Just a little dire warning to PC users, the Digital Economy Bill proposes to place a burden of responsibility on the person owning the Internet connection – you have to prove it wasn't you who pirated that film, otherwise you risk being disconnected. On that basis, you might want to have a good look at your AV, the status of any wireless connection and the exact state of your PC. Don't assume your are safe because you have AVG/Norton or similar on the system, especially if you are updating once a week or less. Get the system fully checked out. A pro can check out ports open on your machine and look around for anything odd which could mean a possible pirate is using your connection. Your might want to make sure your wireless connection is WPA2 compliance and you are not broadcasting your SSID. A good hacker will find your connection regardless, but you can at least make it tough enough so that they go and find another sucker instead.
Anyone with multiple PCs and children might want to see what is on the machine as well. While many people refer to having their PCs "hacked" the reality is the majority of problems happen when someone decides to download a file from www.put_virus_on_my-PC.ru or similar dodgy site.
Given that this could become the cash cow for some legal firm next year (Letters demanding recompense in the £500 have been received and £700 have been suggested) a few quid hiring the services of someone to give your PC a clean bill of health could be a real saver. If you are on a tight budget try my guide (details below) or spend some time on the net understanding how your PC works.
Email me on ron.cook@gmail.com for my "Help Yourself" PDF price £1 (Paypal, cheque or postal order) I also do PC protection in the Hastings area.)
Sunday 18 April 2010
Saturday 10 April 2010
The Internet is Middle-aged - explains a lot.
From the first email to the first YouTube video: a definitive internet history. What links a broken laser pointer, a coffee pot and the elephant enclosure at San Diego Zoo? In late 1971 Ray Tomlinson, an engineer working on a time-sharing system called Tenex, combined two programs named Cpynet and SNDMSG in order to send the first ever network email. It had been possible to send email from one user to another on a single computer for nearly 10 years but Tomlinson was the first to use the primitive Arpanet to send text from one computer to another.
While the same principles are used to send emails across the world today, the very first email (the contents of which Tomlinson says he has long forgotten) was sent between two computers sitting right next to each other. At the same time, Tomlinson also devised the format of modern emails, with the @ symbol dividing the user name from the name of the host computer (although he did not invent the symbol itsel). And why did he do it? "Mostly because it seemed like a neat idea."
Full article at http://ping.fm/tVRil
While the same principles are used to send emails across the world today, the very first email (the contents of which Tomlinson says he has long forgotten) was sent between two computers sitting right next to each other. At the same time, Tomlinson also devised the format of modern emails, with the @ symbol dividing the user name from the name of the host computer (although he did not invent the symbol itsel). And why did he do it? "Mostly because it seemed like a neat idea."
Full article at http://ping.fm/tVRil
Sunday 4 April 2010
Thursday 1 April 2010
It is the biggest shakeup in the Ordnance Survey's 260-year history: from tomorrow you can download maps as detailed as 1:10,000 scale, or collect a list of locations appearing on maps at the 1:50,000 scale, or a conversion system for postcodes to grid references – free for personal or commercial use. Charles Arthur, The Guardian. Full article at http://ping.fm/PAV6G
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