January 24, 2012
More virus attacks
August 5, 2011
Address Book for labels with link to email
It occurred to me that someone out there might benefit from a copy of this Access database which I developed for our use and have since enhanced it for use by a couple of my customers.
I placed the help file on the site so you can get a flavour for what it does. If you would like a copy at just £50 please send me an email. It can be enhanced as required as I am the author. I linked it to Thunderbird but it would not take too much effort to change it to link to outlook’s address book (or windows live etc).
August 3, 2011
Power supply
When you live in Wiltshire you will know that power is not always reliable. You are strongly advised to use an anti-surge board and if the data is critical you might buy a uninterruptible power supply UPS. We can supply these.
May 27, 2011
More Indians taking your money !
I’ve had 3 people today alone who have been scammed by Indian persons who claim to be from Microsoft, Norton and Grisoft.
PLEASE DO NOT BE TAKEN IN NO MATTER HOW GENUINE THEY SOUND.
March 11, 2011
Latest scam warning
You may soon get a call from an Indian person claiming to be from Windows (you might be immediately suspicious as the company is Microsoft) and telling that you have had a problem with your PC. BE WARNED THIS IS A SCAM. In all likelihood you have a virus which has allowed them to get details about you making them sound very genuine. If you have already been scammed and you entered credit card details on your PC you should contact your bank immediately.
February 7, 2011
Virus outbreaks
I am seeing a large volume of viruses of late, many of which can be traced to use of the facebook website and exchange of games. You (and your resident teenagers) should be very careful what is downloaded even when the file has come from someone you know. Remember that no virus checker is ever 100% effective as there is always a delay between the appearance of a new virus and the release of a cure. Also note that the price of your virus checker is not an indication of how effective it will be !
December 3, 2010
Address book for labels
Having just updated our address book for this years Christmas card labels it occurred to me that someone out there might benefit from a copy of this Access database which I developed for our use and have since enhanced it for use by a couple of my customers.
I placed the help file on the site so you can get a flavour for what it does. If you would like a copy at just £50 please send me an email. It can be enhanced as required as I am the author.
November 22, 2010
Hoax emails
If anyone sends you an email that tells you a virus is coming and you should forward the warning, please do not bother.
Look up the title of the email in Google instead and you will discover that it is a hoax like all the others.
The latest one forwarded to me had this link first when I Googled it Click here
July 19, 2010
Looking after your mains connection
In Wiltshire we seem to suffer a lot from mains spikes so it is an absolute must that you protect your desktop and modem/router by installing an anti-surge board. The boards are inexpensive and can be found at Comet, B&Q as well as PC World. The money spent may save you a new computer so is well worth it. It should be around 10 pounds.
Turning off your desktop PC and/or wireless modem at the wall may not be a good idea for 2 different reasons:
The desktop PC has a small battery inside which powers the BIOS when no mains is connected. Normally these last for years but if you turn off the mains it will go flat much quicker. When it does most PCs just lose the time but a few lose all their settings and will not start !
Many modems (including the BT Homehub) have an algorithm which attempts to improve the speed of your connection over time. Each time you turn it off it begins all over again. So you can see if you turn it off every day …..
May 20, 2010
Facebook Virus ?
I am getting an increasing number of fake virus check ’scare ware’ calls. These are quite difficult to remove and seem to get worse the longer the messages are ignored. It seems that this might be sourced on facebook as all the people I have asked tell me they were using it recently to getting the virus. Be warned do not download something unless you are CERTAIN it is 100% safe !
In the last week I’ve seen a big increase in virus attacks from spoof virus programs. If a program shows you lots of infections but asks you to pay before they can be removed you can be sure that it is a spoof. Paying will not solve anything except to reduce your bank balance!
Note that no anti-virus program can ever be 100% effective (as they cure is always retrospective) and even the best ones have a hit rate of only 80%. Experience suggests that the more commonly used the AV product is the more it is a target by those writing the viruses so market share is not always a good indicator of effectiveness (only marketing ability) !
Avoid opening executable mail attachments unless you are certain that they are safe. If the mail says it is from someone you know that is no guarantee as a common way of spreading is to mail all people in a person’s address book.
Using any browser other than Internet Explorer is likely to be safer since hackers are likely to exploit the browser that most people use. I like Firefox but you may prefer Google Chrome or Safari (or another).