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| Issue 2 - Autumn Newsletter 2006 |
Welcome to the second Hillside Computer Services Newsletter. Quite a few developments have happened in the “Computer World” since issue 1 and I thought I’d pass them on to you.
PC Security Issues
Yes, it’s that old chestnut again, the one I keep harping on about whenever I see or speak to you. Over the past six to eight weeks or so I have visited numerous customers who’s PC’s have literally become riddled with viruses, Trojans or spyware. So much so in fact that they have been unable to connect to the Internet / email, unable to back up their data due to the extreme slowness of their PC and haven’t been able to get rid of the infection because the infections are too deeply rooted on their PC. To put it another way, equate it with a car. You’re driving along quite happily in your car and you hear a funny noise coming from under the bonnet; an annoying rattle for example. You can act in a couple of ways; get the car to the garage as soon as possible and get the rattle seen to, or you can ignore it and carry on driving it for another couple of thousand miles and then be shocked that the engine seizes up on you.
I'd much rather you contact me when you first notice you have an annoying rattle than waiting until the engine seizes up and then you call me. Once this happens on a PC normally the only course of action I have been able to follow is to perform a full clean re-installation of their operating system, install the necessary drivers and applications etc. This in essence takes their PC back to the stage it was when it first came out of the box.
To sum up:
If your anti virus software license has expired then renew it
If your anti virus protection is out of date, update it
Install some Trojan and anti spyware software
Backup your work regularly
And finally, if you are in any doubt, contact me
News
Windows Vista
Microsoft have at long last announced the release date of Windows Vista; January 30th 2007. It will be available in four versions:
Home Basic
Home Premium
Business
Ultimate
By the looks of things, the Home Basic Version doesn’t offer too much by way of enhancements over XP, but the Home Premium comes up with the goodies you need, and some you don’t; well, as Microsoft put it themselves:
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Home Premium is the operating system for homes with advanced computer needs. It will help you use your laptop or desktop PC more effectively as well as enable you to enjoy new, exciting digital entertainment experiences—all with the benefit of added security and reliability.
New user interface
Windows Vista Home Premium has a new user interface named Windows Aero™, which is both efficient and beautiful. This new interface makes it easier than ever before to find your way around the operating system. It even makes it easier to accomplish multiple tasks at once by providing a three-dimensional, real-time, animated view of all of your open applications and documents.
Additionally, Windows Vista Home Premium helps you quickly find and organize large collections of documents, pictures, movies, videos, and music.
By integrating search throughout the operating system, Windows Vista Home
Premium helps you quickly find exactly what you are looking for.
Improved mobility
Windows Vista Home Premium makes it easy to take your home computing experience with you wherever you go. For example, Windows Vista Home Premium includes Windows Tablet and Touch Technology that enables you to interact with your Tablet PC-compatible computer with a digital pen or with your fingertip instead of having to use a keyboard. Computers that include Windows Vista Home Premium and an auxiliary Windows SideShow™ display will also allow you to access key data even when your computer is off. It is also easier than ever to share files between other PCs in your household and to manage your laptop computer settings to more securely connect to your favorite WiFi hotspot.
More entertaining
Windows Vista Home Premium will improve every aspect of your digital entertainment experiences including viewing and sharing photos, video, TV, movies, music, games, and more. For example, Windows Vista Home Premium enables you to create your own DVDs and edit your own high-definition movies. Most significantly, Windows Vista Home Premium includes all of the Windows Media Center capabilities for turning your PC into an all-in-one home entertainment center. Windows Media Center in Windows Vista provides new ways for you to enjoy your music, photos, and DVD movies. You can also use Windows Media Center to record and watch your favorite TV shows (even HDTV) and to access new kinds of online entertainment content. You will also be able to connect Windows Vista Home Premium to your Microsoft Xbox 360 to extend your Media Center experience to multiple rooms in your home.
So there you have it in the Americanese parlance and straight from the horses mouth as it were. The Microsoft site doesn’t give a minimum PC specification for Vista (at least I couldn’t find it), though a review of the pre-release / beta version in the PC press a few weeks ago said words to the effect of “large capacity hard drive and a minimum of 1 GB of RAM (Memory).
If you’re interested, go to www.microsoft.com and click on the “Get Ready for Vista” link.
Regarding prices for the full version, Microsoft are saying that it will be in the region of $239, which is about £120.
The Business and Ultimate versions of Vista offer more in the way of network security, encryption and backup procedures. These features may not suit your needs and probably not your budgets - each one will be priced at over £200 and will need huge amounts of processing power and storage.
Internet Explorer 7
Microsoft have recently released Internet Explorer 7
I have been using it for a while now and think that it’s a step in the right direction. The look and feel of the program is completely different to version 6 (which comes with XP), but is more intuitive than previous versions.
Main benefits are improved security features which help to keep your personal data safe from fraudulent websites and online phishing scams.
It also automatically shrinks text when you come to print off a web page; no more missing text / graphics down the right hand edge and a print preview facility, so you can see what you are actually going to print.
Unfortunately Internet Explorer 7.0 will only work on PC’s running Windows XP, but that includes most of you. Apple users can still use Safari as their browser.
AVG
There is a new version of AVG, which I know a lot of you are currently using as an alternative to Norton Anti Virus or McAfee. It’s a much improved program and a neater interface (more friendly). The downloads for updates are much smaller than previously, though when first installed, the first updates are about 5 Mb in size, which on broadband isn’t a real issue, but if you are still on dial up can be (it will take nearly an hour to download the necessary files).
If you are currently using version 7.4 or below, you will probably have noticed a “Nag” window appear on screen when you power your PC up, informing you of this update, which is a major one. I advise you to upgrade to this version as soon as possible. Your current version will stop working on the 15th January 2007 according to Grisoft (the software developers of AVG Free).
To get any of these updates, give me a call and I’ll install them for you.
General Hints ‘n’ Tips
You may have seen on TV recently that a couple of broadband Internet providers are bringing out new products, such as faster access for less money etc. Tiscali and BT Broadband are two such companies. If you are an existing customer of their’s and are paying more than their advertised prices or getting a slower connection speed, then give them a call and see if they can accommodate you by offering you the same as the advertised package. If needs be threaten to transfer to another ISP (this usually works). Remember, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Apple Hints ‘n’ Tips
These two tips are ONLY for Apple users and will not work on
Windows machines
Where Did That Download Come From? (Apple ONLY)
If you download a file from the web, you can usually find out exactly where that downloaded file came from (including the exact web address) by pressing Command-I when you have the file selected. Once the info dialog appears, click on the right-facing arrow beside More Info to expand that panel and it will display a Where from header, and to the right of that it will show the exact web address from which the file was originally downloaded.
Super - Fast Way to Email a URL (Apple ONLY)
If you run across a cool website and want to email that site to a friend, probably the fastest way is to press Command-Shift-I. This opens Mail, and inserts the Web URL into the body of your email. Now all you have to do is type the recipient’s name, enter “Check this site out” in the Subject line, and click Send.
Then all you have to worry about is their spam blocker stopping your email from getting through with such a generic subject in the title. (Note: If you want a super-slow way, highlight the website’s name, go under the Safari menu, under Services, under Mail, and choose Send Selection — it basically does the same thing.)
Backup
Virtually all of you have either CD Writers or DVD Writers fitted to your computers. You will also have software installed to let you backup onto DVD or CD. Referring back to the Security article on the front page, it is evident that most people don’t backup their work up as they either like to “fly by the seat of their pants”, don’t know how to or know what to backup.
For about £5.00 you can buy a box of blank CD’s or DVD’s and make regular backups of your work. Imagine for example that you are writing your memoirs on your PC and for no apparent reason the PC’s hard disk drive crashes. What would you do (apart from giving me a call)? All of your work lost and in lots of instances irretrievable, all that time spent typing wasted! If you backup your work a little and often you can’t go far wrong. It will save a lot of heartache and grief in the long run.
If you don’t know how to backup your work, give me a call.
Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts
When you’re typing a document in Word, there are a number of ways of performing the same function, you can use the mouse and click on for example the B to make your text Bold or you can use a keyboard shortcut. This makes life easier as you don’t need to stop typing to perform the function.
Here are a few examples you can try (they’ll work in Notepad, Wordpad and MOST other text based programs as well of course Word).
Create a non-breaking space. CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR
Create a non-breaking hyphen. CTRL+HYPHEN
Make letters bold. CTRL+B
Make letters italic. CTRL+I
Make letters underline. CTRL+U
Decrease font size. CTRL+SHIFT+<
Increase font size. CTRL+SHIFT+>
Remove paragraph or character formatting. CTRL+SPACEBAR
Copy the selected text or object. CTRL+C
Cut the selected text or object. CTRL+X
Paste text or an object. CTRL+V
Undo the last action. CTRL+Z
Redo the last action. CTRL+Y
Jokes
Right Click
Tech Support: "I need you to right-click on the Desktop."
Customer: "Ok."
Tech Support: "Did you get a pop-up menu?"
Customer: "No."
Tech Support: "Ok. Right click again. Do you see a pop-up menu?"
Customer: "No."
Tech Support: "Ok, sir. Can you tell me what you have done up until this point?"
Customer: "Sure, you told me to write 'click' and I wrote click'."
Techie Joke
Tech Support: What does the screen say now?
Person: It says "Hit ENTER when ready".
Tech Support: Well?
Person: How do I know when it's ready?
Airliner
At a recent software engineering management course in the US, the participants were given an awkward question to answer. "If you had just boarded an airliner and discovered that your team of programmers had been responsible for the flight control software how many of you would disembark immediately?"
Among the ensuing forest of raised hands, only one man sat motionless. When asked what he would do, he replied that he would be quite content to stay onboard.
With his team's software, he said, the plane was unlikely to even taxi as far as the runway, let alone take off.
For more information and details on any of the issues mentioned in this missive or any computing problems / queries, please contact me, and don’t forget to send me your email address if you’d like to be kept in touch with what’s happening in the computer world. Your details will not be passed on to any third party.
Happy and safe computing.
Mike Hamilton Hillside Computer Services (01284) 830830 Hillside Computer Services |
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