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Why can’t I install Kaspersky Battery Life?
QIwanted to use Kaspersky Battery Life (KBL) as featured in Issue 512 (page 40), but my phone – a Samsung Galaxy S8, running Android 7 – tells me it’s not compatible. A little online research suggests KBL may not be compatible with some Android 7 and 8 devices. I can’t see any disclaimers in your article about this. Any comments? Howard L Smith
A you’re right, KBL won’t work with all Android 7 and 8 phones – despite being available on Google Play Store ( www.snipca.com/26002), where its requirements are described as ‘Android 4.1 and up’. Further digging in the Play Store entry did reveal that ‘Currently Android 7.0 and 8.0 are not supported’. However, it did work on our Android 7 phone (a Huawei Mate 9). App compatibility can be a complicated business.
Google seems to have blocked battery-tracking apps like KBL from monitoring how apps affect battery life in Android 7 and 8. It introduced its own battery-optimisation feature in these versions. We suspect it blocked other battery-tracking apps to avoid them clashing with this feature. Kaspersky has probably limited the availability of KBL to phones with Android 6 and earlier for this same reason.
If you still want to install a battery-tracking app, we recommend Gsam Battery Monitor ( www.snipca.com/25998). It installs without any problems on Android 7 and 8 phones and will keep tabs on how Bluetooth, Wi-fi and your phone’s screen drains the battery.
It won’t, however – for the reasons we’ve explained above – track how individual apps are draining your phone’s battery. To find this out you should use Google’s battery-tracking tool instead. Tap Settings, Battery, then scroll down (see screenshot above right).
To stop an app that’s a drain on your battery, tap it, then tap Force Stop. On a Samsung Galaxy S8 this process is slightly different. Tap Settings, Battery, then scroll down to the ‘App power monitor’ section, tap the apps you want to close, then tap the Save Power button.
Have my online accounts been hacked?
QI recently checked the security of my online accounts using the Have I Been Pwned? site (see News, Issue 510, page 8, https://haveibeenpwned. com). My email address triggered two warnings: Avast Antivirus and Onliner spambot. You recommend changing passwords, but neither of these two programs require passwords. How should I proceed, please? David Adcock
Athe two warnings represent different problems, so we’ll tackle each in turn. The Avast alert does indicate that there’s a password you need to change. If you use Avast Antivirus (or have done in the past) you will have created an account. Go to www.snipca.com/25996 to log in (click the ‘Can’t access your account’ link if you can’t remember your password to reset it). Once you’ve logged in, change your password by clicking your email address (at the top right), ‘Change password’ (see screenshot above), then follow the instructions.
The Onliner-spambot warning might be more serious. It indicates that your email address has been associated with the Onliner spambot which, in the worst case, could mean your account passwords and bank card details have been stolen. To be on the safe side, we suggest you change the passwords you use on your accounts (Lastpass could come in handy here) and ask your bank for a new card.
Is there a good alternative to ON1 Effects?
QI downloaded the program ON1 Effects ( www.on1.com/dl/19) as recommended in Best Free Software (Issue 511), but it would not open because it requires a separate graphics card with a minimum 512MB of RAM. Is there a way around this – my computer doesn’t have a separate card. Michael Pugh
Afirst the bad news: there is no way around this. Unfortunately, ON1 Effects does require the standalone graphics card to work and it seems your PC doesn’t meet this requirement. The good news is that there are other programs you can try. We suggest you try a combination of Paint.net and the Google Nik Collection to access all kinds of excellent photo filters for free. See our feature on page 60 to find out how to add Google Nik to Paint.net.