Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-01-19)

66

Problems Solved

Buyitf rom

http://www.snipca.com/38164

Q:Should Imovemyrouter’s

antennae to ge tbetterWi-Fi?

A: Issue585,page67–find it on

our2020Back IssueCD

19 Januar y–1February 2022 •Issue623

Find this connectorinsideyour HP Omen

PC andpullittodeactivate th elights

HowdoIkill my

annoyinglights?

Q

MyHPOmendesktopPC

hasred,blueandgreen

LEDsonthefrontofits

case,butIfindthelightfromthem

distracting.ThePCcamewith

softwarethatletsmeswitchthem

off,butIhavetodothiseverytimeI

rebootthePC.Doyouhaveany

suggestionsastohowIcanturnoff

theseannoyinglights,otherthan

cuttingthecablethatfeedsthem?

RobertStalker

A

Wecan’tfixthefrustrating

software,butsinceyou’re

happytodowithoutthe

lights,theeasiestsolutionisto

disconnecttheLEDblockthatemits

thedistractingglow. Thisdoesn’t

involvecuttinganycables,because

thepowercordconnectstothe

motherboardthroughalittleplug

and‘header’socket.It’s asimplejob.

HPhaspublishedavideoshowing

howtoreplacetheLEDunitatwww.

snipca.com/4 0312 .Youneedonly

watchthefirst 4 5secondstofindout

howtodisconnectthelights.

Basically,youremoveyourdesktop’s

sidepanel,locatethislittleplug

(picturedbelow),thenpulltoremove

itfromitsheader.

CanIrescuephotosfromascuffedCD?

SkipDr grin ds away

surfacescratches

to make CDsand

DVDs readabl eagain

Q

IhaveanumberofCDsfullof

oldfamilyphotos,butIcanno

longeraccessthecontents.I

believethedisccoatingmayhave

perished.I’vetriedusingRecuva(www.

ccleaner.com/recuva)butwithout

success.IsthereanythingelseIcould

try? Wouldaprofessionalservicebeable

torecovermyphotos?

HarryConnell

A

Thedisc-readinglasersinoptical

drivescan bepretty

sensitive,andevena

smallscufforscratchcan

makeaCDorDVD

unreadable.One

optionistotrythe

discinadifferent

grindsaway

scratches

eCDsand

eadableagain

drivescanbeprety

ensitive,andevena

fforscratchcan

DorDVD

ble.One

totrythe

different

drive,becausesomelasersarelessfussy

thanothers.Ofcourse,that’s notan

optionifyoudon’thaveaccesstoanother

computerwithanopticaldrive.

Alternatively,acontraptionlikeSkipDr

(pictured)couldhelp. Thisdevicegrinds

awayathinlayerofthedisc’scoatingto

removelightscratches–asillustrated

above–andthat’softenenoughtokeep

thedrive’s laserfocused.Itcostsaround

£2 0 (www.snipca.com/4 0353 ).

Professionaldata-recoveryservices

couldhelp,buttheycanbeexpensive,

sowe’dtryoursuggestions

beforeyougodownthat

route.