Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-05-11)

Make Windows Better Expert tips for every version

46

WINDOWS 10 & 11

Seven months after

buying online video

editor Clipchamp,

Microsoft has added an app version to

its store. To install it, search in

Windows for the Microsoft Store, open

it, then search at the top for Clipchamp.

Now click the blue Get button, which

will change to Open when the app is

ready to use.

Next, choose which account to sign

in with: Microsoft, Google or create a

new one through your email (you’ll

need to confirm this when you get an

introductory email from Clipchamp).

When you first use it, you’ll be asked

to start with a template, or with a

recording. If the latter, click the ‘Create

your first video’ box, then drag and

drop your video anywhere into

Clipchamp. The videos will appear in

the ‘Your media’ section at the top left

(^1 in our screenshot), from where you

can drag them on to your timeline^2.

Once there, you can add music and

effects from the left-hand menu.

Clipchamp lets you

export unlimited videos

at 1080p for free, but to

store them online you’ll

need to upgrade to the

Creator package, which

costs $9 a month (about

£7.17). Compare the free

and paid-for versions at

https://clipchamp.com/

en/pricing.

Edit your videos using Clipchamp

WINDOWS 11

Type special characters using

‘Touch keyboard’

In Windows 11, the easiest

way to type special characters,

such as accents, tildes and

umlauts, is by using the ‘Touch

keyboard’. Microsoft has moved its

location in Windows 11. You’ll now find it

by opening Settings (press Windows

key+I), selecting Personalisation on the

left, then Taskbar in the middle. Look for

the ‘Taskbar corner icons’ heading, and

make sure ‘Touch keyboard’ is turned on.

You should now see the ‘Touch

keyboard’ icon at the right of your

taskbar. Click it to see the keyboard, then

long-click the letter you want (or long-

press if you have a touchscreen machine).

Our screenshot below shows long-

clicking ‘e’ to get several options.

WINDOWS 10 & 11

Turn off Search Highlights

If you’ve started seeing

strange emoji-like icons

to the right of your

search bar (^1 in our screenshot below),

it’ll be because Microsoft has installed

Search Highlights on your computer. It

announced the feature in March, saying it

will provide links online to “notable and

interesting moments of what’s special

about each day – such as holidays,

anniversaries, and other educational

moments”, making it sound like a

Windows equivalent of the Google

Doodle (see http://www.snipca.com/41345). For

example, on 22 April it provided links to

information about Earth Day^2.

It’s now being rolled out to the full

version of Windows, having been tested

in Insider Previews. The reason you’re

seeing it is because

it’s activated by

default, but happily

it’s easy to turn off if

you don’t want to be

distracted by what

Microsoft thinks you

should be interested

in every day. Just

right-click the

taskbar, click Search,

then untick ‘Show

Search Highlights’.

WINDOWS 10

Add colour options to the

Control Panel

As part of its plan to phase out

Control Panel, Microsoft has

moved many of its options to the

Settings section. You can, however, bring

some of these back, partly restoring

Control Panel’s lost power. One useful

section you can reinstate is ‘Color and

Appearance’, which lets you change the

colour of the taskbar, window borders

and the Start menu.

You can do this by pasting registry

code into Notepad, then saving it as a .reg

file and running it. However, it’s easier

to install this file ready-made from the

download site MajorGeeks.com. Visit

http://www.snipca.com/41802 then click the

Download Now button at the top (it has

yellow army lettering – ignore any green

advert buttons).

When it has downloaded, double-

click the ‘Add Color and Appearance

to Control Panel’ file to run it, clicking

Run and Yes when asked if you want it

to make changes to your computer. Now

open Control Panel, then click ‘Color and

Appearance’ (^1 in our screenshot above)

to see your colour options. When you

select a colour^2 , you’ll see what it looks

like in the bar at the top of the box^3.

1

2

1

2

1

2

3

11 – 24 May 2022 • Issue 631