Web User - UK (2019-09-18)

Can you help? [email protected]– win a Back Issues disc! 18 Sept - 1 Oct 2019^69

Managing music is easy, but playback isn’t

Turn a no-longer-updating Chromebook

into a new CloudReady device

Readers’ Helpdesk

Canyouhelpyourfell ow readerswith th eir

computerprob lems?Sendyourquestionsand

answersto [email protected]

SOFTWARE

Manage and play music in

Ashampoo

Q

I’d become so frustrated with iTunes

that I jumped with glee when Iread

about Ashampoo (bit.ly/ashampoo484)

in Issue 482 (bit.ly/webuser482). It

scanned and organisedmy entire music

library surprisingly quickly. But now

what? I may be missing something

obvious, but there seemsto be noway of

playingmy nicely organised music

collection. If this is the case, what iTunes

alternativeswould you recommend?

Many thanks andkeep up the goodwork.

Danny Rushton, via email

A

You’re right – Ashampooexcels at

managing and editing music, but it’s

not really a music player. The onlyway to

play your tracks within the software isto

use the Playlist Generator to crea te a

playlist, then add files orfolders of music

and listen to themby highlighting them

and using the playbackcontrolsat the

bottom of the program window. Once

you’ve created a playlist,you’ll download

the fileto your hard drive. Add this fileto

the Playlist Generator each timeyou

want to listen to your tunes.

If this is alltoo convoluted andyou’d

rather use astandard music player,

MusicBee (getmusicbee.com) is one of

our favourites.

Steve Clark,FeaturesWriter,Web User

HARDWARE

Breathe new life into anold

Chromebook

Q

My beloved Chromebook hascome

to the end of its life – it’s still in

perfectworking order but it no longer

receives updates from Google. I’ve

already bought a new Chromebookto

replace it, but how do Irecycle the old

one? It seems crazyto just bin it.

Graham Castle, via email

A

It’s hardto say goodbye to a lo ved

one but, thankfully,you don’t have

to. While it ’s not a good ideato use your

Chromebook without security updates,

you could install a new operating system

• one that Googlewon’t cut off.
  CloudReady (bit.ly/cloud484) is anOS
  that was designedto convert old
  Windows laptops into Chromebooks, but
  it alsoworks with devices such asyours.
  Best of all, itcontinuesto receive security
  updates and newfeatures. However,
  make sureyour Chromebook has enough

free spaceto get CloudReady up and

running, or first download itto a USB

memorystick.

Alternatively, since ChromeOS is built

on Linux,you could install this onyour

Chromebook instead, although it’s a little

more involved and lessstable.

Steve Clark,FeaturesWriter,Web User

A

In Issue 482 (bit.ly/webuser482),

Damien Davers asked howto

translate web pages in Chrome. Usually,

the browser automaticallyrecognisesa

foreign language and displays a

messageat the bottom ofyour screen

asking ifyou want to translate it. If you

don’t see this, click the three-dot icon

in thecorner and chooseTranslate.

Both methodswork in Chrome and

Chrome Canary. Ifyou’re usinga

Translate any web

page in Chrome

different browser, you canstill use

Google’s translationtools. Copy the

page’s URL and paste it into Google

Translate ( translate.google.com) to

translate the web page into English.

FlynnFarrow, via email

GENERAL PC

Q

I lo ve toying withRegistry hacks

(andyes, I always crea te a backup).

What I’d liketo know, though, is are

there any specificRegistrykeys tha t

should never be touched?

Ron Cressley, via email

READERS RESPOND

You can seek help or suggest solutionsto otherreaders’ problems

by [email protected]. ukor viawww.facebook.com/

webusermagazineortwitter.com/webusermagazine.

BROWSERS

Q

Not counting thoseavailable in the

GoogleWeb Store, can anyone

recommend some essentialextensions

for Microsoft’s new Chromium-based

Edge browser?

Nell Jones, via email

CAN YOU HELP? [email protected]. uk

BROWSERS

Back

Issues

disc

winner

GoogleTranslate can translate pages into

another language in any browser