We’ll be demonstrating on a Mac that’s running on the MacOS Sonoma 14. If you are running on macOS Monterey 12 or below then scroll down to our Troubleshooting section and follow the steps listed there. 

To open System Settings, either look for the above app icon in the bottom panel or in the Launchpad, or select the Apple menu in the top-left of the screen and then choose System Settings.

You may need to scroll down to find this option. Otherwise you can search for Users & Groups in the search panel at the top of the sidebar. 

The info icon is a lowercase i in the middle of a circle. Clicking this will open a pop-up window with more options about the select user’s account.

Once you turn this toggle on, you’ll be prompted to enter the admin account’s password.

Enter the password for your Mac here and then select Unlock. You may be told that you need to restart your computer at this point.

Once you’re happy with the new admin, click OK. If you weren’t prompted to restart your Mac earlier then make sure you do soon after you click OK.

The first step is to turn on your Chromecast-enabled TV. If you’ve got Chromecast tech built into your smart TV, this is all you need to do. If you’re using a Chromecast dongle, however, you’ll need to switch the source on your TV to Chromecast. 

On your Android smartphone, swipe down from the top of your screen to access Quick Settings. This is usually nestled in the notification shade, but some phones – like those from Honor and Xiaomi – are separate, available from swiping down on the top-right of the screen. 

From the Quick Settings, tap Screen Cast. This is a feature that goes by many names depending on your phone manufacturer; stock or near-stock OSs like those from Motorola and Google will have Screen Cast branding, while Samsung uses Smart View and Honor uses Wireless Projection. These are essentially all the same thing, and achieve the same goal using Chromecast or Miracast tech. 

From the list of Chromecast-enabled devices nearby, tap the name of the TV you’d like to connect to.

You’ll then see a pop-up explaining the cast technology. Read through it, and tap Start Now to mirror your phone screen to your TV. 

Once connected, open the app or game you’d like to mirror and enjoy the big-screen experience! 

Once you’re ready to disconnect, swipe down to access your notification shade and tap Disconnect to end the casting session. 

The first step is to open Google Chrome on your PC or Mac and make sure that it’s up to date. You’ll need version 124.0.6367.119 or later to use the new Google Gemini integration in the browser. 

In the search bar, type @Gemini.

From the list of suggested websites and search queries, select Chat with Gemini.

Enter the question you’d like answered directly into the search bar – no need to go to the Gemini website. Once you’ve typed out your question, hit the Enter key to submit.

You’ll then be taken to the Gemini website to get the answer to your question, and you can ask any follow-ups if necessary.

There are a few ways to do this. You can either simply drag the item straight into the Bin icon or you can also right-click on the item and select Move to Bin, as shown here.

Doing this will only temporarily move your unwanted files to the Bin. Next, you’ll need to permanently remove them from your computer.

Once you’ve put your item in the Bin, click on the Bin icon which should be found at the bottom of your Mac’s screen. If it’s not there, then search for Bin using the search icon at the top of your Mac.

You’ll find this in the top-right corner of the Bin app.

This will permanently delete everything in your Bin. It’s worth checking the contents of the Bin before emptying, as once you empty you won’t be able to retrieve them.

The most important thing to do in order to optimise gaming performance is to update your graphics drivers. The likes of AMD and Nvidia are constantly releasing new firmware to keep its graphics cards optimised, so it’s important to keep your system updated. 

If you own an Nvidia card, then make sure to download GeForce Experience, which will automatically download new updates for you. If you own an AMD graphics card, then download AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition instead. 

If your main priority is boosting frame rates, and you don’t mind if that means sacrificing visual quality, then reducing the resolution is a great way to boost performance. 

Reducing the resolution will reduce the workload on your graphics card, allowing you to achieve a higher performance. This is why most eSport professionals will typically opt for a 1080p or 1440p resolution instead of 4K. 

If you’re lucky enough to own an Nvidia RTX graphics card, then you’ll have access to its DLSS technology. This uses AI to boost the FPS performance of a game, and has been highly effective in the most recent range of GeForce graphics cards. The big caveat here is that not every game supports DLSS, and so is mostly reserved to newer titles. 

If you don’t own an RTX card, then you should have access to AMD’s FSR technology instead. This isn’t quite as advanced as DLSS, but is still effective at boosting frame rate thanks to upscaling solutions, although can cause unwelcome artefacts to the game’s visuals. But if boosting frame rate is your priority, FSR is still a useful tool. 

You can activate DLSS or FSR through a game’s settings menu. It’s worth using an FPS counter (available through Steam) to see what kind of effect they have on performance. 

Graphics cards now make use of dozens of features to help video games look as realistic as possible. They’re excellent options for improving visuals, but they can often be a detriment to the FPS performance. Fortunately, you’ll be able to deactivate each feature through a game’s graphics settings menu. 

Ray tracing is the big one to look for. This is a cutting-edge technology that improves the lighting, shadow and reflection effects in modern games, but it’s extremely taxing on the GPU, so deactivating it should see your performance improve. Some games will have it turned on by default, so it’s worth having a look. 
Vsync is also a great feature for preventing screen tearing, but will restrict your FPS performance somewhat. Anti-aliasing will often by on by default too, as it helps to smooth out ugly jagged edges for in-game objects. Turning off both of these features should help to improve your PC’s performance. 

It’s also worth checking whether you can reduce the draw distance in a game. This determines how much of a 3D environment will be rendered at one given time, with a high draw distance allowing you to view in-game environments and objects from a greater distance. Reducing this will of course ease the pressure on your GPU and increase performance. 

Game Mode is a highly useful tool built into Windows which will automatically disable background tasks on your PC while you’re playing a game. This will dedicate all of your PC’s resources to your game to ensure the fastest performance possible. 

Game Mode is generally enabled by default, but it’s still worth double checking as it’s an easy fix. Simply search Game Mode in the Windows search bar, and slide the toggle to On. 

This step is specifically for gamers using a laptop or a handheld device, as it involves boosting performance to the detriment of your device’s battery life. On a Windows device, you can do this by going to Settings > System > Power & Battery > Power Mode, and then selecting Best Performance. 

Certified gaming laptops will sometimes even have a Turbo mode which not only maximises performance, but also increases power to the fans to keep your system as cool as possible during such workloads. You will of course get an even better performance by making sure your portable is plugged into a power source.

We’ll be demonstrating using Gmail and Google Drive however the steps are fairly similar to Outlook and OneDrive too.

Act accordingly depending on whether you want to send your files in a new email or continue an existing conversation. Regardless, the following steps are the same.

You’ll find this icon listed on the bottom panel of your message.

If you have already added files to your Drive then you’ll find them listed in My Drive. If not then you can simply upload your file at this point by clicking the Upload button (highlighted here) and selecting your files from your device.

Once you’ve chosen your file it will be placed in your email as a link. You may also receive this pop up which allows you to alter the permissions of the file, allowing readers to edit, comment or just view the files.

The first test we recommend is PCMark 10. This benchmark evaluates your PC’s overall performance for a wide range of workloads, including day-to-day tasks, productivity applications, and more demanding work with digital media. 

PCMark 10 isn’t an ideal benchmark for isolating a performance bottleneck, but it is useful for getting a quick general overview of your PC’s performance. You can download the PCMark 10 demo for free on Steam, which offers unlimited runs with the main PCMark 10 test.

PCMark 10 will give you a numerical score at the end of the benchmark, which is rather useless in isolation. However, you can compare the number with other scores online, including all of our reviews of the latest laptops and desktop PCs. 

If you want to measure CPU performance specifically, then we recommend Geekbench 6. This determines both the CPU’s single-core and multi-core performance. The former is important for overall performance and gaming, while multi-core performance is more important for multitasking and more creative workloads such as video editing and 3D animation.

Geekbench 6 is cross platform, and so works on both Windows and Mac. You can download it for free here. Again, it will provide a numerical score, which you can compare to our own results in each of our computing reviews. 

Geekbench 6 is designed to simulate generic workloads such as basic word processing and browsing the web. If you want to test your CPU on a more intensive workload, then we suggest trying out Cinebench instead, which is also free to download and use. 

If you’re keen to find out how your PC can handle graphics-intensive workloads, such as gaming and content creation, then we recommend using 3DMark Time Spy. This evaluates the performance of your GPU specifically. 

3DMark Time Spy is free to run using the free demo of 3DMark over on Steam. Simply download the software and run the benchmark to get a numeric score, which you’ll be able to compare to the results in our reviews. If you don’t own a dedicated GPU/graphics card, then it’s likely you’ll get a relatively low score here, but that shouldn’t be an issue unless you do like to game on PC, or consider yourself a professional digital creator. 

Blender is a good alternative GPU benchmark if you want to evaluate performance specifically for content creation rather than gaming. 

The SSD performance is often overlooked compared to other components, and yet its performance is incredibly important for several workloads, from booting up the PC to loading up applications and speeding through loading screens in a video game.

CrystalDiskMark is our go-to SSD benchmark, as it measures both sequential and random performance. If you just want a generic look at the SSD performance, then it’s fine just to take the top two scores. The read performance determines how fast your PC is at loading up data (such as an app or game), while the write performance determines the speed of saving data onto your PC (such as installing software). 

We’ll be demonstrating the steps through the Zoom Desktop Client app for Mac but the steps are similar on a PC. Scroll down to our Troubleshooting section below to see the steps for changing your background on an Android or iOS device or through the Zoom Web Client.

You’ll find this in the top-right corner of the Zoom app. Clicking your profile picture will open a dropdown menu which lists a few options.

You’ll find Settings towards the end of the list of options. Selecting Settings will launch a pop-up menu with numerous options.

Just over halfway through the list of options on the side panel you’ll find Background & Effects.

This should open up automatically once you’ve selected Background & Effects, but if not then just click on Virtual Backgrounds.

You can choose one of the preset backgrounds found on Zoom, or you can add your own by clicking the plus (+) option highlighted here. You’ll see a preview of your background here too, so you’ll be able to pick and choose which one you’d like.

We located the Instagram account by clicking on the magnifying glass icon on the bottom taskbar, and then using the search bar. However, you can also navigate to an account by simply pressing on its profile picture if you spot it on your timeline. 

The Following button can be found underneath the main profile picture on the account. It sits to the left side of the Message button. 

A new pop-up window should appear with the Mute option located on the third highest row. Click on it.

You’ll now get the option to mute Posts, Stories and Notes. You can either select all of these options, or toggle them individually. This may be useful if you don’t like their posts popping up on the timeline, but don’t mind having the option to view their stories.

And if you ever want to unmute the account, you simply need to click on the toggle again by repeating the same steps. 

Open up Reddit on your browser.

Go to the top-right corner of the screen and click on your profile picture.

From the drop-down menu presented, click on the heading called User Settings.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the red button called Delete Account.

Enter both your username and password to continue.

Make sure you tick the box confirming that deleted Reddit accounts cannot be recovered.

Click the Delete button.

To confirm that you want to delete your Reddit account, click on the Delete button again to finish the process.

Start by opening up the account that you want to send your email from.

Click the large plus button that sits on the top left-hand side of the screen on a PC or laptop to create a new email.

Enter the email address of the person you want to speak to.

Write in the heading and the body of your email as you would normally.

Press Send when you are finished with your message.

If you want to undo what you just sent, click on the Undo button. It will be blue and show up on the leftmost side of the screen at the bottom. This message will only be visible for up o 30 seconds, though if your settings are set to just five seconds, you will need to act fast.

Once you have clicked Undo, your original Gmail will come back up, allowing you to edit the message if you want to resend it, or delete it completely.

We did this by searching Task Manager in the Windows search bar, but you can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc.

The processes tab should open by default, listing all of the apps and current processes that your PC is running. To check your CPU core usage, click on the Performance tab in the left-hand column.

You should now see a graphic detailing the overall utilisation of your CPU, with metrics such as the speed listed underneath. For a breakdown of the usage per core, right-click on the graph.

After right-clicking, a pop-up box should appear. Hover over the ‘Change graph to’ option listed at the top, and then click on the option for Logical processors.

Once you’ve completed the prior step, you should notice that the graph has now been broken into multiple windows, with the number depending on how many threads your CPU has. In our laptop’s case, the 22 threads are represented by 22 windows, all providing a snapshot of their current utilisation.

to begin, you’ll need to find the Nothing X app. Open up the Play Store on your Android phone and search for Nothing X. You might also get a nudge to get the app the first time you connect the buds.

Once you’ve found the app, download and install it.

All the sound options are inside the app, so open it up once it has been downloaded and installed.

You’ll need to make sure your Nothing buds are connected, you can do this by opening the case or popping them in your ears.

Tap the Settings icon inside the Nothing X app – the cog signifies this.

There are numerous options here, but we’re looking for the one called High-Quality Audio. Toggle the option on.

Once the above option has been toggled, the buds need to be rebooted. After this, they are ready to use.

This guide splits into two stages, the first part is to ensure you’ve got the Developer Options menu enabled and the second is to ensure LDAC is selected.

If you’ve previously run through the process to enable Developer Options you can skip the next few steps and join us on Step 6. If you haven’t opened Developer Settings, begin by unlocking your Android device.

Next, open up Settings. This can either be done by finding and tapping on the icon that looks like a cog in the app drawer, or by pulling down the notification panel and tapping the smaller cog icon at the bottom.

Once you’re in Settings, scroll down and tap About Phone.

Now, we’re going to enable the Developer Options. To do this, tap the Build number options seven times. You’ll see a countdown when you’ve tapped it a few times letting you know how many times it still needs to be pressed.

Navigate back so you’re out of the About Phone menu, and back into the Settings menu.

Now find the System option and tap it.

Scroll down to the Developer Options and tap it.

There’s a lot to take it inside this Developer menu and the option we want to find is called Bluetooth audio codec. Keep scrolling until you spot it.

Inside the Bluetooth audio code menu, there will be multiple options – many of which will be greyed out if your device doesn’t support it. Find LDAC and tap it.

You can locate this by typing Device Manager into the Windows search bar found in the Taskbar.

This should be the sixth option down. You can expand Display Adaptors by pressing on the small arrow underneath. 

The name of your GPU should now appear to indicate your graphics driver. Right-click this, and then select Properties at the bottom of the pop-up window. 

At the top of the pop-up window, you should find a row of tabs. Click on the second one along, which should be labelled as Driver. 

Near the bottom of the window, you should find the option for Disable Device. Click on this. You’ll then get a warning pop-up message. Confirm your decision by pressing Yes. Your screen will now go black for a couple of seconds, before reappearing. You may notice that your display now looks a bit odd, but there’s no need to worry. 

Once your display returns after a momentary pause, then make sure to click on Enable Device. Your screen should then go black again, but will then return to normal. Your graphics driver has now been reset, and hopefully your display issues fixed. 

There’s no need to download Copilot, as it should come installed on your Windows by default once you’ve installed the latest update. You check whether your PC’s up to date by going to Settings > Windows Update > Check for updates. If any available updates become available, make sure to download them and then restart your PC.

Copilot should now be installed on your PC. You should be able to see it in the bottom-right corner of your homescreen, embedded into the taskbar. However, if you still can’t see it, it may be the case that it’s been deactivated. 

Fortunately, it’s very easy to activate. To start this process, jump into your device’s settings by searching for it with the Search bar at the bottom of your screen. 

You can find this in the menu on the left-hand side. It’s on the fifth row from the top, and has the icon of a paintbrush.

In the newly opened Personalisation menu, you should find the option for Taskbar eight rows down. Click on this. 

If you’ve updated to the latest iteration of Windows, you should find the option for Copilot (Preview) near the top of the Taskbar menu. Make sure the toggle next to it is set to ‘On’. 

You should now be able to find the option for Windows Copilot in the far-right side of your Taskbar. Simply click on this icon, and then ask it questions by typing into the box. You can also open Copilot by using the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + C. And if you’re lucky enough to own a modern Windows 11 PC, you may even have the dedicated Copilot key. 

First, you want to open a web browser. You can use whichever you like, so feel free to use your typical browser of choice, whether that’s Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox or something else. Do this by opening the Start menu and searching for your browser, if it isn’t already on your taskbar.

Now that you’ve got your web browser open, enter “Google” into the search bar and press the “Enter” key.

With Google open, search for “Check internet speed” to take you to Google’s own internet speed test.

You’ll now be able to see the internet connection speed test, click the button marked “RUN SPEED TEST” to start the test.

The speed test takes around a minute to run. You can observe the download and upload tests running.

Once the test is complete, Google will show you the results and you can see your internet connection speeds.

The first step is to join the beta for Steam Families. Firstly, open Steam and then select the Steam logo in the top-left corner.

A dropdown menu should appear. Select the Settings option, which is the second-to-last option. 

In the left-sided menu, you should see the option for Interface six entries down. 

Now look to the right side, and you should find the option for Client Beta Participation three rows down. Click on the dropdown list to its right side, and then click the option for Steam Family Beta.

Your Steam account will need to be restarted once you’ve signed up for the beta. A pop-up window should prompt you to do so. 

Now it’s time to create your Steam family. Return to the Steam homepage, and then click on your profile name in the top-right corner. 

The second option down should be Account Details. Click on this. 

Over on the left-sided menu, find the option for Family Management three rows down.

You should now see the option to either Join a Family, or Create a Family. For this guide, you’ll want to hit the latter option. 

You will now need to enter a family name, which is easily recognisable and easy to search for. Press on Create once you have decided on your family name. 

Now you’ve created your Steam Family, it’s time to invite your family members to join. Click on Invite a Member to begin the process. You can add more family members at a later date if you want to. 

Your Steam friends should automatically pop up as options. Select whoever you want to join your Steam family. 

You will be given the option to add your family member as a child or an adult. All of the adult members can manage invites and apply account restrictions, while child members will be subject to parental controls and cannot alter any of the settings. 

A pop-up window will then appear to confirm your invitation. Once this is sent over, the account holder should receive an alert notifying them of the invitation. They must accept before being added to the Family. Repeat this process to add in the remainder of your family members, and then you’ve finished setting up your Steam Family. 

Head to Control Panel. You can do this by opening your Start menu and searching for it.

Now that you’ve opened the Control Panel, select the Hardware and Sound option.

From the Hardware and Sound menu, and underneath the Power Options section, choose Change what the power buttons do.

You’re now in the right place and you can tweak what happens when you close the lid depending on whether it is on battery or plugged into power. You can choose between Sleep, Do Nothing, Hibernate and Shut Down. Once you’ve made the changes, click Save changes.