Do I have a virus?

There are a lot of different types of viruses and spyware programs. It is possible that your system has been infected if it exhibits one or more of the following symptoms:

PC is running very slowly
Internet Explorer is taking a long time to open pages, even for pages you've been to lots of times before with no problems
Can't connect to the internet any more
Popup ads appearing
Warning popups appearing in the lower right corner of the screen
Programs crash unexpectedly
Can't open MS Office documents
Change in way computer behaves

It is possible that these symptoms can be caused by other problems, such as the failure of hardware within the PC, or hard drive corruption.

But I already have anti-virus programs running!

Sometimes viruses and spyware can evade detection by background antivirus scanners. Manually scan for viruses with your anti-virus scanner and if problems persist, contact us. It is essential that a virus is dealt with as soon as its presence is suspected. A very common type of virus is called a Trojan. This appears harmless at first, but every time you connect to the internet this virus will cause multiple other viruses to download onto your computer. The worst example of this kind of infection that I have seen consisted of at least 500 viruses. This happened because the customer ignored the symptoms for 18 months. There was no choice but to recommend a complete reformat and reinstallation. All important data was lost.

Recommended Antivirus Products

One of the most frequent problems that gets described to me on the phone is with an older system that is running very slowly. One of the first questions that I ask is "Are you running Macafee Antivirus?" More often than not it is Macafee that is causing the problem. There is nothing inherently wrong with Macafee as an antivirus product, or Norton for that matter. But both of these programs are resource hogs which can easily use up 200Mb of memory by themselves. If your system has 256MB memory, then its not hard to see that with 200MB used up by Macafee there's not a lot left for running everything else.

It is possible to download good free antivirus products from the internet that hardly use up any memory at all. The two products that I recommend are avast and AVG. These are non intrusive (ie they don't slow your computer down), but have very high success rates in tracking down and cleaning viruses. Personally I run Avast on some machines and AVG on the others. These two products are at least as good if not better than Macafee and Norton antivirus, neither of which have free editions.

As well as antivirus, antispyware programs are essential. I would definitely recommend downloading, installing and running all three of the following:

You need all three of these because spyware is so prevalent and diverse. No single program will find everything. The first two run quickly and should be set up to scan manually on a weekly basis. Superantispyware is a much more thorough program and takes hours to run. Maybe set it to run overnight, once a month.

Protecting yourself from infection

Taking the following steps will considerably reduce the number of viruses and other malware from being loaded onto your computer:

Don't visit porn sites or subscribe to 'alternative lifestyle' newsletters;
Don't download bit torrents;
Be careful with social networking sites. They are vulnerable to attack;
Be careful with live chat such as Windows Live and Yahoo Messenger. Only chat with people you already know;
Most File Sharing programs contain spyware. Limewire may or may not. I would say please don't use filesharing to pirate free software, but if you must, use a spyware free product;
Only open email attachments if you're expecting them from a known sender;
If you do download anything from the internet, save it to a known location rather than running it straight away, then right click the saved file and scan it with both AVG and Malwarebytes;
Make sure your kids follow these rules;
Do not use a business computer for leisure activities and do not let your children use your business computer.

PC or laptop?

The first decision to make when thinking of buying a new computer system is whether to buy a desktop pc or a laptop. Laptops are smaller, lighter, completely portable, can run on batteries for 4 hours or more and generally look pretty stylish. Not all the advantages are with laptops, however.

If you have plenty of space, or you see no need to move your computer around, then a desktop pc is a better option. PCs are significantly cheaper for the same amount of processing power and are generally a lot faster running. The other main advantage of PCs over laptops is repairability. Laptops tend to be proprietory. That is, each company designs its laptops' internals in a way that is unlike the designs of other companies. This makes both replacement parts and hourly billed labour that much more expensive. Laptops are also more difficult and expensive to upgrade for the same reasons.

What am I going to use it for?

Having decided on a PC or laptop the next thing to think about is what you're going to use your system for.

Budget Systems

If you are constrained by a tight budget, then you need to look at budget systems. You can successfully browse the internet, send and receive emails, write and print documents, download and view digital photos on a budget PC.

Family Systems

If you are not constrained by a tight budget, and you plan on typical family use then then a more versatile mid-range system would probably suit you. You can browse the internet, send and receive emails, write and print documents, download and view digital photos as you would on a budget PC. But the faster processor, bigger hard drive, extra memory, better case and added graphics card means you can work faster, play some graphics intensive games, store more music, pictures and videos and the better case means that the PC will be quieter and tougher.

Premium Systems

If you love your PC, or you make heavy demands on it by having it on all day, or running multiple programs on it at once, then you should get the best machine that you can afford. Quad core machines are now relatively affordable, and Intel has now released its Core I7 processor which has 8 virtual cores. This is like having a computer with 8 processors. Multi-core systems are designed to run multiple applications at the same time fast. Memory up to 6GB is pretty cheap at the moment and massive hard drives with more than 1000GB of storage space are reasonably priced also.

Gamers Systems

If you want to play Real Time or High Graphical Content games, then you need a machine optimised to cope with the specific set of demands that gaming requires. Gaming machines need to be fast, with lots of memory, a powerful graphics card, a good network controller and a big and very well ventilated case. The major PC retailers don't do this very well. That's where we come in. Call us on 0118 978 7133 for a quote.

Deciding on a Brand

With computers "You get what you pay for" definitely applies. I see hardware failures much more frequently in budget machines and budget brands. In my opinion the best brands are Dell, Toshiba (for laptops) and Sony, although some Sony Vaio laptops do have design flaws such as serious overheating issues. Since Dells are almost exclusively sold through the Dell website, it is easy to buy the wrong machine. I know of a family who lost all of their data after unknowingly buying a Dell computer with a RAID 0 setup. RAID 0 optimizes speed over data security, so if hard drive failure occurs all data is permanently lost.

Our PCs

Don't forget that we can build a PC to your specification ourselves. Look at some of the advantages:

We can chat with you about your needs, then build you the right system;
We use best quality components from Asus, Kingston, Intel, AMD, Samsung;
All our computers are 'burnt in' using Eurosoft PC Check so you can be assured that when we deliver your new PC it will work;
Our computers come with a 12 month warranty. If any component fails within that period it will be replaced, free of charge.

So please feel free to call us on 0118 978 7133 for more advice.

What is Windows 7?

Windows 7 is the latest Operating System from Microsoft which came to market on October 22nd 2009. It is what Windows Vista should have been but wasn't - a stable and useable successor to Windows XP. There has been a positive reaction to Windows 7 from the press, and this is justified in my opinion. I have been impressed by how easy it is to install Windows 7 on a brand new computer. Installation is faster and the big difference from all earlier operating systems is that there is no need to install the drivers for the computer's hardware as these are automatically installed by Windows 7. In fact if the computer is connected to the internet during installation, Windows 7 will go and look for the latest versions of the drivers from the hardware manufacturers' websites! Once installed, Windows 7 starts faster and uses about half as much RAM as Windows Vista. This means that older computers which currently run Windows XP will also run Windows 7 without any need to upgrade hardware!

Windows 7 comes either with 32 bit or 64 bit architecture. 64 bit was brand new in Vista but was not really taken up by anyone other than specialist gamers because not many programs or hardware drivers would run with it. In the immediate future 64 bit Windows 7 will be used by the same segment of the population. Choose the 32 bit option unless you know you need 64 bit.

Windows 7 is available in several editions:

Windows 7 Home Premium - recommended for most home users. This version will enable you to connect to the internet, share files and printers around your home network, watch movies and internet TV and all the other things you're used to doing with your computer.
Windows 7 Professional Edition - For office workstations. In addition to Home Premium's features, Professional enables (downloadable) XP Mode in case your really old software won't run in normal mode. Also enables the computer to join a domain and backup an entire network.
Windows 7 Ultimate Edition - In addition to Professional Edition's features Ultimate has BitLocker encryption to protect your data against theft and has automatic multi-language support for 35 languages.

Pros and Cons?

Windows 7 improvements over XP:

easier home network connections
easier sharing of files, photos and music over the home network
improved management of devices such as printers and cameras
easier organization of files, photos, downloads etc
built in spyware and parental control software
software for creating formatted slide shows
better graphics

Windows 7 improvements over Vista:

better liaison with hardware manufacturers means it works with all standard hardware
its faster
the computer doesn't have to work so hard
less memory is required
you can preview open windows by sliding the mouse along the taskbar
fewer annoying popups asking for permission to do things
easier home network connections
easier sharing of files, photos and music over the home network
improved management of devices such as printers and cameras
enables access to your files on your computer while you're away from it

Downsides. So far the only downsides I have noticed are nannyish default power saving settings including turning the monitor off after 10 minutes of disuse and putting the computer to sleep after half an hour. These can be alarming if not expected. These times can be changed in Control Panel, Power Settings. Similarly I have seen a wireless dongle turn itself off after a few minutes of disuse. Again this setting can be turned off in device manager. Feel free to call me on 0118 978 7133 if you need help with these or any other issues.

Our recommendations

If you have previously put off buying a new computer because you were reluctant to use Vista, now is the time to get that new machine. Please note that we can build your new computer, install Windows 7 and transfer your files, photos, music etc from your old computer.

If you are happy with your computer but want to get rid of Vista, we can upgrade it to Windows 7 for you. Please call on 0118 978 7133 or drop us an email

Wireless Networking Issues

A wireless network is often used to enable all the computers in a house to connect to the internet without wires trailing all over the place. It can also be used to share files and printers between multiple computers in the network. It sounds great, and in most cases it is, but there are one or two issues that can muddy the waters:

Signal Strength

A wireless network consists of a radio transmitter - the router, and receivers - Network Interface Cards (NICs) installed in your computers. Government regulations prevent a wireless network transmitting at greater than 5 Watts. Any network transmitting at higher power than this would be classified as a radio station. Such a weak signal has great difficulty penetrating very solid barriers such as brick walls. Consequently the furthest rooms in big, solidly built houses can have problems picking up signals from the wireless network, without range extenders and expensive antennae. If you are having signal strength problems with your wireless network please contact us.

Security

It is essential to secure your wireless network with encryption if you don't want all your neighbours surfing the internet and viewing your shared files using your network. Most Wireless Routers enable you to encrypt signals within the network using 64 bit WEP, 128 bit WEP and 128 bit WPA encryption. Of these WPA encryption is the most secure. Unfortunately it can be difficult for a lot of Wireless NICs to operate with WPA security. If you find that this is true, then go with 128 bit WEP encryption. 64 bit WEP is of little use. A determined hacker can break this in 15 minutes. A lot of people recommend MAC Address Filtering as a way of additionally securing a network. However since most routers allow MAC address spoofing, again a determined hacker can break this technique in about 15 minutes. How to implement these security techniques should be explained in your router documentation, however please contact us if you are having difficulties.

Wireless networks in Small Businesses

To cut to the chase here businesses should not use wireless networking except in subdomains for which security is not an issue, for instance in training or guest areas. Wireless is slower, less reliable for data transfer and easier to break into than wired networks.

Keeping Your Data Safe

The most common question I am asked when a computer's hard drive fails is "Can you recover my data" The answer is "It depends." Sometimes all data can be recovered from a failing hard drive, sometimes some of it can, sometimes it can be recovered by sending the drive to a data recovery specialist - but they may charge around £1000 to do the job, and sometimes all the data is lost and can't be recovered.

Backing Up Your Data

So how do we make sure that all of those photos, videos, music or business files are safe and sound if disaster strikes and your hard drive crashes? Fortunately the solutions are not expensive or difficult. There are two approaches: Online storage or local storage.

Online Data Storage

Online storage consists of a piece of software that runs daily and sends anything new from your computer to a server over the internet, where the data is kept safe and sound. There is usually a monthly fee for this, although Microsoft provides the service for free. This is fine as long as you trust a company like Microsoft or BT to take as much care of your data as you would over a long period of time.

Local Data Storage

This requires the purchase of a piece of hardware and a piece of software: The hardware is an external hard drive which plugs in to your computer with a USB cable. These are dropping in price all the time. As of November 2009 a 1000GB External Hard Drive will set you back a mere £60 - £70; the software is a backup program. The one I use is called Acronis True Image. Its available cheaply from Amazon. This can be setup to run automatically as frequently as you want, and to backup to your external hard drive.

What Won't Work: Memory Sticks

I have met some customers who have backed up important data to there pen drive/ memory stick or whatever you want to call it. Unfortunately, when they came to restore their data after a hard drive crash, they found that the memory stick was empty. The reason for this is that memory sticks store data as variations in electrical charge. This is fine for short term data storage, but if the stick is left for a time, the charge gradually discharges and the data is lost.

Solutions for Business

A business needs a 'belt and braces' approach. For instance if your business is required by law to store data for decades this is an area in which you have no option. You must securely backup your data both locally for ease of access and remotely for disaster recovery. I would suggest investing in some combination of mirrored NAS devices, online storage and tape backups. Please call me for more information.