WebUser 01 May 2019

Find more solutions atwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 1 - 14 May 2019^67

Ask the Expert

(SED), but I’ve read that such devices

have limited life spans, so before I buy

one I’d be interested to know what my

total read/write access numbers are like

with typical usag e over a period of one

month, say. Is there a tool I can use to

log this information? When an SED fails

from overuse, how does this usually

manifest itself?

PhilJames, via email

A

A self-encrypting drive (SED) is

basically a hard drive with

encryption built into the drive controller,

which makes it extremely secure. We’re

assumingyou want a solid-state drive

(SSD) rather than a mechanical hard

drive, because an SSD is much faster

Format menu, then check that all the

date and time options below are set

correctly. Each one has several options.

Click the ‘Additional settings’ button

and gothrough the options on the

Numbers, Currency, Time and Date tabs,

selecting those you want, then clos e the

window. Back inRegion, select the

Admini strative tab. Click ‘Change

system locale’ and choose ‘English

(Uni ted Kingdom)’. Close the windows

and restart your PC. Now everything

should be in the correct format.

EMAIL

Register IncrediMail licences

Q

I’ve been using IncrediMail (www

.incredimail.com) for a long time,

but when I renewed some licences

recently , I couldn’t instal l them and the

program said there was an error.

IncrediMail’s helpline was no help and

I still can’t load the licences. Is another

service blocking IncrediMail or is there

a simple solution I’m miss ing?

Jeremy Adams, via email

A

It’s possible for securi ty software

such as a firewa ll to block

communications between IncrediMail

and the licensing server, which may

produce “Error 5” or “Error 1232”.

Disable any securi ty softwarebefore

you add the new licence. For example,

go to the Control Panel and click

Windows DefenderFirewa ll, then ‘Turn

Windows DefenderFirewa ll on oroff’.

Switch everythingback on once you’ve

set up the IncrediMail li cence.

Also check that IncrediMail isn’t in

offline mode by going to the File menu

and making sure Work Offl ine isn’t

enabled. Cookie cleaner util ities and

cookie blockers can interfere with the

licence registration process, so switch

off any of th ose, too.

Go to Help, Licenses and see which

licences it lists. Select and remove any

that have expired, then use Enter Code

to add your current licence code. Take

care to enter it exactly as it appears,

with capitals, spaces, punctuat ion and

any other charac ters.

If nothing works, email purchase@

incr edimail.com , including the code

you’re struggling with and the name and

email address you used when buying it.

HARDWARE

Predict the lifespanof anSSD

Q

I have an ageinglaptop that seems

to slow down considerably when

accessing the hard drive. I’m thinkin g of

replacing it witha self-encrypting drive

Q

There’s a program on my PC

that I can’t uninstal l. It was a

free trial but I don’t want to pay

for the full software, so I want to

remove it. If I choose to uninstal l it

in ‘Programs and Features’ in the

Control Panel, nothing happens.

How do I get rid of it?

Steve Thomas, via email

A

There’s more than one way to

uninstal l a program, so it’s worth

trying them all because one may

succeed where others fail. In Windows

10, you can uninstal l programs from

the Settings app. Press Windows+i to

open it, then click Apps. Find the app

in the list, click it, then click Uninstal l.

If the program appears on the Start

menu, you may see a menu entry to

run the uninstaller. If not, right-click

the program on the Start menu and

select Uninstal l. These options might

not work if the uninstal ler is brok en,

so open Explorer and find the

program folder in C:\Program files or

C:\Program files (x86). If there is a file

called Uninstall or Uninstaller,

double-click to run it.

Tools such as IObit Uninstal ler

(bit.ly/ioun474) and Wise Program

Uninstal ler ( bit.ly/wpun474) may be

able to remove it. As a last resort, just

delete the folder in C:\Program files.

Uninstall stubborn

software

GENERAL PC

Wise Program Uninstaller’s ForcedUninstall

is useful for software thatwon’t budge

and would speed up your slow PC.

It’s true that SSDs have a limited

life span andcan only be written a

certain numberof times. However,

plenty of hard drives fail and lose data ,

even those that aren’t SSDs.

The estimated life span of an SSD

varies depending on its construction,

model and manufacturer. Samsung, for

example, says its SSD 850 Pro SATA is

designed to cope with having 150TB of

datawritten to it. This is the equivalent

of 41GB every day for 10 years, which far

more than most homeusers would ever

manage.

SSDs use various techniques to

spread the wear andtear across the

entire drive. If you were to update a file

on a mechanical hard drive, for example,

it would rewrite it to the samespot,

whereas an SSD writes it to a new

memory location to spread the burden.

This helps the SSD lasts longer.

There’s nothing to worry about when

using a solid-state drive. Bear in mind

that the life times quoted for SSDs and

mechanical hard drives are averages:

some will fail sooner, whil e others will

go onforever. That’s why it’s important

to keep backups of all your data,

no matter which type of drive you use,

just in case it fails.

A free tool called SsdReady ( bit.ly/

ssdr474 ) can monitor how much data

your PC reads and writes every day.

This fortnightRoland has been using his smartphoneto map thestrength of theWi-Fi signal around his home

SsdReady estimates how long your SSD

will la st, but let it run for a few days first