I’m going to stick my neck out and make a couple of predictions about what will happen over the coming year in the world of gadgets, technology and the internet.

The world of smartphones and tablet PC’s will continue to converge. With exciting new products based on next year’s upgrade of the Android phone system, we’ll see more devices like the Samsung Tab competing against the iPad. With techies developing for the massive iphone and Android markets the Windows Mobile devices will be irrelevant this time next year (so, no change, really!)

On the internet we’re going to see the fall-out from Wikileaks with governments clamping down on websites. This is happening already in America and it’s just a matter of time before it happens here. We’ll also see more bit-torrent based information delivery from people determined to get around the system.

We’re also on the verge of 3-D internet! The new beta version of Chrome browser includes the nuts and bolts for 3D modelling and it’s a small step from that to sitting in front of the computer donning your glasses immersed in 3D Farmville.

One thing that we know that won’t happen is BT’s Infinity hitting the homes of Wigan. None of the phone exchanges around town are scheduled for the upgrade to their super-fast internet, but I remain hopeful that we’ll be hooked up early in 2012.

This was originally published in the local Courier Newspaper.

Businesses in Yorkshire and in the south have lost millions from the bad weather over the past few week – and it’s just a matter of time before it really hits us.

From simple remote desktops to full blown secure virtual private networks (VPN’s) – we use them ourselves and we’ve helped many of our clients to find and use the best options for their businesses.

For a convenient and secure connection to your office you don’t need to be breaking the bank. If you run a server, or have a reasonably smart router for your broadband you may already have the equipment needed to set up a VPN. We can take a look at what you have and advise you what to do.

If you want to arrange an appointment then click here to request a phone call – we’d be more than happy to help out.

Another way to keep things working is to use “cloud-based services”. What are cloud-based services? I hear you ask…well, it’s just a name that’s been given to internet services – some of which have been kicking around for a long time.

The reason they are really useful is because they can be accessed from absolutely anywhere. For example, you might already know that we use “Google Apps for Business” here at mytechie. All our emails, calendars, documents and contacts are held on the system. It synchronises nicely with Outlook, telephones and all sorts of other devices – clever huh!

Google Apps isn’t the only one on the market and there are great Exchange and Office options too – it just fitted with how we work.

Of course, you might not want to work from home… you can always connect from a hotel or even the beach! (just make it somewhere sunnier than Formby).00

Why not Get in touch today and we can help set up a system that suits the way you want to work – you’ll soon be wondering how you ever coped without it.

In the meantime, stay wrapped up snug and warm and let’s hope the gritters keep the roads clear!

Botnet infections can suck the processing life from your computer. Machines that used to whizz through work are turned into slow, lumbering cases. A shadow of their former selves. Not caring a jolt about what you want, they’re too busy doing work for other people.
Have you ever wondered why people infect computers? It’s no longer down to rebellious teenagers kicking out at the world. Viruses, malware and infections are big business these days.

Imagine having control over millions of infected PC’s, being able to send instructions for them any time you want. This massive computing power is being bought and sold on the black market for illicit activity such as sending spam emails, collecting personal and business information, and roaming the internet looking for new computers to infect. People are making big money out of infecting PC’s.

But Steve, we’re alright, we use anti-virus software…

Anti-virus software is essential, and is your first line of defence. You’re doing the right thing, day after day we see businesses that have either no protection or the absolute bare minimum – and then they wonder why their PC’s are now crawling along.

We all need to be more proactive these days with our security. Understanding the basics of security is vital:
● Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know
● Make sure your firewall is running
● Make sure all your updates have been installed – windows, anti-virus, java, acrobat and flash being the most frequently updated
● And if you’re being chased… Don’t run towards the cemetery!

Not just that but your PC should be checked regularly to make sure that it’s up to date and secure.

Regularly test vital life signs…

Sometimes it’s obvious that something is wrong. The slowness, the weird popups or search engine results mysteriously jumping to different sites. These are the obvious signs that something is afoot.
Some malicious software is more stealthy. It sits in the background and keeps to itself – hiding in the shadows of system files, or temporary folders. They masquerade as normal programs or sometimes hide themselves completely.

Only systematic, regular testing of the computer’s vital life signs will show if there is a problem or not.

Our regular PC servicing plan gives you the reassurance that your computers are up to date and working cleanly. With a full service every six months arranged at a time to suit you. We can see if something isn’t quite right and we can make sure that all your security updates have been installed – keeping your computer as secure as possible.

Crush viruses and malware with knowledge…

More than anything else, awareness of the risks and knowledge of what to do is the best form of defence. Knowing what to do when you get that unexpected pop-up can save a lot of pain later.

That’s why we’ve set up the mytechie security network. Our way of keeping you informed of existing security problems and updates as well as how to get the most from your computers, networks and technology. As a member you also get discounts on work that we do at mytechie and on our “techie tutor” home and office learning service.

Basic membership of our security network is absolutely free, send an email with your name and address to securitynetwork@mytechie.co.uk and we’ll sign you up.

The challenges? Mrs H had an accident a few years ago which left her with very serious life-threatening injuries at the time. She has largely recovered, but was left with short term memory loss – which makes learning new skills harder – and severely impaired vision. At the same time, she is an intelligent woman who gets frustrated at her relatively new restrictions and is acutely aware of the enforced slower pace she is having to take. Over the time I worked with her, I was impressed with and humbled by her quiet and calm attitude of just getting on with life. The main reason for getting a PC was to give Mrs H another independent activity, as she isn’t able to go out alone and one can only watch so much daytime TV without going nuts.

So, Mr & Mrs H Had been to PC World to buy a new computer, and had broadband installed. PC World sent them home with a password-protected Windows 7 PC, on the default theme which at start-up showed light grey icons on a white background. The screen resolution was set to fit-as-much-on-the-screen-as-possible, so the script was super-tiny. Mrs H has a magnifying glass which she keeps handy, but even with that she was struggling.

The first thing I did was change the theme to one of the “High Contrast” themes that is shipped with Windows 7 (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Turn-on-High-Contrast), and change the mouse pointer to the biggest, blackest one I could find. I also changed the general text size to be “large” (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Make-the-text-on-your-screen-larger-or-smaller) and set the default text size in Mrs H’s browser to be as big as she needed it to be.

It’s possible they didn’t ask, but it seems to me that these are things that could easily have been done by PC World when the computer was being prepared for sale. They took the trouble to set passwords for 3 accounts which, by the time Mr & Mrs H came to use the PC a couple of weeks after purchase, they had forgotten. Or rather, they had forgotten the numbers attached to the passwords which were needed because their memorable words weren’t long enough.

In terms of learning, repetition is important to Mrs H. In our first session (after we’d got the PC looking reasonable for her) we went through switching the PC on, selecting her profile and setting up to surf the Internet. She then practiced this under guidance a few times.

Usually, for techie tutor sessions, we fill out a sheet which details what the aims are for the session, and as the session progresses, detailed notes are made by the tutor, and a copy left with the customer for their reference. Handwritten notes weren’t clear enough for Mrs H, so after the session I typed up the notes and mailed them to her.

Subsequent sessions included reviewing what we had done the previous week, setting up and accessing email, and (and I enjoyed this one!) accessing and playing computer games such as Solitaire. I also left her with pointers to some online exercises to help her get used to using the mouse and how to fill in forms or register on websites. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/computertutor/computertutorone/index.shtml )

It may seem like overkill to get private tuition for these things, but Mrs H would have been nervous about going to a public class, which in any case, would probably have been too fast-paced. Not from an intelligence point of view – she’s clearly very bright – but from a confidence and retention point of view. She knew that she could take things at her own pace, that I was there for as long as she needed me to be, and that I wouldn’t rush her.

We didn’t cover a lot of material with Mrs H. However, what we have done is given her the basic tools and confidence to use the computer to surf the internet, and hopefully given her a whole new window on the world. After week 1 she was looking up background info on her favourite soaps, and I’m hoping one day to be challenging her on Bejewelled Blitz.

Back in March it was widely reported that sector sizes on very large hard drives was being increased from 512 bytes to 4096 bytes to save administrative space on a drive and the opportunity for slightly faster drives (some interesting info here.

Windows XP, however, only understands block sizes of 512 bytes and the new drives should only work in emulation mode. Consequently, the newer drives are expected to be about 10% slower for XP users because of the extra steps needed to write information to the disk.

Yes XP has long passed it’s lifetime, but it remains the most used operating system in the world. Many, many people will still be using it ten years down the line. Indeed, we have some business customers who stick to Windows 2000 for some machines because their software continues to work (and we occasionally see some home users with Windows 98/Me machines – although *very rarely* these days).

The vast majority of business users, however, remain with Windows XP. These are also the people most likely to stick with it until a compelling reason comes along to upgrade to something else. Most often software that will only run on later versions of Windows.

The other factor with business users is that they very often don’t use a massive amount of hard drive space on their computers. It’s rare to be presented with a business machine with hundreds of photos, videos or music. Instead they often have their accounts, word and excel documents and that’s about it.

The rush to massive capacity hard drives for this market doesn’t matter a bean, except when trying to get a replacement disk. These users mostly use less than 30Gb on their disks and have no need for terabytes of space.

For that very reason it might be that the performance issue becomes a moot point. The advance of solid state disks (SSD) means that a totally new generation of faster drives is becoming available. A replacement 64Gb SSD can be bought for £80-ish and a PCI SATA card for about £15. This could be the preferred maintenance route for some businesses.

For home users, however, it’s the opposite. Often disks are crammed with videos, images and music – these are the people most likely to notice the drop in performance, but also with fewer hurdles to upgrading to later versions of Windows.

With hardware changes such as this, perhaps the main consequence will be a further split between business and home computing.

It seemed like a good time to breathe new life into the old blog – ditch what was there before and give it a new kick.

So over the coming weeks and months we’ll be writing about what we come across in the course of our work as well as things that will hopefully improve the way that you use IT in your work and home.

I hope that you enjoy what we write here, and you’re welcome to join in and comment on any of the articles that we write.