Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-05-25)

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13

STAR LETTER

Views expressed don’t necessarily reflect those of Computeractive

The Star Letter writer wins a Computeractive mug!

Google ‘tricks you’ into thinking it

cares about privacy

I share your

exasperation that

it has taken Google so

long to offer you ways

to request the removal

of your home address

and telephone number

(Issue 631, page 6). In

part, this has been a

fault of the authorities.

Lawmakers should’ve forced Google

and other search engines to introduce

these measures years ago, though the

international nature of the internet

makes such rules hard to implement.

It makes me think of something that

rarely gets talked about or used these

days: the BT phone book. It used to

be a permanent fixture on the hallway

desks of every home. If you didn’t

want your number to appear in it,

you could simply ask to be ex-directory.

I always did that, year after year. When

information was collated on paper

there seemed to be a greater emphasis

on privacy. But somewhere along the

line the internet eroded

that.

My theory is that

about 25 years ago we

all got so excited about

the potential of the

internet that we forgot

to apply the old rules

about privacy. Dazzled

by this technology,

we were blinded to the risks. It has

taken us this long to shake off our

complacency. The same principle also

apples to online porn. Authorities are

introducing mandatory age checks

far too late.

The lesson we must learn is that

deep down Google and other big-tech

sites don’t care about your privacy.

They’re not charities but money-

making industries that rely on adverts,

which in turn rely on analysing what

you do online. Everything else they

say and do is designed to trick

you into thinking otherwise.

Phil Hardman

there would be no chance of getting the

payment back, but phoned Bank of

Scotland immediately. They cancelled the

card and issued a new one. Several weeks

later, the scammers took a payment of

£9.95 using the new card details! The

bank is unapologetic, saying that they

will “try” to recover the payment, but

that the continuous payment may be

impossible to stop.

I had to jump through several hoops in

order to speak to anyone at the bank,

including setting up voice recognition,

which I had already done. I find it very

worrying that a major bank is unable,

or unwilling, to protect customers’

accounts, especially when only a few

weeks had passed since my card had

been replaced. How can a continuous

payment be set up without any input

from the bank customer, or any concern

raised?

Alan O’Connor

new TV 360 box, and a Mini 360 box for a

second room. For all this they’re charging

me £21 less a month, and an engineer is

coming to install it all – and I didn’t even

ask for anything. I’m sticking with Virgin

Media.

Terry Sutton

Bank allowed scammers to

take my money

Recently, I downloaded an

antivirus app from Google Play

Store, paid £2.99 by debit card, then

realised it was a scam. I tried to cancel,

without success, and didn’t set up any

form of continuous payment. I knew that

Would be ‘bizarre’ if you didn’t

cover Windows 11

I was surprised by Chris

Venables’ claim in Issue 631 that

Computeractive is obsessed with

Windows 11. What does he expect from

a fortnightly computer magazine? It

seems obvious to me that there’s now

going to be a lot more news on Windows

11 than 10, and it would be bizarre if

you ignored that.

In any case, I wouldn’t say your coverage

of Windows 11 has been obsessive. Clearly,

the launch of a new operating system is

big news, particularly because Microsoft

said there never would be one. You’ve

reviewed it, told us what the new tools

are and explained how to upgrade – and

even given us workarounds if our

computers don’t come up to Microsoft’s

strict standards. If you hadn’t done any of

that, it would’ve been highly remiss of you.

I’m still on Windows 10, and at no

point in the past year have I thought

you’re leaving the likes of me behind. I

want to read about Windows 11 so I can

make an informed decision on upgrading,

but I’m glad that most of your tips and

advice still apply to 10. Mr Venables may

think otherwise, but I’d say you’ve got

the balance about right.

Charles Judge

Uninterruptible power supplies

more trouble than they’re worth

Your feature on uninterruptible

power supplies (UPS) in Issue 630

(page 60) mentioned the benefits of these

devices, but not their failings. They are

generally heavy and cumbersome. Lead

acid batteries can swell in size and be

difficult to remove in some designs.

Ageing batteries can mean that when the

mains goes off, the UPS does too. With

many models, the UPS stays off even after

the mains comes back on, turning a short

outage into a much longer one! In my

experience they are more trouble than

they’re worth.

Tim Howlett

Why I’m sticking with

Virgin Media

Regarding switching broadband

providers, I contacted Virgin

Media to report a faulty TV V6 box. After

checking my account details they told me

that I was paying too much for the bundle

and would give me a better deal. They

provided me with a brand new router, a

Issue 632 • 25 May – 7 June 2022