the MacBook Pro, which is calibrated in the factory and delivers superior performance figures. The keyboard is a standard Scrabble-tile model, and the widely spaced keys have a solid

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base, making it easy to get up to speed. The large trackpad follows fashion by masking its buttons beneath a single smooth surface, and Windows 8’s gestures work as well here as they do anywhere. However, the buttons can be troublesome: we often tried to select icons only to be rewarded with the right-click menu. At 1.8kg including the charger, there’s no denying its portability. This is bolstered by the results from our battery benchmarks: 8hrs 3mins under light use means the power brick is an optional extra rather than a daily musthave. However, it isn’t as good as the MacBook Pro in OS X, which lasted 9hrs 56mins. It’s a similar story when it comes to raw performance. The

Book 9 Plus features the 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-4200U and 4GB of DDR3 RAM, delivering a final result of 0.64 in our benchmarks. That’s fine performance – as fast as the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix (web ID: 383245), which has a Core i7 CPU – but again it’s slower than the MacBook Pro’s 0.73. The only truly awkward compromise is the 128GB SSD, which may start to feel tight rather quickly. The integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400 is a necessary compromise, but we saw playable results in Crysis – 47fps – at Low quality. Samsung’s ability to put together a good-looking laptop was already assured, and the Book 9 Plus puts things beyond doubt;

Samsung Ativ Book 9 Lite ❱❱ PRICE £500 (£600 inc VAT) ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.johnlewis.com ❱❱ OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪ If the Ativ Book 9 Plus doesn’t grab you, but you like its style, Samsung has released a budget, plastic version that’s worth considering. The Ativ Book 9 Lite costs less than half as much as its premium sibling, yet it doesn’t

lose much in terms of looks and portability. To keep the price down, Samsung has gone for a lowerresolution 1,366 x 768, 13.3in touchscreen and eschewed an Intel processor, plumping for an AMD A6-1450 instead. It scored 0.35 in our Real World Benchmarks, almost half the speed of the Book 9 Plus. Gaming performance is below par, too.

topping it off with such an ambitious display is a welcome bonus. However, before you rush out and drop £1,299 on it, it’s worth taking a breath: buy the Book 9 Plus and you’ll be an early adopter. Although it’s heartening to see Microsoft embracing highdefinition screens with Windows 8.1, our experience suggests your enjoyment of the Book 9 Plus will depend greatly on individual application support. It’s certainly one of the most interesting laptops of the year so far, but we can’t recommend it unequivocally. DAVE STEVENSON

OVERALL

PERFORMANCE FEATURES & DESIGN VALUE FOR MONEY

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It isn’t a laptop for heavy lifting, RECOMMENDED then, but everyday jobs suit it just fine, and battery life is excellent. In fact, a score of 7hrs 52mins in our light-use test delivers stamina similar to that of the Book 9 Plus. Overall, this makes it a tempting buy – all the more so since a model without a touchscreen is only £500.


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REVIEWS Hardware

Toshiba Satellite C75 Toshiba serves up a giant-sized desktop replacement with a Core i3 CPU – it’s a lot of laptop for the money ❱❱ PRICE £417 (£500 inc VAT) ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.argos.co.uk ith budget laptops slimming down to near-Ultrabook dimensions, Toshiba’s gigantic Satellite C75 looks almost comically oversized. If you’re looking to replace a desktop PC, however, this big-bodied laptop deserves consideration. With a respectable Core i3 CPU, a spacious keyboard and a 17.3in display, the Satellite C75 could have what it takes to be a permanent resident on your desk. Measuring a whisker over 37mm at its thickest point, the C75 looks like it could swallow an Ultrabook whole. It isn’t as weighty as you might guess from its dimensions, but you’re unlikely to relish carting its 2.7kg bulk around. It could serve as a mobile workstation if exceptional battery life isn’t needed, though: with the display dimmed to 75cd/m2 and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned off, the system ran for 5hrs 25mins in our light-use battery test. Toshiba has gone for a conservative look. The 17.3in

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The Toshiba’s 17.3in, 1,600 x 900 display feels spacious

processor, but the Toshiba feels anything but low-end. Gaming performance isn’t as strong, however. With only Intel’s HD Graphics 4000 to call upon, it achieved an average frame rate of 33fps in our easiest Crysis test. That’s just about playable, but the average plummets to 10fps when you up the resolution and quality settings. Nevertheless, the big screen is an attraction. Where smallerscreened budget laptops often sport 1,366 x 768 displays, the Toshiba offers a 1,600 x 900 resolution that – although less generous than the Full HD displays we’re used to on premium models – still feels spacious. Image quality is fine, if not great. Brightness reaches an excellent 305cd/m2 – bright enough for outdoor use, if you can lug it into the garden – but a contrast ratio of 169:1 results in washed-out

images. Darker greys blend into black, and highlights are crushed. It’s fine for everyday use, as long as you’re not doing any colourcritical photo editing. When it comes to connectivity, all the essentials are here. There’s only a single USB 3 port, which is a little stingy, but there are a further two USB 2 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, D-SUB and an SD card reader dotted around the edges. Wireless networking is capped at single-band 802.11n speeds, but unlike many cheaper laptops, the latest Bluetooth 4 connectivity is supported. There’s also a basic 0.9-megapixel webcam, and although contrast and detail are lacking, it’s good enough for basic Skype chatting. As a do-it-all desktop replacement, the Toshiba is a solid all-rounder. It has weak points, but if you’re looking for a desk-bound laptop with a good turn of speed for around £500, the Toshiba Satellite C75 is a viable candidate at a sensible price. SASHA MULLER

KEY SPECS 2.5GHz Intel Core i3-3120M • 8GB DDR3 RAM • 1TB hard disk • DVD writer • 17.3in 1,600 x 900 TFT • Intel HD Graphics 4000 • single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi • Bluetooth 4 • D-SUB • HDMI • 1 x USB 3 • 2 x USB 2 • 1yr RTB warranty • 413 x 268 x 37mm (WDH) • 2.7kg (3kg with charger)

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screen is protected by a plainlooking lid, inside which the C75 comes finished in either plain white or a two-tone clash of grey and black plastic. A dash of pin-pricked silver around the speakers is the only concession to glamour. It all feels very plasticky, but that isn’t to say it’s flimsy. The chassis affords plenty of room around key components in case it’s dropped, and while the lid has some give, it does a good job of protecting the display – it wasn’t until we pushed hard that the lid touched the panel beneath and caused visible ripples. The full-sized keyboard and numeric keypad are welcome, too, and the light action of the keys and the spacious layout make for trouble-free typing. The touchpad feels cramped, though, and the slight lip around its edges gets in the way of Windows 8’s edge-swipes. We expect most people will hook up a USB mouse. Toshiba has equipped the C75 with a 2.5GHz Core i3-3120M processor and a generous pairing of 8GB of DDR3 RAM and a 1TB hard disk. That’s an impressive roster of components for the price; the Toshiba would have fared well in last month’s budget-laptop Labs. Indeed, its overall result of 0.67 in our Real World Benchmarks would have placed it among the front-runners for application performance. The Core i3 may not be a premium

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Hardware REVIEWS

Dell XPS 12 (2013) Dell upgrades its XPS 12 with a Haswell processor – the result is a sumptuous, long-lasting hybrid ❱❱ PRICE £1,066 (£1,279 inc VAT) ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.dell.com/uk indows 8 ushered in a wave of weird and wonderful hybrid devices, and Dell’s XPS 12 was one of the most flamboyant. Drawing on the designs of Dell’s XPS Ultrabooks and high-end laptops, the XPS 12 took the flip-twist screen of the Inspiron Duo (web ID: 363799), improved the specification and cranked up the bling factor. Now, Dell has added an Intel Haswell processor. Nothing has changed about the chassis, and thank goodness for that – the original was lovely looking hardware. The base is moulded from a single piece of carbon fibre, and another plate protects the back of the 12.5in touchscreen. Chamfered strips of metal run around the edges, and the backlit keyboard is surrounded by soft-touch, matte-black plastic. The flip-twist mechanism works beautifully. Tilt back the lid and the XPS 12 masquerades as a compact Ultrabook, with a spacious keyboard and a large, responsive touchpad; firmly prod

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1.9GHz Intel Core i7-4500U • 8GB DDR3L-RS RAM • 256GB SSD • 12.5in 1,920 x 1,080 touchscreen • Intel HD Graphics 4400 • 0.9MP webcam • dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi • Bluetooth 4 • NFC • TPM 1.2 • 2 x USB 3 • mini-DisplayPort • Windows 8 64-bit • 1yr on-site warranty • 317 x 214 x 22mm (WDH) • 1.51kg (1.78kg with charger)

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RECOMMENDED the upper part of the display and magnetic latches hidden around the metal frame give way, allowing the screen to pirouette 180 degrees. The display can then be flattened into tablet mode, or angled for movie viewing and web surfing. It’s a little thick by Ultrabook standards – including the rubber feet, it measures 22mm thick. Compared to the pared-down Sony VAIO Pro 13 (web ID: 382456), it feels slightly leaden, too, weighing 1.51kg. The XPS 12 offers unrivalled battery life, thanks to its Haswell CPU All the same, it feels rock-solid – there’s no mistaking this for is rich and lively, although there’s average of 52fps in our easiest anything but a top-flight portable. room for improvement: the panel Crysis benchmark. Inside, an Ivy Bridge processor doesn’t cover the full sRGB gamut, Haswell comes into its own has been replaced by a 1.9GHz and the darkest greys are crushed when you dim the screen and Core i7-4500U CPU. There’s 8GB into black. unplug from the mains. In our of the latest DDR3L-RS RAM As before, connectors are light-use test, with brightness set and a 256GB Lite-On SSD, which limited to two USB 3 ports, a to 75cd/m2 and Wi-Fi off, the XPS results in a hybrid that feels as mini-DisplayPort and a 3.5mm 12 lasted 12hrs 41mins. That’s quick as its rivals. The SSD takes headset jack. There’s still no more than five-and-a-half hours much of the credit here: in the AS Ethernet, but Dell has upgraded longer than the previous model, SSD benchmark, it read large files the XPS 12 to Intel’s dual-band, and almost an hour longer than at an average of 476MB/sec and 2x2-stream AC 7260 chipset, the longest-lasting Haswell laptop wrote them at 399MB/sec, which supporting 802.11ac transfer we’ve seen so far, Apple’s translates to nippy boot times and rates of up to 867Mbits/sec. MacBook Air (web ID: 382534). fast application load times. Bluetooth 4 makes the grade, too, The 12.5in, Full HD When it comes to application and is accompanied by an NFC touchscreen is cracking – even if it performance, the Core i7 Haswell reader in the right-hand side of the lacks the active stylus support of CPU isn’t faster than the previous wristrest. We’d have liked to see rivals such as Sony’s VAIO Duo generation. A result of 0.68 in our an SD card reader, however. 13 (web ID: 382810) – and image Real World Benchmarks is ample You can find small faults with quality is good. Brightness peaks for most tasks, but it isn’t blazingly the XPS, but it oozes quality. It at 385cd/m2, which is readable quick. Gaming performance is provides a workable halfway house outdoors, and a contrast ratio of similar to the last generation, too: between compact Ultrabook and 820:1 ensures movies and images the Intel HD Graphics 4400 chunky tablet. We wonder how look lifelike. Colour reproduction chipset managed a mediocre long the hinge mechanism will last under everyday use, but with soaring battery life and a gorgeous design, the Dell XPS 12 is better than ever. SASHA MULLER

KEY SPECS

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REVIEWS Hardware

Acer Aspire XC600

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Desktop power with a smaller footprint, but other manufacturers have done it better ❱❱ PRICE £354 (£425 inc VAT) ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.acerdirect.co.uk he likes of Apple’s Mac mini (web ID: 379153) and Intel’s NUC (web ID: 379267) show that the desktop PC can shrink much smaller than a shoebox, and occasionally even show a little stylistic flair, but the Acer Aspire XC600 eschews such cosmetic fripperies. This is a simple mini-tower PC, and – apart from a fake brushed-metal effect on the dark grey plastic fascia, and a slightly curved faceplate – the metal casing of the XC600 is square and lumpen, finished in utilitarian black. “Ugly” would be an unfair characterisation; “boring” is nearer the mark. Instead of splashing out on high-end industrial design, Acer has concentrated on delivering the most potent specification possible for the cash. Within the workmanlike chassis, the Aspire XC600 employs a 3GHz Core i5-3330 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard disk. Compared to other recent desktop PCs it’s hardly cutting edge, but the respectable quad-core processor delivers superb performance. The Aspire XC600 feels more than spritely in everyday use, with applications launching quickly despite the lack of an SSD. There’s

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sufficient power to push the Acer to a result of 0.89 in our benchmarks – not one for the history books, but more than enough for serious photo- and video-editing tasks. The absence of a dedicated graphics card isn’t entirely bad. It does, of course, take its toll on gaming performance – the Acer only managed a playable average of 36fps in our least taxing Crysis benchmark – but it does keep down power consumption. With FurMark thrashing the graphics core, and Prime95 pegging every CPU core at 100%, the Acer drew 75W from the mains; while idling, the power draw dwindled to 30W. That’s by no means the lowest we’ve seen, but it’s frugal compared to full-sized desktop PCs. Unlike smaller PCs, the Aspire XC600 affords a modicum of upgradability. Unscrew the side panel and there’s room for manoeuvre, even though the interior is cramped. Remove two screws at the front and the mount holding the SATA optical drive and 3.5in hard disk slides out (see 1 ), making it possible to replace either in a matter of minutes. Acer has also installed a single 8GB module of DDR3 RAM, so you can easily add another stick to instantly double the complement. There’s even a spare PCI Express x16 slot at the top of the case (see 2 ),

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although only a half-height card will fit, and the tiny 220W PSU will have a bearing on exactly what you can install there. The PCI Express x1 slot is occupied by a dual-band 802.11abgn wireless card (see 3 ), which provides two aerial sockets. Nothing about the XC600’s exterior sets the pulse racing. The DVD writer is hidden behind the hinged, plastic frontage, and there are two USB 2 ports at the front, alongside an SD card reader and a

pair of 3.5mm audio inputs and outputs. At the rear, there are another six USB 2 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet socket and D-SUB and HDMI video outputs. The two PS/2 connectors connect to the supplied keyboard and mouse, but these are dreadfully lightweight and plasticky – we recommend you upgrade those immediately. The Acer Aspire XC600 doesn’t get a great deal wrong, although it’s fair to say it didn’t gather much of a crowd when we unpacked it. It delivers plenty of power for current applications, and the modest amount of upgradability is welcome. It isn’t worthy of unequivocal recommendation, however. The lack of USB 3 is frustrating, and there are better alternatives on the market. For example, Fujitsu’s excellent Esprimo Q510 (web ID: 378769) crams capable desktop PC performance into a Mac-minisized chassis for similar money, making the XC600 a nippy, affordable little machine that nonetheless fails to threaten the A-List. SASHA MULLER

KEY SPECS 3GHz Intel Core i5-3330 • 8GB DDR3 RAM • 1TB hard disk • DVD writer • dual-band 802.11abgn Wi-Fi • 8 x USB 2 • 2 x PS/2 • SD card reader • Gigabit Ethernet • 1yr RTB warranty • Windows 8 64-bit • 100 x 367 x 270mm (WDH)

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Hardware REVIEWS

Nexus 7 (2013)

PC

An extraordinary tablet that improves on the original in every way, once again showing rivals how it’s done ❱❱ PRICE 16GB, £166 (£199 inc VAT); 32GB, £199 (£239 inc VAT); 4G, TBC ❱❱ SUPPLIER http://play.google.com

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he name hasn’t changed, but the new Nexus 7 looks taller and thinner than last year’s model. Actually, the two devices are the same height, but Asus has slimmed down the side bezels, making the 2013 model 6mm narrower than the previous version. As a result, the top and bottom bezels feel oddly oversized by comparison. However, you quickly become accustomed to the shape, and it’s hard to complain about getting the same amount of screen in a smaller package. The new Nexus 7 is also lighter, down from 340g to 290g – a palpable 15% reduction in mass over the previous generation – and thinner, measuring only 8.5mm thick. That isn’t quite as slim as Apple’s 7.2mm iPad mini (web ID: 378061), but if you’re looking for an Android tablet, this is the thinnest and lightest we’ve seen. This doesn’t mean it’s flimsy, however: there’s very little flex to the back, and scratch-resistant Corning glass covers the front. Inside, the quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro delivers much better performance than last year’s 1.3GHz Tegra – and it’s supported by a generous 2GB of RAM, plus a 400MHz Adreno GPU. This makes flicking around the Android 4.3 interface a stupendously snappy experience, and the full power of the hardware shines through in our benchmarks. The new Nexus 7 completed the SunSpider JavaScript test in 1,202ms – almost 30% faster than the original model – and smashed the Geekbench 2 test with a score of 2,639, a 65% improvement on last year’s model. It also managed an impressive BATTERY: VIDEO PLAYBACK 11hrs 48mins

15fps in the taxing GFXBench T-Rex 3D test, around three times the frame rate of the older version. This is even more impressive when you discover the new Nexus 7 is drawing around 40% more pixels than the 2012 model. A new 1,200 x 1,920 IPS display represents the highest resolution we’ve seen on a compact tablet, delivering a display density of 323ppi – much higher than even the 246ppi of Apple’s full-sized iPad (web ID: 373648). This makes black-on-white text, and vector-based apps such as Google Maps, look absolutely pristine. Video content and games look bold and bright, too: we measured a searing maximum brightness of 489cd/m2, and a stark contrast ratio of 1,111:1. The colour temperature on our test model – 7,120K – is slightly on the cool side, but it didn’t suck the warmth out of the picture. The only real catch is that, as with the iPad, a screen this sharp exposes the shortcomings of the countless low-resolution JPEGs you’ll find online. Round the back of the device, you’ll find a new 5-megapixel, autofocus camera to partner the fixed-focus, 1.2-megapixel front-facing one. Image quality is a little cold and noisy, but it’s fine for snapshots. There’s also support for Bluetooth 4, SlimPort HDMI (although compatible adapters aren’t yet widely available) and Qi wireless charging. As before, GPS, NFC and dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi are included. With all this hardware stuffed into such a slim case, you might expect power consumption to be a weak point. But while the The rear of the new Nexus 7 sports a 5-megapixel camera

Narrow side bezels give the Nexus 7 a slightly stretched appearance

rating of the Nexus 7’s internal battery – 3,950mAh – is below average, the device lasted 11hrs 48mins in our standard battery tests. That’s 1hr 10mins short of the Asus Fonepad (web ID: 381196), but well ahead of most other compacts. The 2012 Nexus 7 managed only 8hrs 48mins. If you want to find niggles with the Nexus 7, you can. For a start, there’s no microSD slot. The speakers are clear, but weedy, especially at the low end. The power and volume buttons sit almost flush with the case, making them awkward to press. And although the price matches that of the original Nexus 7, it’s not such great value any more – especially when the 8GB Barnes & Noble Nook HD (web ID: 378385) is priced at £79.

What you get for the money, however, is a superlative piece of hardware. The 2013 Nexus 7 is the fastest, lightest, thinnest, narrowest, highest-PPI compact Android tablet on the market. Also, since it’s a Nexus, you get a beautifully clean Android experience, with the promise of indefinite future support. If you want simply a cheap, capable and unfussy tablet, the Nook HD remains a tempting bargain; if you’re in the market for something more elegant, more powerful and more future-proof, the new Nexus 7 is irresistible. DARIEN GRAHAM-SMITH

KEY SPECS Quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU • 2GB RAM • 16/32GB storage • 7in 1,200 x 1,920 IPS LCD • dual-band 802.11abgn Wi-Fi • Bluetooth 4 • NFC • 5MP rear/1.2MP front cameras • 3,950mAh battery • Android 4.3 • 1yr RTB warranty • 114 x 8.6 x 200mm (WDH) • 290g

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Samsung Galaxy NX Samsung’s latest Android camera melds impressive versatility and superb image quality, but it’s pricey ❱❱ PRICE £968 (£1,299 inc VAT) ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.wex photographic.com

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he Samsung Galaxy NX isn’t your average premium-priced snapper. Featuring a 20.3-megapixel APS-C sensor and a range of interchangeable lenses, it’s the priciest, most high-end Android camera yet. Out front, there’s an 18-55mm lens, with a barrel-mounted i-Function button for setting the aperture, shutter and sensitivity. The thumbwheel and shutter release are the only other controls: the rest of the features are accessed via the 4.8in touchscreen, where logical layouts let you quickly tailor your settings with a tap and a swipe, or a twist of the wheel. The crisp 16:9 touchscreen sports a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels. It isn’t articulated like the one on the Samsung NX300 (web ID: 381166), however, so you’ll have to crouch or stretch if you want to be more creative. What’s more, you’ll have to switch to a 3:2 screen ratio and ignore the black bars to the left and right to view the full 20.3-megapixel resolution onscreen. That said, it’s supplemented by an electronic viewfinder, which is equally sharp and bright, and has a diopter control.

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Behind its professional-looking exterior, the NX has the heart of a tablet. It runs Jelly Bean 4.2, so you can install Twitter, Instagram RECOMMENDED and your choice of editing apps, and work on your photos The Galaxy NX offers dual-band Wi-Fi, a SIM slot and a microSD slot without returning to base. Just like its consumer-focused accurate under both clear and The Galaxy NX’s semi-pro stablemates, there’s dual-band cloudy skies; contrasts are sharp; credentials are bolstered by a free 802.11n Wi-Fi and a SIM slot for and shallow depth-of-field images copy of Adobe Lightroom 5 (web taking advantage of 3G/4G data dissolve into an attractive creamy ID: 382342) – still the best bundled connectivity. Locally, it has 16GB blur when using the kit lens. It’s software we’ve seen – but it’s of internal storage – which your easy to isolate a particular focal missing a separate charger, which shots share with apps, data and point by tapping the screen is unforgivably stingy considering the OS – and a microSD slot for directly if it doesn’t select the the camera costs £1,299. adding removable storage. correct area automatically. Technically, the Galaxy NX Signing up for a Dropbox Movies recorded at best has it where it counts. Shutter account during the setup process quality reach 25fps at 1,920 x speeds start at 1/6,000 of a second gives you 50GB of cloud storage; 1,080 or 50fps at 1,280 x 720, and stretch to a maximum of if you already have an account, and the output quality is easily 30 seconds, while the bulb it will be upgraded by the same the equal of its stills. Colours are mode is capped at four minutes. amount. You can choose whether natural and true, and there’s no Focus is handled by a combined the Galaxy NX uses this space to smearing or jumping with pans or phase-detection (105 points) and upload each picture as it’s taken, high-detail scenes. The soundtrack contrast (247 points) system – creating an immediate backup. is crisp and cleanly captured, too, first seen in the NX300 – and The overall tablet experience with quieter, more distant sounds sensitivity runs to ISO 25600, feels less comfortable than that of holding their own against louder with 3-stop compensation in the Samsung Galaxy Camera (web foreground sources. either direction. Image quality ID: 378649) or the Galaxy S4 The only sticking point is is hard to fault up to ISO 3200, zoom (web ID: 383539), however, the price. For those looking which was sharp and grain-free since the Galaxy NX is much for a jack-of-all-trades device, in our tests. There was some chunkier in the hand. Unless you Samsung’s far cheaper, more softening at ISO 6400 as it tried swap out the 18-55mm kit lens pocketable Galaxy S4 zoom to suppress the grain, but by for, say, a shorter 20-50mm zoom provides a more even balance ISO 12800 we saw considerable or a 30mm prime (on which you’ll between the roles of compact dappling, with a strong texture lose the i-Function control), it feels camera and Android device. But clearly evident at the camera’s like a lightweight DSLR with a if you buy the Galaxy NX for the ISO 25600 maximum. chunky grip; its unwieldy body right reason – the ability to edit We saw no evidence of isn’t suited to everyday tablet use. and share seriously high-quality colour fringing, nor of barrel photographs without having to or pincushion distortion, in any rush to your laptop – it’s in a of our test photographs. JPEGs class of its own. NIK RAWLINSON were slightly recomposed when compared to the raw file, resulting KEY SPECS in fractional cropping around the 20.3MP APS-C sensor • 3x zoom kit lens • edges, but corner detail remained phase-detection/contrast hybrid autofocus • 4.8in sharp on both compared to the touchscreen • dual-band 802.11abgn Wi-Fi • 3G/4G centre of the frame. • Bluetooth 4 • microSD slot • 4,360mAh battery • Adobe Photoshop Lightroom • 137 x 101 x 38mm That grumble aside, we’re (WDH) • 495g (with 18-55mm lens) impressed by the package overall, especially in terms of image OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪ quality: colours are bright and IMAGE QUALITY ✪✪✪✪✪✪ FEATURES & DESIGN ✪✪✪✪✪✪ The Android OS allows you VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪✪ to work on photos without a PC www.pcpro.co.uk

Hardware REVIEWS See the test shots Go to web ID: 383941

Canon EOS 70D A stunningly fast new autofocus system makes the 70D a seriously tempting DSLR ❱❱ PRICE Body only, £899 (£1,079 inc VAT) ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.currys.co.uk

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he Canon EOS 70D adds yet more spice to the increasingly competitive mid-range DSLR sector. Whereas last year it was all about the emergence of full-frame cameras in the affordable mid-range, this year Canon has brought an innovative autofocus system into play with its latest 70D. The Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology splits 80% of the image sensor’s pixels in half, creating two independent diodes that are used as phase-detect autofocus points. The upshot is faster, more accurate autofocus in Live View. There’s also a separate phase-detection sensor, used when shooting with the viewfinder, which is no slouch either. The result is remarkably reliable autofocus: there’s no hunting back and forth as the camera tries to locate the subject, it simply snaps into focus at breathtaking speed. Previous Canon cameras have struggled with video autofocus, but the 70D has no such problems, and crucially it’s all but silent with the EF-S 18-135mm kit lens. It’s further boosted by a face-detection mode that keeps your subject perfectly in focus as they walk towards the camera – down the wedding aisle, for instance. Alternatively, you can tap the 70D’s

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touchscreen to adjust the focus point, with the camera responding quickly and smoothly. The 70D has 19 cross-type autofocus points, which can be selected individually or in zones. The slightly pricier Nikon D600 (web ID: 378103) has 39 autofocus points (although they’re more closely bunched in the centre of the frame than here). Rarely did we find ourselves craving more, though. Focus isn’t the only thing that’s bang on: exposure is beautifully judged, too. The camera coped well with a series of tricky situations, including portrait subjects sat in front of bright windows, direct sunlight and areas of high contrast. Colours are accurate, if a little flat on occasion. Canon has pushed the native maximum ISO limit up to 12800 (and you can also artificially bump this to 25600), which is four times the maximum sensitivity of the 60D it succeeds. This allows you to shoot indoor sports action at frame rates as fast as 1/1,000sec, without needing a flash or tripod. Photos are speckled with noise at ISO 12800, and although they can be saved with aggressive noise reduction in Lightroom, it leaves the images looking a little soft and unnatural. Shooting at ISO 6400 delivers much cleaner results. Canon isn’t being drawn into the megapixel wars. The

The kit lens autofocuses silently during video shoots

20.2-megapixel sensor is four megapixels worse off than Nikon’s cheaper D7100 (web ID: 383152) and eight megapixels poorer than the pricier D600. Once again, though, we rarely found ourselves yearning for greater detail. Photos shot with a 100mm macro lens were brutally sharp, although the kits lens did introduce softness at the edges. Built-in Wi-Fi is another feature that will appeal to studio-photography enthusiasts. The bundled EOS Utility software delivers remote control of the camera over a wireless network. The PC software provides a live view (at a limited frame rate) and allows you to adjust the focus point, aperture/shutter speed, autofocus mode and a range of other settings. Photos can be saved straight to the PC, or saved to both memory card and computer. There’s also a more limited iOS app that delivers direct remote control over the camera from an iPhone or iPad. In terms of body design, it’s difficult to find fault with the 70D. The LCD display on the top plate provides quick-glance access to key settings, and Canon hasn’t skimped on the buttons, despite the addition of an articulated 1,040kpixel touchscreen. There are dedicated buttons for autofocus and drive modes, autofocus selection area, ISO, metering mode, and several The LCD display on the top plate provides quick access to key settings

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more, plus a lock switch to avoid accidental setting tweaks. Most of the buttons can be manually reconfigured if you find a setting doesn’t fall easily to hand. We’re not convinced by the dual scroll wheel/D-pad that sits to the right of the screen, though, which performs neither function comfortably. In terms of speed, the 70D canters through the frames. We measured it at rapid 7fps in both raw and highest-quality JPEG, which is faster than the D600’s 5.5fps and even Canon’s professional-grade EOS 5D Mark III (web ID: 377806), which outputs at 6fps. In conclusion, we’re bowled over by the 70D. The new autofocus system is a genuine breakthrough, especially for those who shoot video from their DSLR, while performance and image quality can’t be faulted. At just over £1,000 for the body alone, it’s a seriously tempting option for enthusiasts who want to sample professional-grade features. Indeed, if Canon had managed to squeeze in a full-frame sensor, we’d be talking about our new A-List winner. BARRY COLLINS

KEY SPECS 20.2MP APS-C sensor • 19-point autofocus (all cross-type) • 7fps burst mode • SDXC card slot • 1yr RTB warranty • 139 x 79 x 104mm (WDH) • 1.25kg (body only)

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HTC One mini A fast and responsive smartphone, let down by meagre storage and disappointing battery life ❱❱ PRICE £317 (£380 inc VAT); from free on a £25/mth, 24mth contract ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.handtec.co.uk

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TC made a comeback earlier this year when the HTC One (web ID: 380965) elbowed aside the Samsung Galaxy S4 (web ID: 381229) on the A-List. Can the HTC One mini live up to the high standard of its sibling? The One mini weighs 21g less than the One, and measures 5mm narrower, while its 4.3in screen is 0.4in smaller. This all makes a difference to how it feels in your hand and pocket. You don’t miss out on the HTC One’s appealing design. The curved rear panel is finished in matte aluminium and inset

with channels of white plastic. The buttons, ports, sockets and camera are in identical positions, too. Yet, for all its similarities, the One mini doesn’t feel as luxurious. The white plastic trim is the main culprit – its seams feel cheaper than the One’s – and the speaker grilles pick up grime. The specification differences start with the display, which is 720 x 1,280 instead of 1,080 x 1,920. Pixel density is still high – 341ppi – and the LCD is superb, with a top brightness of 489cd/m2 and an incredible contrast ratio of 1,482:1. The downgrades continue with the camera. Optical image stabilisation is gone, although the resolution is still 4 megapixels. In theory, the lower resolution allows for larger photosites, leading to less noise in low light; the One mini is indeed good in dim light.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Samsung has taken the best bits of its flagship and squeezed them down to form the Mini ❱❱ PRICE £288 (£360 inc VAT); from free on a £23/mth, 24mth contract ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com

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amsung pulled out all the stops with its flagship Galaxy S4, but the Galaxy S4 Mini aims for smaller pockets. The S4’s 5in screen has shrunk to 4.3in, pitting the S4 Mini against HTC’s pocket-sized standardbearer, the One mini (see above). The first round, design, goes to HTC. The S4 Mini is essentially a smaller S4, and it looks just as underwhelming. It’s made from good-quality, smooth plastic, and feels like it will survive everyday use, but isn’t anything special.

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The HTC One mini is smaller, lighter and less powerful than the One

However, it isn’t quite up to the One’s standards, and photos lack the crisp detail we loved in that phone’s pictures. We also spotted an odd mottling in areas

of blue sky, although this is only apparent on close inspection. The One mini is still 4G, but lacks an infrared emitter, and there’s only 16GB of storage,

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The S4 Mini has an AMOLED screen, rather than the One mini’s LCD. This offers power-saving benefits: playing looped video the S4 Mini lasted over 13 hours, compared to the One mini’s 8hrs 30mins. However, after our 24-hour mixed-use test, both phones had 60% remaining. The S4 Mini’s screen isn’t up there with the One mini’s, however. It only has 540 x 960 pixels, compared to the 720 x 1,280 of the HTC, and it’s a struggle to read web pages when zoomed out fully, unlike on the One mini. We weren’t as impressed with the S4 Mini’s screen, either. It has wide viewing angles and punchy colours, but the maximum

The S4 Mini shrinks the Galaxy S4’s screen from 5in to 4.3in

brightness is a middling 250cd/m2. Compared side by side with the HTC’s screen – which boasts pure, snowy whites – the S4 Mini’s whites had a blue tinge.

Samsung’s usual tweaks to Android are evident. Their appeal is a matter of taste, but we find them prettier than the rather dour stock Android 4.2.

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with no microSD slot. There’s just over 9GB available out of the box, which isn’t much when you consider space-swallowing 1080p video is easy to capture, and a game such as Asphalt 7: Heat will consume more than 1GB. The One mini also uses a dual-core 1.4GHz processor instead of a quad-core unit. Its benchmark results reflect this: the One mini recorded a time of 1,306ms in SunSpider, a Quadrant score of 6,132 and a Geekbench score of 1,409, none of which match the One’s figures. The One mini’s score in the GFXBench T-Rex HD test was 9.3fps, which means smooth gameplay in most of the games we tried. Yet, even if the mini doesn’t have the benchmark scores of the One, it still feels smooth, with

KEY SPECS Dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon CPU • 1GB RAM • 16GB storage • 4.3in 720 x 1,280 SLCD 2 display • quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE • tri-band 3G/ HSDPA/4G • Bluetooth 4 • dual-band 802.11abgn Wi-Fi • 4MP stills • 1080p video • 1,800mAh battery • Android 4.2 • 1yr RTB warranty • 63 x 9.3 x 132mm (WDH) • 122g

The S4 Mini has a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, which beat the One mini in our benchmarks, finishing the SunSpider JavaScript test in 1,008ms. Subjectively, though, the One was smoother: the S4 Mini was occasionally jerky when scrolling through complex web pages. Installing Chrome improved things, but the One mini retained the edge. We also ran the GFXBench T-Rex HD test, in which the S4 Mini trumped the HTC One mini’s 9.3fps with a score of 15fps. As with the HTC, every game we played ran fine, but the S4 Mini’s better score promises smooth gameplay in future titles. The S4 Mini has another advantage: its 5GB of usable storage is less than the HTC’s,

KEY SPECS Dual-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU • 1.5GB RAM • 8GB storage • 4.3in 540 x 960 AMOLED display • quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA/4G • Bluetooth 4 • microSD card slot • dual-band 802.11abgn Wi-Fi • 8MP stills • 1080p video • 1,900mAh battery • Android 4.2.2 • 1yr RTB warranty • 61 x 9 x 125mm (WDH) • 107g

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super-fluid panning and scrolling in web pages, fast app launch times and good responsiveness in the HTC Sense Android overlay. This works just as well as on the One, and we prefer BlinkFeed – HTC’s vertically scrolling news and social networking homepage – to Samsung’s complicated equivalent. The front-mounted stereo speakers put most smartphones to shame, too. We had hoped for better battery life. The One mini has a smaller, lower-resolution screen and weaker core components, so the score of 60% remaining after our 24-hour test is disappointing. We like the HTC One mini. It’s fast, feels like the HTC One in use and has a great display. With more storage, or a microSD slot, we’d unhesitatingly recommend it. As it is, though, we can’t quite give it the glowing endorsement we gave its stablemate. JONATHAN BRAY

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but the microSD slot offers an affordable way to add more. The One mini has 9GB free, but no card slot. We saw slight overexposure on bright days when using the 8-megapixel camera, but there’s a fair amount of detail, and colours are accurate. Shots outclassed the One mini’s 4-megapixel shots, which weren’t as detailed. As the light dimmed, though, the HTC overtook. The larger pixels of the One mini’s sensor produced less noisy photos than the S4 Mini, and the Samsung’s camera struggled to focus. All in all, Samsung’s Galaxy S4 Mini stands up to the competition: it trumps its HTC rival thanks to expandable storage and a faster processor. If you can live with the limited storage, the HTC One mini looks classier, but the S4 Mini edges it. CHRIS FINNAMORE

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RECOMMENDED The Lumia 625 boasts good battery life and a decent camera

Nokia Lumia 625 A huge, long-lasting smartphone at an exceptionally keen price – only the limited resolution disappoints

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he 4G Lumia 625 rolls off a production line that has delivered an avalanche of differently sized and priced handsets of late. Now we have the Lumia 625, a slab of a smartphone with a not-so-hefty price. The huge 4.7in display doesn’t deliver anything like the resolution of similarly sized devices, at only 480 x 800, resulting in graininess and slightly blurry text and photos. It isn’t a deal-breaker – those who haven’t used a Retina-grade screen may not even notice – and there are advantages to fewer pixels. The big plus is battery life. The Lumia 625 had 65% left after 24 hours in our benchmark, but, anecdotally, lasted much longer than the average smartphone with fairly intensive use of 3G. It’s disappointing, however, that Nokia seems to have artificially clamped the battery down, meaning it can’t be easily replaced. The 1.2GHz Snapdragon CPU and 512MB of RAM are basic,

KEY SPECS Dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU • 512MB RAM • 8GB storage • 4.7in 480 x 800 IPS display • quad-band GSM/EDGE • tri-band 3G/HSDPA/4G • Bluetooth • microSD card slot • 802.11bgn Wi-Fi • 5MP stills • 1080p video • 2,000mAh battery • Windows Phone 8 • 1yr RTB warranty • 72 x 9.2 x 133mm (WDH) • 159g

❱❱ PRICE From £149 (£179 inc VAT); from free on £21/mth, 24mth contract ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.nokia.com but Windows Phone 8 ran smoothly, and fairly demanding games ran without complaint. A SunSpider benchmark score of 1,123ms is about 25% slower than the high-end Lumia 925, but it’s no embarrassment. The photos produced by the 5-megapixel rear camera aren’t shameful, either. The majority of outdoor shots were well balanced, with close-ups especially detailed, and there’s scope to expand the limited storage: 8GB out of the box, and a microSD slot to supplement that by up to 64GB. Nokia has managed to squeeze a lot into the Lumia 625. The screen is huge, the battery lasts all day and the regular Nokia apps – including turn-by-turn satnav, free music streaming and a battery of photo tools – add to what was already a very compelling package. BARRY COLLINS

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Mouse alternatives

Photography: Danny Bird; repro, Jan Cihak

Contour RollerMouse Re:d and Free2

PRICE Re:d, £200 (£240 inc VAT); Free2, £183 (£220 inc VAT) SUPPLIER www.wellworking.co.uk OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪ Of all our mousing alternatives, Contour’s RollerMouse devices are the most expensive. For the cost of the Free2, you could buy three Logitech touchpads and countless standard mice, and the Re:d is even more pricey. Are they worth the money? If you have chronic RSI, the answer is unquestionably yes. The concept is simple enough: the RollerMouse allows you to control your cursor by way of a cylindrical bar

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If you suffer from RSI, the culprit could be your mouse. Thankfully, there’s a host of alternatives on the market that can alleviate the strain. We’ve spent the past month using five to find out which is best

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that spins forwards and backwards and slides from side to side. Below it are left-click and right-click buttons, along with a scroll wheel and a sensitivity adjustment button. The bar is clickable, too. It’s a surprisingly intuitive way of controlling the cursor, and after a few days of using them we found we hardly missed our mouse. We prefer the Re:d’s larger, more sensitive roller bar, but both devices deliver

exceedingly accurate and sensitive cursor control, allowing effortless selecting, dragging and dropping. Also, because they sit directly beneath the keyboard, you hardly have to move your hand to move the cursor. That’s good news for RSI sufferers, as is the ability to swap between left- and righthanded operation. The only downside – and it’s a big one – is the price.

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Logitech Trackman Marble

PRICE £19 (£23 inc VAT) SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪

The cheapest mouse alternative in this roundup by far is the Logitech Trackman Marble. It’s a basic, wired device, with four buttons sitting behind a large, red trackball, yet there’s nothing cheap-feeling about it. Cursor control is smooth and accurate, with the large, red “marble” on its nose delivering a high-quality feel. Since it’s so large, the ball is as easy to operate with a thumb as it is with the ends of your fingers. It’s an ambidextrous design, too, so it’s at home on the left- and right-hand sides of the keyboard. However, the best thing about the Trackman is how easy it is to make the transition from mouse to ball. Unfortunately, there’s one snag – the lack of a dedicated scroll wheel or button – which turns an otherwise excellent device into an also-ran.

Logitech Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650

Logitech Wireless Trackball M570

When Apple launched its Magic Trackpad in 2010, it was a curious novelty; in 2013, with the advent of Windows 8, the concept of a large, desk-bound touchpad is a serious alternative for PC users. The T650 is Logitech’s take on the concept, and it’s just as well made as Apple’s version. The surface is made from smooth ground-glass, and it offers mechanical clicking, multitouch tapping and Windows 8-friendly gesture support. Connection is made via a small USB wireless receiver, and the touchpad can be recharged via a micro-USB connection. This touchpad almost manages to make Windows 8 make sense on a desktop. Twofingered scrolling, panning and zooming are effortlessly achieved, as are Windows 8’s edge-swipe gestures. The T650 adds a few of its own gestures, too: for example, you can swipe up and down with three fingers to bring up and dismiss the Windows 8 Start screen, and there’s a four-fingered Aero Snap command. All in all, the T650 is a comfortable mouse alternative that brings Windows 8 to life. It’s a marvellous piece of kit, if perhaps a little pricey.

Logitech’s Wireless Trackball M570 marries the shell of an oversized mouse with a large, blue trackball on its left-hand edge. It’s a familiar shape and design for people used to a traditional mouse, with a scroll wheel nestling between the two main buttons and a pair of dedicated back and forward keys alongside (the buttons can be reassigned to different tasks if you’re not keen on these assignations). As it’s wireless and doesn’t need to sit on a perfectly flat surface, the M570 can be used when you’re sitting on the sofa or using a laptop away from a desk. However, we experienced the occasional stutter while moving the cursor around our Windows desktop, something we didn’t experience with our bog-standard Microsoft mouse. It isn’t ambidextrous, and if you’re looking for an alternative mouse because of wrist or hand complaints, the M570 may not be the best option: having to constantly use our thumb quickly tired the muscles around the top of our hand. We found the Marble more comfortable to use, despite the lack of scroll wheel, and it’s cheaper.

PRICE £50 (£60 inc VAT) SUPPLIER www.ilgs.co.uk OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪

PRICE £35 (£42 inc VAT) SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪

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REVIEWS Hardware

OMG Life Autographer The low-quality images and high price undermine this clever, life-logging camera ❱❱ PRICE £333 (£400 inc VAT) ❱❱ SUPPLIER http://shop. autographer.com

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MG Life’s Autographer camera is an intriguing idea: it’s a hands-off, wearable “life-logger” that takes snaps without any interaction from the user. The 5-megapixel camera doesn’t just take a snap at a set iteration, such as every minute. Instead, it “intelligently” chooses the best moment to capture by using five sensors: a motion detector, accelerometer, magnetometer, light and thermometer, although exactly how a temperature change signals that it’s time to take a picture is unclear.

The small, light device has a lens on the front and a clip on the rear to attach it to your clothing. There’s a small OLED display showing menu options, which is navigated via two buttons along the side. Turn it on, clip it to your shirt, and it will capture photos throughout the day – thousands of them. It has 8GB of storage, enough for 28,000 images. The lens cover can be slid shut to stop the camera, such as if you’re in the toilet or somewhere else where photography isn’t welcome. When it does capture a shot, a blue LED lights up to let

This small, light device can be attached to your clothes

you – and people standing around you – know what it’s doing. There’s no shutter button to take a shot, although there is “sequence mode”, a slow burst mode that captures a series of nine photos – which is handy if you

want to capture a particular scene and don’t trust the sensors. There’s also no display to play back the images, or viewfinder to see what the camera sees – you have to trust the Autographer to do its thing. There are three capture modes that adjust the sensitivity of the sensors and, therefore, the frequency of the shots. While out on a walk on the low-frequency setting, it captured around 170 photos over four hours, and burned through around 15% of the battery. On the higher settings, you’ll end up with hundreds of images, and much shorter run times. OMG Life says the battery should last up to 15 hours on the low setting, a claim we found no fault with. Autographer can also be fixed in one place to take snaps of a single scene changing – such as a sunset or a crowd scene. The resulting images aren’t impressive, however. Motion blur was common, so sequences

Leap Motion Controller A gesture controller that makes us want to throw our hands up in frustration, not towards the PC ❱❱ PRICE £58 (£70 inc VAT) ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.maplin.co.uk

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ew products have generated as much hype as the Leap Motion gesture controller; none have so miserably failed to live up to their billing. In theory, the Leap Motion Controller allows you to navigate your desktop via natural pointing gestures, and to select items on the screen by poking towards them. In our tests, on a variety of laptop and desktop PCs, we did indeed find it just about possible to scroll through the Windows 8 Start screen by gesture alone. Even with a steady hand, however, we found the onscreen pointer often wobbled uncontrollably, while at other

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times it was impossible to target items at the edges of the screen, or to locate the pointer at all. No degree of fiddling with the software’s numerous accuracy and calibration settings resulted in a satisfactory experience. Another big problem was selecting items. The Leap Motion sensing area is divided into two zones: the “hover zone”, away from the monitor, where the device recognises gestures, and the “touch zone”, which detects the equivalent of left mouse clicks. The invisible dividing line between these two zones is directly above the sensor, but we found we had to dangle a finger in the touch zone for a good couple of seconds for a “click” to be recognised. Trying to accurately select a small item – such as a link

The static Leap Motion fails to measure gestures accurately

on a web page, for example – borders on the impossible. In part, the problem is that the Leap Motion Controller is quite a rudimentary device. Whereas Microsoft’s Kinect uses a combination of RGB camera, depth sensor and motorised pivot to accurately track the motion of the user’s entire body, Leap Motion relies on two cameras and three infrared LEDs inside a static 3in box. Even if the hardware worked perfectly, the sheer arm-aching awkwardness of navigating your PC by gesture would still kill the idea. We’ve just about grown

accustomed to swiping laptop screens, but dangling your arm in mid-air to select items and scroll through menus is tiring. We can imagine personal-injury lawyers licking their lips in anticipation of these things taking off in the workplace. Also, with no Kinect-like option to switch off tracking with a voice command, we often found ourselves accidentally activating the Leap Motion when we went to pick up the phone, for instance. The controller isn’t solely intended for navigating Windows: it arrives with its own app store, offering a slim selection of paid-

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that would otherwise work nicely end up muddled with unclear images. The blur isn’t only from walking or bumping the camera; a breath of wind left trees little more than green smears. Shots are often blown out or too dark, and while the 136-degree wide-angle lens helps the camera capture everything in view, it also means that some shots have odd curves and distortion. The software works well, though. We had difficulties installing it on a Windows 7 PC – it needs access to your pictures library, and without that simply doesn’t work – but it does a good job filtering through the thousands of images that Autographer takes over a few active days. The software can create a quick video slideshow, stop-motion style, which can be exported as a video at 480p, 720p or 1080p, or as an

KEY SPECS 5MP camera • 136-degree fixed-focus lens • thermometer, magnetometer, motion detector, accelerometer and light sensor • 8GB storage • USB • Bluetooth • 37 x 23 x 90mm (WDH) • 58g

animated GIF. You can set how many frames are shown per second, add music, and it’s easy enough to remove blurry images. It would be handy if the software automatically out blurry or useless photos, though. One clever feature in the software is the map. As it snaps, the Autographer captures GPS co-ordinates, plotting photos on a map, letting you view images by area or follow your progress on a hike, for example. As with the Lytro (web ID: 383074) – the light-field camera that lets you focus after the photo has been taken – this isn’t a replacement for your camera. It could be a fun toy to supplement travel photography or for outdoor activities, but the low-quality, blurry images make it ideal for neither. And like the Lytro, it’s £400, making it an expensive toy indeed. NICOLE KOBIE

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Many of the apps in the Leap Motion store are novelties

for and free titles. Here too, however, we failed to find a single compelling demonstration of the usefulness of the device. In short, we could find nothing to do with the Leap Motion that we couldn’t do more accurately,

KEY SPECS Windows 8/7 or OS X 10.7 and above • USB 2 (cable included) • 1yr limited warranty • 30 x 76 x 13mm (WDH) • 32g

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more conveniently and more comfortably with a mouse and keyboard. On the plus side, at least it isn’t big enough to break the pane when the moment inevitably arrives to throw it out of the window. BARRY COLLINS

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Software REVIEWS

Sony Sound Forge Pro 11

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Workflow improvements make this great RECOMMENDED audio editor more powerful than ever punch-in recording – and begin recording when the input signal crosses a certain threshold, or when a certain hen it comes to MIDI timecode waveform-based audio message is received editing, Sound Forge from an external is one of the best-known names source. It’s also in the business – and deservedly possible to record so. Recent versions have been so multiple takes powerful that you might wonder by simply hitting what more could possibly be The new in-place recording capabilities streamline the business of capturing audio Record with added to justify this upgrade. a loop active. The answer is a selection of in the multitrack capabilities overlap, a non-destructive Switching between takes isn’t specific refinements that don’t introduced in version 9 (which crossfade is applied automatically. handled particularly neatly – revolutionise the package, but have been expanded to 32 tracks It’s a world apart from the old to access a previous take, you make certain tasks much easier. here), it’s no exaggeration to say Paste Mix approach. have to step back through your One of the biggest changes is that, as an overall package, Sound Other welcome additions undo history – but it works on the introduction of the “modeless” Forge is starting to look like a include a miniature overview of a basic level. recording workflow. In previous viable option for jobs that might the entire waveform at the top Another significant versions of Sound Forge, clicking previously have been deputed to a of the window (a big help for improvement is the ability to the Record icon on the toolbar full-fat digital audio workstation navigating longer files), and an split a file into “events”. Not to suspended the main program (DAW) package. updated plugin chain interface be confused with regions, events and switched you to a dedicated That isn’t to say Sound Forge that makes it easier than ever behave like audio clips in Sony’s recording interface. Now that is a replacement for suites such to manage a non-destructive Acid software. This means they button immediately starts as Steinberg’s Cubase 7 (web ID: sequence of VST effects. It’s also can be dragged, re-ordered and recording into the main wave 378724) or Sony’s own Acid now possible to route your input individually processed, making view, with no clunky switching Pro 7 (web ID: 245034). It lacks monitoring through the plugin it easy to knock a raw recording between dialogs. It’s a much support for virtual and MIDI chain – useful, perhaps, for session into shape. smoother experience. instruments, and offers minimal helping a performer tailor their Best of all, non-destructive For more complex recording support for multichannel mixing. performance to your chosen fading can be applied by simply tasks, the new floating, dockable It also does a poor job of handling production style. dragging in from the top corner Record Options window lets large plugin collections – the On the subject of VSTs, of an event; where two events you set up pre-roll – for easy unwieldy FX Favorites menu zplane’s élastique time-stretching must be at the top of Sony’s list tool – originally bundled with for a revamp in version 12. version 10 – is still here, thankfully. For a growing number of Even better, it’s now joined by tasks, though, Sound Forge makes iZotope’s tremendously versatile it possible to handle your complete Nectar Elements vocal processor, audio workflow in one place, which combines preamp, reverb, using a professional-grade tool compressor, de-esser, gate, EQ that’s properly focused on the job and even basic pitch-correction in hand. That’s always been the functions in one efficient module. joy of working with Sound Forge, Nectar Elements costs £80 on its and while the price is certainly own, so if you’re in the market steep, free alternatives such as for a do-it-all vocal plugin, its Audacity simply don’t come inclusion here certainly sweetens close to this level of polish and the deal. power. DARIEN GRAHAM-SMITH All these new and updated features make Sound Forge an ✪✪✪✪✪✪ OVERALL increasingly powerful tool for EASE OF USE ✪✪✪✪✪✪ recording and mixing musical FEATURES & DESIGN ✪✪✪✪✪✪ performances, voiceovers and so The ability to split a file into “events” in Sound Forge Pro 11 lets you freely drag sections of audio around as if they were Acid clips VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪✪ forth. Indeed, when you factor

❱❱ PRICE £257 (£308 inc VAT) ❱❱UPGRADE £129 (£154 inc VAT) ❱❱SUPPLIER www.sonycreative software.com

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REVIEWS Software

Xara Designer Pro X9 An excellent design package has been refined – a tempting alternative to Creative Cloud

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RECOMMENDED

lets you quickly rough out areas of a photo you want to keep and those you want to lose, and then hether you’re into intelligently creates photo editing, vector a mask accordingly. illustration, page Being able to layout or web design, there’s one create reasonably name that dominates: Adobe. sophisticated cutouts However, there’s an excellent like this greatly all-round alternative to the Adobe boosts productivity X9 can convert any publication to an HTML5-based website and publish it directly flagships that’s often overlooked when working on – Xara Designer Pro (XDP). photographic compositions. slider to control each effect, they’re through bandwidth-efficient XDP stands out for its Once you’ve isolated the region unlikely to see serious use. If HTML5 and CSS3. extraordinary graphics engine, you want to work with, it can you’re using the 64-bit version, Further web enhancements in which enables users to freely be enhanced, say, by changing this isn’t even an option, since only X9 include more efficient handling combine object-based drawing brightness or hue, or manipulating 32-bit filters are supported. of page backgrounds and tiling control with pixel-based creativity levels, with the various flyout As well as impressive vector fills; simple drag-and-drop within a multipage environment, options available from XDP’s and bitmap handling, XDP is no replacement of navigation and manipulate it in real-time. In Photo tool. A useful new option slouch when it comes to handling bars that preserve existing links; X9, there’s little in the way of new is the Photo Healing tool, which text and multipage publications. support for Google Analytics drawing capabilities, so the focus in a similar fashion to Photoshop’s Again, the focus with X9 is on so that you can monitor website is on boosting bitmap power, Magic Eraser, allows the quick making the most of existing power, traffic; a wider range of interactive starting with improved JPEG removal of blemishes and spots. with the ability to create advanced page elements; and intelligent processing and an optional 64-bit Again, you could probably have layouts by selecting a text area and swapping in of high-resolution version for superior handling of achieved similar results with the converting it to multiple columns, images on high-DPI devices. photo-heavy compositions. existing Clone tool, but X9 makes as well as quickly inserting page You can publish site designs Also new are the Region and the process simpler and quicker. and column breaks and page directly to a web server, and Mask tools that let you mark up X9 also sees significant numbers. You can have X9 X9 includes a year of web areas of an imported bitmap that reorganisation with the previously automatically create new pages hosting. Web purists will still you want to edit or preserve. In separate Live Effects tool, now when text overflows, and import turn up their noses, since you fact, the previous release already rolled in as another Photo tool files in the Word DOCX format. must surrender all control of offered much of this power, but flyout, complete with an extended The biggest change to code, but for non-coders it’s the new approach is more intuitive range of non-destructive filters, text handling comes through an attractive proposition and, and accessible. It’s designed such as sepia and thermal-imaging integration with Google’s free thanks to HTML5, X9’s wysiwyg to work with a new Erase effects. However, the additions are font library. From X9’s font approach is surprisingly effective. Background command, which a mixed bag, and with only one dropdown, you can open a dialog When all’s said and done, to view all of Google’s typefaces, Xara Designer Pro X9 still can’t and install them in seconds. compete with the sheer depth One of the big advantages of and breadth of professional Google’s fonts is that they can be power provided by Adobe automatically downloaded and Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign displayed by modern HTML5 and Muse. What it does instead browsers, which brings another is provide most of all of these of XDP’s great strengths into play: programs’ creative power within you can quickly convert any a single, integrated and fast multipage design into a full-blown all-rounder. Now that Adobe is website. Previously, this was an only providing its latest software awkward process, producing less through subscription, Xara than stellar results: XDP tended to Designer Pro X9 looks even resort to rasterisation to recreate more attractive. TOM ARAH large areas through PNG bitmaps. ✪✪✪✪✪✪ Now, it can produce most graphic OVERALL EASE OF USE ✪✪✪✪✪✪ effects, such as semi-transparent FEATURES & DESIGN ✪✪✪✪✪✪ text over a rounded rectangle, with VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪✪ Layout handling has been improved in the X9 release a gradient fill and shadow, purely

❱❱ PRICE £195 (£234 inc VAT) ❱❱ UPGRADE From £78 inc VAT ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.xara.com/uk

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How we test REVIEWS

How we test A REFERENCE GUIDE TO OUR BENCHMARKS AND TEST METHODS

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ur benchmarks are designed to reflect the way people actually use computers today. We use current applications, as well as a set of general responsiveness tests, to get an all-round picture of a PC’s or laptop’s performance.

Responsiveness

With low-power netbooks now so popular, it’s vital to know how responsive a system is. To measure this, we first time how long it takes to open documents and switch between a series of common applications, including Word and Excel, Acrobat Reader X and Internet Explorer. We then


27fps 86fps

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3.4GHz Intel Core i7-2600K, 4GB DDR3 = 1

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0.63

MULTITASKING

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Finally, we time how long it takes the multithreaded Cinebench 11.5 renderer to produce a complex 3D scene.

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time how long the system takes to open, close and move dozens of Explorer windows.

Media

Our Media tests expose how well a system can process music, photos and video files. We use iTunes 10 to encode an album into AAC and MP3 formats, then Adobe Photoshop CS5 to work on a folder of 12-megapixel RAW photographs. We adjust the colours and curves, apply artistic sharpening and blurring, and save the results in JPEG format. Finally, we use Sony Vegas 10 to render a short 1080p video, with a picture-in-picture effect and a cross-fade transition.

Multitasking

0.71

MEDIA

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To really test a system, we simultaneously run the iTunes and Photoshop tests, then launch our Responsiveness tests over the top.

We compare all timings with those of our reference platform: a 3.4GHz Core i7-2600K with 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 7,200rpm hard disk. All desktops are tested at 1,920 x 1,080; we test laptops at the display’s native resolution. Each score is given relative to the reference platform: a score of 1.5 would indicate a PC that was 50% faster. We combine the three scores into an overall average, but we also show the breakdown of the three tests, so you can easily see a system’s strengths and weaknesses.

3D benchmarks

We test 3D performance using pre-recorded sequences in Crysis. We use the game’s Low, Medium and High quality settings in the resolutions of 1,366 x 768, 1,600 x 900 and 1,920 x 1,080 respectively. For really fast systems we replace the Low test with one at 1,920 x 1,080 and Very High quality. A system’s 3D graphs (see left) will be coloured red, amber or green to indicate how smooth on average gameplay will be.

BATTERY-LIFE BENCHMARKS Our battery tests are also designed to reflect the real world, so we aim to determine the battery’s life for intensive tasks and everyday browsing. In the light-use test, we optimise the system for power efficiency – Windows’ power profile is set to Power Saver and we set the screen brightness as close to 75cd/m2 as possible using an X-Rite i1Display 2 colorimeter. We disconnect the mains and run a script scrolling a selection of web pages until the system shuts down, giving you a realistic idea of surfing time. For the heavy-use test, we engage Windows’ High Performance power profile, set the brightness to maximum and run the taxing Cinebench 3D renderer to push the processor load to the limit. This gives a worst-case figure for battery life from a single charge. BATTERY: LIGHT USE 3hrs 14mins

Displays

Tablets & smartphones

Cameras

Printers

We test all monitors, laptops and tablet screens in the same way. We use an X-Rite i1Display 2 colorimeter to gauge colour accuracy (technically known as Delta E), maximum brightness, black level and contrast ratio. We also display a selection of our own high-resolution test images and Blu-ray videos to get a real-world perspective.

Tablets and smartphones are similar products, so we test them in largely the same way. We run a selection of browserbased speed tests (including the SunSpider JavaScript test). We also thoroughly test battery life by simulating real use: phone calls, browsing, playing a podcast, and leaving the device on standby for 24 hours.

Cameras are tricky to test, as no benchmark we can carry out will give us definitive figures. Instead, we carry out a set series of shots in outdoor and indoor conditions, and at different angles, then judge the results by eye, analysing how sharpness, exposure, chromatic aberrations and noise impact overall image quality.

We test inkjets, laser printers and all-in-ones using ISO documents, our own magazine PDFs and carefully selected, high-resolution photographs. Every test is timed to the second and the output quality judged. We use every menu and interface, and calculate running costs using the quoted cartridge yields and retail prices.

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REVIEWS Enterprise

EXCLUSIVE

Boston Value Series 121

PC PRO

RECOMMENDED

Up front, there’s room for four hot-swap 3.5in hard disks

The first Xeon E3-1200 v3 production server to hit the market sets a high standard for features, value and performance ❱❱ PRICE £1,399 exc VAT ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.boston.co.uk

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oston was the first company off the mark with the Xeon E3-1200 and E3-1200 v2 CPUs, and now it’s repeated the feat by delivering the first Xeon E3-1200 v3 production server. In this exclusive review, we look at the 1U rack server, the Value Series (VS) 121. The launch of the Xeon E3-1200 v3 Haswell family of CPUs is a big shift in focus for Intel. While the v2 model saw Intel gain a foothold in the microserver market, the v3 has far grander aspirations. This new generation is set to take pride of place in entrylevel servers, workstations and data centres. The v3 family comprises of 13 models. All utilise a single memory controller, which supports up to

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32GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 – the same as the v2 range. Five of the CPUs have Intel’s latest dual-core HD Graphics GPUs, and are aimed at data centre desktop hosting and workstation duties. The five server models in the range drop the GPU, but offer plenty of useful features to anyone looking for a fast entry-level server. There’s support for PCI Express 3 slots, SATA III and USB 3. The three “L” variants all have the low TDPs necessary for microserver applications. Delve inside the low-profile 1U Supermicro chassis, and you’ll find the range-topping 3.6GHz quad-core E3-1280 v3 CPU. Turbo Boost 2 lets it step up to 4GHz if there’s enough thermal headroom available, and it has 8MB of L3 cache. In contrast to its stablemates, all of which have 80W TDPs, the E3-1280 v3 has a slightly higher TDP of 82W.

The Xeon CPU is presented on a compact Supermicro X10SLM-F motherboard (see 1 ). Intel’s new C224 chipset provides four SATA III and two SATA II interfaces, and, thankfully, it’s easy to differentiate between the two: the SATA III ports are white and the slower SATA II ports are black (see 2 ). Up front, there’s room for four hot-swap 3.5in hard disks, and the backplane has been cabled directly to the SATA III ports. The only disappointment is that Boston didn’t stretch to SATA III drives: the pair of 500GB hard disks included are SATA II models. There are plenty of RAID options: the C224 chip supports mirrors, stripes and RAID5 arrays. These can be managed from Windows using Intel’s Rapid Storage Technology (RST) utility, which provides tools for creating and monitoring RAID arrays and sending email alerts if problems are detected. Although the new Intel controller brings support for USB 3, the four external ports at the rear are limited to USB 2 speeds. The Supermicro motherboard has two USB 3 headers (which won’t be of any use in this server), plus an internal USB 3 port for booting into a hypervisor. There’s also a dedicated 5V power connector right next to the SATA ports for a disk on module (DOM). Power redundancy is provided by a pair of 400W hotplug PSUs (see 3 ). They’re much quieter than previous models: this is one of the quietest Supermicro 1U rack servers we’ve ever tested. The higher TDPs of the v3 CPUs means they won’t better

the previous generation for power consumption: we recorded idle and peak draws of 41W and 111W respectively. After we removed one of the 400W PSUs, idle and peak figures fell to 35W and 102W respectively. The “F” in the motherboard model name indicates that remote management is supported via a dedicated network port at the rear. The basic web interface doesn’t rival HP’s iLO4 for features, but provides sensor readings for critical components, plus SNMP traps and email alerts if preset thresholds are breached. Full control over power is provided, and remote control and virtual media services are also included. Notably, power monitoring makes its debut – the interface provides three graphs mapping hourly, daily and weekly consumption. It will be a while before the blue chips release servers with the new Xeon E3 CPUs, but Boston’s Value Series 121 has set the bar high. It offers great performance and features, wraps them in a quiet, low-profile chassis, and offers good value, too. DAVE MITCHELL

KEY SPECS 1U rack chassis • Supermicro X10SLM-F motherboard • 3.6GHz Intel Xeon E3-1280 V3 • 8GB UDIMM 1600MHz ECC DDR3 RAM (max 32GB) • Intel C224 chipset • 4 x SATA III • 2 x SATA II • supports RAID0, 1, 5, 10 • 2 x 500GB WD Enterprise SATA II hot-swap hard disks (max. 4) • PCI-E 3 x8 slot • 2 x Gigabit Ethernet • 2 x 400W hotplug PSUs • RMM with 10/100 • 3yr on-site NBD warranty • Power: 41W idle; 111W peak

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REVIEWS Enterprise

EXCLUSIVE

Western Digital Sentinel RX4100

The RX4100 is Western Digital’s first rack-mount NAS appliance

Performance is average, but this Windows-powered rack NAS appliance has high-quality client backup and system recovery features ❱❱ PRICE 8TB, £1,213 exc VAT ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.lambda-tek.com

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estern Digital’s Sentinel RX4100 is a departure from the norm: it’s the company’s first rack-mount NAS appliance. At its core is Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials (WSSE), which supports up to 25 users and targets small businesses. While the form factor is new, the hardware isn’t. Instead, Western Digital has taken the motherboard from its Sentinel DX4000 desktop appliance (web ID: 374449) and dropped it into a full-depth 1U rack chassis. The motherboard (see 1 ) is dwarfed by the size of the appliance, and the only differences are that the DDR3 memory has doubled to 4GB, and an extra USB 2 port has been added at the front. Look closer, and there’s still the same 1.8GHz dual-core Atom D525 CPU (see 2 ), plus pairs of USB 3 and Gigabit ports at the rear. The chassis has a fixed internal 130W PSU (see 3 ) and, although redundancy is an option, implementation is

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inelegant. WD has retained one of the power inputs from the DX4000 board so you can add an external power supply. WSSE is beginning to look long in the tooth, but it provides a good range of features. These include file sharing, PC backup and recovery services, secure web access for remote users and integration with Active Directory. We found initial deployment lengthy. With a locally attached monitor, keyboard and mouse, you give a name for the appliance plus an admin password and leave WSSE to complete the setup process. Including the acquisition of critical Windows updates, the entire process took more than three hours. Next, you download the Connector and Launchpad software by pointing a web browser at the appliance from each client. You can RDP to the appliance, but it’s easier to use the Dashboard, which provides fast access to all WSSE features. WSSE has a sharp focus on PC backup and recovery and, after receiving the Connector, each client pops up in the

Dashboard. You can create backups for selected files and folders or complete systems, and decide how long to keep daily, weekly and monthly backups. WSSE will run as many backups as possible within a daily backup window. This could cause problems with the initial backup since it runs only one backup at a time, but it will subsequently be faster as it uses VSS snapshots and block-level deduplication. You can customise WSSE with add-ins, and the RX4100 has WD’s Mac Dashboard and a Connector for remote management via Windows Phone 7 devices. IP SAN functionality is present, too, since the price includes StarWind iSCSI target software. The RX4100’s 4GB of memory made a palpable difference in our performance tests. Drag-and-drop copies of a 2.52GB video clip returned read and write speeds of 89MB/sec, whereas the DX4000 mustered 78MB/sec. Backups were only marginally faster: our 17.4GB folder of 10,500 files copied at 43MB/sec – a mere 2MB/sec faster than the DX4000. Using the WSSE backup service, we secured 47GB on a Windows 8 PC in 50 minutes, and deduplication reduced server storage to 29.5GB. For restoration, you select a client on the Dashboard, choose a backup job and decide where to send it. For IP SAN targets, you provide a name to append to their IQN, choose a size and decide whether to apply CHAP authentication. Performance is good, with Iometer reporting a raw read throughput of 103MB/sec for a 100GB target. For bare-metal recovery, it’s possible to use a USB stick as a

bootable WSSE Full System Restore disk. We tested this by booting a Windows 8 client from the USB stick and using the wizard to reinstate it from the latest backup on the server. Cloud backup is on the cards, too, and comes courtesy of AuthenTec KeepVault, which costs around £400 per year for 500GB of storage. Just install the KeepVault add-in, choose which folders to protect and the program does the rest. Enabling protection on a folder immediately starts a backup, and there are options to request continuous backups, choose a time window and restrict bandwidth usage. We had no problems with real-time protection of a test folder, and whenever we updated a file or added new ones, they were copied immediately. With WSSE at its helm, the Sentinel RX4100 scores well for its client backup and recovery features. It also compares well on price with Qnap’s TS-469U-RP (web ID: 379765). Ultimately, though, this isn’t enough. With the TS-469U-RP providing superior performance, integral dualredundant PSUs and a much wider range of features, the Western Digital Sentinel RX4100 is just off the pace. DAVE MITCHELL

KEY SPECS 1U rack chassis • 1.8GHz Intel Atom D525 • 4GB DDR3 RAM • 4 x 2TB WD SATA II hot-swap hard disks • supports RAID5 • 2 x USB 3 • 2 x Gigabit Ethernet • internal 130W PSU • Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials • 3yr limited warranty

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REVIEWS Enterprise

Qsan AegisSAN LX P600Q-D316 A 10GbE IP SAN disk array with total redundancy, top performance and good expansion potential, all at a reasonable price

PC PRO

Once fully populated, disk shelves can add extra storage

RECOMMENDED

❱❱ PRICE Diskless, £9,100 exc VAT ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.cms distribution.com

S

MBs looking for highly redundant IP SAN disk arrays can expect to pay through the nose if they go to the blue chips, but Qsan is offering a more cost-effective alternative. Its AegisSAN LX P600Q-D316 ticks all the right boxes: it offers dual controllers supporting active/active mode and cache mirroring; provides extensive RAID array choices; and seals the deal with plenty of expansion potential. It comes with dual-hotplug 500W power supplies and fan modules (see 1 ), and is 10GbEready. Both controllers sport dual Gigabit and 10GbE small-formfactor pluggable (SFP+) data ports, and are equipped with dedicated hotplug battery backup modules. Expansion potential is impressive. Each controller provides a SAS 2 port (see 2 ), and with Qsan’s J300Q JBOD disk shelves hooked up, you can go up to a maximum of 192 drives. These units also have a dual-controller design, so redundancy is extended throughout the daisy chain. Since each controller has a dedicated management port (see 3 ), redundancy is extended to these functions. You have two choices for access: a web browser or Qsan’s own QCentral utility, which is designed to manage multiple appliances. The web

Each controller sports dual Gigabit and 10GbE SFP+ ports

interface is fairly basic, but provides easy access to functions. QCentral is just as easy to use, and you can access various functions simply by clicking on components in the appliance graphic. For testing, we loaded up a quartet of Western Digital 4TB SAS 2 hard disks. The drive trays accept SFF drives, so we added a couple of 900GB WD Enterprise drives, too. The appliance doesn’t support SATA drives, though. You start by creating RAID groups, and Qsan supports an extensive range of array types including Qsan’s N-way mirroring, where the array can contain multiple mirrors for N-1 failover. During RAID-group creation, the QThin feature allows thin provisioning to be enabled on a per-group basis. Within each RAID group, you create multiple virtual disks (VDs), which are your iSCSI targets. These can be of any size, and if you run out of room you can load more drives, add them to the RAID group and extend VDs as required. The appliance advertises one iSCSI node name, with all

accessible VDs appearing under this as LUNs. For access control, CHAP authentication is applied at the node level. However, you can further restrict access by assigning VDs to specific iSCSI host initiators or using a wild-card entry for global access. Snapshots can be run on selected VDs manually or at 15-minute, hourly, daily, weekly and monthly intervals. From both the web console and QCentral, you can select a VD and view all associated snapshots. Snapshots can be exposed as a new read-only or read-write target and initiators assigned so they appear as a new drive. The cloning feature will be handy for testing and basic VD backup: it allows you to create complete replicas of source VDs. It can also keep them updated by running scheduled incremental backups. VD replication over a LAN or WAN to another appliance is possible with the optional QReplica feature. The only drawback is that the second Gigabit port on each controller on both appliances must be dedicated to this task.

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KEY SPECS 3U rack chassis • 16 x hot-swap LFF/SFF SAS 2 drive bays • 2 x 500W hotplug PSUs • 2 x hotplug fan modules • Dual active/active RAID controllers each with the following: 1.7GHz Intel Xeon C3528 • 4GB DDR3 RAM with BBU • supports RAID0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60, N-way • 2 x Gigabit Ethernet • 2 x 10GbE SFP+ • management port • SAS expansion port • web browser and QCentral management

3 1

For testing we created a range of VDs within a RAID5 array and introduced the appliance to the lab’s 10GbE network. We used a Broadberry CyberServe with dual 2.6GHz E5-2670 Xeons, 48GB of DDR3 RAM, Windows Server 2012 and an Emulex OCe11102NM dual-port 10GbE adapter. With jumbo frames enabled, Iometer reported fast raw read and write speeds of 1,157MB/sec and 1,084MB/sec, which equates to an impressive 9Gbits/sec and 8.5Gbits/sec. To test maximum IOPS, we changed the Iometer block size to 4KB and saw a reading of 130,000 IOPS. For general database performance testing, we used 256 outstanding I/Os, a 16KB block size, 66% read, 34% write and a 100% random distribution. After an hour, Iometer settled at a respectable 9,700 IOPS. The P600Q-D316 is ideal for hosting business-critical storage. The lack of SATA drive support is a disappointment, but you’ll be hard-pushed to find this calibre of features for less. DAVE MITCHELL

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REVIEWS Enterprise

Netgear ReadyNAS 2120 Netgear has introduced a host of new features, but performance is poor and expansion limited ❱❱ PRICE Diskless, £674 exc VAT ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.lambda-tek.com

N

etgear’s ReadyNAS family of NAS appliances received a major refresh recently, with its ReadyNAS OS 6 software introducing plenty of welcome new features. We were impressed with the ReadyNAS

314 four-bay desktop box (web ID: 383662), and here we take a closer look at the only small-business rack-mount model in Netgear’s range. The ReadyNAS 2120 uses the same low-profile chassis as the elderly 2100 (web ID: 350585), but features a number of hardware changes: the number of cooling fans has been halved, which makes

it much quieter; the drive carriers are tool-less; and the motherboard and power supply unit are no longer on a removable board. Processing power receives a modest boost, too, with a dual-core 1.2GHz Marvell Armada XP teaming up with 2GB of DDR3 RAM. There are still dual-Gigabit ports, and Netgear has added pairs of USB 3 and eSATA ports. Disappointingly, the eSATA ports don’t support Netgear’s EDA500 five-bay units, so external expansion isn’t an option. This is only available with the ReadyNAS 300 and 500 desktop models. First-time setup is slick. Simply point your browser at Netgear’s

ReadyCloud web portal and it will discover the appliance and set it up for you. ReadyCloud-registered users can view, add or delete files and folders. Files can also be remotely copied directly to the appliance by dragging them into the portal’s Browse page. The ReadyCloud portal has a quick link to the new Dashboard management interface, which is far superior to the old RAIDiator GUI. It’s much faster, too – it loads in a second or two and is noticeably more responsive. The switch from the EXT4 file system to BTRFS brings support for unlimited block-level snapshots. When creating shares or iSCSI LUNs, you can select

Emailed documents print quickly. We tested with a range of PDF, Word and Excel documents, and the longest we had to wait from sending the email was 50 seconds for an eight-page colour PDF brochure. Google’s Cloud Print works just as well, and we found it even easier to set up. All that’s required is to enter the HP Connected email address you assigned to the printer when

you registered it – Google does the rest. HP even has a cloud portal for setup. You’re redirected here for the latest drivers and utilities, which are downloaded and installed automatically. During this phase, you can select which connection type you want. It’s worth noting that setting up a wireless connection initially requires the printer to be connected via USB, but WPS is also supported and, alternatively, you can use the web interface

The updated software introduces lots of new features

HP OfficeJet 7110 Good output quality and low running costs make this A3+ inkjet a fine in-house alternative to print shops ❱❱ PRICE £115 exc VAT ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.printerland.co.uk

H

P’s OfficeJet 7110 targets any small business that’s looking to cut marketing costs by bringing print production in-house. This affordable, wide-format inkjet supports wired, wireless and USB connections, and teams them up with low running costs, slick cloud printing and mobile device support. Finished in dark brown, the HP’s chassis is solidly built. The ability to handle A3+ paper sizes up to 329mm x 483mm is useful, and our only complaint is that the input and output trays can be

tricky to position correctly for the largest paper sizes. The lack of an LCD touchscreen means that you can’t use HP’s print app store, but the HP Connected web service allows users to email documents RECOMMENDED directly to the printer from anywhere. Wireless direct printing from a mobile device is also supported, and you can assign a global passcode to beef up access security.

PC PRO

The OfficeJet 7110 delivers vibrant, super-sized prints

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Enterprise REVIEWS

hourly, daily or weekly snapshots. All snapshots can be viewed from the Dashboard; to recover a file, folder or LUN, select a snapshot and choose the rollback option. Netgear’s ReadyDrop offers similar features to Dropbox (which is also supported), but doesn’t store your data in the cloud. When data is placed into your local ReadyDrop folder, it’s automatically synced to the appliance. Likewise, anything dropped into the appliance’s folder will be synced to all linked ReadyDrop local folders. Performance crushes the 2120’s aspirations, however. Using a Dell PowerEdge R515 server loaded with Windows Server 2012, it was well below par, with drag-and-drop copies of a 2.52GB video clip returning read and write speeds of only 95MB/sec and 65MB/sec respectively.

KEY SPECS 1U rack chassis • 1.2GHz dual-core Marvell Armada XP • 2GB DDR3 RAM • 4 x hot-swap SATA drive bays • 2 x USB 3 • 2 x eSATA • 2 x Gigabit Ethernet • 5yr RTB warranty

wizard. Simultaneous wired Ethernet and wireless connections aren’t supported, though. HP claims a top mono speed of 32ppm in Draft mode but, as with any inkjet, this is dependent on the page content. Our 32-page Word document returned 22ppm in Draft mode, 15ppm in Normal and 4ppm at the interpolated 4,800 x 1,200dpi Best mode. A 24-page colour DTP-style A4 document printed in Best mode delivered speeds of 3.6ppm. A4 colour photos in Best mode took between 1min 30secs and two minutes, while an A3 colour poster was delivered in five minutes at Best quality and only 30 seconds at Normal quality. Print quality is excellent across the board. In our testing, text in Normal mode was clean with only

KEY SPECS 1,200dpi A3 inkjet • 500MHz CPU • 128MB RAM • 802.11bgn Wi-Fi • 32ppm/29ppm mono/colour • USB 2 • 10/100 Ethernet • 250-sheet input tray • A4 monthly duty cycle: 12,000 pages • 1yr limited warranty • 585 x 419 x 189mm (WDH) • Options: duplex unit, £41 exc VAT

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FTP speeds were similarly underwhelming. The FileZilla utility recorded download and upload speeds of 92MB/sec and 60MB/sec respectively. General backup operations are painfully slow, too – it averaged only 33MB/sec when copying our 22.4GB mix of 10,500 small files. The 2120 offers real-time antivirus scanning as standard, but we’d advise against enabling it if you’re using it for backup purposes. With antivirus scanning enabled, our 22.4GB test sample copied to the appliance at a dreadfully slow 8.3MB/sec. Despite the impressive range of new features in ReadyNAS OS 6, the 2120 fails to impress in several key areas. Performance is poor, it lacks support for external expansion and – compared to the superior ReadyNAS 314 – it’s simply far too expensive. DAVE MITCHELL

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minimal dusting around the smallest fonts. Colour prints on cheap plain paper looked slightly washed out, but prints on heavier paper grades were bold and bright. Photographs were deftly handled, and glossy prints oozed with vivid colours and fine detail. Even our toughest test prints showed smooth transitions across complex colour fades, and there was no banding or graininess. The 7110 is cheap to run, too. A4 printing costs work out at 2p for mono and 5p for colour. Use the cheaper 400-page black cartridge, however, and you’ll push mono costs up to 2.7p and colour to 5.7p. With low running costs and a low price, the HP OfficeJet 7110 is top value. Businesses looking to cut print-shop costs for marketing material should seriously consider this printer. DAVE MITCHELL

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Y-cam Cube HD 1080 An IP camera that delivers plenty of surveillance features for the price, but image quality is disappointing

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t may be a little, palm-sized package, but Y-cam’s latest Cube HD 1080 IP camera crams in the features. It has a top resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, 802.11n wireless networking, night vision, motion detection and it offers direct recording to a microSD card or NAS appliance. The body is too small to accommodate a standard Ethernet port, so Y-cam uses a combination of mini-USB port and Ethernet adapter. The external power supply has a decent 3m lead, but Y-Cam also offers an optional PoE adapter. Y-cam’s setup utility finds the camera for you and offers quick access to its web interface. Three video streams are available: the first goes up to 1080p, the second supports 720p and the third offers up to 256 x 144 pixels for mobile access. Unlike Aztech’s WIPC402 (web ID: 383665), we had no problems during wireless setup – the Cube HD 1080 connected to our Netgear WNR3500 11n router in a matter of seconds. The web interface provides a search facility so you can browse SSIDs and choose which network to connect to. Video quality at both 720p and 1080p is average at best. Colour balance and contrast are good, but the focus isn’t sharp enough. The camera also had difficulty coping with bright sunlight streaming through the lab windows. With 28 infrared LEDs surrounding the

❱❱ PRICE £208 exc VAT ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.y-cam.com lens, the Y-cam’s night vision is impressive. We found coverage easily went up to the claimed 15m. Once again, though, poor focus limits its usefulness. For motion detection, there are four windows, each with their own sensitivity settings. When triggered, the camera can send snapshots to its microSD card, network share or HTTP, FTP and email servers. It can record continuously to either a NAS share or microSD card, and you can also upload the card’s contents to an FTP server. We had no problems linking the camera to an Asustor NAS appliance, where we could store snapshots and movies. You can also remotely browse the folder contents from the web interface, view recordings and delete them. For such a tiny camera, the Cube HD 1080 is packed with features. Crucially, though, image quality isn’t up to par. For this price, we’d expect better all-round performance. DAVE MITCHELL

With 28 IR emitters around its lens, the Y-cam demonstrates impressive night-vision abilities

KEY SPECS 1/2in RGB CMOS • 2mm f/3.6 lens • 15fps @ 1080p • 30fps @ 720p • H.264/MPEG-4/MJPEG • 10/100 Ethernet • 802.11bgn Wi-Fi • internal microphone • microSD slot • external PSU • Y-cam Setup software • 1yr RTB warranty

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REVIEWS Enterprise EXCLUSIVE

Lexmark CX410de A low-cost workgroup laser MFP that combines good speed with stunning print and scan quality ❱❱ PRICE £360 exc VAT ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.printer base.co.uk

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exmark’s CX410de colour MFP sits at the lower end of a new, 18-strong range of laser MFPs. It combines print, fax, scan and copy functions with a 1,200dpi engine, 30ppm print speeds and integral duplexing. In the past, Lexmark has taken some flak from PC Pro for its high printing costs, but the CX410de

KEY SPECS 1,200 x 1,200dpi A4 colour laser • 600dpi colour scanner • 800MHz dual-core CPU • 512MB RAM (max 2.5GB) • 30ppm colour/mono • duplex • 3 x USB 2 • 2 x RJ11 • Ethernet • 33.6Kbits/sec fax/ modem • 250-sheet input tray • 50-sheet ADF • monthly duty cycle, 6,000 pages • 1yr on-site warranty • ABBYY FineReader 9 Sprint software • 444 x 558 x 470mm (WDH) • Options: MarkNet USB wireless adapter, £49 exc VAT

bucks the trend. The new Unison extra-high-yield cartridges return a mono page for 2.3p and a colour one for 11p – slightly cheaper than the A-Listed HP LaserJet Pro 200 Colour MFP M276n (web ID: 379879). It narrowly bests the M276n for print quality, too. We noted pin-sharp text and plenty of detail in colour photos. Colour balance and contrast are superb. Nor is the CX410de a slouch in the speed stakes, with an average time to first page of 11 seconds. A 30-page Word document in both draft and photo/text modes took one minute, and a 24-page colour DTP document in photo mode printed at 30ppm. Copy speeds using the ADF are good, too: a ten-page document was duplicated in only 32 seconds. Best of all, scan

The CX410de churns out cheap, top-quality prints

PC PRO

quality is remarkably faithful, with no grain or banding. From the intuitive touchscreen, RECOMMENDED documents can be As the CX410de is selling scanned to email, FTP servers, at a discounted price until the network shares or direct to a end of October, it’s superb value USB stick. A phone book keeps for money. The lack of any real tabs on fax numbers, and the cloud features count against it. For Printer Home utility lets you workgroups that demand the best scan to any destination. print and scan quality, it’s highly Lexmark simply can’t match recommended. DAVE MITCHELL the M276n for cloud features, however. There’s no equivalent OVERALL ✪✪✪✪✪✪ to the HP Connected service, PERFORMANCE ✪✪✪✪✪✪ and no support for scanning FEATURES & DESIGN ✪✪✪✪✪✪ directly to Google Drive or VALUE FOR MONEY ✪✪✪✪✪✪ any other cloud services.

Xerox DocuMate 4700 A capable and reasonably priced A3 flatbed scanner that can pair with a DocuMate A4 ADF device ❱❱ PRICE £494 exc VAT ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.printer base.co.uk

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arge-format ADF scanners are expensive for SMBs that rarely need A3 copies, but Xerox’s DocuMate 4700 offers an affordable solution. This standalone flatbed scanner handles up to A3 paper sizes, and, thanks to its internal USB hub, works seamlessly alongside Xerox’s DocuMate A4 ADF devices.

KEY SPECS A3 colour flatbed scanner • 600dpi optical resolution • 24-bit colour • 2 x USB2 • external PSU • daily duty cycle 1,000 pages • Visioneer OneTouch and Acuity, Nuance PaperPort Pro 14, OmniPage Pro 18 and PDF Converter Pro 7.3 software • TWAIN, WIA and ISIS drivers • 1yr RTB warranty • 580 x 495 x 115mm (WDH)

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Installation on a Windows 8 desktop was swift, and as Xerox also includes WIA, TWAIN and ISIS drivers, the 4700 will work happily with any compatible software or application. The high-quality software bundle includes the Visioneer OneTouch utility, which enables the scanner’s Function button to be linked to a range of actions. Up to nine actions can be programmed, including scan-toprinter, application, email, fax, FTP server, SharePoint and a range of cloud destinations. OneTouch is brilliant when it comes to cloud scanning: the software provides quick links for a multitude of remote destinations. From the Visioneer Connect web form, links can be requested for Box.net, Evernote, FilesAnywhere,

The 4700’s OneTouch utility allows for speedy scanning

OfficeDrop and more, and the free installer adds an option for Google Drive. Dropbox implementation is basic, however – simply create a scan-to-storage profile for your local Dropbox folder. Scan speeds are nippy. A4 colour documents scanned in eight seconds at 300dpi and 16 seconds at 600dpi; A3 documents took ten seconds at 300dpi and 25 seconds at 600dpi. Scan quality is ample for documents, but the maximum 600dpi optical resolution is restrictive for scanning photos. Detail and contrast are acceptable, but speckling was apparent on areas of solid colours and backgrounds.

The Acuity plugin’s anti-skew function works well, but the image post-processing is less remarkable: although clarity improved, it slightly smeared some of our test documents. The redaction feature is nifty, though, and can be used to quickly obscure specific areas on sensitive documents. Xerox has put together a great-value package. It comes into its own teamed with a DocuMate A4 ADF, but even on its own, the DocuMate 4700 has plenty going for it. DAVE MITCHELL

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LABS Parental controls

Photography: main intro, Getty Images

Contents Norton Family Blue Coat K9 Web Protection F-Secure Internet Security 2013 Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 McAfee Family Protection OpenDNS Basic TalkTalk HomeSafe Trend Micro Online Guardian Windows Live Family Safety AVG Family Safety Bitdefender Parental Control G Data InternetSecurity 2014 MetaCert Net Nanny 6.5 SafeDNS

136 137 138 138 139 139 140 140 141 142 142 142 143 143 143

Buyer’s guide Feature table How we test Results ISP filters Mobile monitoring View from the Labs

132 132 133 135 141 145 145

Parental controls Which parental-control packages will keep your kids safe, and which will let them access porn, gore or other adult content? We test 15 packages – both paid-for and free – against more than 150 sites carrying undesirable content to see which offer the best protection, and which leave children exposed to the worst of the web 130


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Parental controls

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LABS


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Buyer’s guide

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here are two basic ways of protecting kids from inappropriate online content. Network-level filters block objectionable sites before they reach your home, so every device is protected. Client-based controls must be installed on every PC, but can provide additional protection beyond web filtering. Which you choose is up to you, but software-based systems are typically more flexible. You can set different restrictions for different family members, and your child can often request access to sites that may have been wrongly blocked. You can also set up a

bespoke blacklist of URLs to block – and a whitelist of sites to allow. Most software-based packages offer time-limiting features, too, and may allow you to block specific applications or protocols – so, for example, you can make sure your kids aren’t filling your PC with illegal or potentially virus-ridden downloads. It may be possible to restrict games and videos according to age ratings. Another matter to consider is how each suite handles social networking and instant messaging. These services can be avenues for cyberbullying or unwanted contact from strangers, so many control

systems let you block specific types of online activity, and prevent personal data from being shared. Then comes the question of reporting. Some systems offer simple activity overviews, while others deliver live alerts whenever a site is blocked or a warning is generated – something else to factor into your purchase decision. A final issue to consider, if you go down the software path, is whether you want a standalone parental-control package or one built into a wider security suite. The integrated approach has obvious appeal, but these built-in

parental controls may offer fewer features than dedicated systems. All of these variables are set out in our feature table below, and discussed on the following pages, so read on to discover which system is right for you.

RECOMMENDED

AVG Family Safety

Bitdefender Blue Coat K9 Parental Control Web Protection

Value for Money

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Pricing Price (inc VAT)

£30

£20

Free

Unlimited devices, 1 year www.bitdefender.com

Overall Filtering Features Ease of Use

Licence details

3 PCs, 1 year

Supplier

www.avg.com

Other licensing options inc VAT Free trial period OS support

Options for up to 10 PCs N/A Windows 7, Vista, XP

Mobile support

iOS app (included); Windows Phone 8 app (included) Software / DNS

Filter type Features Category filters Customisable profiles Customisable keyword filter Whitelist/blacklist Download blocking Multiple user profiles Remote management Cumulative/ scheduled time limits App/game blocking IM and social network monitoring Unblock request button/form Reporting options

G Data Internet Security 2014

Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

McAfee Family Protection

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£22 (included in full security suite) 1 PC, 1 year

£31 (included in full security suite) 1 PC, 1 year

£22

£7

1 PC, 1 year

3 PCs, 1 year

www.ebuyer.com

www.play.com

www.amazon.co.uk

www.amazon.co.uk

£40 (3 PCs, 1 year), £65 (3 PCs, 2 years) 30 days Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP

Options for up to 5 PCs, up to 2 years 30 days Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP

Options for up to 3 PCs, 2 up to 2 years 30 days 30 days Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP

Android app (included)

2

2

Android app (£15)

Software

Software

Software

Software

Software

Software

3 3

3 3

3 3

3 3

3 3

3 3

3 3

2

2

3

2

3

3

2

3/ 3 2 3 3

2/3 2 3 3

3/ 3 2 2 2

3/ 3 2 3 2

3/ 3 2 3 2

3/ 3 3 3 2

3/ 3 3 3 2

2/3

2/3

2/3

2/3

2/3

3/ 3

2/3

3 3

2 3

2 2

3 3

2 2

3 3

3 3

2

2

3

2

2

3

2

Web; various scope options Monitor phone calls, SMS, location Phone, online chat, email

In-app; custom scope

In-app; various scope options Full security suite

In-app event log Full security suite

In-app; various scope options Full security suite

Phone, online chat

Phone, email

Phone, email

In-app; various scope options Age-rating enforcement for video and music Phone, online chat

In-app, web, email, SMS; custom scope Other major features Block video by rating, whole home filtering Technical support Phone, online chat

132

Unlimited licence keys for home use www.k9web protection.com Business: $2/mth per 2 PC or $18/yr Unlimited (report only) N/A Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP Windows 8, 7; OS X 10.4.7+ Android app (included) Safe browser for Android and iOS

F-Secure Internet Security 2013 ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪


Timeout blocking, enforce Safe Search

2

www.pcpro.co.uk

Parental controls

LABS

HOW WE TEST

Our tests this month focus on web filtering. We set up each product or service on a clean Windows 8 laptop, and apply the strictest filtering rules that don’t rely purely on whitelisting. This lets us identify any holes in each package’s filtering system. We then try to visit 145 websites that, in our view, shouldn’t be accessible to young children. This includes 74 pornography sites or image searches, plus a selection of sites promoting gambling, “gore”, suicide,

anorexia, “hate” and tasteless humour, as well as web proxies. This last category is important, since proxy services can reveal the contents of blocked sites. You can view the complete list of URLs tested at www.pcpro.co.uk/ links/229labs1. We also try to visit 18 sites that, in our view, shouldn’t be blocked, including support pages for physical and mental health issues, teen magazines and other inoffensive sites such as the BBC homepage. If one of these is blocked,

we count it as a false positive. Again, these URLs are detailed at the above link. The total number of objectionable pages allowed through the filter, minus any false positives, determines the Filtering score we award to each package. We also award a Features score, representing the range and usefulness of features on offer; plus scores for Ease of Use and Value for Money. Our Overall score is an average of these, weighted towards filtering performance.

LABS WINNER

MetaCert

Net Nanny 6.5

Norton Family

OpenDNS Basic SafeDNS

TalkTalk HomeSafe

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Free

£30

Free

Free

Free

Included in subscription

One network, unlimited devices www.opendns.com

Unlimited www.safedns.com

Home VIP, $20/yr

Premium, £20/yr

N/A N/A

Trend Micro Online Guardian ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Windows Live Family Safety ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Unlimited

£38 (included in full security suite) 3 PCs, 1 year

Free Unlimited accounts

www.talktalk.co.uk

www.trendmicro.co.uk

www.microsoft.com

2

N/A N/A Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP N/A

Up to 10 PCs, up to 2 years 30 days Windows 7, Vista, XP

N/A Windows 8, 7

N/A

2

2

Android app (£20)

Windows Phone 8

Unlimited

1 PC, 1 year

10 PCs

https://metacert.com

www.netnanny.co.uk

www.symantec.com

2

Safe browser for iPad; plugins for Chrome and Firefox DNS

£60 (2 PCs, 1 year), £90 (3 PCs, 1 year) 14 days Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP; OS X 10.5+ Android app (£8.50)

Premier package, £30 (10 PCs, 1 year) N/A Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP; OS X 10.7+ Android app (included); iOS app (manage only)

Software

Software

DNS

DNS

Network level

Software

Software

2 2

3 3

3 3

3 3

3 2

3 2

3 3

2 2

2

3

2

2

2

2

3

2

2/2 2 2 2

3/3 2 3

3/ 3 2 3 3

3/ 3 2 2 3

3/ 3 2 2 3

2/3 2 2 3

3/ 3 2 3 3

3/ 3 3 3 3

N/A N/A

web and time management

2

2/2

2/3

3/ 2

2/2

2/2

2/2

2/3

3/ 2

2 2

2 3

2 3

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 3

3 3

2

Optional

3

3

2

2

3

3

2

In-app, web, email; Web, email; past week custom scope Block chat, newsgroups, N/A P2P, HTTPS Email Email, forum

Web; past two weeks

Web; custom scope

2

Web (past week); email (biweekly)

Web; custom scope

Anti-phishing/malware, response filtering

2

2

2

Enforce Safe Search, block phone downloads

2

2

Phone, online chat, email

Phone, email

2

2 2

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133

Parental controls

LABS

Filtering results

I

in our colour coding, with red representing the worst performance and green the best. In the false-positives column, however, a high percentage indicates that a large number of sites that we considered harmless were blocked. Here the colours are reversed: a score of 0% is coloured green, while 100% is red.

f you’ve ever suspected that parental-control packages are all the same, the table below should convince you they’re not. Each product’s percentage scores represent the proportion of sites of each type it blocked in our tests. In all but the false-positives category, a higher score indicates better protection; this is reflected

against offensive sites, but its very high false-positive rate knocks it down the table. At the bottom of the rankings, meanwhile, OpenDNS and MetaCert delivered flawless performance in our false-positives test, but proved useless overall owing to their repeated failures to block non-family-friendly sites.

Balancing these two factors allows us to arrive at an overall ranking of the 15 products, reflected in the ordering of the table. Of the products on test this month, Norton Family provided a reassuring degree of protection against objectionable sites, while succumbing to few false positives. Net Nanny fared slightly better

PERCENTAGE OF SITES BLOCKED Porn

Gambling

Gore

Pro-suicide

Pro-anorexia

Hate

Tasteless humour

Proxies/VPN

False positives

100%

100%

70%

100%

100%

80%

70%

100%

15%

100%

100%

100%

90%

90%

90%

100%

100%

80%

96%

100%

100%

80%

70%

70%

100%

100%

20%

99%

100%

90%

80%

80%

60%

90%

91%

25%

100%

100%

90%

70%

70%

50%

70%

100%

5%

92%

100%

100%

70%

70%

100%

70%

100%

55%

93%

100%

100%

50%

70%

70%

90%

82%

50%

95%

100%

90%

40%

20%

40%

70%

100%

10%

G Data InternetSecurity 2014

95%

10%

70%

50%

70%

90%

90%

100%

45%

Kaspersky Internet Security 2013

92%

80%

70%

80%

50%

40%

60%

100%

40%

99%

0%

60%

10%

10%

0%

60%

100%

5%

97%

0%

40%

20%

10%

20%

60%

45%

5%

91%

100%

50%

20%

0%

20%

40%

0%

0%

66%

100%

90%

40%

0%

10%

0%

73%

0%

88%

0%

0%

20%

0%

0%

10%

0%

0%

Norton Family

Net Nanny 6.5

Blue Coat K9 Web Protection

F-Secure Internet Security 2013 Trend Micro Online Guardian

Bitdefender Parental Control SafeDNS

McAfee Family Protection

AVG Family Safety

Windows Live Family Safety

TalkTalk HomeSafe

OpenDNS Basic

MetaCert

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135


1

2

PC PRO

LABS WINNER

3

Norton Family

1 2

An eÕective and well-rounded parental-control system that’s user-friendly for both parents and kids – even the free edition puts paid-for oÕerings to shame ❱❱ PRICE Free; Premier, £30/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.symantec.com

N

orton Family is a standalone client-based parental-control system, offered in both free and paid-for variants. The Premier suite has more features, but the free package may well do all you need. It’s centrally managed from a simple web console; you can install the client on up to ten PCs, configure restrictions for each child, and specify which accounts on which PCs are used by which children. Default settings are applied based on each child’s age, but it’s easy to tweak these and specify exactly what should be accessible to whom. Norton’s PORN

100%

OTHER

88%

FALSE POSITIVES

15%

136


web filter slices up the internet into o fewer than 47 categories, so you can, for example, choose to allow access to sites discussing sexual orientation, while keeping practical sex education off limits. In our tests, these filters proved reassuringly effective. With Norton’s Young Child filter mode activated, every single porn site and proxy we attempted to open was cleanly blocked, as was every site promoting gambling, suicide, anorexia and other unsavoury matters. “Safe Search” was locked on for Ask, Bing, Google, Yahoo and YouTube searches, ensuring we couldn’t reach most salacious or tasteless images. A few sites hosting provocative content did slip through, however, including Encyclopedia Dramatica and LiveLeak – a reminder that no filtering software is perfect. Conversely, informational sites about health and teen lifestyle issues sailed correctly through

the filters, with only three false positives. What really impressed us was how Norton handled blocked pages, presenting a non-judgemental holding page (illustrated with a cute cartoon puppy) offering a text field for the child to send an explanation or an access request to their parents should they so wish. It’s by far the most child-friendly experience of any of this month’s packages. The free Norton Family also lets you restrict how much time your child spends on the PC, and can warn you about – or block – attempts by the child to share personal information online. Reporting features are basic: you get a log of the past seven days’ activity, but no sort of graphical breakdown. However, a nice touch is the ability to view a thumbnail screenshot of every site requested by each child (whether or not it was blocked), allowing you to keep an eye on things without leaving the interface.

3

Blocked sites are replaced by a friendly explanation page You can get your family set up through the web interface Norton Family’s filters are impressively granular

If you spring for the Premier package, you’ll get much more advanced reporting features, as well as the ability to monitor the videos your kids watch, and apply additional restrictions to personal Android devices (basic web filtering can be applied with Norton’s free Android app). For most families, though, the free application will probably suffice. You get all the most important filtering features, and it doesn’t pester you to upgrade beyond the occasional pop-up invitation, which can be dismissed with a click. The free edition of Norton Family might not do quite as much as the likes of Kaspersky, but in terms of effectiveness and usability, it’s our favourite parental-control solution.

OVERALL

FILTERING FEATURES EASE OF USE VALUE FOR MONEY

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

www.pcpro.co.uk

Parental controls

LABS

1

2

PC PRO

RECOMMENDED

3

Blue Coat K9 Web Protection It isn’t much to look at, but this package achieves a creditable balance between comprehensive filtering and false positives – and the price can’t be beaten ❱❱ PRICE Free ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.k9web protection.com

O

ur first impressions of K9 Web Protection weren’t at all positive. From the cheesy logo to the basic website, the software looks like something that might have been knocked up in a teenager’s bedroom some time in the 1990s. In our tests, however, K9 was one of the best performers – proving that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. It succeeded in blocking 94% of the inappropriate sites we threw at it. The only black mark was that it allowed three pornographic sites through: our winner, Norton PORN

96%

OTHER

88%

FALSE POSITIVES

20%

www.pcpro.co.uk

Family, managed a clean sweep in this category. K9 Web Protection gives you plenty of control, with a host of options to play with. There are no age-based profiles, as other packages offer, but you can choose between four preset filtering modes, with increasing levels of strictness. There’s also a custom mode, allowing you to pick from 69 categories of websites; an option that enforces Safe Search on all major search engines; and the choice of enforcing YouTube’s Safety Mode. The PC software is also complemented by a free, safe web browser, based on the mobile Firefox browser, which can be installed on children’s Android and iOS devices. If you prefer not to block websites, K9 lets parents choose simply to monitor web activity, which can then be reviewed via the reporting tools. These aren’t particularly pretty to look at, but are comprehensive. A summary

page provides an overview of web-browsing activity by category, so you can see where the problem areas lie. Click on a category and you’re taken to a more detailed breakdown, displaying all activity grouped by day or month. From the child’s point of view, K9 offers an equally sensible array of options. Once a website is blocked, K9 presents a warning page that explains what’s just happened, and provides password-protected options that parents can use to temporarily allow the website or category. What’s more, if the child thinks a site has been wrongly blocked, there’s an option to submit the URL to Blue Coat for review. It isn’t wholly good news. The software can only block web traffic – it has no facility for monitoring or restricting IM and other applications. And it isn’t particularly clever. Instead of filtering out pornographic images from Google image search, for

1 2 3

K9’s admin console is easy to use and full of features Parents can use K9 to monitor activity, as well as block it K9 offers time restrictions and category filtering

instance, it simply blocks the whole domain. It’s irritating that in order to protect other PCs or laptops in your home you have to apply for another licence key, although, since this is free, it’s an inconvenience rather than a rip-off. There’s also no way of managing multiple PCs remotely as you can with Windows Live Family Safety or Norton Family. Still, despite our initial reservations, we came away impressed with K9 Web Protection. The front-end is clunky, and provides no way of managing multiple users and PCs. However, it packs in plenty of features, and performance is among the best here. We have no hesitation in recommending it, especially as it’s completely free.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪


137


F-Secure Internet Security 2013 A simple package that’s sharp enough to protect children – and it stops viruses, too ❱❱ PRICE 1 PC, £22/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com

F

-Secure’s parental controls are built into the company’s internet security suite, so you need to buy into a much larger package to get them. If you have three PCs to protect, that will set you back £40 per year via the F-Secure online store; a single-PC package can be bought elsewhere for a more palatable £22. Indeed, it’s a system that works best on a single PC, since there’s no way to manage users centrally across multiple computers: setting up per-account restrictions is done locally, via the Online Safety portion of the security suite. Protection settings are applied by stepping through a straightforward three-stage process, which invites you to choose a blacklisting or whitelisting approach; to pick how to handle 13 different categories of web content; and to decide whether or not to enforce Safe Search mode on search engines. You can also apply time limits to browsing, and see a breakdown of visited websites over various time periods, from a day to a year. There aren’t any more advanced monitoring tools, however: you get the feeling that parental controls aren’t a major focus of the overall F-Secure package.

138


In terms of effectiveness, F-Secure’s web filters were unexceptional. The commercial porn sites we tried to visit were all blocked, but we could access a blog laden with erotic photos – which was rightly intercepted by most other systems. A handful of pro-suicide and pro-anorexia sites were allowed through, as was the official website of the Ku Klux Klan. Most worryingly, even though access to “anonymisers” and uncategorised sites was supposedly blocked, the proxy site inCloak.com was fully accessible – allowing us to view pornography and violence sites that we couldn’t access directly. In fairness, only technically savvy kids are likely to find this loophole, so if you’re seeking a basic filter to protect kids from accidentally coming across disturbing images, F-Secure will do the job – and it includes a virus scanner with an excellent track record for malware protection (web ID: 379939). However, there are more versatile packages out there, such as Kaspersky’s suite, and more effective ones, such as K9 and Norton.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 Friendly and feature-packed, but let down by a few holes in web protection

K

aspersky’s parental controls come as part of a full internet security suite, but features aren’t limited in any way. In addition to web-filtering and internet-time-limiting options, you can prevent kids from logging on, or using specified applications, outside of approved times. Downloads can be permitted or blocked by category, so, for example, you can allow your kids to download MP3s but not executable files. On social networks and IM services, messages can be logged and a whitelist of contacts can be enforced, to ensure only bona fide friends and family members are making contact. As with Norton Family, communications are also scanned for personal data to ensure your child isn’t naively giving sensitive information away. It’s all administered through an admirably clear tabbed interface, and we had no problem finding and tweaking settings. The only potentially important things we found missing were age-based restrictions for games and videos, and any sort of remote administration: the full suite must be locally installed and configured on each computer you want to monitor, so you’ll need to pay for a multi-PC licence if you want to cover a whole household.

❱❱ PRICE 1 PC, £22/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk Although Kaspersky Internet Security is a very likeable package, its performance in our tests was a little disappointing. Its webfiltering system relies partly on keyword matching, so a blog of uncaptioned erotic photos wasn’t blocked – and while none of the commercial porn sites we tried to visit were fully accessible, a few got as far as displaying explicit “welcome” pages. Kaspersky also allowed through two gambling sites, three pages of gory images and numerous pro-anorexia sites. For this reason, if you’re primarily seeking protection against inappropriate web content, Kaspersky wouldn’t be our first recommendation. If you’re looking for parental controls that are integrated into a security system, however, Kaspersky remains a respectable all-round contender, offering great virus protection (web ID: 379918), a strong spread of ancillary features and a highly accessible interface.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

www.pcpro.co.uk

Parental controls

LABS

McAfee Family Protection A well-specified choice that suffers from a clunky interface and indifferent web filtering ❱❱ PRICE 3 PCs, £7/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk

M

cAfee’s commercial parental-control package can be had online quite cheaply – and BT and Sky broadband customers can download a free version from their broadband provider (see p141). It provides customisable web filtering across 35 categories, including the ability to selectively block gaming, messaging, social networking and download sites. Web browsing can be restricted to a set schedule, and age ratings can be enforced (where possible) for online videos, and for music with explicit lyrics. Specific applications can be blocked, and you can set up alerts to be notified when private information is shared. In short, all the major bases are covered. The application’s chunky grey-on-white design is ugly to our eyes, however, and is poorly laid out, with its controls distributed across an unwieldy 12 panes. Setting up users is a pain, too. Rather than integrating with Windows user accounts, McAfee requires each child to create a new McAfee ID, which must be unique across the company’s entire system. Your nearest and dearest thus end up with obscure identities that sound

www.pcpro.co.uk

more like Hotmail addresses than proper names – and yet, despite this, you can’t fully manage your family settings via McAfee’s web portal. You can monitor activity, though. We could perhaps forgive such irritations if McAfee delivered perfect protection. Sadly, in our tests it allowed partial access to three commercial porn sites: videos were successfully blocked, but we could still access plenty of lurid descriptions and images. In our false-positive test, McAfee beat all but a handful of rivals, correctly allowing us to visit almost all the health and information sites we wished. However, pro-suicide and pro-anorexia sites were also allowed through the filter more often than not, along with a handful of pages promoting violence and racism. On paper, McAfee Family Protection ticks a lot of boxes, but in practice it’s a pain to use, and it does a barely satisfactory job of blocking unsavoury websites. Even if you get it cheaply or free, that’s hardly a ringing endorsement.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

OpenDNS Basic Patchy filtering performance puts this popular DNS service out of the running

O

penDNS works at the network level, so every URL request made from any device on your home network is filtered – be that a laptop, tablet, smartphone or games console. This means you don’t have to worry about cross-platform support. It also means the system can’t be bypassed by connecting with an obscure device. To use it, you enter the OpenDNS server addresses into the DNS server fields on your router, create an account at the OpenDNS website, and link the two together. Once you’ve done that, you’ll find plenty of controls to tinker with. The free OpenDNS Basic service offers website filtering at three levels – high, moderate and low, each of which can be tailored to your own preferences – plus a custom mode that lets you take full control of what is and isn’t blocked, with 59 categories of website to choose from. The Basic service also includes anti-fraud and anti-phishing (via the PhishTank service), and there’s basic botnet/malware protection, too. Paying $20 per year delivers more advanced web-use statistics, lets you manage more than one network, removes ads from block pages and adds a whitelist-only mode to your filtering options. There’s plenty here to get your teeth into, but there are niggles. As the service works at the router level, those with dynamic IP

❱❱ PRICE One network, free; Home VIP, $20/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.opendns.com network addresses will need to install the OpenDNS agent on a regularly used PC, to keep the OpenDNS record of your IP address up to date. This adds complexity, and a potential point of weakness. In our tests, on its high filter setting, we found OpenDNS remarkably lax. Of the 70 pornographic test sites, it failed to block 22. It failed to block the explicit searches we carried out in Google and Bing, which resulted in wall-to-wall hardcore images being displayed in the browser. And we found it child’s play to circumvent: four of the 11 test VPN and proxy pages allowed access to previously blocked pornographic content. In total, OpenDNS blocked only 61% of all our test sites. OpenDNS is a streamlined system, and it offers an impressively comprehensive feature set for nothing. But with performance results like these, we can’t recommend it over the more effective tools on test.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪


139


TalkTalk HomeSafe Poor performance all round, with no defence at all against simple circumvention techniques ❱❱ PRICE Free for TalkTalk customers ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.talktalk.co.uk

W

here most ISPs currently offer client software for download (see opposite), TalkTalk applies filtering at the network level. Currently, the filter is disabled by default; when the government’s porn-filter law comes into effect, you’ll be forced to decide whether to turn it on or off. A network-level filter has its advantages. It protects all traffic on your network, from PCs to phones, laptops and tablets. Unlike DNS services, there’s no need to fiddle with client software, or worry about IP addresses. However, this is a very basic offering. Sign into your account, click the HomeSafe Edit Settings option and you’ll see three options. The first is a simple on/off switch for the Kids Safe webfiltering feature. Select On and you’re presented with a pop-up box giving you the choice of nine different categories of sites to block, all pre-selected by default. To the right are nine boxes, where you can enter additional URLs you want to blacklist. On the same pane, you’ll find an option to block gaming and social networking sites during “Homework Time” – a single, user-defined time slot applicable

140


on Monday to Friday, or all week. And there’s basic virus protection, which blocks websites infected with viruses. That’s it for features. There’s no whitelist for URLs you want to let through, and no way on the block page of requesting that a site’s status be reviewed, or that it be temporarily allowed through the filter. There are no reporting or statistical tools you can use to keep tabs on browsing activity. We might be able to forgive all this if performance were good, but in our tests TalkTalk’s block rate for pornographic websites was a only 91%. It also allowed us to switch off Safe Search and view lewd images in Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com image searches. Most concerning is the fact that the filter doesn’t block proxy sites at all, allowing kids to employ the most straightforward of circumvention techniques to access illicit content. As a first means of defence, HomeSafe is certainly worth switching on, but don’t imagine for one moment that you can rely on it. Our award-winners this month offer more features, more flexibility, and, most importantly, far better filtering performance.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Trend Micro Online Guardian A decent set of web-administered protection tools – but you have to buy it as a bundle

T

rend Micro Online Guardian comes bundled with the company’s “Maximum” and “Premium” security suites, and offers a solid range of features. This includes support for up to five children, monitoring of social networks and instant messaging, and a media log that lets you review the images and videos your kids have watched. There’s no mobile integration: Trend’s Mobile Security & Antivirus Android app offers web- and contact-filtering options, but it’s a separate £20 purchase. Online Guardian is set up through a colourful online interface. From here you can see biweekly usage summaries, adjust settings for individual family members and manage exceptions, keywords and email alerts. The web-based approach means you can configure settings and view reports from any computer in the world, but the heavy use of tabs makes navigation fiddly. In our tests, Online Guardian’s web filter did a respectable job: it wasn’t tricked by any of our porn sites, even the obscure ones, and achieved perfect results against proxies and gambling sites, too. It also did well in our false-positives test, blocking only one site – on sexual health – that, in our view, deserved to be let through.

❱❱ PRICE 3 PCs, £38/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.trendmicro.co.uk Trend Micro didn’t fare quite so solidly against “hate” sites, nor those promoting anorexia or suicide, but these pages aren’t the sort of thing you’d stumble upon innocently. Overall, we’d have to say Online Guardian does a good job of protecting well-meaning kids from – in the most literal sense – graphic content. If you don’t want to buy into a whole security package, you can download Online Guardian on its own from Trend Micro’s US website (www. trendmicro.com) – but at $50 per year, the saving is barely worth it. If you’re looking for a comprehensive security and parental-control solution, however, Trend Micro has good all-round form: its Titanium Internet Security package received a solid six-star review in our last security Labs (web ID: 379924). That makes one of its Online Guardian bundles a viable alternative to Bitdefender and Kaspersky.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

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Parental controls

LABS

Windows Live Family Safety Remote management and OS integration are valuable, but Family Safety doesn’t oÕer enough control ❱❱ PRICE Free ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.microsoft.com

M

icrosoft’s parentalcontrol system is part of the Windows Live collection – a range of free software that can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. Considering it’s free, Windows Live Family Safety is well stocked with features. It offers website filtering and lets you specify when kids can use the PC and when they can’t. There’s application and download blocking, plus games filtering based on ratings, and, through the web-based control centre, it’s possible to manage all monitored accounts remotely. Once set up, it works sensibly. Blocked websites produce an explainer page with a pair of large buttons – one for emailing an unblock request, another to “Ask in person”. The latter opens a password requester; entering the parental password adds the site to your whitelist. Anyone setting up the system is going to have a tougher time, however. Before you can get going, you must add Windows accounts for each child, then create Family Safety “names” for each one and link them together. Once that’s done, you must brave the horrors of the Family Safety website UI,

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which is where filter settings are managed. There’s no desktop UI beyond a link to the website. It’s unnecessarily complicated and badly implemented. Try to change the level of web filtering, for example, and you’re presented with a list of options that turn blue when you click on them. It isn’t clear if this means they’re activated or not. When we tried to remove a website from our whitelist, Family Safety simply refused. There’s also no way of customising which categories you want blocked and unblocked, so you have to choose between preset profiles that have huge gaps between them. Family Safety’s Designed For Children mode, for instance, is a strict whitelist of child-friendly sites; the next option on the list – General Interest – allowed 53 questionable sites through its net. We like the fact that Family Safety is integrated into the OS. We like its application- and game-blocking tools, and the remote control facility. However, a maddening UI and split-level performance mean it’s far from our favourite solution.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

ISP filters

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ost UK households get their broadband from BT, Sky, Virgin, TalkTalk or EE. Four of these provide a complimentary parental-control system to their customers – so if you’re in the market, it’s worth checking what you’re entitled to for free. For BT Broadband customers, that’s a BT-branded edition of McAfee Family Protection (as reviewed on p139), which can be installed on up to seven PCs or Macs. As we’ve noted, McAfee’s suite has a decent spread of features, but does a mediocre job of web filtering. We’d incline towards Norton’s free offering instead. Sky Broadband also uses McAfee software, but the current Sky-branded download is based on an older, more basic version of McAfee’s software. It still offers web-filtering and time-limiting features, but there’s no social networking integration, and it doesn’t support OS X: your subscription covers up to three Windows PCs. Again, it isn’t a compelling offering. Virgin Media takes a different tack, basing its own-brand parental-control software on Trend Micro’s technology. The software doesn’t support the full range of features found in Trend’s Online Guardian package – it’s limited to web filtering

and time limiting – but it does include malware protection, powered by Trend Micro’s excellent antivirus engine (web ID: 379924). Up to three Windows PCs are supported, so for Virgin customers it’s a decent deal. For TalkTalk customers, there’s nothing to install: TalkTalk’s own network-level filter system does the honours. In theory, this should protect every system that connects through your router, but in our tests it didn’t impress us: see opposite for our full review of TalkTalk’s offering. That leaves EE as the sole major UK ISP not to offer any kind of parental-control service. That may sound like a shortcoming, but with several free systems available, including Microsoft’s own Family Safety built into Windows, you can see the logic. All of these provisions are subject to change, of course – not least because the government has recently announced plans to require all ISPs to implement networklevel filters. It remains to be seen how effective such filters might be, however, and it seems unlikely they’ll be able to match all the features of client-based systems. We suspect that locally installed parental-control software will be with us for a long time to come.


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AVG Family Safety ❱❱ PRICE 3 PCs, £30/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.avg.com AVG is known for its free security software, but Family Safety is a standalone package that’s licensed yearly. It offers web filtering, time limiting, application blocking and ratings management for games, films and TV shows, as well as monitoring what’s shared on social networking sites. The suite has a few distinctive features: it supports live notifications by SMS as well as email, so you can have a message sent directly to your phone if a blocked site is accessed, or if private information is shared online. Optional router-level filtering, using AVG’s own DNS servers, lets you restrict Wi-Fi devices such as iPads.

In our tests, AVG successfully intercepted every porn site we tried to visit, with the single exception of a site hosting Japanese adult cartoons. However, it stopped a very low proportion of sites promoting suicide, anorexia and racism. Shockingly, it also allowed us to access every one of the gambling sites we tried, even though we explicitly specified that such content should be blocked. All of this makes AVG a fair choice for managing your family’s overall internet usage and restricting access to pornography; if you’re looking for broader web protection, look elsewhere.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Bitdefender Parental Control ❱❱ PRICE Unlimited, £20/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.bit defender.co.uk Like Norton, Bitdefender offers parental-control software in both free and paid-for editions. The free version doesn’t block objectionable web pages, however; it merely tracks the sites your child visits. The paid-for package adds proper web filtering, Facebook monitoring, contact management and location tracking, via the companion Android app. It’s all administered from the MyBitdefender website, which also supports the company’s Anti-Theft and Safebox backup services. Bitdefender’s web filter was tricked in our tests by a handful of

porn pages that didn’t contain obvious keywords; videos were correctly blocked, but explicit images were visible on more than one site. Betting sites and gory images were shut out completely, however, as were proxies and “hate sites”. Bitdefender Parental Control is also available as part of the A-Listed Internet Security 2013 package (web ID: 379732), but as a standalone package, it’s overshadowed by Norton, which provides better web filtering, and doesn’t charge you for it.

OVERALL

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

OVERALL

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪


G Data InternetSecurity 2014 ❱❱ PRICE 1 PC, £31/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.play.com This internet security suite includes a parental-control module, but it’s limited by the standards of client-based systems. It divides sites into five broad categories, which you can block or allow for individual users, and lets you specify time limits and URLs to blacklist and whitelist. If a package only does a few things, it needs to do them well.

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Alas, G Data isn’t very good, failing to prevent access to 90% of gambling sites, as well as numerous gore, pro-suicide and pro-anorexia pages. It also didn’t directly block any of the proxy sites we tried, although it did successfully prevent them from serving up any objectionable content. Arguably, G Data’s biggest failure was with porn sites: mainstream sites were fully cut off, but several of the lesser-known sites on our list remained partially

accessible – and once we were in, it took us only a few clicks to find and view explicit videos. That’s a serious failing for any parentalcontrol system. G Data’s high price may be partly excused by the inclusion of antivirus and firewall capabilities. But if parental controls are a major concern, it’s too compromised to recommend at any price.


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Parental controls

LABS

MetaCert ❱❱ PRICE Free ❱❱ SUPPLIER https://metacert.com MetaCert is a DNS-based service that, like OpenDNS, can protect your entire home network. It’s simple to set up: add the DNS server IP addresses into the appropriate fields on your router’s setup pages, and you’re ready to go. MetaCert has the same advantages of OpenDNS, in that all web traffic, regardless of the originating device, is filtered at the edge of your home network, rather than on a device-by-device basis. MetaCert doesn’t have OpenDNS’s problem of requiring static DNS, though, since there are no options to speak of. It’s an on/ off service, aimed primarily at filtering out pornographic content. It’s perhaps forgivable, then, that

in our tests it failed to block most of the non-pornographic content on our list. What’s less forgivable is its record with the porn websites themselves: its 88% block rate is the second-worst performance in this Labs. Worse still was the ease with which the filter can be circumvented entirely. It blocked none of our proxy sites, and did nothing to intercept explicit image searches across the four major search engines. MetaCert is free and simple to use, but there’s no escaping the fact that most rival products do a far better job.

OVERALL


✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Net Nanny 6.5 ❱❱ PRICE 1 PC, £30/yr ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.netnanny.co.uk Net Nanny is a dedicated parental-control system, offering a broad set of features. It can monitor or block web access, social networking and games, and automatically analyse instant messaging for certain types of worrying conversation, logging details for later review. A clever masking feature gives you the option of removing expletives from web pages while allowing the rest of the content through – a thoughtful approach that opens up access to all sorts of content that might otherwise be blocked. With its strictest filter settings applied, Net Nanny delivers an extremely conservative web experience. In our tests,

it intercepted almost every one of our dodgy sites, and also blocked the majority of sites we considered legitimate. This isn’t the end of the world – children can easily click a link to request that a blocked site be permitted – but it suggests you might have to manually approve or deny sites with a greater frequency than other software requires. At £30 per PC per year, Net Nanny is one of the most expensive options here, but if your priority is to give your child the best possible protection from unsavoury images and content, it’s arguably a price worth paying.

OVERALL

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪

OVERALL

✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪ ✪✪✪✪✪✪


SafeDNS ❱❱ PRICE Free ❱❱ SUPPLIER www.safedns.com SafeDNS is a free cloud-based service. The best way to use it is to set up an account, then tap the DNS server details into your router – this way, all URL requests are filtered, not only those from your local PC. If you don’t have a static IP address, you’ll also need to download the SafeDNS Agent, which applies DNS settings locally.

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Since SafeDNS is a network service it can be managed remotely via the website. Here, you can view reports of browsing activity, blocked domains and categories for customisable date ranges. It’s a simple and attractive tool, and performance isn’t bad overall. With all categories set to blocked, only a small proportion of the nasty sites we tested got through. Disappointingly though, its worst showing was with pornographic sites, with a 93% block rate. It also produced more than its

fair share of false positives, blocking pages on Wikipedia and the BBC homepage. Clearly, you’ll need to tinker with the categories to get the balance right. Overall, SafeDNS is a decent free solution – the best of the DNS services we’ve tested, in fact, with good stats and analysis tools. Sadly, performance is a little too uneven for our liking.



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Parental controls

LABS

VIEW FROM THE LABS

T By their nature, mobile devices are hard to supervise

Mobile monitoring

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n this Labs we’ve focused on PC-based protection, but today’s kids use tablets and smartphones too. A network-level filtering service can keep unwanted content off these devices at home, but as soon as your child takes their device to a friend’s house, or switches to a mobile data network, that protection is lost. Happily, almost all such devices can be equipped with some sort of parental controls. In iOS, basic controls are baked into the operating system – to configure them, open the Settings view, then go to General | Restrictions. iOS doesn’t have a built-in web filter, but you can disable Safari and install a third-party browser that does: K9 Web Protection Browser is one option, using the same filtering database as its desktop offering (see p137). Another option is the Mobicip Safe Browser, which offers basic filtering for free, or customisable filtering for £10 per year. Android devices don’t usually offer integrated parental controls, but Google Play is well stocked with third-party apps offering mobile-specific features. For example, Norton Premier customers can download an app that monitors text messaging and app usage as well as providing

web-filtering services, while Bitdefender offers location tracking, so you can keep an eye on your kids’ whereabouts. In several cases, an Android app is offered as a free companion to a desktop product, but it may make sense to choose a different brand of mobile protection in order to get the features you need. For Windows Phone devices, the My Family online service (accessible via www. windowsphone.com) can restrict app downloads, and prevent children from installing software with inappropriate age ratings. Microsoft’s Family Safety service doesn’t extend to smartphones, but AVG’s Family Safety browser aims to provide a similar service for free. Alternatively, you might prefer the SmyleSafe browser (www.smylesafe.com), which offers tracking and monitoring features for around £8 per year. The situation is similar for BlackBerry users: under Options | Security | Parental Controls you’ll find options to disable location services, the BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, and the default browser – which can again be replaced by SmyleSafe. Some users have found the software slow and glitchy on BlackBerry, but for this platform it’s your only choice.

he results of this month’s web-filter tests aren’t exactly reassuring. Time and again we saw graphic pornography sail through supposedly strict filters, while harmless news and reference pages were blocked. Such failures shouldn’t be a surprise. No doubt some human intelligence feeds into the filtering process, but with more than 600 million websites in existence, and an estimated 100,000 new ones springing up every day, it simply isn’t possible to inspect every site manually. Much of the work of categorising websites must inevitably be handled by computer heuristics. And this, unfortunately, isn’t a task for which computers are well equipped. A pair of human eyes can identify a pornographic image in a fraction of a second, but it’s extremely difficult to do the same in software. Similarly, a person can skim a discussion forum and quickly discern whether the content is child-appropriate or not; training a computer to achieve the same feat would represent a tremendous AI challenge. So, filtering software typically relies on cruder approaches, such as examining a URL’s reputation or scanning for suggestive keywords. As our results show, these techniques aren’t foolproof. In several cases, pages containing explicit images but minimal text slipped through the net, and when it came to text-heavy sites such

“No matter which product you use, something is likely to get through” as pro-suicide and pro-anorexia blogs, the overall success rate was entirely mediocre. The upshot is that you can’t rely on any computer-based system to completely exclude obscene or upsetting online content – not unless you use whitelisting to lock your child inside a walled garden of approved sites. Otherwise, no matter which product you use, sooner or later something inappropriate will get through. It’s important, therefore, to approach web filtering as only one aspect of a home internet strategy, which should also involve communicating with your children, to set out personal expectations and warn them in advance of what to do if they come across something they’re not mature enough to handle. It’s a good idea to have this conversation even if you do enforce a whitelist: kids are inquisitive, and while they may not run into transgressive material at home, they will experience it through friends and via personal mobile devices. As an aside, this month’s deeply imperfect results give a strong hint of what we can expect from the government’s proposed nationwide porn filters. It seems extremely unlikely that these filters will actually banish porn from family homes. More likely, they’ll simply lull parents into a false sense of security, leading them to imagine their children’s laptops have been secured with no involvement required from them, when the reality, based on what we’ve seen this month, is far less reassuring.

DARIEN GRAHAM-SMITH [email protected]

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THE A-LIST LAPTOPS, PCs & TABLETS COMPACT TABLET Nexus 7 (2013)

NEW ENTRY

FULL-SIZE TABLET Apple iPad (4th gen)

16GB, £199; 32GB, £239 http://play.google.com WEB ID N/A ISSUE 229

32GB, £479 (3G, £579) www.apple.com/uk WEB ID 378337 ISSUE 220

Slimmer, lighter and faster than the previous model, with a stunning 1,200 x 1,920 screen and a rear-facing camera; it isn’t the cheapest 7in Android tablet out there, but it’s the best.

The Retina display is as stunning as ever, and Apple pushes the iPad to new heights of performance with an upgraded ARM processor. We’d still opt for the 32GB version, though.

KEY SPECS 7in 1,200 x 1,920 IPS LCD; Android 4.3; quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU; 2GB

KEY SPECS 9.7in 1,536 x 2,048 IPS LCD; iOS 6; dual-core 1.2GHz Apple A6X; 1GB RAM; 32GB storage; dual-band

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

RAM; 16/32GB storage; dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi; 5MP rear/1.2MP front camera; 114 x 8.6 x 200mm; 290g

802.11n Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4; 5MP rear/1.2MP front camera; 186 x 9.7 x 241mm; 662g

Barnes & Noble Nook HD

Nexus 10

The Nook HD has always been a fine compact tablet with a fabulous screen, but now it’s only £79, it’s simply stunning value for money. £66 (£79); http://uk.nook.com WEB ID 378385

The Nexus 10 harnesses Samsung’s tablet expertise to create the finest Android slate money can buy. A stunning 2,560 x 1,600 display is matched by nippy performance – and it’s affordable, too. 16GB Wi-Fi, £266 (£319); http://play.google.com WEB ID 378280

BUDGET LAPTOP Acer Aspire S3

MID-RANGE LAPTOP Asus VivoBook S400CA

£325 (£390) www.saveonlaptops.co.uk WEB ID N/A ISSUE 228

£517 (£620) www.ebuyer.com WEB ID 379618 ISSUE 222

If you’ve been hankering after an Ultrabook, Acer’s Aspire S3 is a bona fide bargain. It isn’t strictly new – it has an old Sandy Bridge processor – but with solid performance, it’s cracking value.

Formerly known as the S400E, Asus’ VivoBook S400CA crams a 14in touchscreen and Core i7 processor into a stylish metal chassis, and manages to keep the price down, too.

KEY SPECS 1.4GHz Intel Core i3-2377M; 4GB RAM; 500GB HDD; Intel HD Graphics 3000; 13.3in 1,366 x 768 TFT;

KEY SPECS 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 4GB RAM; 500GB HDD; Intel HD Graphics 4000; 14in 1,366 x 768 TFT;

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

Windows 8 64-bit; 1yr C&R warranty; 323 x 219 x 18mm; 1.38kg

MSI CX61

Samsung Ativ Book 9 Lite Samsung works some penny-pinching magic to produce a serviceable Ultrabook-style laptop for an amazing price – although not without making a few compromises. £500 (£600); www.johnlewis.com WEB ID 383779

Windows 8 64-bit; 339 x 239 x 24mm; 1.82kg

NEW

MSI’s 15.6in laptop is as plasticky as laptops get, but with the great Full HD screen now accompanied by a modern Haswell processor, it’s a bargain. £583 (£700); www.saveonlaptops.co.uk WEB ID 380749

ULTRABOOK Samsung Series 7 Ultra

ENTHUSIAST LAPTOP Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display

£833 (£1,000) www.pcworld.co.uk WEB ID 382597 ISSUE 227

£1,499 (£1,799) www.apple.com/uk WEB ID 375337 ISSUE 215

A high-quality touchscreen, stunning chassis and discrete AMD graphics make for a multitalented Ultrabook. The lack of Haswell is disappointing, but the superior gaming performance makes up for it.

It’s ditched the DVD drive and slimmed down, but the MacBook Pro’s incredible 2,880 x 1,800 screen is a stunning technological tour de force.

KEY SPECS 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3337U; 6GB RAM; 128GB SSD; AMD Radeon HD 8570M graphics; 13.3in 1,920 x 1,080 TFT; Windows 8 64-bit; 1yr RTB warranty; 324 x 224 x 22mm; 1.6kg

KEY SPECS 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-3630QM; 8GB RAM; 256GB SSD; Intel HD Graphics 4000; Nvidia GeForce GT

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

650M; 15.4in 2,880 x 1,800 TFT; OS X; 1yr C&R warranty; 359 x 247 x 18mm; 2.02kg

Apple MacBook Air 13in

Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1

There’s no Retina display, but improved battery life and gaming performance make the MacBook Air better value than ever.

The price is high, but the ruggedised build and thoughtful design allow this 10.1in Windows 8 tablet to survive the kind of abuse that would destroy lesser devices.

£791 (£949); www.apple.com/uk WEB ID 382534

£1,496 (£1,795); www.laptopsdirect.co.uk WEB ID 381940

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Our hand-picked selection of 102 best buys, chosen from the dozens of products tested each month in the PC Pro labs

MEDIA PC Chillblast Fusion Vacuum Mini

ALL-IN-ONE PC Apple iMac 27in

£832 (£999) www.chillblast.com WEB ID 376774 ISSUE 218

£1,816 (£2,179) www.apple.com/uk WEB ID 379831 ISSUE 223

A silent and well-specified living room PC that delivers dual TV tuners and promising performance – but it doesn’t come cheap.

Apple’s redesigned iMac is a force to be reckoned with. Superb design is married with great all-round performance, and the high-resolution 27in display is by far the best we’ve seen on any all-in-one.

KEY SPECS 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-3770S; 16GB RAM; 240GB Intel 330 SSD; Blu-ray reader; 2 x USB 3; 6 x USB 2; Windows 7 Home Premium; 2yr C&R warranty; 240 x 250 x 100mm

KEY SPECS 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-3770; 8GB RAM; 1TB Fusion Drive; Nvidia GeForce GTX 680MX; 27in 2,560 x 1,440 IPS TFT; OS X Mountain Lion; 1yr RTB warranty; 650 x 203 x 516mm

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

Apple Mac mini

Asus ET2300

Apple’s hardware is as enticing as ever, and forgoing some of the Mac mini’s expensive upgrades makes this system good value, too.

A versatile double-hinged design and high-quality screen make an all-in-one that works well with Windows 8. The price is right, too.

£799 (£959); www.apple.com/uk WEB ID 379153

£626 (£751); www.cclonline.com WEB ID 380698

BUDGET PC Chillblast Fusion Templar

HIGH-END PC Wired2Fire HAL 4000

£612 (£734) www.chillblast.com WEB ID 380104 ISSUE 223

£1,136 (£1,363) www.wired2fire.co.uk WEB ID 380227 ISSUE 223

Good performance goes hand in hand with an excellent Iiyama monitor, and there’s plenty of upgrade potential as well. At this price, the Fusion Templar is a superb choice for buyers on a budget.

The Fractal Design Node 304 case makes for a highly compact base unit, but thanks to judicious overclocking and a lightning-fast SSD RAID array, the HAL 4000 packs in serious performance.

KEY SPECS 3.3GHz Intel Core i5-3570K @ 4.5GHz; 8GB RAM; 1TB hard disk; DVD writer; AMD Radeon HD 7770 graphics; 23in 1,920 x 1,080 TFT; Windows 8 64-bit; 1yr RTB warranty

KEY SPECS 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz; 8GB RAM; 2 x 120GB SSDs; 1TB HDD; Nvidia GeForce GTX

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

680 graphics; Windows 8 64-bit; 2yr RTB warranty; 250 x 374 x 210mm

Palicomp Phoenix i5 Destiny

Dino PC Green Reaper

A Blu-ray drive, a solid 22in Full HD monitor, and now an updated graphics card and a new, overclocked Ivy Bridge processor. At this price, it’s a great low-end deal.

A monstrously quick base unit with the latest Haswell CPU tech and a high-end graphics card. It isn’t cheap, though.

£583 (£700); www.palicomp.co.uk WEB ID 366679

£1,333 (£1,599); www.dinopc.com WEB ID 383329

BUSINESS/EXECUTIVE LAPTOP Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

BUSINESS PC Lenovo ThinkStation E31

£1,188 (£1,426) www.lenovo.co.uk WEB ID 377827 ISSUE 220

£785 (£942) www.ebuyer.com WEB ID 376852 ISSUE N/A

Lenovo revisits its X1 and produces the business-class Ultrabook we’ve been waiting for. We’re not as keen on the touchscreen version (web ID: 381046).

This small-form-factor workstation is tiny, but it still includes an Intel Xeon processor and Nvidia Quadro graphics for a reasonable price.

KEY SPECS 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U; 4GB RAM; 240GB SSD; 14in 1,600 x 900 TFT; dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4; 3G; 3yr RTB warranty; 331 x 226 x 19mm; 1.36kg

KEY SPECS 3.3GHz Intel Xeon E3-1230 v2; 4GB RAM; 1TB HDD; DVD-RW; Nvidia Quadro 600 graphics; Windows 7

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

Dell Latitude 10

Fujitsu Esprimo Q510

The first Windows 8 business tablet excels with class-leading battery life, solid peripherals and practical hardware. For sheer flexibility, nothing comes close.

Fujitsu’s compact PC base unit takes up barely any space on a desk, delivers plenty of power and has ample connectivity.

£543 (£652); www.dell.co.uk WEB ID 380869

From £366 (£439); www.morecomputers.com WEB ID 378769

www.pcpro.co.uk

Professional; 3yr RTB warranty


Ð 147

A-LIST Best buys

MOBILE

MONITORS

CAMERAS

SMARTPHONE HTC One

BUDGET TFT Dell UltraSharp U2312HM

DIGITAL COMPACT/CSC Sony Alpha NEX-6

Free, £27/mth, 24mths www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk WEB ID 380644 ISSUE 224

£129 (£155) www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 375760 ISSUE 214


HTC reclaims the top spot with the HTC One. A benchmarkbench kbusting handset that marries stunning design with all-round panache, this is the finest smartphone money can buy.

With falling prices placing it among the cheapest monitors on the market, Dell’s UltraSharp U2312HM delivers an unusually refined, high-end performance for sensible money.

With a small, sharp kit lens, fast autofocus, intuitive controls and integrated flash, the NEX-6 is the first compromise-free CSC: a delight to use, with first-class image quality.

KEY SPECS 1.7GHz CPU; 2GB RAM; 32GB storage; 4.7in 1,080 x 1,920

KEY SPECS 23in 1,920 x 1,080 IPS matte TFT; DVI; D-SUB; DisplayPort;

KEY SPECS 16MP APS-C sensor; 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens; 10fps burst

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

TFT; 802.11ac Wi-Fi; 8MP camera; Android 4.1.2; 68 x 137 x 9.3mm; 143g

300cd/m2 brightness; 547 x 186 x 493mm

mode; SDXC/MS Pro Duo slot; 1yr RTB warranty; 120 x 43 x 67mm; 470g

Samsung Galaxy S4

Dell UltraSharp U2412M

Canon PowerShot S110

A brilliant smartphone with a 5in screen, a 13-megapixel camera and storming performance. Only just falls short of the top spot.

Not the cheapest 24in monitor, but the increasingly rare 1,920 x 1,200 resolution IPS panel is superb.

With top-quality stills and video, and a comprehensive set of features, Canon’s S110 is the ultimate pocket-sized compact.

£49, £26/mth, 24mths; www.dialaphone.co.uk WEB ID 381229

£171 (£205); www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 375823

£167 (£200); www.simplyelectronics.net WEB ID 378604

SATNAV TomTom

PREMIUM TFT ViewSonic VP2770-LED

DSLR Nikon D600

From £33 (£40) Apple App Store WEB ID 375418 ISSUE 213

£439 (£527) www.scan.co.uk WEB ID 377770 ISSUE 220

£1,163 (£1,369) www.parkcameras.com WEB ID 378103 ISSUE 220

The TomTom app for iPhone and iPad is undoubtedly the best of the bunch. The Android version is inferior and works with only certain screen resolutions: opt for CoPilot instead.

The ViewSonic’s 27in, 2,560 x 1,440 IPS panel delivers ample brightness and fantastic colour accuracy straight out of the box, and the USB 3 hub is a boon. At this price, it’s a bargain.

Nikon makes a full-frame DSLR affordable. With high-end features and sublime image quality, the D600 should be the choice of amateur enthusiasts and semi-professionals alike.

KEY SPECS Requires iPhone/iPad (or iPod Touch with GPS add-on); UK/

KEY SPECS 27in 2,560 x 1,440 IPS semi-glossy TFT; DisplayPort, HDMI,

KEY SPECS 24.3MP full-frame sensor; 39-point autofocus (9 cross-type);

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ROI maps; HD Traffic, £27/yr or £4/mth; speed cameras, £27/yr or £4/mth

DVI-D, D-SUB; 2 x USB 3; 2 x USB 2; 642 x 348 x 514mm

5.5fps burst mode; dual SDXC slots; 141 x 82 x 113mm; 850g

NEW

TomTom Go 500

Dell UltraSharp U2913WM

Canon EOS 70D

TomTom strikes back with a slick, capable GPS device. With a lifetime traffic subscription bundled for free, it’s top value.

Great image quality and features are supported by a three-year warranty – this is ideal for games and movie buffs.

Blisteringly fast and accurate autofocus, combined with stro strong performance, makes the 70D a mid-range bargain.

£143 (£172); www.currys.co.uk WEB ID 383008

£333 (£400); www.overclockers.co.uk WEB ID 380038

£899 (£1,079); www.currys.co.uk WEB ID N/A

EBOOK READER Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

SPECIALIST TFT Eizo ColorEdge CG276

DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERA Panasonic HC-X800

£1,278 (£1,534) www.nativedigital.com WEB ID 381835 ISSUE 225


Amazon adds a front light and a capacitive touchscreen to its already excellent Kindle, and the result is the best ebook reader money can buy.

The Eizo ColorEdge CG276 is one of the finest TFTs ever made. Image quality is superb, and the ingenious integrated colorimeter takes the hassle out of regular colour calibration.

Now that the HDC-TM900 has disappeared from stores, this is the video camera to buy. It shoots fantastic footage in all conditions and the image stabilisation system is superb.

KEY SPECS 6in 758 x 1,024 Pearl E Ink screen; 2GB storage; 1yr RTB

KEY SPECS 27in 2,560 x 1,440 IPS TFT; 350cd/m2; 1,000:1 contrast;

KEY SPECS 1080/50p AVCHD; 3 x 1/4.1in CMOS sensors; 12x optical

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

Wi-Fi, £91 (£109); Wi-Fi and 3G, £141 (£169) www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 377665 ISSUE 219

warranty; 117 x 9 x 169mm; 213g

DisplayPort; HDMI; DVI; 646 x 282 x 577mm; 1

zoom; 9.15MP; 3in LCD; 63 x 68 x 134mm; 345g

Kobo Glo

Eizo ColorEdge CX240

GoPro Hero3 Black Edition

Kobo’s answer to the Kindle Paperwhite partners front lighting with an optical touchscreen.

Hugely expensive for a 24in monitor, but image quality is amazing thanks to RGB LED backlighting.

Supreme flexibility and cracking HD video quality make this the best action sports camera we’ve seen. Well worth the cash.

£82 (£99); www.morecomputers.com WEB ID 377821

£727 (£872); www.nativedigital.com WEB ID 377272

£299 (£359); www.parkcameras.com WEB ID 381793

148


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Best buys

A-LIST

Create your own reviews comparison shor tlist www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews

PRINTERS

SOFTWARE

CONSUMER ALL-IN-ONE Canon Pixma MG5450

INTERNET SECURITY Bitdefender Internet Security 2013

BACKUP/STORAGE Livedrive

ACCOUNTING FreeAgent

£82 (£98) www.printerbase.co.uk WEB ID 381991 ISSUE 224

£25 (£30), 3 PCs, 1yr www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID N/A ISSUE 221

£3/mth (unlimited GB), 1 PC www.livedrive.com WEB ID 373558 ISSUE 210

From £15/mth, unlimited users www.freeagent.com WEB ID 367126 ISSUE 201

The Pixma MG5450 works wonders with its five-ink print engine, serving up high-quality prints and copies, and crystal-clear scans. Long-term running costs are reasonable.

Bitdefender partners a comprehensive set of features with exceptional malware detection – and for a bargain price.

Easy to use, cheap and packed with features, Livedrive is the best all-in cloud backup service.

Small-business owners, freelancers and traders lacking accounting experience will love the online FreeAgent.

KEY SPECS 5-ink engine; 7.5cm screen; 125-sheet input tray; duplex;

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

802.11n Wi-Fi; 455 x 369 x 148mm

Avast Free Antivirus

Dropbox

Xero

The best free antivirus, with great protection and oodles of features.

Dropbox makes sharing and syncing files easy across most devices.

Multiuser and payroll features make this tempting for large businesses.

£48 (£57); www.johnlewis.co.uk WEB ID 382528

Free; www.avast.com WEB ID N/A

2GB, free; www.dropbox.com WEB ID 373561

From £12 (£14); www.xero.com WEB ID 367120

OFFICE ALL-IN-ONE Epson WorkForce WF-3530DTWF

PRODUCTIVITY Microsoft OÕice 2013

WEB DEVELOPMENT Drupal 7

GRAPHICS/DESIGN Adobe CS6 Design Standard

£104 (£125) www.printerland.co.uk WEB ID 382294 ISSUE 224

From £92 (£110) http://office.microsoft.com WEB ID 379510 ISSUE 220

Free www.drupal.org WEB ID 364549 ISSUE 198

£963 (£1,155) www.morecomputers.com WEB ID 374218 ISSUE 213

Epson’s inkjet MFD packs in plenty of features for relatively little cash. While print quality isn’t stunning, it’s speedy at everything bar photo printing; and running costs are low.

Remains the ultimate office suite, but despite new touch-friendly features, existing users needn’t rush to upgrade.

It isn’t a simple turn-key CMS, but the flexibility of its add-on modules puts it a step ahead of the competition.

Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator are a potent trio – we’d still take this package over a Creative Cloud subscription.

KEY SPECS 4-ink print engine; 6.3cm screen; 2 x 250-sheet input trays;

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

HP Photosmart 5520 HP’s Photosmart 5520 conjures up good-quality photos and great performance. Running costs are relatively low, too.

3-sheet ADF; duplex; fax; Ethernet; 802.11n Wi-Fi; 449 x 427 x 308mm

Scrivener for Windows

Adobe Dreamweaver CS6

Xara Designer Pro X9 NEW

A powerful document creation and organisation tool for serious writers.

Improved for mobiles, although no longer the dominant web standard it once was.

With Creative Cloud now subscriptioniption only, Xara has never looked so tempting.

£83 (£100); www.printerland.co.uk WEB ID 382393

£24 (£29); www.literatureandlatte.com WEB ID 371680


£195 (£234); www.xara.com/uk WEB ID N/A

PERSONAL LASER Lexmark C540n

PHOTO EDITING Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5

VIDEO EDITING Adobe Premiere Pro CS6

AUDIO PRODUCTION Steinberg Cubase 7

£82 (£98) www.morecomputers.com WEB ID 382342 ISSUE 225


£318 (£382) www.dv247.com WEB ID 378724 ISSUE 221

A well-built, network-capable colour laser with reasonable running costs, a huge 250-sheet paper tray and fast, top-quality document and image output – all at a competitive price.

Substantial new features and editing tools make Lightroom 5 better than ever, and it’s still affordable, too.

Premiere Pro CS6’s slick interface and powerful tools are a perfect fit for professional video production.

An overhaul of a heavyweight package, Cubase provides experienced users with the most precise and flexible tools yet.

KEY SPECS A4 colour laser; 21ppm speed; USB; Ethernet; 250-sheet

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

HP OÖcejet 6700 Premium It can’t match the Epson for speed or features, but with solid quality and low running costs, HP should be on your shortlist.

£99 (£119) www.printerland.co.uk WEB ID 353659 ISSUE 199

input tray; 100-sheet output tray; 595 x 495 x 402mm ALTERNATIVE

Brother HL-2270DW A mono laser with all the features a home office needs, plus good print speed and quality as well. £121 (£145); www.printerland.co.uk WEB ID 362242

www.pcpro.co.uk

Adobe Photoshop CS6

Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12

Ableton Live 9

Hugely expensive, but for professionals nothing else comes close.

64-bit support and powerful editing tools unite in an affordable package.

Adds audio-to-MIDI conversion to an already rounded and mature product.



£282 (£339); www.dv247.com WEB ID 381541


Ð 149

A-LIST Best buys

NETWORKING

COMPONENTS

EXTERNAL HARD DISK Western Digital My Passport

PROCESSOR Intel Core i5-3570K

MAINSTREAM GRAPHICS CARD Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost

2TB, £89 (£107) www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 380806 ISSUE 224


Typically, £140 Depends on brand WEB ID 382297 ISSUE 225

The My Passport matches huge capacity with superb value. It has no gimmicks, but it’s the drive of choice when it comes to space and price.

It’s a little slower than the Core i7s, but Intel’s i5-3570K is our chip of choice thanks to its combination of excellent performance and a reasonable price.

Nvidia conjures up a solid mid-range card. If you can’t stretch to the GTX 660 Ti, the GTX 650 Ti Boost delivers smooth, Full HD gaming performance for sensible money.

15mm; 230g

KEY SPECS 2TB HDD; USB 3; 2yr RTB warranty; 82 x 111 x

KEY SPECS 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost); LGA 1155 quad-core CPU; Intel HD Graphics 4000; 6MB L3 cache; 77W TDP; 22nm

KEY SPECS 768 stream processors; 980MHz core; 2GB GDDR5 RAM;

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

28nm; 1 x 6-pin connector; 240mm long

BuÕalo HDW-PU3 MiniStation Air

AMD A10-6800K

AMD Radeon HD 6450

Wireless access makes this a versatile alternative, although the price is inevitably driven up by this feature.

AMD’s Richland update improves on last year’s Trinity chips, and the A10-6800K delivers better performance across the board.

The HD 6450 is fine for playing HD video on an old PC without modern integrated graphics.

500GB, £83 (£100); www.scan.co.uk WEB ID 380806

£93 (£111); www.scan.co.uk WEB ID 382510

Typically, £30 WEB ID N/A

NETWORK STORAGE Synology DS213air

MOTHERBOARD Asus P8Z77-V Pro

ENTHUSIAST GRAPHICS CARD Nvidia GeForce GTX 680

Diskless, £190 (£228) www.ballicom.co.uk WEB ID 381970 ISSUE 225


Typically, £350 Depends on brand WEB ID 373696 ISSUE 212

Synology adds Wi-Fi, a faster processor and USB 3 ports to its award-winning DS212j, and comes up with a real winner. It’s fast, flexible and fantastically easy to use.

The latest Asus includes 802.11n Wi-Fi, as well as almost every feature a PC builder needs, with plenty of sockets and ports, plus a UEFI BIOS. It’s the ideal partner for Ivy Bridge.

If you have enough cash, Nvidia’s 28nm debut blows AMD away: quicker in practically every test, with impressive new features – and it’s more efficient, too.

KEY SPECS 2 x 3.5in drive bays; 802.11bgn Wi-Fi; Synology Hybrid

KEY SPECS Socket LGA 1155; Intel Z77 chipset; 3 x PCI-E x16;

KEY SPECS 1,536 stream processors; 1,006MHz core; 2GB/4GB GDDR5

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

RAID, JBOD, RAID0, 1; 2 x USB 3; 2yr RTB warranty; 100 x 225 x 164mm

2 x PCI-E x1; 2 x PCI; 4 x USB 3; 4 x DDR3 DIMM sockets; 802.11n Wi-Fi

RAM; 28nm; 2 x 6-pin connectors; 257mm long

Qnap TS-412 Turbo NAS

MSI Z77A-G43

Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti

This four-bay NAS device doesn’t major in speed, but good design and a range of features make it the high-end choice.

MSI’s board offers a rich, rounded specification, Intel’s Z77 chipset and Ivy Bridge support for a reasonable price.

For flawless single-screen gaming, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti provides a serious amount of bang for your buck.

Diskless, £218 (£262); www.amazon.co.uk WEB ID 374695

£65 (£78); www.box.co.uk WEB ID 376576

Typically, £140 WEB ID 376438

WIRELESS ROUTER Asus DSL-N55U

SOLID-STATE DISK Samsung 840 Pro

HARD DISK Seagate Barracuda 7200.14

£87 (£104) www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk WEB ID N/A ISSUE 225

256GB, £147 (£176) www.ebuyer.com WEB ID 380455 ISSUE 223

2TB, £54 (£65) www.cclonline.com WEB ID N/A ISSUE 226

The Asus DSL-N55U is a superb all-rounder. It combines a great range of features with a clear, accessible user interface, and wireless performance is right up there with the best.

Samsung’s update to its high-end SSD pushes performance into the stratosphere. Thanks to the proprietary MDX controller and 22nm NAND, the 840 Pro is the fastest SSD we’ve ever tested.

With its combination of a 7,200rpm spindle speed and a cache of 64MB, this drive delivered a decent all-round performance in the benchmarks.

KEY SPECS Concurrent dual-band 802.11n ADSL2/2+ router; 4 x Gigabit Ethernet; 2 x USB 2; 207 x 149 x 36mm

KEY SPECS 2.5in SATA 6Gbits/sec solid-state drive; Samsung MDX controller. Part code: MZ-7PD256BW

KEY SPECS 3.5in SATA 6Gbits/sec HDD; 7,200rpm spindle speed; 64MB cache; 2yr RTB warranty. Part code: ST2000DM001

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

Netgear DGND4000 A huge range of features including ADSL and cable support, good future-proofing and quick performance. A worthy choice.

SanDisk Ultra Plus

Toshiba DT

It can’t match the top-tier SSDs for performance, but this budget unit delivers good all-round performance at a bargain price.

A quick performer in our sequential file benchmarks, this drive is also good value.

£96 (£115); www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk WEB ID 382000

256GB, £104 (£125); www.ebuyer.com WEB ID 380818

2TB, £50 (£60); www.ebuyer.com WEB ID N/A

150


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Best buys

A-LIST

For the latest Enterprise news and reviews visit www.pcpro.co.uk/enterprise

ENTERPRISE RACK SERVER Broadberry CyberServe XE5-R224

PEDESTAL SERVER Fujitsu Primergy TX100 S3p

SECURITY APPLIANCE Netgear ProSecure UTM25S

£3,919 exc VAT www.broadberry.co.uk WEB ID 378319 ISSUE 219

£442 exc VAT www.ebuyer.com WEB ID 377572 ISSUE 218

3yr subscription, £736 exc VAT www.ballicom.co.uk WEB ID 380524 ISSUE 223

With storage space galore, plenty of room for expansion and low power consumption, the CyberServe XE5-R224 lacks only a little on the features front. At this price, it’s superb value.

The Primergy TX100 S3p combines all-round quality with an unbeatable price, making it a top choice as a small-business server.

Netgear’s ProSecure UTM25S provides good performance and a comprehensive set of security features for considerably less than the opposition. It’s an excellent choice for SMBs on a budget.

KEY SPECS 2U rack chassis; 2.4GHz Xeon E5-2665; 32GB DDR3 RAM;

KEY SPECS 3.1GHz Xeon E3-1220V2; 8GB DDR3; 2 x 500GB HDD;

KEY SPECS Desktop chassis; 6 x Gigabit (4 x LAN, 2 x WAN); 2

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

2 x 300GB SAS HDD; 4 x Gigabit Ethernet; 2 x 750W PSU; 3yr on-site NBD

4 x PCI-E Gen3; 9 x USB 2; 2 x Gigabit Ethernet; 1yr on-site warranty

expansion slots; web browser management; limited lifetime warranty

HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8

HP ProLiant ML350p Gen8

Cyberoam CR35iNG

An extremely well-designed server that squeezes lots into its 1U rack chassis, and presents plenty of room to grow.

A whisper-quiet pedestal server that combines good value, huge expansion potential and class-leading remote management.

With an excellent range of security measures and a tempting price, Cyberoam’s CR35iNG raises the bar for performance.

£5,159 exc VAT; www.hp.co.uk WEB ID 377143

£3,795 exc VAT; www.hp.co.uk WEB ID 377701

3yr, £1,415 exc VAT; www.vcwsecurity.com WEB ID 380047

STORAGE APPLIANCE Synology DiskStation DS1513+

BACKUP DEVICE Tandberg Data LTO-6 HH

BUSINESS LASER HP LaserJet Pro 200 Colour MFP M276n

Diskless, £524 exc VAT www.lambda-tek.com WEB ID N/A ISSUE 227

£1,343 exc VAT www.kikatek.com WEB ID 380599 ISSUE 223

£211 exc VAT www.printerland.co.uk WEB ID 379879 ISSUE 221

Synology’s DS1513+ snatches the desktop storage crown with a potent combination of breakneck speed, oodles of features, generous expansion potential and persuasive value.

The LTO-6 HH demonstrates the strengths of the Ultrium LTO-6 tape format. Top performance combines with low storage costs, making it an ideal choice for backup and archiving purposes.

A fine choice for small businesses that want a versatile, low-cost colour laser MFP. The low price belies the output quality, and HP’s web printing features are a cut above the rest.

KEY SPECS Desktop chassis; 2.13GHz CPU; five hot-swap SATA drive

KEY SPECS External Ultrium LTO-6 tape drive; native capacity 2.5TB;

KEY SPECS 600dpi A4 colour laser; 14ppm colour/mono; 1,200dpi

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

bays; 2 x USB 3; 4 x USB 2; 4 x Gigabit Ethernet; 3yr RTB warranty

native transfer rate 160MB/sec; 6GB/sec SAS interface; 3yr warranty

colour scanner; 150-sheet input tray; 30-sheet ADF; 1yr on-site warranty

HP StoreEasy 1430 8TB

HP StorageWorks Ultrium 3000 SAS

Xerox Phaser 7100N

HP’s ProLiant Gen8 hardware meets Windows Storage Server 2012, and delivers great performance and expansion potential.

Many pundits said tape was dead. They also said that LTO was at the end of its roadmap. HP’s 3000 SAS proves them wrong.

A fast, affordable A3 colour laser with reasonable running costs and exceptional colour quality.

B7D89A, £3,034 exc VAT; www.lambda-tek.com WEB ID N/A

£2,121 exc VAT; www.ebuyer.com WEB ID 357982

£736 exc VAT; www.printerland.co.uk WEB ID 379606

BUSINESS SCANNER Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500

NETWORK BACKUP DataFort Hi-5

NETWORK MONITORING Paessler PRTG Network Monitor 12.4

£329 exc VAT www.kikatek.com WEB ID 382927 ISSUE 225

Unlimited data per server, from £500/mth exc VAT WEB ID 380548 ISSUE 223

500 sensors, £839 exc VAT www.paessler.com WEB ID 380152 ISSUE 222

Fujitsu’s ScanSnap iX500 delivers 25ppm scan speeds, and is capable of scanning wirelessly to iOS and Android devices. It also offers great support for the cloud, and is easy to use.

KEY SPECS 25ppm colour duplex @ 300dpi, mono @ 600dpi; 50-sheet

DataFort’s Hi-5 combines on- and off-site protection with a per-server pricing structure that helps keep costs low. With robust performance, optional Exchange server protection and hassle-free data recovery, Hi-5 is an attractive package – especially for SMBs that can’t afford to run a contingency site.

Licensed by the number of sensors, and with a proprietary database included, PRTG offers great value with no hidden costs. It provides an impressive range of network-monitoring tools and combines them with quality reporting and alerting facilities, making it our favourite network-monitoring tool.

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ALTERNATIVE

ADF; USB 3; 802.11bgn Wi-Fi (mobile devices only); 2yr warranty

Brother ADS-2600W

Securstore Cloud Backup

Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold v16 Premium

With speedy, good-quality scans, plus a huge range of scanning features, Brother’s ADS-2600W is a fine business scanner.

A feature-packed choice for SMBs requiring off-site backup for critical systems. The sensible pricing structure is a boon, too.

This update bolsters its appeal to larger businesses, with slick new network- and wireless-monitoring tools.

£366 exc VAT; www.ballicom.co.uk WEB ID 380473

100GB, £200/mth exc VAT; www.securstore.com WEB ID 380098

100 devices, £2,400 exc VAT; www.ipswitch.com WEB ID 380107

www.pcpro.co.uk


151

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IN FEATURES Back up your life

We reveal the best ways to keep your data safely backed up, whether it’s stored on your hard drive, in the cloud or locked into a web service. Keep your data under control wherever it is with our top tips and real-world advice.

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The Science Museum: scanned in 3D

The Science Museum has shut its huge shipping gallery, but before locking it away in storage, it scanned the entire collection, creating a massive 3D archive for visitors to see all 1,800 objects. We reveal the technology behind the project, and find out if 3D archives are the future of museums.

Closer to reality

Advances in graphics rendering and processing mean it’s now possible to create photorealistic animation almost in real-time, changing how films and games are produced. We reveal the technology behind the innovations, and reveal what to expect at the cinema in the future.

IN LABS Tablets

The tablet market is maturing rapidly, with a host of Windows, iOS and Android devices now providing more choice then ever, and at tempting prices. In next month’s Labs, we’ll be looking at 12 tablets, all 9in in size or larger, to see if anything can challenge the fourthgeneration Apple iPad for supremacy. Please note that Labs and features are subject to change.

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153

OPINION Epilog

Dozens of Davids could bring down Goliath Google, argues JON HONEYBALL

W

hat will it take to topple Google? It’s an interesting question that has been running through my mind since the whole Prism scandal broke some months ago. I don’t dislike Google, any more than I dislike Microsoft, Apple or Tesco. They’re service providers, and you either use them or you don’t, on whatever logical, philosophical, financial, moral or religious basis that takes your fancy. I don’t see any of them as more or less “evil” than any other global corporation, although Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison, has apparently labelled Google as being “absolutely evil”. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to ponder on the magnificence of Ellison claiming another global firm to be “absolutely evil”. The glass house involved for such stonethrowing goes way beyond anything found at The Great Exhibition. There are Google pretenders out there. I’m constantly bombarded by Microsofties, both internal staffers and external shills, who insist I really should be using Bing. So I trundle over to

With a search engine based around topic areas, it would be possible to have a higher-quality answer

JON HONEYBALL was contributing to PC Pro well before Sergey and Larry ever committed their search algorithm to the back of the cigarette packet. Blog: www.pcpro.co.uk/links/jonh Email: [email protected]

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Bing, do a query, sigh, and then walk away. The problem is that I regularly rely on date-based searching. I’m not interested in looking for stuff over the past decade; I really only want to know about things that have happened recently. When I search for an error message do I really want six-year-old results from MSDN? No thanks. This week or last week is just fine. More than that is mostly irrelevant noise. Ah, you say, but Bing supports date-based search. Yes, it does, but only if you’re in the US. Here, in the UK, we aren’t allowed to have date-based search. No, please don’t ask me how this has come about or what particularly convoluted, Redmondian, product-manager PowerPoint slide deck contributed to this decision. But there it is – Americans can have dates, we can’t. Maybe they’re afraid of us, because we have real history? Maybe they fear we might do a query for “information about Exchange Server posted between 1825 and 1900”? (The years, not pub drinking time.)

Who can tell? Who cares? It’s useless, so let’s move on. Building a replacement for Google isn’t impossible. After all, it’s been done before by university students. What we need, though, is not one query engine. We need multiples, each focused on various areas of the market. One monolithic search engine is a bad idea, because it becomes the one place for everything. This includes storing information about you, advertising to you, and handing over information about you to various government departments. With a solution based around topic areas, it would be possible to have a higher-quality answer, since the search engine would understand the topic better than a generic engine such as Google. For example, let’s say I’m interested in recipes for new blends of olive oil. A search engine specialising in food might well be a better place to find the answer. For sure, I might miss out on such groundbreaking information as how olive oil can be used to grease the nipples on a 1954 Harley Davidson Hydra-Glide, but I suspect I’ll get by. I could even have accounts on each of these search engines, with some of them offering paid subscriptions for better or more detailed searches. A paid-for account might allow me to aggregate upstream to my own super search engine that reaches out to a web of search engines and aggregates the answer for me. That way I could have a search experience that truly followed my interests and needs, rather than a generic monster spewing out stuff that’s of interest to almost nobody. Even better if these engines were owned, hosted and run within the EU, so I could then try to ensure that the data was adequately protected from the grasping fingers of the NSA. Yes, it isn’t hard to see how Google could be toppled. At the end of the day, a specialist is always going to provide a better, more coherent answer than a generalist. And the generalist will want too much from you in order to feed its insatiable need for information. Joining together such answers from the specialists will allow for a much more closely targeted means of searching the web. As my late father used to say: “don’t come up with a better answer, redefine the question”. This is Google’s Achilles heel, and everything unravels when its a clearly visible crack in their armour. So, who will rise to the challenge?

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