Who owns your online data?

What happens to your data when online services are snapped up by bigger rivals? Nicole Kobie exposes the truth behind the web’s biggest buyouts

Multi-billion dollar tech acquisitions may seem to have little relevance for us humble users, but there’s no question that they affect our lives online. When the big fish snap up smaller fry, it may be because they’re after their technology or aiming to wipe out competition, but in many cases, they’re most interested in vacuuming up your data.

Best Android apps for scanning documents

Edward Munn rounds up the best apps for turning your smartphone into a pocket scanner

Uninstall anything completely

Your PC is stuffed with junk – including programs you thought you’d seen the back of. Jane Hoskyn reveals how to remove every trace and reclaim your space

Computers (like people!) slow down when they’re full. If you’ve had your PC for a while, it’s likely to be crammed with programs you no longer use, Windows apps you never used, defunct hardware drivers and all sorts of stuff you can’t budge, even when you right-click and choose Delete.

Download for free!

Getting exactly what you want from the web without paying for it isn’t as easy as you might think. Mike Plant explains how to download TV, music and more that you can keep forever

Let’s face it, free online stuff is ten a penny. Enter just about any noun into a search engine followed by the word ‘free’ and you’ll be inundated with web pages all promising the perfect free version of whatever you want. But there are two tricks to this. The first is distinguishing the best options from the sub-standard, the fake and the downright dangerous. The second, much harder trick is to circumvent the restrictions placed on free content.

Overcloking your GPU

It's not just your CPU you could be getting more from!

Just as overdocking your CPU can help you inch your gaming performance ahead slightly, overclocking a GPU is one way to squeeze extra frames out of a graphics card, whether that's because it's starting to flag with age or because you know it can do better than the manufacturers think is fair.