How to use an old PC and webcam to create a home-security hub

Wayne Williams shows you how to set up a home-surveillance system that stores its footage in the cloud

The most sophisticated home-security cameras don’t only alert you when an intruder is detected - they also save the footage they record to the cloud. This means you can view it from any device at any time, and your evidence is safe, even if thieves make off with your security cameras and other hardware.

There are plenty of great security-camera systems to choose from, but you don't have to spend a fortune on the latest setup if you already have an old computer and a camera or two to build your own.

In this article we look at the hardware and software you need to put together your own, modern cloud-based security system.

Are Cheap SSDs A False Economy?

Is it wise to stick to the cheaper side of the expensive solid-state market?

Although prices are dropping for SSDs and have dropped quite some way over the last couple of years, compared to the prices of traditional spinners or HDDs, solid state is still very expensive. This isn’t by a small margin, either. The price difference is large, and you can buy spinner hard disks with three or four times the capacity as a same-priced SSD. If you’re looking for storage, this makes the older hard disk option by far more attractive.

Do Non-Gamers Need Discrete GPUs?

We all know that gamers need graphical power, but what about other users?

If you visit any graphics card website you’ll quickly be bombarded by images and screenshots from all sorts of games and gaming-related media. Specifications for graphics cards are usually focused entirely on how well they can deliver the latest graphical performance in the latest games, and many of the features of a card are designed to appeal to those who play games on a daily basis. Even a card’s physical appearance these days is often made to look sleek and attractive, much like something out of one of the games to be run using it.

Ultimate Phone Photos: Part 2

In the second part of this series, Mark Pickavance looks at different photographic techniques and how to best achieve them using your phone

Last week, I covered generally taking better pictures and video with your phone. Building on that, I’ll be talking about special situations this week.

What’s really interesting about some of the methods is that because of the software technology of the phone, it is easier to do some of these things on a phone than with an actual camera.

If you’ve ever wanted to move beyond the occasional family snap and selfie stage of phone photography, then you might want to consider trying some of these alternatives.

Say! Goodbye! To Yahoo!

After the massive hack in 2014 that saw millions of customers’ personal details stolen, has Yahoo betrayed your trust for the final time? Mike Plant explains what you need to do before ditching the email service for good

Yahoo has been in hot water of late. First, it admitted – after two years – that hackers had breached its security and stolen the account details of 500 million of its customers in 2014. Then there were allegations that the company secretly scanned its customers’ emails on behalf of US intelligence (www.snipca.com/22184).

These two calamities have seriously dented users’ faith in Yahoo – to the point where many are closing their accounts (www.snipca.com/22191). If you are a Yahoo customer and have decided you want to move to another email service you might be concerned that you’ll lose all your emails and contacts. You needn’t worry. Here we’ll explain how to close your Yahoo account, while transferring your emails, contacts and calendar entries to an email service of your choice.