Issue 8 - Summer Newsletter 2009

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Welcome to Issue 8 of the Hillside Computer Services Newsletter, which is the first on-line version of the newsletter I’ve produced. It’s been a long time coming (nearly 12 months), but I hope you’ll find it worth the wait. If nothing else, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the link to the most viewed video on YouTube, “Charlie Bit My Finger – Again”

The reason for producing the newsletter on-line is an effort to become more efficient and environmentally friendly:
you can print out the newsletter for future reference if you wish, save it to your computer or forward it onto a friend or colleague.

A real benefit in producing the newsletter in this manner will allow me to add more content, add direct links to web sites mentioned - no more copying web addresses and greater functionality. For your added piece of mind all web links (which are displayed in this format) have been checked for accuracy i.e. they will take you directly to the correct web site (at the time of writing: July 2009). As an added feature, I shall give a complete listing of the full URL’s at the end of this newsletter.

News

Well what’s happened in the computer world in the last 12 months I hear you ask. To be honest, not a great deal. PC’s and laptops prices have been falling rapidly. The cost of software has been going up and as a marketing exercise Apple has increased its prices dramatically on both hardware and software (I’m not sure whether that’s a brave move in view of the economic climate, but I suppose they know what they’re doing).

Microsoft Windows 7

I suppose the most newsworthy item is that Microsoft is releasing a new operating system on October 22nd, Windows 7. I have run a beta version of the software for the past couple of months, and must say that I like it. It looks very similar to Vista, but without the huge implications / problems Vista had when it was first released. For all the gory details, refer to Newsletter Issue 3. There is more emphasis on personalization and filing documents how you want to and better search facilities to help you find that “missing” document. A huge plus point is that it appears to be less memory hungry than Vista – 2 GB is ample (but don’t quote me on that). Regarding hard drive space, I don’t think that that enters the equation (as pretty much all of you have fairly huge capacity hard drives). Actually a minimum of 16GB free space is needed.

There will be four versions of Windows 7 available, Starter, Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate. Regarding pricing, that doesn’t seem to be clear at the moment. I expect that the Starter version will be in the sub £100.00 price bracket and Ultimate to be in the region of £250.00.

For more details on Microsoft Windows 7, click here (1) to be taken to Microsoft’s site.

Web Browsers

Other current news is that both Mozilla and Microsoft have released new versions of their web browsers; Firefox 3.5 and Internet Explorer 8. Both browsers have plus and minus points. Both claim to be more secure than each other’s, but personally having run both, I err on the side of Firefox 3.5. I think it’s easier to use, more intuitive and less fussy. Microsoft have gone a bundle on customisation and clutter, also there are an awful lot of settings (which can be changed purposely or accidently), which if not set correctly could cause you problems. The main plus point with Firefox is that it can be very easily uninstalled should you wish. It is also a lot faster in loading than Internet Explorer.

Apple users (of which I am one) have the added benefit that Firefox 3.5 is available to run on their macs. It is a huge improvement over Safari (the default browser pre-installed on macs).

To download Firefox 3.5 from Mozilla’s site,click here (2)
To download Internet Explorer 8 from Microsoft’s web site,click here (3)

Mac OS X Snow Leopard

The newest version of Apple’s operating system OSX; Snow Leopard (Apple have called their operating systems after big cats for a number of years: Tiger, Panther etc.) is being released in September. It is being hailed as major leap forward by the computer press. The benefits are that it only needs 6GB of hard drive space. It’s up to 45% faster than Leopard and has a quicker start up than previously. My own Mac Pro desktop running Leopard takes less than 7 seconds to boot up, so goodness knows how much quicker it will be at starting up in the morning!

The good news is that the price for the operating system is expected to be around the £80.00 mark. The other good news is that there is only one version to choose from.

More details here (4)

Bookmarks and Favorites

Yes, I know it’s Favorites is spelled the American way and before you ask, no, Microsoft don’t consider any other language settings in Internet Explorer, so I’m just having to go with the flow.

Did you know that when you come across a great web site, and it’s one that you are likely to want to revisit in the future, then you can ensure your browser remembers the page that you visited?

To do this varies accordingly to the web browser you are using.

If you are using Mozilla Firefox, do the following:
Open Firefox and navigate to the page you want to refer back to in the future e.g. www.hillsidecomputers.co.uk
Click on Bookmarks at the top of Firefox’s window
Click on Bookmark This page
This will add the page to Firefox’s Bookmarks menu, so the next time you want to re-visit the page, all you need to do is click on Bookmarks and then move the mouse down to the page you want to view and left click on it.

If you are using Internet Explorer, then you’ll need to do this:
Open Internet Explorer and navigate to the page you want to refer back to in the future e.g. www.hillsidecomputers.co.uk
Click on Favorites
Click Add to Favorites
This will add the page to Internet Explorer’s Favorites menu, so the next time you want to re-visit the page, all you need to do is click on Favorites and then move the mouse down to the page you want to view and left click on it.

Incidentally if you are using Internet Explorer and you can’t see this bar at the top of the Window:

You’ll need to do this:
Right click on a pale grey portion at the top of the window.
This will display a small menu.
Left click on Menu Bar shown in this small menu.

Now you can do the above to add a Favorite.

If you need help with this give me a call or drop me an email (01284) 830830 or info@hillsidecomputers.co.uk

Annoying New Google feature

You may well have noticed that a new feature has crept into Google, if you use it as your home page. The feature is called Query Suggestions. What it does is when you start typing in the Google Search Box, a drop down list is presented based upon what “They”, Google thinks you are looking for. I find this so called feature a complete pain. In all instances when I go on the web I know what I’m looking for, though sometimes I don’t know where I’m going to find it. However that for me is part of the fun, if that’s the right word for it (masochistic is another) of using the Web.

So if like me, you find this really, really annoying, you can turn it off.

To do this, click on Preferences, it’s to the right of the Google Search Box
This will open the Google Preferences page.
Scroll down until you see the Query Suggestions in bold text at the bottom left hand side of the page.
Click on the small button to the left of “Do not provide query suggestions in the search box”.
Click on “Save Preferences”.

Safe Browsing

Viruses and Trojans are on the increase, as is general on-line security (or rather, the lack of). There seems to be a current spate of Spam emails being sent out purporting to be from HSBC, Barclays etc. asking you to verify your security details. I received one this morning supposedly from NatWest and very professional it looks to. The layout and the graphics look exactly the same as those used on banks websites. In all probability, the graphics were copied form the genuine bank’s web site along with the text styles.

(Apologies for the poor quality of the image, but I had do a screen grab, which changes all the text into an image, which then subsequently went blurry).

By clicking on the “Register Now” link you are taken to a web site masquerading as NatWest (in this instance), where you are asked for your name, account number and security details. What happens next is that you lose all your money from your account.

Should you receive an email such as this:

I do know a chap who lives in the area who was completely taken in by such a rouse. A pretty switched on guy, late 30’s who in a moment of weakness was fooled by an email which looked as if it had come from HSBC. He banks with HSBC and has done so all his working life so, thought the email to be bona fide. He entered all his personal details as requested. Immediately the funds in his personal bank account were withdrawn and sent to a bank in southern Asia and then spirited away in a money laundering scam. 17 grand in total left his account at the blink of an eye. The police couldn’t do anything as it was out of their jurisdiction. HSBC wouldn’t do anything as the email didn’t come from them and they don’t have control over what people do with their text and graphics. His Internet provider couldn’t do anything either as their only duty is to send emails to people.

An expensive lesson leaned the hard way. You have been warned!

On another tack, as you may know, I do a lot of equating of computers with cars. A new one is equating the Internet with a town; this is still to do with safe web browsing. Here’s how it works. You are quite happy at visiting your nearest town to do some shopping. You’re quite happy at shopping in Boots, W H Smiths and HMV etc. However, as you move out of the town centre, you’ll often see that the shops aren’t quite so glitzy as those in the centre. Maybe the shop fronts have dirty windows or peeling paint. However, there are some specialized shops that you won’t find in a town centre, for example car spares, fishing tackle supplies and plumbing supplies. These are shops that you’ll probably be quite happy to use as you’ve maybe used them before or a friend has recommended you to them, but maybe there are some of which you won’t use. This is exactly how the Internet is.

So, when you go onto Google to look for “Holiday Villa Rentals In Spain” for example, you are presented with a list of 1,900,000 web sites all of whom proclaim to be the site for you. Unfortunately the hard fact is that the vast majority aren’t. They’ll be companies or individuals you’ve never heard of. The trick here is to be sensible. Disseminate the good from the bad (or the wheat from the chaff) and be extremely discriminating. As you may know, the Internet is an open resource with little or no control over it’s content, essentially anyone can create a website about any subject matter they like. If there is any doubt in your mind that the site you are looking at is not for you, leave it immediately and go and look elsewhere. Do not be tempted to explore the site any further.

Any concerns, just give me a call.

Humour

This is India. It’s where you call when you have a technical problem with your Internet connection!

Web links

Quite a few things to think about this time round. I hope some are useful.
Don’t forget to keep your computer and software up to date by applying any necessary updates, regularly scan your computer for viruses / nasties and of course backup your data regularly.

The next issue will be produced in the autumn and I hope you enjoyed this read. If not, let me know and I’ll do something about it.

Don’t forget that back issues of the Newsletters are available to download in PDF format and can then be printed off from www.hillsidecomputers.co.uk.

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 1, Hillside Cross Green Hartest Bury St. Edmunds Suffolk IP29 4ED (01284) 830830 Hillside Computer Services info@hillsidecomputers.co.uk www.hillsidecomputers.co.uk

Hillside Computer Services

P.S. Learn from your mistakes. The most viewed video on YouTube, “Charlie Bit My Finger – Again”

can be viewed by clicking here (5). Over 106 million hits in 2 years.