Windows Help & Advice - UK (2020-03)

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March

Fridd yy

NEXTISSSSUEON SALE

W

henyouuseanydevice,

fromyourlaptoptoyour

phone,youleavetraces.

Thesecanbephysical

• greasyfingerprintsona screenmight
  leada cleverattackertodecipheryour
  PINcode– butthey’remostlikely
  invisible.Manylargecompanies
  (includingthelikesofGoogle,Microsoft
  andAmazon)incorporatetinytrackers
  intojustabouteverywebsiteyouvisit,
  offeringhelpfulservicestowebsite
  ownersinexchange
  fora littleinformation
  onwhatyou’vebeen
  upto.If you’veever
  wonderedjusthow
  Amazoncanshowyou
  a month’sworthof
  toasteradvertsafter
  youoncelookedup
  thetemperatureof
  bread,that’swhy.
  Manytrackersare
  notjustonline;unlessyouopt
  otherwise,Microsoftwillkeep
  informationonthewayyouuse
  Windows10,Googlewillremember
  yoursearchhistory,andAmazonis

lookingatfarmorethanjustyour
shoppingpreferences.If youusea
Kindle,forexample,it turnsout
Amazonwillkeepa recordofliterally
everytapyoumakeonthescreen.The

companysaysthisis inaneffortboth

toimproveitssoftware– it noticedthat

peoplewereflickingbackandforth

betweenpagestoreferenceprevious

material,andhasintroduceda new

featuretomakethiseasier– andto

keepitsWhispersyncvirtualbookmark

serviceinline.It’llalsostoreyourAlexa

activitywhich,if you’rea userofan

Echodevice,youcancheckoutat

amazon.co.uk/alexaprivacysettings.

Crucially,we’veagreedtomuchof

thistracking,whether

deliberatelyornot.

Whena website

flashesupthat

annoying‘weuse

cookies’button,that’s

notbychoice.Legally

thosesitesareforced

totellyouthey’re

trackingyou,andyou

shouldbeabletodive

inandfindanoption

throughwhichyoucandisagreetoany

termsyou’renothappywith.When

you’resettingupa newdevice,ora

newcopyofWindows,youalsogetthe

optiontoswitchoffthosethingswhich

makeyouuncomfortable.Whilethese

companieskeepdoingit – andthey

will– we’llkeeptalkingaboutit;

trackingisn’tassinisterasit sounds,

butit is,forthemostpart,optional.

Howmuchdataarecompaniesstoringabout

you– andwhatexactlyaretheydoingwithit?

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1

Visiting video.com

will lead you to which

company’s website?

A Disney

B YouTube

C BBC

2

Where does visiting

windows.org

lead you?

A Microsoft

B Autoglass

C Saint James Chapel,

Chicago

3

Let’s try another

• where does
  go.com lead?
  A Go Compare
  B Go Outdoors
  C Disney again

4

Sticking with a

theme, where do

you end up if you visit

wallet.com?

A PayPal

B Google Pay

C Apple Pay

5

Which company

owns the

web address

microsoft.sucks?

A Microsoft

B Apple

C Google

6

Lastly, which of these

takes you to the

Amazon website?

A awake.us

B awake.com

C awake.org

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1A 2C 3C 4B 5A 6BAnswers

Big time online tracking

Everything

http://www.voidtools.com

There are times when you’re desperate to

find a specific file and Windows’ own

search function is more interested in

showing you a web link to something

irrelevant. Voidtools’ Everything is a neat

alternative – it starts (after a little grunting

and groaning to update its index) by

showing you every single file on your PC,

then narrows down its results as you type.

You’ll need to know a little about the

filename you want to find if you expect to

find it quickly, but you can use the search

term ‘content:’ to dig through the content

of documents if you need a little more

granular searching and don’t mind

waiting a while for the results. Really,

that’s not the point: Everything is a tiny

program that makes absolutely minimal

impact on your system, and it does a

much better job of searching than the

built-in tool.

SO MUCH Everything really does mean

everything – prepare to be overwhelmed.

8 |^ |^ March 2020