Latest news

I'll be adding to the news page on a fairly regular basis, mostly with content from the monthly newsletters, with additional links to some interesting news stories.

If there's something you'd like me to cover in the newsletter, just let me know. And if you want to receive the newsletter yourself, check out my helpdesk service - subscribers get it for free!

February 22, 2010		Latest newsletter headlines
February 10, 2010		Germany & France say "Don't use Internet Explorer!"
November 13, 2009		Free alternatives to popular programs
October 21, 2009		Thoughts on Windows 7

 

February 22, 2010:
Latest newsletter headlines

Extending the life of your laptop battery

Alternatives to Internet Explorer

Top of page

February 10, 2010:
Germany & France say "Don't use Internet Explorer!"

As most of you know, I'm not a big fan of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. It's OK, but there are other, more secure alternatives. To back this up, the French and German governments have both come out to say "Don't use internet Explorer!", which is pretty damning.

In my own experience, I've come across users who've found their computers infected with a virus or trojan. Without exception, they've all used Internet Explorer rather than, say, Firefox. One of Microsoft's recent updates fixed a security hole that's been around for 17 years!

According to reports on the BBC web site, both France and Germany recommended that users stopped using Internet Explorer. And while Microsoft rejected their recommendations, I'd rather play it safe.

Top of page

November 13, 2009:
Free alternatives to popular programs

1. First up, Microsoft Office (that's Word, Excel, Outlook, etc). The best-regarded free alternative is Open Office, available to download here. It's a big program and will do pretty much everything that you'd expect from a replacement to Office - word processing, spreadsheets and the like. Oh, and did I mention that it's free? Not bad when you consider that the priciest version of Microsoft Office comes in at nearly £550.
   If you do a lot of your work online, it's also worth checking out Google Docs, but the downside is that if you lose your internet connection, you lose access to your files.
2. Image editing. Most people use Photoshop (£600) or Paint Shop Pro (£48). The two popular - albeit less feature rich - alternatives are Picasa and The GIMP. Picasa is probably a little simpler to get started with, but both will do most things that a home user would want - red-eye removal, cropping, resizing, etc.
3. Burning CDs. Windows will allow you to burn straightforward data CDs and DVDs for backing up your files, and with a bit of effort it can be persuaded to burn an audio CD as well (using Windows Media Player), but for anything more complex, most users have in the past used either Nero (£50) or Roxio (also £50). A free alternative is CDBurnerXP, which uses up massively fewer resources than Roxio and is fairly straightforward.
4. PowerPoint. In the grand old days when I wore a suit and went into an office every day, PowerPoint presentations were THE THING. I'd have to sit through at least one a day, and I'd even inflict them on other people. However, PowerPoint comes as part of Microsoft Office (remember, that's £550 for the full monty version), so instead have a look at Open Office Impress.
5. Creating PDF files. The traditional way to create a PDF has always been to use Adobe Acrobat. It comes in at £320 for the basic version, which is a fair chunk of dosh just for creating a PDF file. If you want a very simple alternative which does the basics, try CutePDF. Quick to install and breathtakingly easy to use (I've had it on my machine for years): when you're in Word you just click File > Print, select CutePDF and click "OK". That's it!
6. Accounting. Anyone running a small business will need an accounting package, and the two most popular on the market are QuickBooks (£90-220) and Sage (£550). Have a look at TurboCASH: while it isn't as polished as the two bigger applications, guess what? It's free!

Remember that paid-for programs are usually slightly easier to use. This is primarily because the companies that created them have thrown a bucket of money at getting the interface right, which is something the free program writers don't have the luxury of doing - they have to rely on groups of volunteers, and while the results are often good, they usually aren't as slick.

Top of page

October 10, 2009:
Thoughts on Windows 7

I tend to recommend that users wait a little while before they buy any new products from Microsoft: they have some excellent products but, like most big organisations, their release dates are generally driven by marketing needs rather than technical confidence. So there are often a few bugs to iron out.

In the past I've said "Wait until Microsoft releases the first service pack", and while that still holds true for their Office products, there's an interesting problem with the new Windows 7 operating system.

Here's the thing: Windows 7's predecessor, Vista, is horrible. Not just a bit nasty, but really horrible. It grabs a huge proportion of your computer's resources just to run, it's slow, buggy and unfriendly. If you Google "I hate Vista", you'll get more than 3 million web pages!

And this isn't the first time that Microsoft has messed up. Some of you might remember Windows ME from a decade ago and it was generally regarded as a stop-gap before they finished XP. It was just as vile as Vista and I can't think of a single person who had anything nice to say about it.

So, if you're getting a new computer, should you get Vista and wait for Windows 7? My thinking, for once, is no. Windows 7 is pretty stable and much friendlier to use. It's a lot faster than Vista, doesn't seem to crash as much and Microsoft is updating it on a regular basis.

Top of page