2020it

Defragment Your XP Hard Drive

Sunday, 04 April 2010 10:50 administrator

Everybody would like their computer to go a bit faster, defragmenting your drive will help keep your PC running better. You should defrag your drive once a week. I've created "Batch Files" that will do all this for you on a single click.

Defrag and Shut Down: Do this as you leave, and your computer will Defrag, then shut down. The Green option.

Defrag and Reboot: Suitable for those who "Remote Access" to their office computer.When defragging, your computer will run like "toffee" so best do this every Friday as you leave the office. The first time you run this, will take several hours, getting quicker each week. Your Servers are programmed to do this in the middle of the night.

Last Updated on Monday, 06 September 2010 13:18

Help Desk closed 7th-14th Sept

Tuesday, 31 August 2010 09:13 administrator

Your Manager will have my number in case of emergency, and will have full remote access whilst away.

Last Updated on Monday, 06 September 2010 13:12

Windows Support Scam

Tuesday, 31 August 2010 11:06 administrator

(Thanks William in Aberdeen for this one)

Just to let you know about a scam, that is doing the rounds. In the last 2 weeks, I have had 3 telephone calls claiming to be from windows support.

They claim that you are getting many error messages and that your pc is infected with a virus. They have done some research and generally know your surname, but cannot tell what operating system you are running and do not provide you with a job number (which you should receive if you contact windows support).

I hope that this is a heads up, if you havent received details of this scam.

iPhone 3G Tips & Tricks - Manage Your Call List and Contacts

Thursday, 19 August 2010 11:53 administrator

Last Updated on Saturday, 28 August 2010 10:48

Do you back up your Home PC? Careless Whisper...

Thursday, 26 August 2010 15:27 administrator

Hey people, normally I am blogging about what your office does / does not.
Well when I talk to you guys about home computing, I find out that way less than 1 in 10 back up your home PC. Just think, your Home PC dies, and so does all the pictures of the weans / grand weans, etc have all gone.

You can always download George's Greatest Hits, but you can't download "Tracy's 7th Birthday Party"

Disaster? Perhaps, 9 out of 10 computers I can recover ALL your data . Call me. But, you really should have some form of back up.
I will create videos of how to do this. Watch this space.

Last Updated on Friday, 27 August 2010 09:19

What are Windows Updates?

Sunday, 04 April 2010 10:52 administrator

Windows Updates: Constantly, Microsoft make improvements and fix security flaws as they are discovered. Microsoft release them usually once a month. You should run them.

(Windows 7) (Win XP) (Win 2000) If you see an icon like any of these down beside the clock on the "Task Bar", Double Click and run the Updates. Updates are generally released every month, you should run them immediately. As this often requires a restart of your PC, close ALL programs before running updates.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 June 2010 04:45

New Draytek Vigor Routers

Tuesday, 10 August 2010 08:37 administrator

Draytek, high-end Routers with Broadband Dongle Back Up. How long could your office last without Email and Internet? Do you do On-Line banking/payroll?

vigor-usb

Just installed one of these yesterday, their existing Zyxel had given up the ghost. Here are some of my notes,
Much faster, blisteringly quick 17mb (was 8mb) ADSL 2+
Wireless up to 300mb (was 54mb)
More Stable, althouth the Zyxel was not bad.
Auto Reboot, Programmed to auto-reboot the router at 6am everyday.
USB "Dongle" for Broadband Back Up if ADSL/Phone line fails.

Not the cheapest at £175 plus the "Wi-Fi Dongle"

Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 August 2010 07:55

Multiple Versions of Sage

Sunday, 04 April 2010 10:19 administrator

Accountants and Sage 2009

This relates to computers with multiple versions of Sage Line 50. Typically, an accountant or accounts assistant's PC has many versions. If you try to install V15 (2009) on a machine with V13 (2007) it will typically wreck your version 13 installation. This can be fixed but takes hours of work, so please let me install it for you. Otherwise, live with V15, or the PC requires a format and rebuild.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 August 2010 07:09

Why was my PC switched on this morning?

Tuesday, 11 May 2010 20:42 administrator

Quite a lot of PC's were started remotely, so they could be scaned and updated. These scans can take several hours, so I start them, check them, then move on. No spooky PC gremlins.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 August 2010 02:48

Format and Rebuild.. what is it?

Sunday, 04 April 2010 10:39 administrator

What's a "Format and Rebuild"? (Thanks karenb @ DUN for this question)
You'll often hear me using this term, and here's what it means...
When a PC starts playing up, running slow, and generally misbehaving, what's gone wrong is the software (Windows XP, your Sage Line 50, etc, etc) It's very rarely the "Hardware" i.e. the hard drive or the motherboard itself.
Often, the best thing to do is to.....
"Format" = Scrubbing the hard drive clean of ALL software, Inc Windows, Sage the whole shebang. Don't ask if "This or the other" is still there, it's not. The drive is wiped. End of discussion.
"Rebuild" = Is quite a geeky term, a more descriptive definition would be "Re-Install" where Windows is reinstalled and updated, (3Hrs) then reinstall all the Office (Word Excel etc) Sage (all versions) and whatever other software your company uses. This is about a whole days work. But it's worth it.
Typically, when this is being carried out, it's a good idea to upgrade the RAM (Think of it as Horsepower)
A recent such "Format and Rebuild" was done on Sarahs from ABC, her PC had 512mb RAM and was running very poorly... I upgraded the RAM to 2gb (2000mb... 4 x what she had) and the machine is now flying.

Why do we need more RAM? Well, in 2007 Sage introduced Sage 13, which is very RAM hungry, and all versions since are just as greedy. Sage are not the only people demanding more RAM, most software suppliers will maximise their software for a PC with "current" specs, which is now a staggering 4gb (4000 horse power... 8 x a typical 512mb machine).

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 July 2010 06:28

Hotmail issues

Wednesday, 21 July 2010 06:01 administrator

Yesterday, any emails I sent to @hotmail bounced straight back. Investigating.

Spam - Junk email: An overview of how it works

Sunday, 04 April 2010 11:04 administrator

Junk E-Mail and what to do about it.

I received a very good question from one of my Clients about "Spam or Junk E-mail" and his concerns over the point that they may be Virus ridden.

So thanks Jim, for raising a very good point, and here are a few thing you should know about how they work, and what to do about it.

You are receiving what is called "Spam", Every time you visit a website, or subscribe to a mailing list, be sure to always check the box that says you "Don't want your address passed onto third parties", failure to do so lets your addresses be passed from Tom to Dick and Harry's brother!

So you get bombarded!

You are perfectly right in deleting these and they are usually harmless.

Some Facts, and what you can do to help rectify.....
Your E-mail Address is like the Letter box on your front door, you can't stop the envelope coming in, the Postman will deliver it, Visa Applications, Home Loans, More Loans, and so on!

Reputable companies can "buy" mailing lists, just as they can postal lists, these address lists have been legitimately collected, (because we forgot to check the wee box).
You only need to forget to check one small box on a form, and your Address (legitimately) can spread like wildfire.
Reputable companies will always have "Un-subscribe", or Remove" details, where you simply reply to their E-Mail servers, and are automatically removed from further mailings.
Less than reputable companies don't have an un-subscribe option, and there is nothing very much you can do, as the e-mail will be sent to you. (Can't close your letter box)
However, you can ask your E-mail Programme, Outlook or Outlook Express, to automatically delete e-mails from a particular address. This shall have to be done once for each "Spammers" address.
As for the spread of Viruses, the people that send these are normally more sophisticated, they are very clever people, and they normally ask a virus to send e-mail to people in YOUR address book, so viruses are more likely to come from someone you know.
Spammers don't want to send viruses, they want to sell you something, and as they have very advanced IT, their servers will check ALL their mail before they send it.
We will always get virus's, as long as we can "Clean Them", we are OK, so make sure your Anti-Virus software is up to date, a couple of clicks downloads the latest definitions (cures!). This has to be paid annually, around £20.00 per PC, but you can use one AV software to scan, and clean your entire Network. Which means other PC's may get a virus, but you should be able to clean it from the other PC with AV software.

Hope this helps you understand how the "system" works.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 July 2010 06:28

Blackberry Phones: Not Supported.

Wednesday, 21 July 2010 06:04 administrator

If you are getting a new phone, and want to get your Company email "Pushed" directly to the phone, you will need either an iPhone, or a "Windows based" phone for proper operations. Blackberry handsets work very well if you have a "Blackberry Server", and don't work well at all without it. I recently spent many, many hours trying to get a Blackberry to work on Exchange Server, which 95% of people reading this will have. If you decide to go ahead and get a Blackberry, you will need to contact the supplier to configure it for you. If you have an iPhone, connection takes less than 2 minutes. And simply "Works" with email, contacts and calendar. Also, handsets with Windows 6.2 or 7 work fine with the exception of SSL secure certificates.

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