tinsleyNET IT Services Consultant

Just a bit of fun, but with the imminent launch of Windows 10, we had a timely requirement to boot up a virtual PC running MS DOS and Windows 3.11. Hands up who remembers squeezing every kb of memory out of their 386 memory manager, or configuring the marque screen saver.

Users of Microsoft Windows 7 & 8 will start to notice a new icon in their system tray with the slanted Windows logo informing them of the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 10. No, it's not a virus or malware, it's a genuine offer from Microsoft. Anyone currently using a genuine Windows 7 (with SP1) or 8.1 PC or on Windows Phone 8.1 will have the opportunity to upgrade, for free, to Windows 10 when it is released in July this year.

SSD's are slowly but surely replacing their mechanical counterparts, the HDD, in modern computers, they offer more storage per square-inch and can read/write data to and from memory significantly faster than the spindle and articulator arm of a standard HDD, and of course, they are not prone to shock and data head crashes. So all good? well, yes... but.... SSD's are essentially a block of electrical gates used to represent the binary of your data, and those electrical gates can loose their charge if they are not regularly refreshed. this process is speeded up the warmer the drive is, so if you copy your backup onto a SSD then store it away in a cupboard, it could be that in 3 months time when you come to recover a file from the drive, that there's been sufficient loss of charge that the data is irrecoverable.

New rollouts to Google internet search add quick links to your Android phone Over the past few weeks Google have been adding some functionality to the Chrome desktop browser, allowing you to interact with your phone even if it's not near you. At the moment the browser commands only work for American users, but it's easy enough to get them to work for you, just add the "&gl=us" tag to the end of the URL.

Several new exploits have been identified recently that are designed to attach your home or business router from inside, and install code to allow hackers a backdoor to your network and your data. The exploits are designed to get into a network either by infecting devices that go outside of your firewall, such as mobiles, tablets and laptops, or by tricking the user into downloading a malicious file. Once inside the network, the malware gets to work on your firewall, attempting to inject code into the firewall that will allow external code to be added to innocent web pages. So you might be viewing the BBC site for example, and the code adds advertising and other unwanted scripts to the page as it passes through your firewall, meaning the page you see if very different from the one served up by the BBC servers.

Twitter users are going to start seeing a new 'check-in' feature in their geo-tagged tweets soon, provided by Foursquare, one of the first geo-check-in providers. The new partnership will mean twitter users can see reviews and tips for places they check in to, and gives businesses a chance to advertise specials and offers to passing potential clients who use the foursquare what's nearby feature.

Having lived and worked in Shropshire for most of my life, I am fully aware of the issues of rural connectivity. But that's changing as part of the the governments Broadband Delivery UK which aims to have 90% of the UK connected to superfast broadband by next year, and basic broadband access for everyone.