Web User - UK (2019-07-10)

Can you [email protected]– win a BackIssuesdisc! 10 - 23 July 2019 69

Readers’ Helpdesk

Can you help yourfellowreaders withtheir

computer problems? Sendyourquestions and

answers [email protected]

SOFTWARE

Talk to peopleusingspeech-

to-text software

Q

My90-year-oldauntis profoundly

deaf. Shecantalk,butnowwehave

tocommunicatewithherusinga

whiteboard andpen.Ina worldofAlexas

andSiris,you’d thinkthetechnology

wouldexist toprovideherwitha

real-timespeech-to-text unit.However, all

theoptionsuseonlineservicesandare

eitherslowandlimitingorworkona

smartphonewithtiny writing.Worse,

someofthetoolsneedyou touploada

filetoa website,whichisn’texactly

real-time. Is there a waytoturna tablet

into a hardwiredspeech-to-text unit?

Tim Roberts, via email

A

Wecovered speech-to-text tools

waybackinIssue 45 7 (bit.ly/

webuser457),andwe’ve yet toseea

service that canoutperformGoogle

Docs.Dependingonthedevice you’re

using,downloadthe

apporheadto

docs.google.com.

Clickthemicrophone

iconandspeak.

Allspeech-to-text

converterscanbehit

andmiss, butGoogle’s

is byfar thebest.

Alternatively,

downloadand

installSwiftKey

(bit.ly/swke4 79 )

orGboard (bit.ly/

gband4 79 ). Press

themicrophoneicon

andspeak.Bothappsare availablefor

tabletsaswell assmartphones.

Steve Clark, Features Writer, Web User

SEARCH

Search for photos online

Q

Is it possibletosearchtheinternet

usinganimageratherthantyping

words?I’ve foundouthowtosearchmy

PCusinga photo butnottheweb.

John AC Beattie, via email

A

There are a coupleofservicesthat

letyou performa visualsearchonline

• first, gotoGoogleImages(images.
  google.comandclicktheImageslink,
  whichis inthetop-rightcorner. Once
  you’re there,clicktheCamera buttonand
  eitherpastea linktoa photo orupload
  animagefromyourcomputer. If you’re
  usingyourphone, you’llhavetoenure
  you’re usingthedesktop versionofthe
  site.Headtogoogle.com,thenclickthe
  threedotsandselectthe‘Desktop site’
  optionbefore followingthestepsabove.
  Bing(www.bing.com) alsooffersa
  goodvisualsearchfeature.Whenyou
  clickthecamera iconinthesearchbar, it
  givesyou threeoptions:you candrag

anddropanimagesaved onyourPC,

pasteanimageorURL,ortake a photo.

Whenyou performa visualsearch,the

site displayssimilarimages,oryou can

clickelementsofyourphoto tospecifya

particularpartofit.

Steve Clark, Features Writer, Web User

A

I hada similarproblemtoPatrick

Francis(seeIssue 47 7)whenmy

routerwas hackedlast year. I suggest

disconnectingit fromtheinternetand,

if it hasWi-Fi,disablingthat too.Then

unplugany devicesthat are attached

totherouterandresetit usingthe

factoryresetbutton.Next,connecta

malware-freePCtotheroutersoyou

canaccessitssettings.Changethe

usernamefrom‘admin’tosomething

elseandseta secure password that

usesupperandlowercaselettersand

How to reset a

hacked router

numbers.Before you connectany

otherdevicestotherouter, checkthat

they are freefrommalware.You can

alsoblockthehacker’s IPandMAC

addressesintherouter’s settings.

JE, via email

HARDWARE

Q

Virtualrealityseemstohavecome

a longwaysince theEightiesand

Nineties.I’mintriguedandwouldlike

totryit out,butit’s veryexpensive.Do

any readersknowthebest waytotry

VRwithoutspendinga fortune?

Christopher Andrew, via email

READERS RESPOND

You canseekhelpor suggest solutionsto otherreaders’problems

by [email protected] viawww.facebook.com/

webusermagazineortwitter.com/webusermagazine.

GOOGLE

Q

I’ve beenreceivingconstant

notificationsrecentlytelling

methat GooglePlay can’tlogmein.

Hasthisbeenhappeningtoanyone

else? The notificationsare driving

metodistraction!

GillianFields,via email

CAN YOU HELP? [email protected]

HARDWARE

Back

Issues

disc

winner

Resetyour router andchangeits

password to recover from a hackattack

Smartdevices can

translate your

words into text

Bing’s VisualSearch feature letsyou upload

an imageto findout more aboutit