REVERSE ANNOYING SOFTWARE UPDATES
Make your favourite programs work like they used to
Chrome
Google’s browser receives constant, minor updates, but the changes are usually so imperceptible you’d never notice them. Not so with the latest update to version 59, which rearranged Chrome’s Settings page. To change the Settings page back you’ll need to use Chrome Flags, which let you try Google’s “experimental” features. Open Chrome, then type chrome://flags into the address bar. Scroll down to the ‘Enable Material Design settings’ section (or search for it by tapping Ctrl+f, then typing the same), select Disabled from the dropdown menu, then click the Relaunch Now button (see screenshot above right).
Gmail
When Gmail launched it was much less bloated than it is today. There was no automatic email sorting, integrated chat, spelling checkers or text-formatting options and it was much faster as a result. If your broadband, or your PC, struggles with Gmail’s added features you can revert Gmail to its simpler, faster state by opening it in Basic view (see screenshot below left). Go to www.snipca.com/24919, then click the ‘I’d like to use HTML Gmail’ button. Your Gmail account will now open in Basic view. If you ever want to go back to the Standard view, scroll to the bottom of the page and click ‘Gmail view: standard’.
Google News
The recent redesign of Google News ( https://news.google.com) might have added new features – including a ‘Local’ tab to let you find local news stories – but some of its users are still hankering for the old version. Some don’t like the empty white spaces in the redesign, others are missing the extra options for selecting the type of news you want to see. If you’re similarly irked by the new version, there is a way to return to the old one in Chrome and Firefox.
Open Chrome, go to www.snipca. com/24931 and install the User-agent Switcher extension. Next, open https:// news.google.com, click the User-agent Switcher icon at the top right, then click Windows Phone, followed by Windows Phone 8 (see screenshot below left). This makes Chrome mimic a Windows Phone on your PC. This tool is used by web developers to ensure their products work across all devices and operating systems (OS). Here it’s tricking Google News into displaying in its old style because the new style doesn’t work on the Windows Phone 8 OS. To return Chrome to its normal view, click the User-agent Switcher icon again, then Chrome followed by Default.
Firefox users can do something similar. Open Google News, click the three vertical lines at the top right, Developer, then Responsive Design Mode. You’ll see the display size shrinks. Click the ‘no device selected’ dropdown menu (at the top) then select Nokia Lumia 520 from the list. Click and drag the bottom-right corner to expand the view.
Not to be outdone by Google News, Twitter has also freshened up its interface – if replacing square icons with rounded ones (they call them ‘bubbles’) qualifies as freshening up. To revert to the old ‘square’ version you can use a Chrome extension called Twitter Debubbler ( www.snipca. com/24935). Go to the link, install the extension and Twitter’s bubbles will go.
Lastpass
We gave Lastpass our password manager Gold award in the previous issue (page 50), but if you’d prefer to use it with its old, version 3.0 interface (that looks very similar to File Explorer), you can. To do so in either Chrome or Firefox, click the Lastpass extension, ‘Open my Vault’, click your name at the top right, then move the ‘Toggle Lastpass 3.0’ slider to the right (see screenshot above). If you want to go back to version 4.0 in the future, repeat this process, but move the slider (now called ‘Toggle Lastpass 4.0’) in the opposite direction.
Kodi
When Kodi 17 (called Krypton) launched last year many fans complained about a new layout that completely changed the settings menus. Thankfully, Kodi’s look can be changed by installing a skin (similar to a Windows theme) that puts Kodi’s settings back where they were in Kodi 16 (called Jarvis). Open Kodi, click the Settings icon (the cog at the top left), ‘Interface settings’, then Skin (on the right). Click ‘Get more’, then scroll down to and click Confluence (see screenshot above). Click Yes when prompted to keep this change and you’ll see that Kodi’s old looks have been restored.
Yahoo Mail
Yahoo has given its email service a makeover and though it has been well received, some have complained that it changes the location of certain settings, while others have struggled to log in due to Yahoo having problems with its servers. To change back to the old, and more stable, version of Yahoo Mail, log in, click the Settings icon (the cog at the top right), then click ‘Switch to classic mail’ at the bottom of the window (see screenshot above).
Firefox
You can swim against the tide of Firefox’s recent changes (such as its curved tabs and the disappearance of its old menu) by installing the Classic Theme Restorer extension ( www.snipca.com/24939). This undoes Firefox’s cosmetic changes, but the clever thing is that you’ll still be using the latest version, with its up-todate security fixes.
To add the extension, open Firefox, go to the above address and click ‘Add to Firefox’, Install, then Restart Now. Once Firefox reopens you’ll find that its curved tabs have gone. You’ll also be able to access the old menu by clicking the orange Firefox dropdown at the top left. The only piece of bad news we have is that Firefox 59 (due to launch in November) will spell the end for this extension (and plenty more besides – see www.snipca.com/ 24938 for more information).