Yes, it’s possible to start over in No Man’s Sky – CNET

It’s really difficult to mess up so badly in No Man’s Sky that you would ever need to start over fresh.

Didn’t explore enough on your starting planet? There are 17.99999 quintillion others to explore. Left your ship in a place that seems unreachable? Reach a shelter, craft a Bypass Chip and call it using one of the terminals at a landing pad. Missed the ticket onto the Atlas Pass? Find a space anomaly or Atlas Interface and hop aboard.

If, however, you have gotten on the wrong side of the Vy’keen or screwed up so royally that you’re better off throwing away dozens of hours of play time rather than spending a few more rectifying the problem, never fear, there is a way to restart the game.

Starting over in No Man’s Sky

You may notice that starting over isn’t even an option in the No Man’s Sky game menu. There isn’t a way to start over or a way to play with two separate characters. When you open the game, after a short loading screen, you’re back where you left off last — straight into game play.

In fact, the most you can do in-game is load your two most recent saves.

PS4

If you’re playing on PS4, the process is the same as with deleting save files for any other game.

In the XrossMediaBar interface, go to Settings > Application Saved Data Management > Saved Data in System Storage > Delete. Locate and select No Man’s Sky and follow the prompts to delete the game saves. When you open the game again, it should load as if you’ve just started the game.

On PC and Steam

If you’re playing No Man’s Sky on PC, this process from YouTube channel How To Do Stuff is a little more involved. However, unlike with PS4, you have the option to create a backup of your game save. So if anything goes awry, you can restore the original and resume playing from your furthest point.

Start by closing out of No Man’s Sky. Next, in your Steam library, right-click on No Man’s Sky and select Properties. Under the Updates tab, un-check Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for No Man’s Sky.

Next, press Win + R to open the Run application. In the field beside Open, type %appdata% and click OK. Within the directory that is opened, locate and open HelloGames and open the folder NMS. The folder inside this directory will look something like st_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. Delete this file or move it to a safe place (in case you want to restore the save later).

When you start the game again, you will start over, stranded on a random planet in a random planetary system with busted equipment and a broken ship.

Restoring an old save on PC

One advantage of running the PC version of this game is the ability to restore a save file after you’ve deleted it. If you decide you don’t actually want to start over, there are two ways to restore your original save file to the game. With No Man’s Sky closed:

• Re-checking the box beside Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for No Man’s Sky and Steam will ask if you want to use your local save (the new one) or restore the cloud backup (your original save) when you launch the game.
• Replace the newly generated st_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX folder with the one you made a copy of in the C:Users[username]AppDataRoamingHelloGamesNMS directory.

Additionally, you can use this workaround to have multiple characters in the game. Or, if more than one person uses the computer No Man’s Sky is installed on, you can swap out the game save folders before launching the game to load different user save states without having to have two separate Steam accounts.

Hopefully, Hello Games will add these features into the game in the future. Until then, these workarounds are the best you’re going to get.

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11 things we wish we’d known when starting No Man’s Sky
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What you need to know about the Note 7’s Secure Folder – CNET

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The Galaxy Note 7 is for work and for play
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Let’s face it, we all experience a brief moment of anxiety when handing our phone to a friend or family member, even if for a brief moment. Or at least I do. It’s not that I have anything to hide, simply that my phone has personal thoughts and information I don’t necessarily want just anyone to see.

Conversations with friends, messages with my wife, work emails, photos of my rather mundane life. Handing a phone to someone is akin to opening up your diary to them and hoping they only read the one page.

Enter the Note 7’s Secure Folder.

It’s in the Secure Folder you can keep notes, apps, pictures, contacts, email accounts or third-party apps you don’t want easily accessible, even if by accident. In order for anyone to access the Secure Folder on your Note 7, he or she will have to know your password or steal your fingerprint or iris scan to get into it.

Enough rambling, let’s talk about of the Secure Folders key features. Start by opening the Secure Folder and following the setup prompts.

You set a password, now what?

After the initial setup where you’re asked to set a password, you’re taken to the default view of the folder. In it you’ll find the following apps:

• Gallery
• Camera
• Contacts
• Email
• Internet
• My Files
• Samsung Notes

These apps are identical in name and functionality to the apps you have outside the secure folder, only they are what amount to fresh installs of each app. Any photos, notes, contacts or web browsing you do with these apps while in the Secure Folder will stay separate from the apps you have outside of the folder.

Secure third-party apps

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

As useful as the system apps are, you will likely want to keep some third-party apps behind an extra layer of security. To do that, open the Secure Folder and then tap on + Add. Scroll through the list of apps, select those you’d like to install in the Secure Folder, then tap Add.

As with the system apps, any apps you add to the secure folder won’t carry over any information, settings, or login information. You’re basically making a copy of the app, which allows you to log in to it with a different account (handy if you have a work and personal Snapchat account, for example).

Apps stored in the Secure Folder will receive notifications as any other app does, however you can control how much information is shown (if any) through the Secure Folder’s settings screen.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Access secure apps from your homescreen

Long press on an app icon in the Secure Folder to rearrange the order, uninstall it from the folder or to place a shortcut to the secured app on your homescreen.

The process of opening your secure folder, then finding an app, opening it, and entering a password is anything but streamlined and likely to discourage people from using Secure Folder. Thankfully, you can place a shortcut to the secure versions on your homescreen.

Drag any app to the Add to Home Screen button at the top of the page. You can quickly identify which apps are part of the Secure Folder — thus requiring a extra authentication to open — thanks to the lock icon placed on the app’s icon.

Completely hide the Secure Folder (almost)

When viewing your Secure Folder, tap on the menu button (three-dot icon) and tap on Settings. Mixed in with the options to control notifications for secured apps, change the lock type and the auto lock settings, is an option to hide the secure folder from your homescreen and app drawer.

Once enabled, you can only open the Secure Folder after going through several settings screens.

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

The difference between an iPhone’s Do Not Disturb and silent modes – CNET

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

iOS offers two ways for your iPhone — and you, by extension — to be less intrusive in certain situations. You can enable Silent mode and you can also enable or schedule Do Not Disturb mode to keep your iPhone from ringing, chiming or otherwise emitting unwanted sounds. Although both modes effectively silence your iPhone, there are differences with which you may not be familiar. Let’s jump in.

Silent mode

Your go-to method for silencing your iPhone is almost assuredly the toggle switch that sits above the volume buttons on the left edge. Walk into a movie theater, school classroom or church, and by now you probably instinctively reach for that switch to save you from embarrassment. Or you do so when your significant other reminds you to mute your phone.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

While the ring/silent switch mutes all alerts and notifications (along with sound effects and game audio), your iPhone may still vibrate when you receive a call. And your screen will light up with the arrival of a phone call or text. You can stop your iPhone from buzzing when in silent mode by going to Settings > Sounds and toggling off Vibrate on Silent, but you can’t stop the screen from lighting up, which brings us to our next section.

Do Not Disturb

With Do Not Disturb enabled, your iPhone will remain silent and with its screen off, though there are a few exceptions you should know about that allow some calls to come through.

First, however, let’s go over the two ways to enable Do Not Disturb. The easiest way is to swipe up for the Control Center and tap the crescent moon button. You can also go to Settings > Do Not Disturb and tap the toggle switch for Manual. With Do Not Disturb enabled, you’ll see a small crescent moon at the top of the lock screen.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

In addition to manually enabling Do Not Disturb, you can also schedule Quiet Hours each day. I have it enabled from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., for example.

Also from Do Not Disturb’s settings, you can enable two exceptions that allows calls to come through. For Allow Calls From, you can choose Everyone, No One, Favorites or a group you created in Contacts. You can also allow Repeated Calls to come through, so if someone is desperately trying to call you by calling twice within three minutes, your iPhone will ring.

The last setting lets you silence your iPhone Always or Only while iPhone is locked.

Scenarios for either mode

With the biggest difference between the two modes being the screen lighting up in silent mode when you receive a call or text, flipping the ring/silent switch is the easiest way to silence your iPhone as long as it’s in your pocket, purse or backpack. Just be sure you check to see if the Vibrate on Silent setting is disabled, because a vibrating phone can be just as distracting and therefore embarrassing as a ringing phone in some cases.

If you generally keep your iPhone out and about — in your hand, on your lap, on a table or desk — then Do Not Disturb is the better option so that your screen suddenly lighting up doesn’t distract other moviegoers, your classmates (or, more to the point, your teacher or professor) or parishioners. I would recommend setting Allow Calls From to No One if you will frequently enable Do Not Disturb manually so that you aren’t shamed when a call gets through from a Favorite contact or another exception.

How to politely decline calls with an Apple Watch – CNET

When your Apple Watch rings when a call arrives, you certainly don’t want to look like this guy. Though the Apple Watch is a poor choice for conducting phone calls, it can be useful for declining them — though perhaps not in the way you might expect.

The Apple Watch appears to offer two options for an incoming call: A red button to decline the call and a green button to accept the call. Declining a call sends it straight to voicemail, a swift rejection that could insult or dismay your caller. There is, however, a hidden third option that lets you politely sidestep incoming calls, with hopefully no hurt feelings.

When your Apple Watch rings, simply place your hand over the watch. This mutes the ringing but doesn’t send the call directly to voicemail. Your voicemail will only pick up after the appropriate number of rings, indicating that you missed the call rather than forcefully rejecting it.

Matt Elliott/CNET

(Similarly, you can politely decline a call on an iPhone by pressing the power button or either volume button, muting the ringing without sending the call straight to voicemail.)

Although this tip is useful, my favorite Apple Watch feature remains its ability to ping a misplaced iPhone.

(Via OS X Daily)