So what's the hype all about? Recently we heard that soon, battle will commence over the 4G networking in the UK. The major competitors will battle it out to bid for coverage and there are even talks of some companies joining forces to get the best coverage in the UK.
How does 4G affect you?
To the average home user, with a broadband connection and a PC or laptop, it might not seem so significant. We hopefully already get a good connection speed and don't plan to lift our desktop computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse into the garden while the sun is shining.
Or maybe we're NOT getting a good connection speed. Do we live so far from the exchange that we're experiencing connection speeds of less than 5mbs ? Then 4G might be for you!
O2 recently tested 4G and allowed 1000 users in London to connect to the service and report back findings. Maximum speed achieved was 150mbs. Yes, you read it, 150mps! On a mobile device! At this rate, we'll all be ditching our broadband and plugging in a 4G USB device into our PC's.
Nothing is set in stone until complete UK tests are done, but it's looking promising.
In the meantime, why not check your speed and see how it compares to what you were promised from your Internet Service Provider?
http://www.speedtest.net
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Friday, 22 June 2012
Good tools, or just a hinderance?
I've lost count how many times I've been given a computer to fix where the user is complaining of speed issues. "It used to be fast, when we first got it, but now it just crawls along. Do you think I need a new one?" is often the comment.
Upon booting up the slow and laggy machine, I often find many a tool installed designed to "optimise" and many toolbars installed on the explorer window - often so many that the browser window is barely visable.
Are these things a false economy?
In a word. Yes. But they have their place.
First rule is to make sure you KNOW what you are installing. There is countless SAFE software that you can install that will also install a tool bar onto your browser. IT SHOULD give you the option to NOT have this installed, but if it doesn't, then uninstall or disable to tool bar straight after. It's not really that necessary.
Everytime a tool bar is installed, in increases the running size of the browser window, and every tab you open after that multiplies the size, this will cause system drag on the memory. Ask yourself how many times you've used that toolbar, and ask yourself if you really need it, or so many of them.
Optimise programs are quite ok, but don't let them run in the background. Oddly, they'll SLOW your system down, because they have to run in the background to see if your systems running slow... called the "observer effect".
Run them once, get them to optimise your system, then uninstall them after. Keep your system clear of programs you don't use. Know what you install.
Upon booting up the slow and laggy machine, I often find many a tool installed designed to "optimise" and many toolbars installed on the explorer window - often so many that the browser window is barely visable.
Are these things a false economy?
In a word. Yes. But they have their place.
First rule is to make sure you KNOW what you are installing. There is countless SAFE software that you can install that will also install a tool bar onto your browser. IT SHOULD give you the option to NOT have this installed, but if it doesn't, then uninstall or disable to tool bar straight after. It's not really that necessary.
Everytime a tool bar is installed, in increases the running size of the browser window, and every tab you open after that multiplies the size, this will cause system drag on the memory. Ask yourself how many times you've used that toolbar, and ask yourself if you really need it, or so many of them.
Optimise programs are quite ok, but don't let them run in the background. Oddly, they'll SLOW your system down, because they have to run in the background to see if your systems running slow... called the "observer effect".
Run them once, get them to optimise your system, then uninstall them after. Keep your system clear of programs you don't use. Know what you install.
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Avoid Getting Burnt
There has been a real buzz on the inter-tubes recently about a virus going by the name of Flame. Actually, 'virus' doesn't really do it credit. This thing is massive - for malware - coming in at around 20MB and sends all sorts of information back to locations undisclosed. It seems to be aimed at Middle East countries and is realistically unlikely to bother you. Still, it does raise the issue of how these things spread.
We've covered the importance of running an up to date antivirus program before. In addition to that is one other line of defence...common sense.
Viruses and malware have one barrier to get on a modern operating system. They have to get your permission to install. Of course, if it said 'Hi, I'm a virus. Can I install please?' you would quite rightly say 'Kind offer, thank you, but no.' So instead they take the guise of valid, useful software.
If, out of nowhere, you get told that you have a virus by software other than the AV program that you installed, then that is probably malware itself. It's purpose? To convince you that you have a virus that only it can uninstall for the bargain price of £x. After purchase it tells you what a good job it's done, having done nothing. And you're £x out of pocket. And no-one has £x to give away nowadays.
Or your web browser informs you that you have to install a small program to view this web page. 'Just say yes and everything will be fine' it says. Alarm bells should be ringing. Loudly.
The only software you should give permission to install is software that you are 100% confident you want installed. Do your research. Should I install Flash? Java? A 30-second check through Google reveals that all is well. Power Antivirus? Sounds good, but a moment's research reveals that you would be in trouble if you let it in. The time you spend beforehand will pay off in spades compared to the time it would take to get an infection out.
We've covered the importance of running an up to date antivirus program before. In addition to that is one other line of defence...common sense.
Viruses and malware have one barrier to get on a modern operating system. They have to get your permission to install. Of course, if it said 'Hi, I'm a virus. Can I install please?' you would quite rightly say 'Kind offer, thank you, but no.' So instead they take the guise of valid, useful software.
If, out of nowhere, you get told that you have a virus by software other than the AV program that you installed, then that is probably malware itself. It's purpose? To convince you that you have a virus that only it can uninstall for the bargain price of £x. After purchase it tells you what a good job it's done, having done nothing. And you're £x out of pocket. And no-one has £x to give away nowadays.
Or your web browser informs you that you have to install a small program to view this web page. 'Just say yes and everything will be fine' it says. Alarm bells should be ringing. Loudly.
The only software you should give permission to install is software that you are 100% confident you want installed. Do your research. Should I install Flash? Java? A 30-second check through Google reveals that all is well. Power Antivirus? Sounds good, but a moment's research reveals that you would be in trouble if you let it in. The time you spend beforehand will pay off in spades compared to the time it would take to get an infection out.
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Technically Challenged, Or Just Lazy ?
It never ceases to amaze me how certain people are quite happy to pass issues with technology over to other people to deal with, almost ready to shut technology out, without try to get to grips with it or at least have a go.
Now, while I understand this for particularly complicated tasks, there comes a point that we all have to try things for ourselves, we may surprise ourselves with the results, and we may even enjoy it!
By way of example, I am regularly surprised at the amount of people that won't change the toner in the colour printer we have at work. It's one of the simplest things to do, and is as easy as loading paper in the tray. The cartridge is a tube, you twist it and pull the old one out, then slide the new one in and twist the tube to lock it in. Job done.
However, quite a few will not do it, and expect the I.T. Dept to handle it. Often this requires us to stop doing something complicated (which most of the staff CANNOT do) just to slide a new cartridge in.
It makes me wonder why people really hand over the job. Is it because they really cannot understand how to do it, or is it because they are just lazy?
Sadly, these ones are likely sharing a similar view on other tasks through life, and will often pay for somebody to do a job that they could quite easily manage themselves.
Maybe I should charge for changing the cartridges. Now there's a thought.
Now, while I understand this for particularly complicated tasks, there comes a point that we all have to try things for ourselves, we may surprise ourselves with the results, and we may even enjoy it!
By way of example, I am regularly surprised at the amount of people that won't change the toner in the colour printer we have at work. It's one of the simplest things to do, and is as easy as loading paper in the tray. The cartridge is a tube, you twist it and pull the old one out, then slide the new one in and twist the tube to lock it in. Job done.
However, quite a few will not do it, and expect the I.T. Dept to handle it. Often this requires us to stop doing something complicated (which most of the staff CANNOT do) just to slide a new cartridge in.
It makes me wonder why people really hand over the job. Is it because they really cannot understand how to do it, or is it because they are just lazy?
Sadly, these ones are likely sharing a similar view on other tasks through life, and will often pay for somebody to do a job that they could quite easily manage themselves.
Maybe I should charge for changing the cartridges. Now there's a thought.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Space, The Final Frontier (Or, I Feel The Need, The Need For Speed)
Bit, bytes and nibbles. Not a restaurant review. They are all technical terms used to describe size, and it's worth understanding as they turn up in pretty much all aspects of computing.
A bit is the building block. It is the 0s and 1s that computers work with.
A nibble is 4 bits, but you'll barely ever hear it used outside random blog posts on the web.
A byte is 8 bits. It's how much space is needed for one character. So the letter A takes up one byte of space.
A kilobyte is not 1000 bytes but is actually 1024.
A megabtye is 1024 kilobytes.
A terabyte is 1024 megabytes.
So, pop quiz, your 1TB drive can contain how much data? 1024 x 1024 x 1024. 1,073,741,824 bytes or characters worth. Otherwise known by most people as 'large'. If it helps give you a sense of scale, the Encyclopaedia Britannica comes in at about 224,400,000 characters. So nearly 5 of them.
This whole area also impacts internet connection speeds. Let's say your provider quotes you 8Mb/s. That's 8 megaBITS, not bytes, a second. Going by our equations above, that's actually 1 megaBYTE per second. Some software or websites that report connection speeds report them as megabytes and the blood may drain from your face as it appears you're getting one-eighth of the connection speed you expected.
For many who have been involved in the computer world for some time, they were happy that their 80MB hard drive would never get full. Now TB drives are becoming the standard and my mobile phone has more memory than my first three computers combined.
Now excuse me, I have to go for my afternoon nap.
A bit is the building block. It is the 0s and 1s that computers work with.
A nibble is 4 bits, but you'll barely ever hear it used outside random blog posts on the web.
A byte is 8 bits. It's how much space is needed for one character. So the letter A takes up one byte of space.
A kilobyte is not 1000 bytes but is actually 1024.
A megabtye is 1024 kilobytes.
A terabyte is 1024 megabytes.
So, pop quiz, your 1TB drive can contain how much data? 1024 x 1024 x 1024. 1,073,741,824 bytes or characters worth. Otherwise known by most people as 'large'. If it helps give you a sense of scale, the Encyclopaedia Britannica comes in at about 224,400,000 characters. So nearly 5 of them.
This whole area also impacts internet connection speeds. Let's say your provider quotes you 8Mb/s. That's 8 megaBITS, not bytes, a second. Going by our equations above, that's actually 1 megaBYTE per second. Some software or websites that report connection speeds report them as megabytes and the blood may drain from your face as it appears you're getting one-eighth of the connection speed you expected.
For many who have been involved in the computer world for some time, they were happy that their 80MB hard drive would never get full. Now TB drives are becoming the standard and my mobile phone has more memory than my first three computers combined.
Now excuse me, I have to go for my afternoon nap.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Bespoke too Soon
Its often a challenge for any business to make a choice over which accounts software they should invest their hard earned money into. There are so many packages out there, surely one or another will fit their need?
I think the problem that most companies face, is that when they start trading they don't have a working procedure in place that has been set in stone. This will come in time, but isn't immediately available from the beginning.
As time progresses, a system is developed that the staff are all happy with and the company will grow and it's procedures will increase in speed. During this time, however, is where a company will start hitting the limits to the Accounts software that they invest in.
What are the choices? What can a company do if they find that their operating environment is being inhibited by the software? Bespoke software is the answer.
An off the shelf program is ideal for smaller companies that may not already have a working process in place. This will mould your administration into a process, a way of working. However, you may soon discover that it won't do what you want, and this is where a bespoke system comes into play.
With a bespoke system, the development team will analyse your entire working environment and build the software around that. The benefits are that the computer will work the way that you do, and not the other way around. In most cases additional developments later on can be added to the original program and it can grow and shape the way that you want it to.
So there must be pros and cons to these two systems, or everybody would get bespoke, surely?
Lets look at those now:-
Off the Shelf
Pros
Pros
I think the problem that most companies face, is that when they start trading they don't have a working procedure in place that has been set in stone. This will come in time, but isn't immediately available from the beginning.
As time progresses, a system is developed that the staff are all happy with and the company will grow and it's procedures will increase in speed. During this time, however, is where a company will start hitting the limits to the Accounts software that they invest in.
What are the choices? What can a company do if they find that their operating environment is being inhibited by the software? Bespoke software is the answer.
An off the shelf program is ideal for smaller companies that may not already have a working process in place. This will mould your administration into a process, a way of working. However, you may soon discover that it won't do what you want, and this is where a bespoke system comes into play.
With a bespoke system, the development team will analyse your entire working environment and build the software around that. The benefits are that the computer will work the way that you do, and not the other way around. In most cases additional developments later on can be added to the original program and it can grow and shape the way that you want it to.
So there must be pros and cons to these two systems, or everybody would get bespoke, surely?
Lets look at those now:-
Off the Shelf
Pros
- Can be cheap
- Will already have a working system environment in place
- Will have a lot of support by other users who can help and train where necessary
- Where accounts and government interactions are required, will meet the required standards.
- No Flexibility
- Limited functionality
Pros
- Flexible
- Will fit your business operations like a glove
- Will grow and change as you require
- Will provide all the necessary tools that you require
- Can be expensive
- Development can take months or years
- System is not always transferable as it's designed for you.
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...
When it comes to the end of your computing day, you have a number of options. You could leave the computer on and walk away. That's not really viable as it continues to take power and will significantly shorten the life of your components.
You could put it into sleep mode. Sleep is considerably faster to come back from than a full shutdown and needs less power, but not no power. Sleep effectively writes the state of your computer at that moment to its memory and then shuts everything else down. It must still be powered though, whether by mains or battery, so that the memory can retain the information. If you're only stepping away relatively briefly, but long enough to warrant a state-change, then sleep is probably the way to go. Interestingly, Macs go to sleep, rather than full shutdown, by default.
Hibernate is another option (in some systems). As its description suggests it is like sleep, only more so. Hibernate saves the computer's state, but this time to the hard drive rather than the memory. That means it takes essentially no power to maintain but does take a significantly longer time to boot back up. If you feel you can live without hibernate in Windows, then switch it off as it reserves a chunk of hard drive space that you can claim back if you don't use it. Microsoft tells you how.
Then, of course, there's shutdown. This closes all the windows, locks all the doors, gives the place a quick vacuum and leaves a note for the milkman. Windows especially needs a shutdown occasionally. If any programs have been updated, particularly Windows itself, there may be specific files that cannot be updated until they are no longer used, and that's only going to happen after a shutdown.
So at the end of your computing day choose your method and both head to the land of sleep. Or indeed hibernation.
You could put it into sleep mode. Sleep is considerably faster to come back from than a full shutdown and needs less power, but not no power. Sleep effectively writes the state of your computer at that moment to its memory and then shuts everything else down. It must still be powered though, whether by mains or battery, so that the memory can retain the information. If you're only stepping away relatively briefly, but long enough to warrant a state-change, then sleep is probably the way to go. Interestingly, Macs go to sleep, rather than full shutdown, by default.
Hibernate is another option (in some systems). As its description suggests it is like sleep, only more so. Hibernate saves the computer's state, but this time to the hard drive rather than the memory. That means it takes essentially no power to maintain but does take a significantly longer time to boot back up. If you feel you can live without hibernate in Windows, then switch it off as it reserves a chunk of hard drive space that you can claim back if you don't use it. Microsoft tells you how.
Then, of course, there's shutdown. This closes all the windows, locks all the doors, gives the place a quick vacuum and leaves a note for the milkman. Windows especially needs a shutdown occasionally. If any programs have been updated, particularly Windows itself, there may be specific files that cannot be updated until they are no longer used, and that's only going to happen after a shutdown.
So at the end of your computing day choose your method and both head to the land of sleep. Or indeed hibernation.
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