Micro_Mart_-_January_7_2016_

THE

EXPERTS

TakingTheP
The otherday I drove past a billboard advertisingSony’s XperiaZ5
Premium.The headlinefeature was the 4K display, and I’ve now looked
into this. Apparently, the resolutionis 3840× 2160.Impressive,I’m sure,
but how is this 4K?

Ben,Plusnet

I’mwithyouhere,Ben.Theoriginal4K standard,currentlyusedin
cinemasandoftendubbed4K DCI(afterDigitalCinemaInitiatives,LLC),
hasa resolutionof 4096× 2160.I’mquitehappywiththe4K moniker
for that,thoughtheactualprojectedareais usuallya littleless.
Buthere’s an interestingpoint(I maybe stretchingthedefinitionof
‘interesting’,to be fair).Forsomereason– probablybecausebigger
numbersarealwaysbetter– thecomputingindustry hasnowstarted
marketingdisplaystandardsby theirhorizontalresolutions,whereas
previouslyit’s usedtheverticalresolutions.Forexample,FullHDor FHD
hasa resolutionof 1920× 1080andis oftencalled1080p.By this
measure,4K DCIwouldbe called2160p– andsometimesit is!
As illustratedby theXperiaZ5 Premium,theconsumer4K standard
hasa resolutionof 3840× 2160(doubling1080p’s resolutionon both
sides,resultingin fourtimesthenumberof pixels).Thisis sometimes

dubbedUltraHDor UHDor UHD-1,whichmakesmoresense.The

thinkingis that 3840 is closeenoughto 4000thatwe mayas welljust

callit 4K,butsurelyit thenfollowsthatFullHDcouldbe called2K.But

no.Apparently, 2K onlystartsat 2048× 1080(anotherDCIstandard).

Confusing?I genuinelybelieveit’s meantto be...

jWhenis 4Knotreally4K?

OutOfControl

I’ve upgradedmy laptopto Windows10,

and duringinstallationI bypassed‘Use

express settings’and clickedCustomize.

I thendisabledall the settingsI thought

wouldinfringeon my privacy. I’d now also

like to disableautomaticupdates,but I

understandthis is a feature only in the Pro

edition.I prefer to stay in control, so is there

any way to achievethe samethingin the

Homeedition?

Dawid,Staffordshire

Sortof. Clickthewi-fiiconin Windows

10’s systemtray(wheretheclockis) and

select‘Networksettings’.In thewindow

thatappears,select‘Advancedoptions’,

thenmovethesliderunder‘Setas metered

connection’fromOffto On.You’llnow

be ableto controlupdatesmanually(non-

criticalones,anyway)– you’lljustreceive

notificationsdirectingyouto ‘Update&

security’in Settings.

Bearin mindthatmeteredconnections

applyon a per-routerbasis,Dawid,so

if youtakeyourlaptopelsewhereand

connectto a routerthathasthesliderto

Off(almosta certainty),pendingupdates

willstartto downloadalmostimmediately.

In general,an automatic-updatepolicy

is a goodidea.It meansthatnearlyall

usersarerunningthesamebuildof the

OS,whichimprovescustomersupportand

bugreports,andit alsomeansno one’s left

withunpatchedsecurityholes.Themetered

optionis intendedforPCson restricted

dataplans– thoseusing3Gor 4Gfrom

tetheredsmartphones,forinstance.The

optionisn’tavailableif a PC’s connectedvia

Ethernet,whichis odd,as notall fixed-line

broadbandplansareunlimited.

It’s worthnoting,Dawid,thatusingthe

meteredoptionmaycauseWindows10’s

livetilesto remainstatic.Apparently, too,

certainMicrosoftprogramsmayceaseto

functioncorrectly, thoughMicrosoftdoesn’t

go intodetailaboutthat.Non-Microsoft

programswillupdateas before– mostweb

apps(Gmail,Facebook,andso on)giveno

manualcontrol,forexample– andI think

evenMicrosoft’s ownOneDriveservice

willstillcontinueto sync.Thatcanbe the

biggestdatamuncherof all!

jWhenit comestoWindowsupdates,many

peoplepreferthemanualapproach