What to do when your laptop– or PC hard drive fails. Failing hard drive? Here’s good advice. (See also: Recover deleted files for free: recover lost data.) QUESTION My laptop hard drive is failing. I can still boot to the recovery partition but I’m unable to re-install the operating system. If I put the original hard drive into an external USB enclosure, put a new hard drive into the laptop and boot via USB to the original recovery partition could I then install the operating system to the new hard drive?...

The Galaxy S8 is already reasonably tough, with IP68-rated dust- and waterproof protection, and Gorilla Glass 5 protecting the screen. But there is an awful lot of glass in its design, and it appeals as much for its good looks as it does its performance and features. For some users, a protective case will not be enough. So in 2017 Samsung is once again preparing an Active version of its new flagship....

Google Android 4.0 was unveiled by the search engine last week, at the same time as the latest in its range of branded smartphones – the Galaxy Nexus – and features a redesigned user interface with improved multi-tasking, a Face Unlock function which uses facial recognition to unlock the handset and support for near-field communications that among other things allow smartphone owners to pay for goods and services by simply tapping their device on a special pad, and even share web pages and apps by tapping two smartphones running the OS together....

Google Pixel C review: Price Many people will buy the Pixel C because they want a top-end Android tablet instead of an iPad. And they’ll pay the same price: the base model costs £399 ($500) but instead of the iPad Air 2’s paltry 16GB of storage, the Pixel C has 32GB. If you want more, then the 64GB model costs £479 – the same as the 64GB iPad Air 2. There’s no cellular model, so you’ll be using Wi-Fi for an internet connection....

The 5in Pixel 2, usually £629 for the 64GB model is now £503.20, while the 128GB model, usually £729 is now £583.20. The 6in Pixel 2 XL is on offer too: the 64GB model has been reduced to £639.20 from £799, while the 128GB model sees its price drop to £719 from £899. See these deals here. The Google Home Mini has been reduced from £49 to £39.20, while its larger counterpart the Google Home is now £103....

Hero 7 release date You can pre-order all three new models immediately, with delivery expected on 2 October. That isn’t the fastest way to get hold of one, though. They’ll go on sale in bricks-and-mortar stores on 27 September (internationally) and in the US on 30 September, which is a Sunday. Hero 7 price The Hero 7 Black is the flagship model and costs £379.99, or US$399. In the middle is the Silver which costs £279....

You can get a £50 Microsoft gift card for £43.99, saving you just over £6. That means you’re getting fifty pounds worth of content for less – a really great offer in this flash sale. The gift cards are available for digital download, so no need to worry about paying for postage and packing. You simply add it to your cart, plug in your payment details and get your code to add to your Microsoft account as credit....

The GTX 760 is considerably cheaper than the GTX 770, but the latter graphics card obviously compensates with greater power. Is it better to spend less, or to get the higher frame rates of the 770? We’ll put these two head to head, and try and settle the question of exactly which one offers the better deal, and at which point price should trump performance. But first, let’s have a look through the specifications....

At the slight risk of having an over complicated line up, Honor is ploughing ahead in 2018. We went hands on with the Honor 7C to see if it’s worth your attention. It comes at the same time as the even cheaper Honor 7A. Price and availability The Honor 7C will go on sale at the end of April in the UK for £169.99 from Honor. Honor says this makes it the only phone under £170 with dual cameras on the market, which looks to be true upon inspection....

Other free software offers just a few features and makes you pay if you want anything extra. But a lot of the best software and apps still cost money, and we’re here to help you spend it wisely. We’ll explain where to buy and how to buy it safely. Download or DVD? Unsurprisingly, most software is available exclusively via downloads now. It’s rare to find boxed software and even if you do, chances are that all you’ll find in the package is a piece of paper with a code on it and instructions on where to download it....

There could be a number of reasons why that restriction exists, whether it’s because you’re in a different region in the world (a geo-block) or because your work or school administrator has blocked certain websites and services. It’s even possible your government is behind the block in some parts of the world, but it might also be that an over-eager web filter that’s flagged some content it shouldn’t have. Equally, if you’re seeing a message telling you that the website you’re trying to visit is potentially dangerous – because it might contain malware or be fraudulent – then you should take notice of this and not try to get around that block....

How to Enter Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 into Recovery Mode Here we have mentioned four different methods to boot Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 into Recovery mode. You can refer to any one of them. These methods are applicable to all variants of Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 including SM-A520F, SM-A520DS, SM-A520K, SM-A520L, and SM-A520S. Method 1: Using Hard Keys Step 1: Power off your device completely until it vibrates. Step 2: Press and Hold Volume Up key + Home button (middle button) + Power button simultaneously....

Almost all phones including Samsung comes with an unlocked stock recovery. You can easily access this stock recovery and perform various functions like gaining root access, applying OTA updates, wiping data or cache partitions. Booting into recovery partition is a completely legal process and it also does not void your device warranty. Since Android is an open-source, building a customized version of this stock recovery with more features is relatively easy....

Some of its more specs include 5.8 inches of Super AMOLED screen with 1440 x 2960 pixels of resolution, Octa-core Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 Processor with 256 GB of internal storage and 4 GB of RAM. It was launched with the all-new Android 8.0 Oreo operating system. In today’s article, we’ll discuss some easy steps on how to boot Galaxy S9 into Download Mode. Download mode is a special state or we can say a sub-system of an Android phone and is mainly used to flash stock firmware through official means....

Useful to note before we start, your Twitter name is the name which appears on your account, and your username is your Twitter handle, used in mentions. While this might sound like a difficult thing to do, it is actually very easy and we will explain how to do it on both the mobile and desktop variations. Changing your Twitter name on a mobile device If you have a smartphone and you have the Twitter application on your phone, unfortunately you can only change the name on your profile, not your username....

Of course, before you begin any of these processes, be sure to back up important emails that you need. Google has a dedicated site that allows you to download your data. How to delete a Gmail Inbox Gmail has a number of inboxes as standard. These include Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forums. It’s possible to delete all the content from each of these individually, and it only takes a couple of clicks....

While this really is the first generation of home assistant and we’re all very excited for what this could mean moving forward, we do have to look at every side of the coin. In this case, it’s the fact that there is a piece of hardware in your house that is listening to every word you say. Are you using the Google Home Assistant instead? Find out how to delete voice recordings on Google’s servers....

On the one hand, Windows 11 offers features like Virtual desktops to keep apps organized, and on the other hand, it abuses the screen space while showing the task switcher menu. When you have, say, five tabs running inside Microsoft Edge and you press Alt+Tab, then instead of showing one instance, Windows 11 shows you all five. This results in unnecessary clutter on the screen and also becomes hard for users to switch between the apps....

See: Android Nougat review and How to get Android Nougat now How to enable Night Mode in Android Nougat: Avoiding the blues Recent scientific research seems to suggest that the blue light emitted by phone and tablet displays can have a detrimental effect on sleep patterns. These wavelengths are said to stimulate parts of the brain that control alertness, and could even convince our bodies that it’s still daytime. The upshot of this is that using your smartphone, tablet, PC or TV in the late evening could make it harder for you to get to sleep....

Why do I keep getting disconnected from my Wi-Fi? If your wireless signal strength is low, try moving closer to your router. If there are any obstacles such as walls between the device and the router this could be hindering wireless signal. Also, some electrical devices including microwaves, baby monitors or even lights can wreak havoc with Wi-Fi as they can use the same radio frequencies. If you don’t think signal strength is the problem and you’re seeing all the bars lit up in your device’s Wi-Fi con, then here are some fixes that you can try and they’ll work on your PC and laptop too....