If we can’t solve global conflicts, we can control local excesses
As the saying goes, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. In truth, you don’t even think about it. This time last year, with Covid rightly dominating the headlines, the electricity supply was on few people’s minds. Now phrases such as “energy security” are everyday terms, as we belatedly realise how much of Europe has sleepwalked into dependency on Russia’s cheap oil and gas.
The inflationary pressure on electricity was already strong before Russia invaded Ukraine, prompting Ofgem to implement a huge price cap increase from the start of April. To quote another saying (or is it a song?), the only way is up.
Even the wealthiest of households must now be looking at ways to cut their consumption, and may I humbly suggest we all tweak our computers’ power plans so that they switch off after a short period of inactivity. I know that I’ve become suddenly aware of the fan noise emanating from my son’s desktop PC, replete with hungry RTX 3050 graphics card. I’m ashamed to admit that, previously, it was sometimes left on for the whole day, even when he was at school.
To see how quickly consumption racks up, and why the running costs of desktop PCs in particular should be part of your buying decision, take a look at our Labs from p74. We’ve long tested for power consumption in group tests of PCs and printed the results as annualised running costs, but this is the first time we’ve printed those estimates at the top of each review. Everyone moans about the cost of printer ink, but PCs can easily outstrip that through everyday use.
I won’t claim any great foresight here, but this realisation ties in with a number of articles this month that boil down to two words: take stock. Turn to p40 and we explain why this is the time to escape the clutches of Google Workspace, which will soon be charging for many services that were previously free. And our associate editor Darien provides brilliant advice on giving your network a security audit from p44.
For those with responsibility for their business IT as well as at home, Steve Cassidy offers short, sharp remedies for businesses as he explores one-day projects that could save you money and improve your security. Hopefully both. And our guest columnist, Dr Rois Ni Thuama, reveals why it may be a huge mistake to ignore the impact of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (and the FBI, come to that).
Our main feature this month is by Britain’s second favourite PC repairer, Lee Grant (the favourite is obviously Alison Grant, who co-runs their repair shop in West Yorkshire). Based on the pair’s many years of experience, he reveals 30 ways to improve your PC or laptop, and I guarantee that some will be new to you – unless you also run a repair shop.
We can’t do much about world events, but we can spend a few minutes honing our IT setup to be more efficient. Even if that means getting the cold shoulder from a son who now has to wait an extra few seconds for his computer to return from standby.