Corsair Katar Gaming Mouse

The simplicity of Corsair's latest gaming mouse wins over Mark

The Katar design ditches the superfluous and instead focuses on what gamers need out of a precision pointing device. Precisely, the combination of a high optical sensitivity, with plenty of available adjustment and comfort for prolonged gaming sessions.

The chosen sensor is one of the highest polling I’ve yet seen at 8000dpi, though you can easily drop that rate with one of the four programmable keys to something more practical.

Asus Chromebit

A computing platform that redefines the definition of small form factor

When I told my wide that the Chromebit was a computer, she really thought I’d been on the Christmas sherry again. That’s not really surprising, because this device is the size of a decent bar of chocolate, if you remember what size that was before all our confectionery started to shrink uncontrollably.

Removing the easily losable cap from one end reveals an HDMI blade that you can use on any suitable monitor or TV, and at the other end is single USB port that you can use for peripherals if you also own a USB hub.

Automatic updates are anything but convenient

Barry Collins is riled by apps that automatically ‘update’ themselves into obsolescence

There are three weasel words in the tech world that are abused more than any others: “for your convenience”. It’s “for your convenience” that anti-virus vendors automatically scrape £40 from your bank account every year, ensuring you don’t go to the bother of investigating how much cheaper their superior rivals are (which is £40 cheaper, by the way). It’s “for your convenience” that Microsoft automatically updates Windows, always timing those “installing 1 of 3,465 updates” messages for when you’re already 10 minutes late leaving the house. And it’s “for your convenience” that the mobile app stores automatically upgrade your apps in the background, ensuring you always have the latest, most secure version.

Are you being spied on?

Is something nasty lurking on your system and watching your every move? Robert Irvine reveals how to expose hidden spies and remove them before it’s too late

Detect hidden processes that monitor you

Even the best anti-malware tools, such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (www.malwarebytes.org), tend to keep you waiting before they give you the information you want: namely, is something dodgy lurking on your PC or not? It can take more than an hour to complete a full scan of your hard drive (depending on when you last ran one), only to learn that everything’s fine and you needn’t have bothered. If you don’t have time to hang about, try a new tool called SpyDetectFree (bit.ly/spydetect388), which provides you with the answers to two simple questions: ‘Am I being spied on?’ and ‘Am I being monitored?’.

10 signs that your system is unsafe

Just because your antivirus program hasn’t reported anything strange doesn’t mean your system is safe. Here are 10 clues that could indicate an infection, and advice on how to tackle each problem.

PC is running slowly

If your PC is no longer as speedy as it once was, it could be a sign that you’re running out of hard drive space, but it could also be down to a malware infection. Run a good ‘second opinion’ scanner such as Reason Core Security (www.reasoncoresecurity.com).