Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-04-27)

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WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN...

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technical terms? Email noproblem@

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??

My Wi-Fi and public Wi-Fi?

• How do I label my Calc
  charts?


• Why is my DVD drive
  unreliable?


• Why has my printing gone
  askew? ...And many more

Q

Issue 626’s Cover Feature about
SSDs didn’t seem to offer any
help for people like me, with all-
in-one (AiO) PCs – like my Dell Inspiron

5490. This has a 512GB SSD, but it’s
      rapidly filling up. How can I increase my
      storage capacity?
      Mike Feehan

A

Functionally, AiO PCs sit
somewhere between desktops
and laptops. However, in terms
of expansion, they’re certainly closer to

How do I increase AiO storage?

Q

I note that when talking about

getting online you sometimes

warn against using public

Wi-Fi connections. I wonder why that

is? I think I appreciate that Wi-Fi

hotspots without passwords are a bad

idea because anyone can log on to

them. But what’s the problem with

using one in a cafe or library, say –

where you have to ask for the password

at the counter? Why would using such

a connection be any less safe than

using my own Wi-Fi at home? Is there

a difference I’m not understanding?

Nick Duffy

A

This is a good question, not

least because the answers

aren’t necessarily all that

obvious – even if the received wisdom

is consistent. Fundamentally, the

problem boils down to control and

trust. Or rather, as the user, your lack

of one or both.

Assuming all is well then, when you’re

at home, you are in full control of your

router. By that we mean you know the

name of the wireless network it transmits

(also known as the Service Set Identifier,

or SSID) and the password, and you can

change either at any time. The only

person who can see data travelling to and

from the router is you, or other

authorised members in your home.

But when you connect to a public

Wi-Fi hotspot, all of that goes out of the

window. Certainly, connecting to a

Wi-Fi hotspot where you’ve had to ask

a staff member for the SSID and

password is ‘better’ than connecting to

a random, password-less signal – but

can you be sure every single person

with access to the router is

trustworthy? Even if you have faith in

the counter staff, it is unlikely that

you’ll know who else might have access

to the equipment running the hotspot.

Any data that is passed from your

computer to the Wi-Fi hotspot could, in

theory, be accessed by those controlling

the router that provides it – and unlike

at home, those people are not you or

your family.

You control

your home Wi-

Fi, whereas

you don't

know who

is accessing

public

hotspots

laptops – so read our article again with

that in mind.

The technical documentation for your

model, published by Dell at http://www.snipca.

com/41465, tells us that it has just one

M.2 SSD slot. So, if you want a higher-

capacity M.2, replacing 512GB, the

original is your only option.

However, your machine also has a

vacant bay for a 2.5in SATA drive, so you

could use that for either a traditional

SATA hard drive or SSD. This would

certainly be easier than having to deal

Dell’s online
technical
documentation
shows that the
Inspiron 5490
has one M.2
SSD slot

Issue 630 • 27 April – 10 May 2022

with replacing the boot drive and cloning

or reinstalling Windows, so that’s what

we’d suggest in your case.