Readers’ comments
Your views and feedback from email and the web
Thoughts on Huawei
WeChat, the absolute must-have app for every Chinese citizen, is the product of a commercial enterprise (Tencent). If, as we are repeatedly assured, such enterprises are wholly separate from the state, then why, when people share photos deemed unacceptable to the state, must they submit both a photo of themselves and use their voice to request reactivation of the app? Does the Western equivalent (WhatsApp) monitor your activity to ensure it complies with government requirements, and disallow sharing pictures of crowds in Times Square if President Trump deems such images unacceptable (rather than Hong Kong residents remembering Tiananmen Square)?
Huawei may be trying the charm offensive at present, but its suggestion that it is a wholly independent private company is just as offensive to our sensibility. Chinese citizens learn the easy or hard way that getting anywhere in China requires you to work within the government’s tight constraints – or suffer its wrath.
No country in human history has become as powerful in world terms as China without trying to exert its power well beyond its borders and China is no different in this regard. Ian Wilkinson
Mini concerns
The new iPad mini is more of an incremental step than a giant leap. The problem is that there’s very little to rival it. Samsung’s last offering was the S2 8.4 LTE, which is now several years out of date and still runs Android 7.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stretch to the price of the new mini, so after scouring the market I settled on a Chuwi Hi9 Pro LTE and a 256GB SanDisk SD card, which together cost £225. The tablet seems fine, although the camera isn’t up to much – but then I didn’t buy it to take photos. The screen seems to have a protective film pre-applied, which is a magnet for fingerprints and also reduces
sensitivity, and it’s 16:9 rather than the (preferable in my opinion) 4:3 of the iPad mini.
So, I’m sorted, without having to get a second mortgage. Nonetheless, I’m sure the new iPad mini will sell, especially to business users who need portable devices. In the meantime, come on Samsung: you’re now on the Tab 5 but there’s no sign of an 8in version. Chris Moxham
Update update
Towards the end of last year, I was hit by Windows 10’s automatic update to the new “Anniversary” release, which reset several settings and caused my PC a range of problems. It’s annoying that there’s now no way to stop these updates from being installed on their own. You can set “active hours” when Windows won’t update itself, or delay updates for a few days at most (unless a restart is required, in which case it’s game over). So, now Windows can seemingly do pretty much what it wants to my PC.
Since the start of this year, I’ve also been stuck in a never-ending loop where Windows fails to install most updates, rolls back to the previous version, then wants to retry the whole thing again. Update History no longer shows me all the failed versions or attempts.
Consequently, I can only assume that something I read in the forums was correct: Microsoft is sending out updates that don’t (and probably won’t ever) work on some users’ PCs or their chipsets – but rather than an update working out it’s not compatible, it will keep on retrying and failing forever. My PC is about three years old, so maybe that means it has reached the point where Microsoft thinks it’s obsolete.
I’ve long passed the point where my main concern is that it might be missing vital updates: I’m fed up with the amount of my time this has wasted and how often it occurs, to the point where I’m considering switching to a Mac.
Once upon a time, the computer I bought was mine – and only I could control the software that was installed on it. It was pretty stable and reliable.
Once upon a time, the computer I bought was mine – and only I could control the software that was installed on it
You have no idea how well cared for the items have been… However, if there’s a warranty and the price is worthwhile, I’m prepared to buy secondhand Grant
Stick to enterprise kit rather than consumer electronics. It’s usually well maintained, highspec and simply being exchanged on a rolling cycle rather than disposed of because it’s end-oflife Matt Cox
There’s too much risk that secondhand equates to stolen. I don’t want to encourage burglary Stewart
If you buy something cheap and secondhand, keep your expectations low. If it works, consider that a bonus mobailey
Those were the days; bring back Windows XP. Anthony Durant
The perils of pulling out
Instead of adding more features every six months, wouldn’t it be nice if Windows was to become more straightforward to use?
For instance, you can plug almost anything into a USB socket, and it will plug and play. That’s fine, but what about unplugging? Why can’t we simply tug it out rather than showing the hidden icons on the taskbar, picking “Safely remove hardware”, then selecting the drive we want to remove, waiting for a notice to slide in telling us it is safe to remove – and only then pulling out a memory stick or SD card?
Don’t tell me the problems: just make it safe to unplug any time. Patrick Forsyth
PC Pro replies: We have good news for you, Patrick. With the latest update, it’s almost always safe to unplug without warning in Windows 10 (although we can’t be held responsible for data loss if this doesn’t work!). You can also manually set it up for each drive if you prefer. First, plug in your drive, then right-click it in Windows Explorer and pick Properties from the context menu.
Click the Hardware tab in the dialog that this opens, followed by the Properties button. This opens a second dialog with a “Change settings” button. Click that. If you’re still with us, switch to the Policies tab and choose between “Quick removal” and “Better performance”. If you opt for the latter, you’ll need to make sure you eject the drive in the way you described above, as Windows will de-prioritise closing off files safely in the interest of saving you time. If you pick the former – “Quick removal” – data will be written without caching and the files closed off. As long as you wait a few seconds after writing to the media, you should be safe to pull it straight out. The answer is clear – people are willing to buy secondhand if the price is right, with only 15% ruling out the possibility entirely.
Simmons Maccalonni commented that he would buy secondhand hardware because “older laptops have better keyboards”, while Alex McMillan reminded us that sometimes “new tech is not particularly advanced over older tech, and not worth the cost – or new tech isn’t compatible with an older system”.
We will give Nick Oldrini the final word. “In some cases, say hi-fi, old tech is better tech. In others, it makes more financial sense. Why buy new when it depreciates immediately, for example in the case of cars, which are increasingly ‘tech’?”