Posts from Online Tech Tips for 10/30/2018

Computer Tips From a Computer Guy Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser](. Online Tech Tips Newsletter In This Issue - [How to Make Animated Instagram Stories For Free](#mctoc1) - [8 Best Smartphone Accessories for Travelling](#mctoc2) - [How to Create a Multi-Page PDF in Photoshop](#mctoc3) - [SATA 3 vs M.2 vs NVMe – Overview and Comparison](#mctoc4) - [60Hz vs 144Hz vs 240Hz Monitors – When It Makes Sense to Upgrade](#mctoc5) - [5 Great VPN Apps You Can Actually Trust](#mctoc6) - [OTT Guide to Backups, System Images and Recovery in Windows 10](#mctoc7) - [10 Awesome Windows 10 Registry Hacks You Might Not Know](#mctoc8) - [Fastest Way to Scan Large Number of Photos at Home](#mctoc9) - [How to Store All Your Photos and Videos in the Cloud](#mctoc10) - [How To Link Up Your Android Smartphone With Windows 10](#mctoc11) - [9 Best Xbox One/Xbox One X Accessories](#mctoc12) - [How to Check Your Google and Facebook Connected Apps](#mctoc13) - [54 Best Alexa Skills and Commands](#mctoc14) - [3 Top Apps for Using Instagram on Your PC](#mctoc15) Oct 29, 2018 12:28 pm | Ollie Green | Fun Stuff [][][] How to Make Animated Instagram Stories For Free Instagram may have started as a photo sharing app, but it has quickly evolved. Today, video content does far better on Instagram than photos do, especially for stories. If you’d like to learn how to make animated Instagram stories for free, we’ll take you through the basics. You can also use these tips to turn your photos into animated versions in your feed. Here is an overview of what we will cover: - Why video stories are better than photos - What software you need for this tutorial - How to turn an Instagram photo into a video with music - How to turn multiple images into a slideshow style video - How to upload to Instagram with hashtags included Why Are Videos and Animated Stories Better Than Photos? We’re not sure what Instagram’s exact algorithms are, but video stories seem to perform far better than photo stories. When you add a hashtag in your story, it has a chance to appear in the story feed for that particular hashtag. However, Instagram has some secret scoring system behind the scenes that determines whether your story will be shown or not. In my tests, video stories always have a better chance to get featured than photo stories. This is great news because more featured stories means more impressions and potentially more followers. On top of this, video content is far better at keeping your followers engaged. If you care about making quality content, it makes perfect sense to use this tutorial. Recommended Free Software for This Tutorial We suggest using [HitFilm Express]( for this task, but if you have a video editing tool already, you can use that instead. HitFilm Express is a powerful video editing tool and it’s completely free to use, although you can pay for more effects and styles.  You must enter an email and create an account to get access to the download link. If you’re apprehensive about getting your hands on a video editing tool for the first time, don’t worry, it’s quite straightforward. I’ll take you through all of the steps needed for this particular tutorial so that you don’t get lost along the way. If you’d like to make more complex animated videos, you may need to use a photo editing tool. You can either opt for a [free Photoshop 7 day trial]( or use [GIMP](. In this tutorial, we’ll be using GIMP, a completely free open source image editor. How to Turn an Instagram Photo Into a Video with Music Learning how to turn an Instagram photo into a video with music is easily one of the most requested image editing guides I see. We’ll be covering the following steps below. - How to use Hitfilm Express to create an animated video - How to make sure the video is the right length (under 15 seconds) - How to ensure the video is the right dimensions (9:16) - How to source and add music - How to add special effects Step 1: Creating the Photo It all starts with picking the photo you’d like to turn into an animated video. For this tutorial we’ll be creating a story to promote our [Intel CPU comparison article](. You must make sure your photo is the right size and resolution. If it’s already Instagram ready, you can skip this step. For Instagram Stories, the resolution is flipped. So, instead of 1920 x 1080 16:9 it is 1080 x 1920 9:16. In other words, it’s a portrait resolution, not a landscape one. If you are using your own photos, the easiest option is to crop it or just take a photo in portrait mode. When sourcing photos online, you’ll need to edit the dimensions. This can be done in two quick steps. First, take your sourced image and open it in your image editing software. Next, click the image select tool and then click and drag over the main area of the image. You are most likely going to need to crop out the areas on the side. Next, press Ctrl+X. This will cut out the selected area. After, click File at the top left, then New, then set the parameters to 1080 width and 1920 height. After that, press Ctrl+V – your photo will now be sitting in an appropriately sized area. Obviously, there are some problems with this image. There is a lot of empty space above and below the main content. We can fix this by adding two things. The first thing is some text so that followers can get some context. You can use the ‘A’ text tool (1) to add text. Use the box on the right (2) to adjust font size and the box on the far left to change font type (3). The small black square in the corner is for choosing the text color. Once you are finished typing, use the move tool (4) to drag the text box into a more suitable position. After adding some text, this is the result. It’s much better, but there is still a lot of white space at the top. Thankfully, we can resolve this by adding black bars at the top and bottom of the image. It’ll look like the overall image size is smaller on Instagram and we can even hide some hashtags in this area. More on that later. To create black bars, first select the rectangle select tool (1), and then create a rectangle at the top of your image. Afterward select the paint bucket tool (2). Click to fill the area (3).  You can use the color select tool (4) to change color if it’s not already on black. Repeat this process on the bottom. If you’d like, you can use the paint tool on the main white area too to liven the image up a little. After, you should have something that looks little like this. Now it’s time to save the image and move on. Click File > Export and find a suitable location so that you can find it easily later. When you export, make sure to add .PNG at the end of the file name so that it saves as the right file type. You now have your image ready for editing. Step 2: Turning the Photo Into a Video It’s now time to open up your photo in the Hitfilm Express video editing software. We’ll guide you through every step below. After signing in, click File, then New at the top of the page. On the project settings page, scroll down on the template selector and click Custom. Next, make sure your settings reflect what we have selected below. Finally, click Start Editing. Here is a quick overview of what you are looking at. - The trimmer – not necessary for this tutorial. - The media and effects panel – You can use this to import photos, music, videos, and add effects. - The timeline – you can use this to edit the length of photos/videos and adjust the length of the overall project. - The viewer – this is where you’ll see a live view of what you are editing. With that explained, let’s get started with the bulk of the tutorial. To begin with, you need to import your photo. In the media and effects panel, click the Import arrow, then click Media. Find your photo and then click to import it. You’ll see something like this. From the media and effects panel, drag your image and place it into the timeline panel. You will now have started the beginning of your video project. Right now, the video should play for roughly 4 seconds by default. We can increase it up to 14 seconds. Instagram stories have a 15 second limit, but if it goes over that time even just by a millisecond, it cannot be used. To change how long your photo plays in the video, right click it in the timeline panel and click Speed/Duration. You can adjust the duration option in the Speed/Duration tab to 14 seconds. After, click OK to apply the changes. You will now have your full length Instagram story. Time to add some effects! On the media and effects panel, click the Effects tab. Here is a picture to help guide you. There are many effects you can play around with, most of which are free. To test effects, simply click and drag the effect into your photo in the timeline. After adding an effect, press play and you can view it in the viewer panel. If you don’t like an effect, press Ctrl+Z to undo it. Many of the effects only add a basic filter to your photo, which is a little boring. If you want animated effects, look for effects in the Warp, Grunge, Quick 3D, and Particles & Simulation folders. Here is an example of something we made. It was created using the Sparks effect under the Quick 3D tab. With this effect, it looks like a spark fires out of the processor chip. If you would like to add music, you must find .MP3 files or other audio files. There are many free resources online for royalty free music, which should be used if you are running a business. Or, you can use copyrighted material as long as it falls under fair use. You can import music using the same method that you used to import your photo. Once you have imported your music, drag it into the timeline. The audio may be more than 14 seconds, so you’ll need to adjust this. There are two tools in the timeline panel that you can use to accomplish this. To edit the audio (3) in your timeline, you can use the slice tool (2) to cut the audio into two separate portions. After cutting it, use the move tool (1) to select each portion. You can press ‘delete’ on your keyboard to delete any portion you don’t want. Use the Move tool (1) to click and drag the audio into a new position on the timeline. You may need to listen to the audio to find the best 14 second chunk to use. Here is what your timeline should look like after editing the audio. If you want the audio to fade out, go to the effects tab on the media and Effects panel. Next, scroll through the effects and find the Transitions – Audio folder. Click to open it. Find the Fade option and click and drag it to the end of your audio clip in the timeline. How to Add More Images To Your Video It’s quite easy to make a slideshow style video with Hitfilm Express. With the move tool in the timeline, highlight the end of your photo clip and drag to reduce its size. Next, use the import option in the media and effects panel to add more photos. You can even add videos. Click and drag your images and photos to your timeline. As you do this, you’ll see something like shown below. You can use the move tool in the timeline panel to adjust the length of each clip. There is also an effect in the effects tab on the media/effects panel that can be used to fade out each slide. Exporting Your Video, Ready For Instagram The next step is to export your new video. To do this, click the Export button on the far right side of the timeline panel. Next, click Contents. To make sure it fits on Instagram, you will need to make a new custom export preset. Look for the Preset tab on the left side of the screen. On this tab, click New Preset. Next, click MPEG-4 (.mp4). Follow the settings we have listed below, then click ‘OK’. Next, divert your eyes to the Queue panel. You’ll find your project ready to export here. Click the dropdown box on the Preset section and choose the preset you have just created. Finally, click the Start Exporting button at the bottom of the Queue panel. Your video will now begin to export. Once it has exported, you’ll be be given a link in the Output field in the Queue panel. You can click that to find your video on your computer. Uploading Your New Animated Story To Instagram Now that we have your video, there are just a few steps left to get it on Instagram. Here is what is left to do. - Transfer your video to your device - Add it to your story - Add hashtags There are a number of methods to transfer your new video to your smartphone. The easiest would be to use a cloud photo app like iCloud on iOS or Google Photos on Android. Alternatively, you can transfer it via USB. Once you have the file on your smartphone, it’s time to upload it to your Instagram account. In Instagram, tap the camera button in the very top left or the Your Story button. Next, tap the small photo reel button at the bottom left. You can now find and select the video that you created. You can now go through the normal steps you’d take to submit your story to Instagram. If you’d like to get even more exposure on your new story, you can add up to 10 relevant hashtags. Tap the text button at the top, then type #example. Just replace example with whichever hashtags are the most appropriate. You can change the text color to black and then drag the text into the black area in your story. This lets you include hashtags whilst keeping them hidden. Conclusion We hope that our guide on how to make Instagram animated stories has proven to be useful. Do you have any questions about this guide? If so, please feel free to get in touch. The post [How to Make Animated Instagram Stories For Free]( appeared first on [Online Tech Tips](. [Read More]( [share on Twitter]( [Like How to Make Animated Instagram Stories For Free on Facebook]( Oct 15, 2018 07:08 am | Ollie Green | Smartphones [][][] 8 Best Smartphone Accessories for Travelling Whether you are planning a small break or the travel trip of a lifetime, chances are you are going to be relying heavily on your smartphone. While our smartphones can help us with a lot of functionality and entertainment during our travels, that experience can be improved upon or enhanced with a number of smartphone accessories. In this article, we take a look at the best smartphone accessories you should consider for your next trip. Portable Wireless Charger It should come as no surprise to you that a portable charger is one of the most recommended travel accessories for your smartphone. We rely on our smartphone to make calls, order taxis, locate hotels and restaurants, or to simply look up important information. With a portable charger, you can ensure your chances of running out of battery are slim so that you don’t lose that functionality. A portable wireless charger is just like a standard charger, but it lets you charge your smartphone without an additional USB or lightning cable. You may wonder why you’d need such an accessory over a standard charger. Firstly, wireless charging removes the need for cables – if you’ve ever dealt with the frustration of rummaging through your travel bag to find the right charging cable, you’ll see the benefit immediately. Secondly, portable wireless chargers give you the freedom to keep your charging port free while you amp up your device. If you want to use wired headphones but don’t have a headphone jack, you’ll need the charging port free and a spare headphone jack adaptor. Keep in mind that not all phones can support wireless charging, so check with your manufacturer or retailer. Finally, get in contact with your airline for recommendations about taking your charger on board the flight. Some airlines have strict regulations on the size of the portable charger and number of chargers per person. Solar Powered Charger What happens when you are out in the middle of nowhere and your battery on both your portable charger and your smartphone dies out? With good preparation, this should never happen, but if you want to give yourself peace of mind, why not also purchase a solar powered charger? Yes, they exist, and yes they do work. While solar powered chargers aren’t going to be as reliable as a standard portable charger that gets its juice from a wall outlet, they still provide electricity when you need it the most. There are two types of solar powered chargers – the first looks like a standard portable charger but it has a solar cell on top. These charge up and store power for later use. These aren’t exceptionally great at storing power – the charge time while out in daylight is very slow. The second type is more suitable for travelling – it features an array of solar cells that can be folded up for easy carrying. This type can charge your smartphone with solar power directly instead of storing power for later use. With the latter option, you shouldn’t have to worry about airline restrictions, as there usually isn’t any battery inside the charger. It’s worth calling up ahead of time for such an accessory anyway. Wireless Headphones In today’s smartphone climate, it’s hard to come by a good smartphone that still has a headphone jack. As a result, most people are pressured into using wireless headphones. There’s nothing wrong with using wireless headphones for everyday use, but a number of issues crop up when you are travelling. With some research, you can bag yourself a pair of wireless headphones that bring convenience to your trip rather than inconvenience. Firstly, you want to make sure you have a pair of wireless headphones that aren’t going to get lost. The type that has a wired band that hangs around your neck is a good choice. Secondly, try to find a pair that can be charged while listening. With this, you can ensure you don’t run out of battery. A good example of a pair of Bluetooth earphones that provides both of these features is the Jaybird X3, which retails for $120. Apple AirPods are also pretty great if you have an iPhone, though they are quite pricey. Wired Headphones with Bluetooth Receiver If you don’t want to splash out over $100 for a pair of new earphones, but still need a solution to your missing headphone jack whilst travelling, you could instead purchase a Bluetooth receiver. A Bluetooth Receiver with a headphone jack would let you turn your standard wired earphones into Bluetooth capable audio equipment. You can find reliable Bluetooth Receivers for between $15 and $40 on Amazon. The quality between receivers can vary massively. You’ll be saving money, but the audio quality may be worse, so make sure to read product reviews before buying one. More Powerful Camera Lenses One of the greatest ways to remember a trip (or show off to your friends) is to take pictures of your adventure. Smartphone cameras are now incredibly powerful, allowing the everyday person to take high quality travel pictures. If you want to take your experience even further, you could opt to pick up better camera lenses. There are a variety of different options for smartphone users at varying price points. For example, for just $15, you can find a good clip-on wide angle lens from Amazon that can help to create good landscape shots. At the very high end, you have gear like the Moment camera lens range. With these products, you get a case and higher quality lenses that can add different effects to your photography. These lenses cost anywhere between $90 and $150 but they are considered some of the best smartphone camera accessories in the game. A Sturdy Smartphone Case A sturdy smartphone case is crucial for your trips abroad. Breaking your smartphone while on a trip can cause more issues than you’d first think. Without your smartphone, you may lose your map, your internet access, your ability to contact others, your money, and so much more. Splashing out a bit of extra money for a case that can actually protect your smartphone from a drop is important. You can often find lots of great options on both Amazon and eBay. An Extra Smartphone Whilst not an accessory, it fits well in this article for the same reasons the other accessories do. Having an extra smartphone on hand can help you get out of difficult situations if you lose, break, or have your main smartphone get stolen. You don’t need to spend much on a secondary smartphone, either. A second hand or low end device with basic functionality is more than enough. Storage For SD Cards and SIM Cards One of the best recommendations for travelling is to pick up a local SIM card – you can usually get a good deal specifically catered to tourists so that you get internet access, SMS and calling. If you opt for this route, you’ll need somewhere safe to store your old SIM card. You can pick up a good storage case or wallet specifically for your SIM Card, SIM eject tool, and other small items like spare micro SD cards on Amazon for just a few dollars. It’s a cheap investment that could save you the hassle of losing something important. Summary This brings us to the end of our list for the best smartphone accessories for travelling. I hope that the suggestions used in this article prove to be informative. Happy travels! The post [8 Best Smartphone Accessories for Travelling]( appeared first on [Online Tech Tips](. [Read More]( [share on Twitter]( [Like 8 Best Smartphone Accessories for Travelling on Facebook]( Sep 04, 2018 11:56 am | Ollie Green | Computer Tips [][][] How to Create a Multi-Page PDF in Photoshop Whether you’re creating an infographic, an informative online help file, or any other type of PDF document, it’s useful to know how to create a multi-page PDF if you’re using Photoshop. Thankfully, the process is very straightforward. There are some requirements that must be met to ensure the presentation appears clearly, but we’ll go over these and the steps necessary to make a proper PDF in Photoshop below. Creating a Multi-Page PDF in Photoshop To begin with, you’ll need to create each page of your PDF file individually. Every page should be a separate Photoshop .PSD file. You can save each file as a .PSD so that you can edit each page separately in the future if needed. The resolution you choose is very important. The typical A4 print size is a good dimension to use for PDF, so we’ll opt for that in this guide. If you want to print the PDF, you can use 300 DPI (dots/pixels per inch). The resolution for this would be 2480 pixels x 3508 pixels. If you want to upload the PDF online, it is advised that you choose a lower resolution to keep the overall file size of the PDF more manageable. 72 DPI is a common choice. For this, the resolution would need to be 595 pixels x 842 pixels. If you want to add more content to a page, you can increase the pixel height. (Use Alt+Ctrl+C.) Just make sure you do not increase the width. It’s important the width stays the same on every page, otherwise the layout of your PDF will be impacted. Once you have created each page at the right resolution, you can follow the steps below to create a multi-page PDF. - Step 1: Save each .PSD file in the same folder. - Step 2: For easy management, save each page as Page_1, Page_2, etc - Step 3: Next, go to File, then Automate, then PDF Presentation - Step 4: Click Browse on the new pop-up - Step 5: Hold Ctrl and click on each .PSD file you’d like to add - Step 6: Click Open When you are ready, click Save to create the PDF file. You can drag each file up and down in the list to change their position if needed. Make sure to choose Multi-Page Document under the output options section before clicking save. You can now choose where to save your PDF file. Finally, you’ll have a number of options for customizing the output of the PDF file. For example, you can use the compression tab to minimize the PDF file size by sacrificing image quality. For now, you can click Save PDF. Your PDF file will now be created! You can double click the file to open it in your web browser or PDF reader application. Here is a look at our test file: Notice how all pages are displayed with the same zoom and layout, despite one page being taller. If you have an issue with some pages not displaying correctly, you must ensure the pixel width of each PSD page file is exactly the same. If you ever need to edit your PDF, you must edit the PSD for the page you’d like to make changes to. After that, you’ll need to follow the steps listed above once more to re-create the PDF presentation with the newly edited page. Conclusion You should now know how to create a multi-page PDF in Photoshop. We hope that this guide has proven to be useful. Have any questions about the process? Lets us know and we’ll be happy to help. Enjoy! The post [How to Create a Multi-Page PDF in Photoshop]( appeared first on [Online Tech Tips](. [Read More]( [share on Twitter]( [Like How to Create a Multi-Page PDF in Photoshop on Facebook]( Aug 20, 2018 10:43 am | Ollie Green | Computer Tips [][][] SATA 3 vs M.2 vs NVMe – Overview and Comparison There are a variety of different terms for solid state drives these days, the three most popular being SATA 3, M.2, and NVMe. If you’ve recently looked at purchasing an SSD, chances are you’ve come across these terms, but you may not completely understand the technical differences. In this article, we’ll be laying out the differences, explaining which is better/worse, and providing details on how the technology for each SSD type works. The Evolution Of the Solid State Drive Firstly, let’s talk about the origin of the solid state drive, and why it has been such a popular hardware item for PC builders and laptop manufacturers in recent years. A typical storage drive used in laptops and PCs is known as a traditional hard drive. These types of drives have moving parts. A hard drive works similarly to an old record player. There is a moving disk (platter) and a large header that can read data and write off of them as the disk spins. Typically, the faster the hard drive spins (7200 RPM, 10,000 RPM, etc.), the faster the storage drive can be read. Unfortunately, there is a limit to how fast a hard drive can read the data. There’s also a latency that comes with waiting for the head to physically move. This is where SSDs come in. SSD stands for solid state drive and it’s a type of storage that does not have moving parts. SSDs instead use semiconductor chips to store and access memory. An, SSD in particular, has a huge array of these semiconductors that can be charged or uncharged, which the computer will read as a ‘1’ or ‘0’ in binary and convert that to actual files or data viewable on your machine. What’s interesting about the type of memory used in an SSD is that the cells retain their charged or uncharged state even after shutting down and this is how memory is stored and not forgotten. A PC or laptop is able to read data many times faster off of an SSD because the flash technology just works that much faster than old mechanical hard drives with moving parts. More recently, we’ve had a variety of different types of solid state drives, namely SATA 3 and NVMe. These drives use the same semiconductor arrays explained above, but they have different potentials for different reasons. Let’s take a look at how each solid state storage type differs below. SATA 3 vs M.2 vs NVMe – What’s the Difference? As it turns out, the technology used to read and write data off of an SSD is so fast that the limiting factor actually comes down to the method the drive shares data to the PC. There are two different methods a PC uses to read an SSD: SATA 3 and NVMe. SATA 3 connections are made by connecting a data cable and a power cable directly into the motherboard and the solid state drive itself. An NVMe connection, on the other hand, allows a solid state drive to have its data read straight from a PCI-E slot right on the motherboard. The drive draws power directly through the motherboard. More importantly, the NVMe drive will also draw data through the motherboard at a faster rate than SATA 3. Why, you ask? Simply put, an NVMe can queue more data at once due to having access to more PCI-E lanes. PCI-E lanes are essentially data lanes on a motherboard. There’s a limited amount, and the different ports and slots on a motherboard are given certain lanes. On a typical newer motherboard, you’ll see slots of various sizes corresponding to the number of PCI-E lanes available (x1, x2, x4, x16, etc). The end result is that with more PCI-E lanes, and direct PCI-E read/write potential, NVMe drives are typically far faster than SATA SSDs. However, the performance boost is only really seen for sequential read/write speeds. Or, in simpler terms, for moving large files. With the true read/write speed potential of NVMe only being reached with larger files, differences may not be that noticeable for gaming and everyday tasks. So, for boot up time and gaming, NVMe won’t offer much difference. For video editing and photo editing, NVMe drives can offer much better results. Here is a look at the typical read/write speeds of a hard drive, a SATA 3 SSD and an NVMe SSD for large files. - 7200 RPM Hard Drive – average read/write speed of 80-160MB/second - SATA 3 SSD – read/write speed up to 550MB/second - NVME SSD – read/write speed up to 3500MB/second What About M.2? Where Does That Come In? So far, we’ve explained SATA and NVMe. These are two methods, or protocols, used to read and write data. One uses PCI-E (NVMe) and the other doesn’t (SATA). An M.2 drive is simply a term to describe the physical form factor of a drive. M.2 drives are the slim ones shown below. M.2 drives are not another protocol like NVMe and SATA. In fact, you can get an M.2 drive that uses either SATA or NVMe. Here is an M.2 drive with a SATA connection: And here is an M.2 drive with an NVMe connection: An M.2 drive is not faster just because of its form factor. It’s just usually the case that M.2 drives use the NVMe protocol because they already connect via PCI-E anyway. If you’re in the market for an NVMe drive, just make sure that the M.2 drive you look at clearly has NVMe in its description or title and not SATA. Summary – Should You Get SATA 3 or NVMe? If you’re upgrading from a traditional hard drive, both SATA 3 and NVMe will offer you spectacular improvements. NVMe is typically more expensive than SATA 3, which is a problem considering standard SATA 3 SSDs are already expensive enough. NVMes really are only useful for those larger file transfers, too, so unless you regularly move large files for photo and video editing, or find a great deal on an NVMe drive, you may as well stick to a standard SATA 3 SSD because you can get a much bigger size for the same price. Also, for gaming, both NVMe and SATA 3 will offer very similar boot speeds. They are both so fast that other hardware, such as RAM and CPU performance, ends up being the bottleneck. Hopefully, this summarizes the difference between SATA 3 and NVMe and makes it clear how M.2 fits into the equation as well. Below is a quick summary of everything we’ve covered so far. - M.2 – A slimmer form factor for storage drives - NVMe – A protocol that lets data be read and written via PCI-E - SATA 3 – An older protocol that is typically not as fast as NVMe What are your thoughts on this topic? The post [SATA 3 vs M.2 vs NVMe – Overview and Comparison]( appeared first on [Online Tech Tips](. [Read More]( [share on Twitter]( [Like SATA 3 vs M.2 vs NVMe – Overview and Comparison on Facebook]( Aug 06, 2018 01:54 pm | Ollie Green | Gadgets [][][] 60Hz vs 144Hz vs 240Hz Monitors – When It Makes Sense to Upgrade If you play video games on a PC, chances are you’ve heard all about 144Hz and 240Hz monitors. If you’ve used a standard 60Hz monitor for all of your life so far, it can be hard to know whether moving to 144Hz or 240Hz will be a good idea or not. In this article, we’ve laid out the basic differences between 60Hz, 144Hz, and 240Hz and have given some tips on when it’s best to upgrade. For those who are keeping track of these monitors for a future purchase, make sure to check out [144Hz Monitors]( and [GamingScan]( for the latest news. 60Hz vs 144Hz vs 240Hz Monitors – What’s the Difference? The ‘HZ’ used in a monitor’s description is used to describe its refresh rate. The higher the Hz, the more often the screen will refresh. For example, a 60Hz monitor will refresh its image 60 times per second, while a 144Hz monitor will refresh its image 144 times per second. But what does that mean for real world use? Essentially, a higher refresh rate will mean that the image you see is updated quicker. This can be very useful for action games or competitive games where every millisecond counts. The refresh rate works similarly to how frames per second in a video game work, but there are differences. Frames per second explain how many frames are rendered on your graphics card per second, while the monitor refresh rate explains how many times your image is actually updated on your monitor. So, if you have 300 frames per second in a game but use a 60Hz monitor, what’s displayed to you will essentially have 5 times less frame ‘updates’ than could potentially be possible. For this reason, moving to a new monitor with better refresh rate isn’t really worth it unless your graphics card can reliably run at 60 frames or higher. You can easily [check the frames per second for a game]( on your system using different utilities. Some people exclaim that the eye can only see up to a certain number of frames per second. This isn’t true whatsoever and has mostly been debunked as a myth. Our eyes don’t quite work the same ways as displays do, so it’s hard to measure how many ‘frames’ per second we can see. What we do know is that those have used 144Hz monitors can agree that they can see and feel a difference when playing games. In fact, the most notable difference is when a 144Hz user moves to a 60Hz display – many ongoing 144Hz display users mention that they can see everything from video games to the cursor speed on their desktop feel sluggish when going back to 60Hz. Another important thing to keep in mind is that the display technology that’s usually used for higher refresh rate monitors is not the best option for overall display quality and color accuracy. If you care about looks, go for a high quality 60Hz monitor. If you care about performance, frame rate, and getting a competitive edge, you should go for a higher refresh rate monitor. If you want both features in a single monitor, be ready to pay a hefty price. The newest [Acer Predator X27]( monitor has all the high-end features: 4K resolution, Nvidia G-sync, 144hz refresh rate, HDR, 1000 nits brightness, etc., but costs a whopping $2K right now. The [Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ]( is similarly equipped and similarly priced. Should You Upgrade From 60Hz To 144Hz? We’re now reaching a point where it’s quite easy to purchase or build a computer that’s capable of running 120 or fps or more in a video game. In fact, most of the esports games available on PC can receive up to 300 frames per second on high end machines. If you can reliably run the games you play on more than 120 frames per seconds, then upgrading to 144Hz is worth it, but it should only be considered an option if you care about improving performance. 144Hz monitors are used most often in games like Counter Strike: Global Offensive or League of Legends where every extra frame and micromovement counts for something. Here’s a checklist to consider before upgrading: ● You want a competitive edge ● You don’t mind losing a bit of color accuracy or display quality in movies and games for better performance ● Your computer is capable of running games at 100 frames or more. Obviously, the higher the resolution of your monitor, the beefier graphics card you will need to get those higher frame rates. Currently, no graphics card can pump over 60 fps on a 4K monitor with ultra settings. You’ll have to wait till the new NVIDIA GTX 11xx series cards come out at the end of 2018. Still, you can future-proof your purchase by getting a monitor that can handle higher frame rates so that your gaming will greatly benefit if you decide to upgrade your graphics card later. Should You Upgrade from 144Hz to 240Hz? 240Hz monitors are far newer than 144Hz monitors, but they’re starting to become more commonplace. The general consensus for 240Hz monitors seems to be that if your computer can reliably handle 240 frames in a game, it can be a worthwhile upgrade. This is only appropriate for 1920×1080 monitors at this point. It’ll be a long time before you’ll see 240hz 4K monitors. Many consumer reviews and reports on 240Hz monitors suggest that the upgrade from 144Hz to 240Hz doesn’t quite offer that same jump in performance that going from 60Hz to 144Hz offers, but there is a noticeable difference. It’s also worth noting that there are some monitors that have a 200Hz refresh rate that have higher resolutions like 2560×1080 or 3440×1440 (ultrawide). Some examples include the [Acer Predator x35]( and the [Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ](. Neither have been released yet. We’ve provided a checklist below to help you decide whether upgrading to 240Hz is worth it: ● You compete in video games at a high level ● You want the absolute best edge you can get against other players ● Your computer can reliably run the games you play competitively at 240 frames or more ● You don’t mind paying out a lot for a monitor and are aware that the price for the 240Hz monitors may drop as the technology becomes more popular That wraps up our comparison on 60Hz, 144Hz, and 240Hz monitors. What are your thoughts? Will you be upgrading your monitor any time soon? Enjoy! The post [60Hz vs 144Hz vs 240Hz Monitors – When It Makes Sense to Upgrade]( appeared first on [Online Tech Tips](. [Read More]( [share on Twitter]( [Like 60Hz vs 144Hz vs 240Hz Monitors – When It Makes Sense to Upgrade on Facebook]( Jul 24, 2018 12:18 pm | Ollie Green | Software Reviews [][][] 5 Great VPN Apps You Can Actually Trust With all the recent talk of privacy violations from companies using platforms like Facebook, there’s never been a more important time to protect your privacy online. For many people, the first line of thought for protecting your privacy is to use a VPN. Using a virtual private network can be a great way to mask your connection, but it’s also a potentially dangerous way to hand over all of your browsing data to another third party. In fact, many VPN providers out there offer their services for cheap or free, and then sell off your data to companies. Many of these providers suggest that they provide privacy for their customers, but then bury their third-party data practices deep into their terms and conditions. To avoid falling prey to these predatorial VPN apps that care little about your privacy, we’ve created a list that showcases the top 5 VPN apps you can actually trust on the market. NordVPN – For Mobile And Desktop What Makes NordVPN Trustworthy : Uses military grade encryption and strict no logs policy. Monthly Price : $3.29 - $11.95 Free Trial : Yes, 3 day trial [NordVPN]( is one of the most popular VPN apps and there are a few reasons why. Firstly, NordVPN stays reasonably priced, with 2 year plans costing just $3.29 and a monthly subscription for $11.95. When finding a VPN, the features are important, and NordVPN delivers. NordVPN supports up to 6 devices simultaneously on a single account, and installation and setup is easy for both desktop and mobile. You can choose to route your traffic through 62 different countries and even get your own dedicated IP address. For additional protection, you can even send your traffic through two virtual private networks for an added layer of security. What’s more important than NordVPN’s features is their policy on privacy. NordVPN has a very strict no logs policy, which means none of your data is stored. NordVPN also uses what they call military grade encryption to ensure that even if your data was somehow left on their server, it’d be encrypted and very difficult to decrypt. Private Internet Access – For Mobile And Desktop What Makes PIA Trustworthy : Encryption for data sent through their servers and no data logs are kept on you. Monthly Price : $2.91 - $6.95 Free Trial : No, but 7 day money back guarantee Despite using such a simple, basic name, [Private Internet Access]( is easily one of the most comprehensive secure VPN services available in 2018. Their interface and web design may not be as welcoming as some other options in this list, but they deliver on their promises when it comes to features and privacy. Monthly prices are incredibly cheap at as little as $2.91 for a two year subscription, or $6.95 per month for monthly renewals. For this price, you get a secure VPN account, your data sent over WiFi that is encrypted, and the ability to connect up to 5 devices simultaneously. Despite the less appealing website design, Private Internet Access is still very straightforward to use and it becomes very easy to pick and choose connections to and from 28 different countries. Private Internet Access also does not hold onto any data you send through their servers and their security methods do enough to keep your privacy safe. VyprVPN – For Mobile And Desktop What Makes VyprVPN Trustworthy : All servers are owned by VyprVPN and data is encrypted. Monthly Price : £3.63 - £9.25 Free Trial : 3 Day Free Trial Prices for [VyprVPN’s]( service depend on which package you choose and whether you pay monthly or annually. There are two packages, standard VyprVPN and Premium. The main benefit of using the premium version is that you are able to connect up to 5 devices simultaneously, whilst the standard package only allows three devices. One of the best things about VyprVPN is that they own and operate all of their servers across the world. This means that no data is ever sent to a third party server (besides VyprVPN’s) and all data that goes through these servers is encrypted. In total, VyprVPN has over 70 countries available for users to connect to, across 6 continents, which gives them one of the largest location portfolios for any VPN provider. If you ever need help with learning more about how VyprVPN protects your data, or want advice on how to use their service, VyprVPN has a 24/7 chat team available, which is a nice benefit. IPVanish – For Mobile And Desktop What Makes IPVanish Trustworthy : No traffic logs and data encryption. Monthly Price : $6.49 - $10 Free Trial : No, but 7 day money back guarantee [IPVanish]( is one of the more expensive VPN providers, but for just $10 on a monthly renewal, or $6.49/month for a 2 year subscription, prices are still more than reasonable. IPVanish supports all major platforms from Windows and Mac to iOS and Android, and their experience has been streamlined across all platforms. With IPVanish you can get access to servers in over 60 different countries and you’re given the ability to switch between these servers without restriction. You’re given up to 5 simultaneous devices and everything done on these devices goes through 256-bit AES encryption. IPVanish does not store any traffic logs, either. If you ever need help, IPVanish also has 24/7 live chat to help you with any questions you may have about their service or their products. PrivateVPN – For Mobile And Desktop What Makes PrivateVPN Trustworthy : No personal logs or data is collected when you use PrivateVPN. Monthly Price : $3.88 - $7.67 Free Trial : No, but 30 day money back guarantee [PrivateVPN]( offers their VPN services for as little as $3.88 per month on a 13 month subscription, or $7.67 for a 1 month renewal price. With PrivateVPN you are able to access servers in 56 different countries and there’s no limit to how many times you can switch between these servers. Your subscription to PrivateVPN will also allow up to 6 simultaneous device connections and their VPN is supported on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. With PrivateVPN, it’s easy to mask your IP address and location and PrivateVPN will never store any data whijle using their platform. Your data, personal information, and communications are all encrypted through PrivateVPN as well. Conclusion Using a VPN isn’t a requirement and most people don’t bother because of the extra cost and hassle of setting everything up. However, if you’re concerned about what your privacy and want to ensure that no one else is able to secretly monitoring your Internet activity, a VPN is the first step in the process. The only major downside I’ve seen when using a VPN is the reduction in speed. It works best if you have a fairly fast Internet connection and if you go with one of the reputable companies that have many servers all over the world. Thanks for reading our list of five excellent VPN apps to protect your privacy. Which of these will you be trying? Enjoy! The post [5 Great VPN Apps You Can Actually Trust]( appeared first on [Online Tech Tips](. [Read More]( [share on Twitter]( [Like 5 Great VPN Apps You Can Actually Trust on Facebook]( May 09, 2018 05:12 pm | Aseem Kishore | Windows 10 [][][] OTT Guide to Backups, System Images and Recovery in Windows 10 Just about all new versions of Windows have many components that are taken from previous versions of the OS. Most of the time, it’s a better version of the old software. Sometimes, like in Windows 8, multiple versions of the same feature are included and it can make things worse. Lastly, some features from older versions of Windows are good enough to keep as-is in newer version. One example of this is the backup options. In this article, I’m going to talk about the built-in backup features in Windows 10 and how it’s a blend of new Windows 10 features and old Windows 7 backup options. In a way, it’s a good thing that you still have all the options you had before, but it’s also more confusing, just like having IE 11 and Edge installed at the same time. Windows 7 Backup Options in Windows 10 In Windows 10, you can still do everything you were able to do in Windows 7 in terms of backups and recovery. If you go to the Control Panel, you’ll see an option called Backup and Restore (Windows 7). The dialog that pops up is pretty much the same one you see in Windows 7. You can Create a system image, Create a system repair disc, Set up backup or restore a backup if there is one available. If you click on [Create a system image]( you’ll have a  choice of where you want to save the image. Only on Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise can you save the system image to a network location. Note that you cannot save the system image to any drive that is included in the system image. Creating a system image this way is a manual process. If you want to have it done automatically, you need to choose the Set up backup option. This is the same as Backup and Restore in Windows 7. Basically, you choose where you want to save the backup to and then pick a schedule. The only thing you have to note is that you cannot create a system image if you backup to DVD. You have to backup to a hard disk or network location in order to have that option otherwise it’s greyed out. By default, the system images are saved in the following format, where X is the drive you choose. X:\WindowsImageBackup\PC_Name\Backup YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS For example, if I chose to save the system image to an external hard drive (E:), then I the location of the backup would be: E:\WindowsImageBackup\AseemPC\Backup 2018-10-04 083421 Backup Restore Options in Windows 10 There are two ways to recover data from your backups in Windows 10. If you created a system image, then you have to boot to System Recovery Options in Windows 10 to restore the image. If you backed up using the schedule feature and picked files and folders, you can restore the files/folders from within the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) dialog. Click on the Restore my files button and then you can go ahead and selectively choose which files you want to restore from the backup. For restoring the system image, it’s a different procedure. Note that restoring a system image is a full restore, meaning that you can’t pick and choose what you want to restore; everything will be wiped out and replaced with the image. Restoring from a normal Windows backup allows you to restore individual files and folders. To restore a system image, you need to[boot to System Recovery Options in Windows 10](. Once there, you need to click on Troubleshoot. [troubleshoot.png] Then click on Advanced Options. [advanced options.png] Then go ahead and click on System Image Recovery. [system image recovery.png] Next, you’ll have to choose an account and type in the password for that user account. You’ll then have the option to restore from the latest system image or choose a specific image, which you would do if you had the system image saved to an external USB hard drive, a network location or a DVD, for example. [system image backup.png] Once you have selected the image, you’ll have several options on how to restore the image to your computer. Note that you can only restore to a disk that is the same size or larger than the disks included in the backup image. Reset this PC in Windows 10 In addition to the options above, you can also use a new feature in Windows 10 called Reset this PC. This is basically like performing a repair install in Windows XP or Windows 7. All system files are replaced and you essentially lose all your programs and settings, but you data stays intact. This is exactly what Reset this PC does, but it’s a lot easier and really just takes a couple of clicks. It also gives you the option to completely erase everything and start from scratch. This is click performing a full clean install of Windows 10. File History In addition to all the Windows 7 backup and restore options, the Reset this PC option, you also have another new feature in Windows 10 called File History. File History is turned off by default. Also note that if you are u