Android 6.0 Marshmallow Fast Fixes

Fix failed upgrades, solve wireless-connectivity problems and bring ‘bricked’ devices back to life

Marshmallow upgrade unavailable

Have you forced a manual check for updates? Launch Settings, tap ‘About phone’ (or ‘About’), followed by ‘System updates’, then ‘CHECK FOR UPDATE’ (or similar). If an update to Android 6.0 isn’t offered, then in most cases you’ll just have to wait – and possibly for a long time. Unfortunately, some Android manufacturers take weeks or months to issue the latest updates, if at all. If you’re tired of waiting it may be possible to download the Marshmallow system image and manually upgrade. It’s quite complicated and the method can vary a lot between devices, so you’ll need to search on Google for the latest instructions for your device.

Windows 10 Task Manager

Speed up startup, reveal hidden information and rescue unsaved data

Diagnose and fix slow performance

The Performance tab has several useful tricks stuffed up its sleeve. First, try double-clicking on any blank part of the left-hand pane, which reduces all the performance statistics down to a tidy summary view (alternatively, right-click and choose ‘Summary view’).

To see a summary of a particular performance chart double-click in the right-hand pane, or right-click and choose ‘Graph summary view’. Repeat either action to revert to the full view. Finally, it’s useful to tick ‘Always on top’ in the Options menu to keep these summaries in permanent view when you’re trying to diagnose performance problems.

Epson EcoTank ET-2500

The beginning of the end of the inkjet rip-off?

Thanks to advances in silicon-chip production, computer technology gets cheaper all the time. But printers are mostly boxes of cogs, so the only way to make them cheaper is to cheat. And that’s what printer manufacturers have been doing – shifting the price from the hardware to ink, which comes in tiny quantities in wastefully packaged cartridges. As a consequence, printing one page of text and colour graphics typically costs between 6-10p.

Send massive files for free

Do your huge files keep bouncing back to you on email? Jonathan Parkyn shows you how to break through the size barrier

E-mailing attachments to friends and family is a quick and easy way to share photos, documents and much more. But if you’ve ever tried to attach anything larger than a few megabytes, you’ll know that email isn’t necessarily the best way to share big files – they often just bounce right back with a big, shouty ‘UNDELIVERABLE’ stamped all over the subject field.

So, what do you do if you want to send that large video clip of the family you filmed over Christmas, or a sprawling album of recent holiday photos? Well, don’t go popping USB sticks in the post just yet; here are some easy ways to send big files to anywhere in the world – and it won’t cost you a penny.

Philips Hue Go

A gentle splash of colour for your room

We can’t work out if Philips didn’t twig that Hue Go sounds like the name Hugo, or intended the pun to mean something, or didn’t care. It’s now the name of a little hemispherical ‘smart’ lamp that can be controlled from your phone or tablet as part of a ‘connected’ home. Ideal for a bedside table, it has a button on the bottom that switches its built-in LEDs to steady or shifting colours or a flickering flame effect. The bottom is identified by a bump that lets you angle Hue Go so that it casts its light on a wall; it can also lie flat, like a bowl.

Asus C201 Chromebook

Who needs Windows 10 anyway?

The latest Asus Chromebook ticks all the boxes: it looks like a proper laptop, but weighs less, costs less and the battery lasts longer. The 11.6in screen is just big enough to be practical, and uses old LCD technology that means colours are dull and everything goes weird if you look at it from the wrong angle. So this isn’t the best machine for editing photos or watching films. But then that’s not the point of it. For typing and surfing the web, via the Chrome OS (Google’s lightweight equivalent of Windows), it’s fine.

Change Your Windows 10 setting now!

Microsoft’s default settings in Windows 10 aren’t as safe as they should be. Jonathan Parkyn explains what they do, and tells you which to disable

Every version of Windows has had settings that needed tweaking, whether it’s changing the Desktop background to a photo of your grandchildren, or switching off a  feature you don’t like. But Windows 10 takes this to a worrying new level. No previous version has had more default settings that Microsoft has simply got wrong.

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: we like Windows 10. It’s a fast, modern operating system (OS) with some great tools. But whether you’ve recently upgraded or you’re planning to soon, there are dozens of settings you need to change. Some, such as Microsoft’s Wi-Fi sharing feature, could leave your data vulnerable to hackers. Others, such as a secret keylogger that records everything you type, compromises your privacy.

Here, then, is our ultimate checklist of all the settings Windows 10 users need to change - 52 in total. In each case, we’ll explain what the default setting is and the reasons why Microsoft wants you to leave it that way. Then we’ll show you what we recommend changing it to and why.

HP Pavilion 23-q110na

An all-in-one PC that doesn’t have it all, after all

A computer built into a monitor is a good idea, but it can still be a waste of space. Although you’re losing the big box, you’re not gaining anything: these machines are basically laptops with bigger screens and no keyboard, so performance won’t match a similarly priced tower desktop PC. And of course you can’t carry them around, unless you’re one of those brave people on the internet who uses your iMac in Starbucks, at a pizza restaurant or on the train.

Microsoft Lumia 950

Windows 10 finally goes mobile

Windows 10 isn’t just big news for PCs. This was meant to be the upgrade that would unify Microsoft’s operating system across desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and phones. Instead of the full-on software on your computer and limited, sort-ofcompatible apps on your mobile devices, you’d have the same thing everywhere. It’s obviously the way things should be.