Windows Help & Advice – May 2019

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May

Fridd yy

NEXT UEON SALE

H

ardwareis a problem.It makes

thePCthebestthinggoingfor

games,butalsomakesit byfar

themostexpensivewaytoplay

them.Google’snewly-announcedStadia

servicesuggeststhatdoesn’tneedtobe

thecase.Whystockuponyourown

priceypartswhenyoucouldrunyour

gamesona powerfulPCsomewhereelse

in theworld,owned,administered,and

upgradedbythewebgiant,andhave

thembeamedintoyourhome?

Theideabehind

thesubscription-

basedStadiaisn’t

new;bothMicrosoft

andSonyalready

offersimilarservices

fortheirconsoles,

andgamestreaming

serviceOnLivedid

muchthesamething

untilit shutitsdoorsin 2015.Butthe

hardwarehereis a littledifferent.

SUPERFASTSTREAMING?

ThespecialStadiacontrollerconnects

directlytotheInternetthroughyour

homebroadbandconnection,potentially

offeringthefastestconnectionpossible

betweenyouandthegameyou’re

streaming.Thegamescanbebeamedto

anythingthatcanrunGoogleChromeor

oneofitsderivatives,whichcouldmean

yourlaptop,phone,orevenstraighttoa

GoogleChromecastorsmartTV.

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games,outsideofthehardwaresavings.

Signingupfora subscriptionservice

meansyoucanplaywithouthavingto

payforeachgame– similartothelikesof

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updatedwiththelatestpatches,and

runningat thehighestpossiblesettings.

Thatsaid,thetimeit takesforyour

actionstoreachtheserver,andforthem

tobesentback,

doescausea big

problemin terms

ofresponsiveness.

Testershave

reporteda very

sluggishexperience,

evenonvery

fastbroadband

Internetconnections,

meaningStadiamightbebettersuitedto

slower-pacedgames,at leastuntila way

is foundtoincreaseitssnappiness.

Youdon’tneedStadia,either,if you

alreadyhavePCcapableofplaying

games.Steam,forone,includesa feature

calledIn-homeStreaming,whichcan

sendgamesfromonePCtoanotherover

yourhomenetwork.Eventhelowliest

laptopgenerallyhasenoughmuscleto

showtheoutput,soyoucansendallof

yourfavouritesstraighttoyourcouch.

Thewebgiantgetsintostreamingthelatestgames–

buthasn’tthisbeentriedandfailedbefore?

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1

Which of the

following programs

was bundled with

Windows 1.0?

A Calculator

B 3D Pinball

C Facebook

2

Which feature was

new for Windows

2.0 in 1987?

A VGA graphics

B Drive letters

C The Windows key

3

Windows 3.0 was

the first to feature

which game?

A Solitaire

B Farmville

C Flappy Bird

4

By which

codename was

Windows 95 known?

A Chicago

B Dulwich

C West Newberry

5

Which program was

in Windows 98’s

second edition but

not its first?

A Media Player

B Notepad

C Freecell

6

Which system utility

made its debut in

Windows ME?

A System Restore

B System Delete

C System Persistence

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7+(6(&ǖǕ'ƹƾ,=

1A. 2A. 3A. 4A. 5A. 6A.Answers

Google goes gaming

Media Player

Classic Homecinema

http://mpc-hc.org

Many of our readers are VLC diehards, for

good reason – it’s just about the best free

media player out there. If that’s you, fear

not. We’re not about to tell you that

there’s anything wrong with VLC. But the

Homecinema variant of Media Player

Classic deserves your attention, not just

because it is remarkably easy to use (and

similar to the no-frills Media Player of the

old Windows days) but because it’s

lightning fast, too. There’s basically no

load time, either when launching the

program or when loading up a movie,

and it’s compatible with everything

we’ve thrown at it. If you have video or

audio, MPC-HC can play it.

Try it installed alongside VLC. You don’t

need to change anything other than that.

It might not keep up with brand new

formats – its last release was in 2017 – but

Media Player Classic certainly does a good

job with the, er, classics.

TWEAKABLE TOOLBAR MPC-HC can be

customised with your own icon graphics.

© MPC-HC Team

8 |^ |^ May 2019