Swine Flu

We live on the edge of a moderately large Council Estate which has an Infant and Junior School with the Senior School just down the main road . We have had Swine Flu here almost from the time it began to spread around in England. The Local GP Practice did the ‘normal’ flu vaccinations back in October but only got going with Swine Flu vaccinations about 3 weeks ago.

According to our GP there have been a few mild reactions to the vaccine but nothing worth bothering about. According to the local gossips nearly everyone who has had it has been seriously ill. Guess who is being believed? The result – the people who really need it are terrified to have it. I know a family of three people all of retiring age or older. All have medical or physical problems and all would be seriously ill if they got swine flu. Two are adamant they are not having the vaccine because according to what they have heard, it is dangerous or makes you ill. The third who again really needs the vaccine can’t make up their mind about what to do for the best.

What is the root of this problem – missing or ambiguous information. Unless you are a seasoned web surfer (these three are not) the unambiguous information is hard to find because what there is is written in either Medical or Civil Service speak which is a long way from the language used by my three examples. The images that accompany reports on the news are also misleading. The one showing a Nurse preparing a multi dose bottle has convinced a lot of people that the injection is huge (they don’t know about multi dose) and dangerous (they haven’t seen one being prepared or explained on Holby City, their source of medical information) because if the two substances have to be kept apart until just before they are injected they must be dangerous. In fact the second substance is distilled water for injection that is added to the bottle to activate the vaccine just prior to injection.

These irrational fears could have been killed at source if the leaflets that were sent around and can be found in surgery waiting rooms explained EXACTLY and simply how the injections are stored, prepared and given. Likewise some simple feedback about how people were reacting to the vaccination would have allayed fears about reactions and being dangerous.

My wife and I have both had the vaccinations. I had a mildly sore arm for about three days. My wife, who had a cold when she was vaccinated, had the cold for the usual seven days. Nothing to worry about there. A severely disabled child near us had a fit some days after being vaccinated. his carer has being telling anyone who will listen that it was caused by the vaccination. This has not been confirmed by either the GP or the hospital he was taken to. The hospital released him after a night’s observation so it is safe to assume they weren’t worried. His carer has kept him off school since the fit – another example of the fear that is gripping this neighbourhood.

Being disabled myself and having several medical problems I am grateful that I was given the vaccine as soon as it was available. I am firmly convinced that if I got it I would struggle to fight it off because the information that is available points to people with underlying medical conditions similar to mine do have problems if they get Swine Flu. I don’t have any answers to the problem of how to get through to people driven by gossip or fear except to make sure that real information is easily available, accurate, easy to understand and unambiguous.

Oooooops

It’s late and you’re struggling to stay awake at your computer, so you decide to make yourself a cup of coffee. A few more hours of work ahead and the coffee will perk you up. Then, oops, there it is, all over your laptop, ruining your evening. The coffee has drained into the machine. The damage could be irreparable.

And worse: you may actually be in danger of being electrocuted. Since data travels between the laptop’s components via an electrical current, if any liquid comes into contact with the components while the power is on, it will short out the traces between the circuits. Everything can be affected — keyboard, motherboard, memory and processor.

So what should you do if the worst happens?
Don’t panic. By acting promptly, you can usually prevent significant damage. If your laptop is running on battery power and isn’t connected to an AC outlet, quickly press the power button to shut the machine down. Then remove the battery.

If the machine is connected to the mains, unplug it.

Important:
you must do this immediately once the spill has occurred. If the power is removed quickly enough, the electronics inside will be undamaged. Then remove the battery.

Now you aren’t in any immediate danger, so you can start clearing up the mess. Blot up as much liquid as you can with a soft cloth. Next, remove all cables, USB components, cards and any other external devices. Tilt the laptop gently from side to side to drain it (without madly shaking it around) and place it upside down so the liquid can drain out. Removing the outer casing might affect your warranty; if you choose to do so, don’t touch the circuitry inside.

Now all you can do is wait. Leave the laptop open so air can circulate, for at least 24 hours.

As long as your laptop hasn’t started to smoke or emitted any strange buzzing noises, it should now work normally, but it may look rather smeared and dirty.

Use a soft, damp cloth to clean the casing — nothing abrasive — or a special cleaning agent, one without any ammonia. Spray this onto the cloth, not directly onto the laptop. Cotton swabs are useful for cleaning around and between the keys.

If you want to clean the display, turn the laptop off first so can see the dirt more clearly. Use a soft cloth to wipe it, but never any paper products like tissues, as they can scratch the surface and leave behind lint that can get into the LCD. You can also buy special spray solutions for cleaning monitors.

By following these steps, you should be able to limit the damage. But of course, the best advice is the most boring: don’t drink while you work!

You may not use a laptop and this can also happen to a standard keyboard. If it does;

1. Don’t panic - Unplug the keyboard from the computer as quickly as possible.
2. Use your mouse to save your work and shut down the computer.
3. Take the flooded keyboard to the kitchen and using ordinary cold water, flush all the coffee/soft drink out of the keyboard under a running tap.
4. When you are sure you have got rid of all the spill, turn the key board upside down and let it drain for a few minutes.
5. When it has stopped dripping, put the keyboard on a radiator and leave it for 24 hours to completely dry out and you should then find it works perfectly again.
6. In the mean time, use your spare keyboard to keep working but plug it in BEFORE switching on the computer.

PS
This works for mice too

Direct Debits in 2009

I am in the process of changing banks. Part of the process is changing the direct debits I use to pay all my household bills, insurances, magazine subscriptions, utilities and all the hundred and one services that we need to pay for. I was struck rather forcibly by the different levels of security needed to change a direct debit (DD) from one account to another.

The banks are no problem at all. You can cancel the previous DD on line or by phone and setting one up is just a matter of logging in, type in the recipient, the sort code and the account number and it is up and running. Telephone companies are a very different kettle of fish. Their security is so strict that unless you have the password, a secret question, all your personal details and the phone/simm card serial number they won't even talk to you never mind change anything. I suppose it stops some lout pretending to be you and getting hold of your identity but it does make life difficult for us older people who can't remember 9 digit numbers easily.

Magazine companies, utilities, insurance companies, finance companies all again no problem at all. One phone call, account number, check ID, new bank account details, job done finish. Likewise Government agencies like pensions, ID check, new bank details, it will be up and working by the time the next payment is due.

Then we come to the Local Council. ID check, no problem. then they want to send out a new DD mandate for you to sign and send back. What's the problem? Cost. How much does it cost for a council employee to write a letter, print off and enclose a new mandate, send the letter through the internal post to the post room, use snail mail to get it to me (second class so could take up to a week) I then have to fill it all in and post it back. When it gets to the council it has to be processed through their mail system. Opened by an employee and the details checked then typed into the computer system and transmitted to my bank. I shudder to think what that all costs at £5 plus an hour. Why can't the same member of staff type the details straight into the computer system while you are on the phone. Job done time taken 2 mins maximum.

When I asked why it couldn't be done that way I was told they didn't have the software to do it and it would have to be bought in. When I asked why the same software couldn't be used that is used to type in changes from written mandates I was told that was different -, HOW? Are the details different? Is my account number any different? Do I live at a different address? Are the bank details different in some way? I think that this is a way of wasting money that you should bring to the attention of your local councillor. It is a small thing in itself but multiplied by all the changes people make to their personal and bank details it must add up to quite a considerable sum.

Well now I have this week's rant off my chest, the season of colds and flu are with us. My better half is barking like seal and spraying bugs over us every time she sneezes. Our friends all have colds, sore arms from the Swine Flu Vaccinations or in many cases both. Most of our friends are also rushing from shop to shop trying to get the Christmas shopping done and not forget all the hundred and one thing they must have to make the season a success. All our children have four feet and fur and all they bother about is that the food arrives on time and there is plenty of it. At this time of year we look at our bulging freezer, make sure the drinks cabinet is well stocked and we have a ready supply of cold remedies and look forward to everything being shut down till after New Year. I know a lot of our friends look forward to getting together with family at this time of year and in the past so have we but now we are old and knackered we instead look forward to a time of peace and quiet when everyone else is too busy to bother about misbehaving computers and websites that need tweaking. I know - Bah Humbug as a certain fictional character would say

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta

Today Microsoft released the Beta version of Office 2010. It is due to go on sale early next year but for now you can download a free version and run it alongside your present MS Office version. Bear in mind this is a Beta version so there will still be a few bugs in it but it is a good way to find out if you like the new programs and judge for yourself if you want to buy it when it is finally released commercially.

There are two versions a 32 bit and a 64 bit. If you have any version of MS Office installed you need the 32 bit version. If however you don’t run MS Office and you have 64 bit hardware and a 64 bit version of Windows then you can download and install the 64 bit version. So let’s get down to how you do it assuming you have Office already and are installing a 32 bit version.

1. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/default.aspx register and download the 32 bit version to your HDD.
2. Don’t forget to print the Product key page or you won’t be able to run Office when you have installed it.
3. If you use it, backup Outlook because you can only run one version of Outlook on any one computer. This isn’t strictly necessary because 2010 will import all your contacts, appointments and emails to the new version but applying murphy’s law (If it can go wrong it will) BACK IT UP.
4. In The programs folder on C: (Programs x86 if you are running a 64 bit version of Windows) make a new folder Microsoft Office 2010.
   You do this so that you can have two versions of Office on your computer at the same time, if you don’t 2010 will uninstall your present version of Office and replace it with 2010.
5. Navigate to where you saved the download from Microsoft
6. Click on the file ProfessionalPlus.exe
7. The computer will extract the compressed installation files.
8. The next window is the licence – accept it and click on next.
9. If you do not have Office on your computer click on install and accept the all defaults from here on in.
10. If you do have Office click on Custom.
11. On the Install Options window first choose the applications you want to install.
12. Click on the File Location tab and browse to the Microsoft Office 2010 folder you made in the Program Files (x86) folder.
13. Lastly fill in your details on the User Information tab then click on Install
14. Let the install run and don’t try to do anything on your computer till it has finished.

You now have Office 2010 on your computer. Now you need to activate it.

Open Word and follow the instructions on the Product Key page you printed to activate and register your installation like this:

1. Open Word and click on the File tab. Click on Help in the left pane.
2. Click ‘Change Product Key’ in the right pane.
3. Type in the key from the product key page you printed and check the box to activate automatically.
4. On the next window click install – I know this doesn’t make sense but please just do it. Word will connect to the Internet and activate the whole of Office.
5. Close and restart Word.

That’s it Office is installed and activated.

I have a 32 bit version of Office 2010 on my main desktop machine and a 64 bit version on my file server. On first impressions I like it a lot but watch this space I will use it for a while then come back here to share my likes and dislikes with you.

Windows 7 problems and a new task

Since my last post I have finished the rebuild of my network and helped one friend to reload his desktop computer with Windows 7. This time it didn't all go smoothly and we hit an error that, judging from the forums, is all too common. The error is that W7 refuses to activate over the Internet and will not run Windows Update. The error codes given are 80072EFE and 80072EE2. Microsoft are curiously silent on this one as they only have one page in the knowledge base that refers to this problem and frankly the advice given is tongue in cheek and doesn't work.

The forums are no better they suggest you do all sorts of things like deleting the catroot2 folder and switching various services on and off. I am not going to list them because I suspect that none of them are a sure fire way of fixing this problem - if you want to have a look for yourselves type 'Error 80072EFE Windows 7' into Google and start reading.

The root of the problem is that your connection to the Internet times out when you try to connect to the Microsoft update/activation servers. The problem is not at Microsoft's end it is on your local machine and I tracked it down on my friend's machine to the native Microsoft drivers for his Ethernet ports weren't the right ones. I went to the Motherboard makers website, found the W7 drivers then downloaded and installed them. Once I had done this I found that by using the built in Administrators Account, I could both activate and update his computer. I know this is only a partial cure but does give him a fully working machine. So come on Microsoft finger out let's have a proper solution.

Now that my network upgrade is all but finished (I am still waiting for my wife to decide about her laptop), I have, in theory at least, some time on my hands. I found out that our local college was offering a free (yes I did say free) Creative Writing course. I enjoy writing or this blog wouldn't exist so I thought it might be fun to go and hone my wordsmith skills and meet some new people at the same time.

We are now two weeks into the course and my free time has vanished. This may be a free course but it isn't just a time to go and have a good natter over coffee as some courses in FE are. The homework this week was to build a profile of the main character in a story you might write. Sounds easy, ten minutes work. It has taken me 9 x A4 pages and 4,155 words to complete the task. I did wonder about the grin on Sarah's face when she handed out the work sheets (Sarah is our tutor and an author in her own right under the pen name Charlotte Stein).

Today is college day and we have to hand in our assignments. Bearing in mind our class ranges in age from 19 to 82, some have reading difficulties and/or other disabilities and none of us have tried anything like this before, unless you count this blog and my website, it is going to be an interesting couple of hours to see how this diverse group have tackled the assignment.
The course has brought to the surface the idea for a story that has been floating around in my mind for some years. I am an avid reader of Science Fiction and have at one time or another read most of the output of the masters like Asimov, Heinlein, Dr EE Smith, HG Wells etc., so I know something about the worlds and time lines they created. I hope I haven't rehashed one of their themes but this is the idea on which my story is built.

Consider what might happen if it was revealed that for the last eleven thousand years a group of off world species had been observing and recording the people of Earth’s progress in the fields of science, religion, politics, education and health. What would the reaction of the world’s religious, political, scientific and academic leaders be to the knowledge we have not been alone throughout our climb from hunter gatherers to our present level of sophistication. Especially when the turning points in our history have not only been witnessed and recorded but that anyone with access to the Internet can now see exactly what happened.

I have a couple of chapters in draft form and will discuss them with Sarah if I get a chance. I am finding that this sort of writing is hard work and needs self discipline and organisation if you are to make any progress. I am hoping that by the end of the course in February I will have a better idea how to turn my thoughts and ideas into a readable book.

Can I update my computer to Windows 7?

Since the 22nd of October several people have asked me if they can upgrade their present computer. The short answer usually is I don't know because they haven't got an idea what the spec of their present machine is and if it is one I built, I can't remember the spec of all the machines I have built over the years.

So let's kick off this week with what Microsoft say is the minimum spec a computer must have to run Windows 7.

• 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
• 1 GB of RAM (32-bit); 2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit); 20 GB of available disk space (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

It is many a long year since I had a computer with a spec this low so I can only guess just how slowly a computer with this spec would run loading a notorious memory hog like MS Word.

So now we know what Microsoft say will run, let's have a look at what you would need to make a business orientated computer run smoothly and quickly.

• 2 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
• 2 GB of RAM (32-bit); 3 GB of RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit); 20 GB of available disk space (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

As you can see there isn't a lot of difference except a bit more memory (memory is about £20 per Gigabyte at the moment) and any computer build/bought in the past three years will have a processor (CPU) of well over 1 GHz with the one exception of some low spec laptops and netbooks.

A good rough and ready guide to upgradeability is that if your computer is already running any version of Vista then it will run Windows 7.

To show why this is here are the minimum specs for Vista compared to those for Windows 7.

	XP	Vista	Windows 7
CPU	300Mhz	1 Ghz	1 GHz
RAM	128Mb	1Gb	1Gb (2 Gb x64)
Graphics	SVGA	DX9/128Mb	DX9/WDDM1.0
HDD	1.5Gb	40Gb/15Gb Free	16Gb/20 for x64

As you can see the specs are similar except Windows 7 requires a lot less HDD space unless you need the 64 bit version which not many business users do. What you will notice if you load Windows 7 is that it runs faster and smoother than Vista ever did and with a lot less of the annoying security pauses that plagued all the versions of Vista that I tried. In my opinion, the bottom line is that Microsoft have at last developed an operating system that doesn't need a super computer to run properly and isn't bloated with services and applications that the average customer will never use. Followers of my Blog will know I have loaded it on all our computers at home and it is running just fine.

You can download this blog as a PDF here

Windows 7 Upgrade - Now for a laptop

Having got my Windows 7 computers running as a Home Network linking with additional computers running everything from Windows XP to Mac (no Linux yet but watch this space), The next step in the conversion is upgrading a laptop from Vista to Windows 7 (W7). My laptop is a HP G6033EA (See Fig 1).

According to HP's web site and an email from their support team there are no Windows 7 drivers for this Laptop. They may get round to issuing them but would like you to buy the upgrade DVD instead which is a snip at 'phone HP for price' but be sitting down when you do. So knowing that W7 is based on Vista, I decided to find out if the Vista drivers would work in W7.

I tried to run the Windows 7 x32 bit DVD in the upgrade mode. It ran just fine as it downloaded updates but everything came to a halt when it tested for compatibility. The upgrade dialogue told me I needed to shut or delete several programs. The one that caused the problem was the Google Toolbar. Now I don't use the toolbar and haven't, to my knowledge, ever knowingly downloaded or installed it. I do use the Google search page as my home page in the same way about 85% of people over the age of 16 do. I tried several times trying to convince Windows 7 that I did not have the Google toolbar on my laptop but eventually had to give in and accept it wasn't going to upgrade that way. I ran the install again but this time I chose the Custom install.

Custom install, when run on a computer that already has a Windows operating system installed, saves all the files from your present version of Windows into a folder called Windows.old. When working out if your HDD is big enough to take W7 you need to allow for this. To assess how much room you have, open Computer (My Computer in XP and earlier versions) and right click on the icon for the Windows drive (usually C: ). Go to properties and you will see something like fig 2.

The purple segment of the pie tells you how much free space is left on the drive. This example has only 24 Gb left so you wouldn't be able to install W7 on here. In fact this is C: drive on my main computer and W7 is already installed as are my applications which still left me 24 Gb so proving that W7 isn't a space hog like Vista was as it doesn't load a lot of stuff you might not need.

To safely install W7 onto a drive with a version of Windows already on it requires a minimum of 26Gb. If you don't have that much space then back up your data files and delete them. You can also uninstall programs you haven't used in months and all those temporary internet files, cookies and temp files you meant to get round deleting to but haven't. Done right you should soon have the 26Gb you need. You will now find that Custom install runs all the way through and loads W7 using generic drivers from Microsoft.

Once the install has finished and the laptop has rebooted you can start by deleting Windows.old as long as you did backup all your data files, desktop icons, favourites etc. If you didn't do it now then delete Windows.old. Next you can load the drivers to get all the ports and peripherals working. If your laptop has only ever had the system files that the manufacturer supplied and the HDD has never been wiped then you may well find a folder called something like SwSetup that is full of all the drivers and software that were on your laptop when you bought it. I looked for and found the Wi-Fi drivers, the video drivers, the touchpad, the modem, the audio, and the chipset drivers all of which installed and seem to be working perfectly. I also found the utilities and programs that HP think you can't live without but apart from the Wi-Fi helper I didn't load any of them as my laptop is only used to write articles when I am away from home and to keep in touch when I am in hospital.

When all these drivers were loaded I connected the laptop to my home network, downloaded and installed Avast (free Antivirus program available here) and started to setup all my usual software. So far I haven't found any problems with any of them not working in W7 but as they all ran in Vista I wasn't expecting any issues like that.

The last job was to setup Windows update and see what Microsoft wanted me to download. It added up to 417Mb and included drivers for all the hardware I had just installed. Taking the view that if it ain't broke don't fix it, I refused all the drivers and instead just downloaded the security updates for W7 and MS Office. I set Windows Update so that it informs me that there are new updates available but lets me choose which ones to install. That way I hope to avoid the situations that plague Microsoft updates when things that were working perfectly before running Windows Update steadfastly refuse to work afterwards.

You can download this blog as a PDF here

Setting up a mixed network in Windows 7

Before I began the Windows 7 upgrade my network consisted of 2 x Vista Home desktop computers, 1 x Desktop running Windows 7 RC1, 1 x Windows XP Pro desktop computer, 2 x Vista home laptops (Wi-Fi), 1 x Mac (Wi-Fi), a standalone FTP server and two networked printers.
After the first stage of the upgrade the two Vista Home and the Windows 7 RC1 computers will have been upgraded to Windows 7. Now comes the challenge of getting them all to talk to each other.

The main difference between XP, Vista and now Windows 7 is that Windows 7 has introduced something called a Home Group. This is a collection of Computers all running Windows 7 linked by a password. As you install Windows 7 on the first computer in the Home Group you will be given a password to link all the computers together. Write it down paying careful attention to the case of the characters as this password is case sensitive. As you load the other computers on your network with Windows 7 make sure that all of them have the same Home group Password and can see each other.

If you have been running a network for a while, you probably already have a workgroup name. However if you aren't clued up on network security it will probably be one of the two Microsoft default names, MSHOME or WORKGROUP. I would strongly suggest you give it a different name (any name will do) because the defaults are the first ones a hacker would try.
When you have chosen a name, you need to work your way through all the computers starting with the oldest operating system. So....

• In Windows 2000 and XP - right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop. Go to Properties and on the Computer Name tab make sure that the computer has an unique name and the Workgroup name is the one you have chosen.
• In Vista and Windows 7 - right click on Computer and go to Properties. Click on Advanced System Settings and go to the Computer Name tab. Click on the Change button and give the computer a unique name then type in the Workgroup name you have chosen.
• On the Network ID button and make sure you are using a 'Home' network.
  

You may find that if you use autologon instead of having to enter your user name and password every time you boot your computer, the settings may have been reset to default. If so go to Start ...

• for Vista and Windows 7 press the Windows key + R and in Run type control userpasswords2 exactly as it here and press enter.
• Uncheck the option 'Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer'.
• Click OK
• You will be prompted to enter the current password and confirm it.

In XP if there is only one user account on the computer Windows will not ask you to logon but occasionally XP gets itself reset and starts to ask you to logon. To reset Autologon you.........

• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type control userpasswords2, and then click OK.
• Clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" check box, and then click Apply.
• In the Automatically Log On window, type the password in the Password box, and then retype the password in the Confirm Password box.
• Click OK to close the Automatically Log On window, and then click OK to close the User Accounts window.

Once all the computers in your network have been renamed, have a unique ID and the same workgroup name shut them all down including your router and any switches/hubs you may be using.

• To restart the whole network start the router followed by any switches/hubs.
• Next boot up a computer containing Windows 7
• Boot any other computers containing Windows 7
• Click on the Network icon on the desktop and make sure all your Windows 7 computers can see and talk to each other.
• Now boot up any Vista computers and make sure they have joined the network.
• Finally boot up and Windows XP/2000 computers and see that they appear.

NB: It is possible to connect computers using other operating systems (Linux, Mac, Windows 9X/Me) to a network like this but the tweaks you have to do are beyond the scope of this article. You can fine help and information on my Network page at

http://www.omega-cottage.co.uk/.

You can download this blog as a PDF from here

Windows 7 Day 3 - Load the software

At the end of Day 2, the computer now has Windows 7 as its operating system and if you have worked your way through "I've got a new computer" which you will find here, you will be ready for the next step.

When "I've got a new computer" was first written, spam, viruses and other assorted nasties were not the problem they are now so it was relatively safe to start loading programs before adding security to your computer. Now it is a very different story. One of our major universities decided to see what would happen if an unprotected computer was left connected to the internet. It was setup in a room with just an internet connection but not a network one so it paralleled a home setup. The computer had no Antivirus, spyware or firewall loaded so was completely unprotected. The computer logged on to the internet and the computer was then left to its own devices. Within 15 minutes it was infected and in less than half an hour it had been linked to a Trojan network. This is why you need to protect yourself at all times. So job one today is to install an Antivirus program, a adware and spyware program and make sure your firewall is up and running.

I use the free Antivirus program Avast Home and it has never let me down. You can download it at
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html.

Let it install and run a boot time virus check.
Next download and install an adware program. The two most popular are Adaware which you can download from
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
and Spybot which you will find at
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

If your connection to the Internet is via a router you will probably find that it has a hardware firewall built in but check your manual to make sure it has and that it is switched on. If you don't use a router then you need to think about downloading and installing a software firewall. Windows 7 has one built in but many of the writers in this field don't trust it. I am not one of them because I have a hardware firewall so don't have to rely on the Windows one but the one most favoured by the technical press is Zonealarm. You can download and install the free version from
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm

Now taking the list you made of the programs you want on your computer that you made on Day 1, start to load your computer.

1. Remember to reboot your computer when each program has finished loading.
2. When the computer has rebooted, check that the program you have loaded runs properly by opening it and complete any registrations you may need to complete before moving on to the next program on your list
3. Don't get impatient and try to load more than one program at a time. Doing that is a sure way for things to go wrong.
4. Once all the programs are installed, run defrag to tidy up the HDD and then do a scan of the HDD to make sure there are no orphan files or files that have become fragmented. To do that a. Go to All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt, Right click and go to Run As Administrator
   b. In the DOS window that opens at the prompt (C:\Users\%Your Account%>) type dskchk C: press enter and you will get a result that looks something like this
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   c. Look down the list and see if any error messages are showing. If they are, run chkdisk again but this time type this chkdsk C: /f which will ask Windows to try to fix any errors.

That's it, you now have a computer that is ready for use. I have no doubt that as time goes by we will become aware of bugs in this new version of Windows.

You can download this blog as a PDF here

Windows 7 - Day 2 - Load the Operating System

We closed play yesterday with the 'old' computer completely backed up and ready for Windows 7 to be loaded. All the forums and Microsoft agree that the best way to proceed is to do a clean install. That means to wipe the old version of Windows from C: drive and install Windows 7 in its place. It is possible to upgrade XP and Vista to Windows 7 but the experience of the beta testers and those running RC1 seems to be that doing this leads to problems with hardware drivers and incompatible programs.

Before C: is wiped make sure you know which version of Windows (32 or 64 bit) you are running. You can find that out by right clicking on the (My) Computer Icon on the desktop and going to properties.

I chose to wipe and do a clean install so let's begin there.
There are two ways to wipe C: drive;

1. Use a third party partition manager like Partition Magic and do a full format of the drive which should get rid of all traces of your previous windows installation and any nasties lurking amongst the files.
2. You can use the drive format utility in the Windows install but be aware that this is a quick format that only wipes the file allocation table (FAT) not the files themselves.

I used the Partition Magic Rescue Disk Set as I wanted to make sure I was working with a clean HDD.

The next stage is to put the Windows DVD in the drive making sure you are using the right one as all the retail versions of Windows 7 come with both 32 and 64 bit versions. Restart the computer and if the BIOS are properly set you should see Windows files starting to load.
Now comes the setup for the install;

1. The first screen sets your location, language and keyboard. Select UK English and windows will assume you are in the UK and using a UK keyboard.
2. In the next window click on Install Now
3. Accept the licence for the software after reading it
4. Next select Custom install not upgrade
5. In the next window select drive 0. This is/was C: drive before you formatted it
   a. If you chose not to format the drive before beginning this process, now is the time to do it by clicking on Drive 0 and on format below the drive window. it only takes a few seconds and then you can click on next.
   b. One word of warning here. If you are upgrading from XP your C: drive may be quite small as XP has a very small footprint compared to Vista. Windows 7 needs 26 Gb of free space just for the operating system. You also need room to install programs like Office. I would suggest that the smallest drive you can safely install Windows 7 on is 80 Gb.
   c. If you are installing on to a laptop make sure you don't inadvertently delete or format the space on the HDD where your recovery files are located. You should have copied them to a recovery CD/DVD before beginning any work on your laptops HDDs.
6. The next window is where the files for the new operating system are copied to the HDD, unpacked and installed. Nothing much will happen while this is going on so go and make yourself a sandwich and a pot of coffee.
7. Your computer will restart several times while the installation is in progress and you will be asked for a name for your account, a name for the computer and a password. Write these down because if you forget them you will have to go back to square one and start again.

If the previous 7 steps have completed successfully you now have a brand new clean installation of Windows 7.

The next job must be to install an Antivirus program before you do anything else to your computer. Miss out this step at your peril, it takes only a very few minutes for an unprotected computer connected to the internet to be infected.

You can now begin to set your computer up for internet, email, add accounts for other users on family machines and generally get the computer ready to have the programs installed. You will find my guide for doing this at

I have got a new computer.

You can download this blog as a PDF here

Update to Windows 7 - Day 1 - Preparation

The key to a successful update of any computer is meticulous preparation. There is no other way to ensure you get all of your data transferred to the 'New' computer and that all your desktop icons, email, favourite programs, internet shortcuts and those tweaks that make your present machine individual to you.
So how do you plan your upgrade? This is how I do it :-

1. Go to Start > All Programs and make a list of all the programs/applications at present on your computer
2. When you have made the list go through it and cross off any program you haven't used in the past six months - odds are you don't need it and won't miss it.
3. Decide where you are going to back up your present computer to. This can be..
   a. A separate HDD in your present computer (Not a partition on the same HDD)
   b. A large memory stick (At least 4 Gb preferably larger)
   c. An External HDD
   d. Several CDs or DVDs (not the best solution as too much can go wrong in the file copying process)
   e. Do not try to do this with Floppy disks (you would need hundreds) or Zip drives which are not supported in Windows 7
4. In Windows find your Desktop folder and copy it to your backup folder(s)
   a. In XP you will find it at C:\Documents and Settings\%your Account%\Desktop
   b. In Vista the folder is in C:\users\%your account%\Desktop
5. Next find the Favourites folder and copy that to the backup You will find the Favourites folder in the same place you found desktop
6. Find the links folder and copy that to the backupYou will find the Links folder in the same place you found desktopNB - you may not find one in XP it depends on the version of Internet Explorer you are using.
7. Now find the Documents folder (My Documents in XP) and copy it to the backup
8. You may have a Downloads folder - if you do copy that to the backup
9. If you save or edit videos find the Videos folder and copy it to the backup
10. Likewise if you have any saved pictures on your HDD find the folder that contains them and copy it to the backup
11. If you have downloaded any music you will find the files in the music folder - copy it to the backup
12. In Vista you may find a Contacts folder in %your Account% folder - copy that to the backup
13. If you use Outlook you now need to start to back it up. First find the Outlook folder that contains the pst files.
    a. In Vista they are in C:\Users\%your Account%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
    b. In XP they are found in C:\Documents and Settings\%your account%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
14. Copy all the files in the folder to a new folder called Outlook in your backup folder
15. Make sure you have written copies of the settings for ALL your email accounts. You need for each one the following :-
    a. The email address
    b. The username
    c. The password
    d. The pop3 server address
    e. The smtp server address
16. Now back up any message rules you use
    a. Go to Tools > Rules and Alerts (Outlook 2007) > Options > Export Rules and save them to a rules folder you have made in the outlook folder in your backup
17. There are several commercial solutions to backup Outlook email accounts but there is not one recommended by Microsoft. The only other way to do it is by copying part of the registry and then copying that into your 'new' computer registry. If you don't know what you are doing this method is fraught with problems so I am not going to detail it.
18. Last but by no means least, search your C: drive for any data that you may have saved there and copy it to your backup. These can be anything from photos, MS Word files, Spreadsheets, in fact anything you have made/produced yourself. Check carefully because once you have formatted your drive ready to install Windows 7, anything you have missed is gone forever.

Right you are now ready to start the process of installing Windows 7. My copy of Windows 7 Professional has just arrived so I had better start doing what I have told you to do.

You can download this blog as a pdf here

Windows 7

Windows 7 is released to the general public on Thursday 22nd October. I have been asked many times if it is any good?, Should I update?, Should I wait for SP1?, Do I need it?, etc, etc.
To try to answer some of these questions I have written a web page all about Windows 7 that I hope will answer most if not all of these questions. To do it I have trawled the web to find relevant articles, forums and blogs that all throw light on what Windows 7 is and, more importantly, what it is not. The forums give you a cross section of the questions people are asking about Windows 7 and some of the answers. The blogs are by the team who built Windows 7 and some of the people involved in its testing.

You can find the Windows 7 page here omega-cottage.com

Octreotide

I am now one week into the trial of Octreotide and to date I have no symptoms of dumping[1]. I do have a new side effect though. The amount of food I can eat at one sitting is now much smaller than it was before the injections began. This is a return to how my stomach was immediately after the op. This may be a good thing as I have grown a bay window. If I can only eat very small portions I may just lose weight and some inches off my waist line.

I also have a new blood meter. My old one was showing signs of age so I rang up to buy a new one. I was told I didn't need to buy a new one, I could have one free plus I could have the download cable to connect it to my computer and the software to record and analyse my daily blood results. Well I have never been one to say no to a free gadget so I now have an internet connected blood meter - whatever will the boffins come up with next?

[1] Dumping is when, after eating, your pulse races, you sweat profusely, you feel faint or dizzy, your blood sugar rises and you are sometimes sick.

Octreotide and a new lease of life

The first test with Octreotide was a complete flop - I was given 50 mg as a subcutaneous injection half an hour before breakfast and it made no difference at all, I still broke out in sweats, my BP went up and my heart rate increased. It was then suggested that we double the dose to 100mg and have the injection 1 hr before eating.

SUCCESS !!!!

For the first time in several years I was able to eat a full meal with no symptoms at all. We repeated the test at the next three meals each time giving me an injection an hour before eating. Each time I ate the meals with no distressing symptoms at all.

So I am now home again with a bucket full of syringes a fridge full of Octreotide and very sore fingers from all the BM tests. The plan is that over the next few weeks I will continue the injections at home and see if the improvement is sustained. If it is I will be reviewed in clinic and a long tern regime for these injections will be worked out.

Octreotide has two unfortunate side effects. the first is that it gives you very smelly wind. Even the cats were complaining last night. I am told this eases off in time as your body gets used to the drug. The second side effect is more serious as octreotide interferes with the action of diabetic medication like Metformin. My blood sugars have gone from their usual 7 to 8 (too high I know) to between 10 to 17. Short term I have been told to double the Metformin and check my bloods three times a day (Oh my sore fingers) Long term I have been referred to the diabtologists at LGI to see if I need additional medication or even need to move on to insulin injections.

Well that's it, I am home and maybe, just maybe, I can get back to being able to eat in public again and share a meal with friends and family. If that is so, it means I will get back some of what I had lost through dumping all this time. my only regret is that it has taken so long for the medics to try to help me.

Dumping - maybe but maybe not

I am still in hospital and I am writing this blog from my hospital bed on my laptop.
When the Drs suggested I came into hospital I was quietly pleased that someone was going to have a look at the unpleasant symptoms I get whenever I eat.
In short what happens after the first few mouthful is :-

• I start to sweat heavily
• My pulse rate jumps to about 150 bpm
• My blood pressure rises
• I feel dizzy
• I am sometimes sick

In the past these symptoms have been described as Dumping Syndrome and various Doctors and Surgeons have told me they could do nothing about it. Three weeks ago I was referred to a Gastroenterologist at Jimmy’s here in Leeds. In the past most medics have pooh poohed my description of the symptoms I get when I eat so I thought it wouldn’t hurt anything to show them.
The appointment was a 9am so instead of having my breakfast at home I took it with me and ate it just before going in to see the Dr. She took one look at the state I was in and decided I needed to come into hospital for tests to try to work out what was going on.

I think I will draw a veil over the false starts and none availability of beds but eventually I found myself on the gastroenterology ward discussing what happens to me when I eat.
The first test I was given is called a Glucose challenge test which is the standard test for diagnosing diabetes. It involves fasting for 16hrs then drinking a sugary drink. To see what happens a blood sample is taken every 30 minutes for three hrs and your BP, pulse, rate and oxygen levels are also checked.

I didn’t react as they thought I would because I don’t react to sugar in any form other than to start passing sugar in my urine. However it did confirm I am diabetic (This has never been tested for before).

After a lot of head scratching and tooth sucking the Drs decided to devise a test to see what happens when I eat toast. The test has been dubbed the toast challenge test and involves another 16hr fast and then being given 3 slices of buttered toast and a cup of coffee. This time I did react, I was wet through with sweat (I needed to change my pyjamas), My BP went through the roof, my heart rate was just short of 200bpm and I felt really ill. The bloods they took during this test charted the rise in my blood sugar to 17.1 (normal is less than 7) and confirmed that I am a full diabetic but didn’t explain why I react the way I do when I eat.

When the results of the bloods came back from the lab they gave a picture of a rising blood sugar for the first 30 mins after eating and then over the next two hours a slow drop back towards normal. This is NOT dumping syndrome as what would have happened if it was is that my blood sugar should have gone up over a 2 hr period and then suddenly drop to 3 or less accompanied by tremors on the limbs.

As I have reacted to every meal I have been given in hospital so far the Medical team are very aware there is something wrong but are stumped to explain just what. The next step in the investigation is to repeat the toast challenge but this time to give me an injection of Octreotide during the test.

I am apprehensive about this test because looking this drug up on the internet, it is widely used to ease the symptoms of Dumping by increasing the output of insulin and other gastric enzymes. However as my symptoms are the opposite of those shown by classical dumping it isn’t clear what effect Octreotide will have on me. Oh well if anything goes wrong Jackie will be here with me to alert the staff and I couldn’t be in a better place.

Watch this space to see if the test showed up anything interesting.

Just in time

I took retirement a few weeks ago and it has become apparent I accidently did the right thing just in time. Since then I went to a clinic at Jimmy's and within five days found myself in Hospital getting ready to have all sorts of tests because the gastroenterologists have decided that the dumping
that makes eating such a pain (especially in public) is actually something to worry about.

I have had one 28 hr period having blood tests but I was let out to go on holiday as I couldn't afford to cancel a prepaid holiday and we both needed the break quite badly. However once the holiday is over, I will be going back into hospital this time to stay there while they do some exhaustive tests to find out if the symptoms I get every time I eat is dumping or out of control diabetes.

The other thing the hospital is worried about is that my shirt size has gone from medium at Christmas to xxl now but I haven't put any weight on, in fact I am about 5 kgms lighter.

Just before I left hospital to go on holiday one of the nurses told me with unholy glee that next week I will have to have a 24hr period of 15 minute blood tests. Not much chance of getting any sleep with that going on. I am also having a barium meal on Tuesday so judging by previous experience I should be bunged up solid by Thursday. I don't know what other fun packed plans they have for me but they tell me that if they start any form of treatment after the tests they want me to stay in until they have had a chance to evaluate how effective the treatment is.

If I hadn't cleared all but one of my previous commitments I don't think I could cope at the moment. I have one last web site to complete and then I can have a break and concentrate in dealing with whatever the hospital thinks is wrong.

Our Holiday has been a great success. The Hotel is wonderful (Wrea Head Country House Hotel, Scalby, near Scarborough - 01723 371 190). It is a country house and is full of antiques and old word decor. However the services are right up to date (TV in the bathroom and a power shower). The food is excellent with a different menu every night. The staff are eager to please and nothing is too much trouble. The grounds are full of wild life and there are paths leading to spots where you
can sit enjoying the sight and sounds of the working farm next door.

Talking of farms we were told about a new bird garden and animal park on Scarborough Road just outside Filey. It is a family enterprise and has a lot more than just birds. The owner told us that some of the animals they look after were rescues. We met two donkeys that are the gentlest we have ever seen. When they arrived they were in a terrible state but to look at them now, without the photographic evidence, you wouldn't believe it. They so delicately and gently took the food from our hands and then followed us as we looked round the rest of the pens. The owner and her family have worked very hard to build this garden and they have made it a welcoming and delightful way to spend sometime learning about domestic animals and how to care for them. We spent a happy couple of hours wandering around the various pens and can thoroughly reccomend stopping off for a look round and a snack in the cafe afterwards.

Scarborough has changed a lot since we last visted some years ago. Where ever you go you can see signs of refurbishment and rebuilding. A good example of this is the Corner Cafe area which is now a block of flats with shops underneath. We were thrilled to find that one of the Cafes is owned by the family that used to run the fruit stall next to the corner cafe and they have started selling the
waffles that were so famous at this place. Yes I did make a pig of myself and loved every mouthful.

That's all for this blog,

Bob

Winding up

It is with a heavy heart I am writing this week to tell you that I have become the latest victim of the financial downturn that has hit this country. As I told you in my last post, Milo our chocolate lab has got a problem with his eye. The vet's bills from that have added up to just short of £1,000. That wouldn't have been a problem if Sainsbury's Pet Insurance had paid out on time as they have in the past. This time they have been messing about asking for Milo's full medical history although they have known him as long as we have had him, sending the claim forms back for more information that they had already been given and acting as though we were making a fraudulent claim. This has caused both us and our vet some serious heartache because we (and our vet) don't see our pets as financial liabilities which is why we have insurance on them. However at a time like this the pet's needs come first and we argue with the insurance company later.

I always try to carry a float so that if something like this goes wrong I can pay the bills as they come in and chase insurance companies later but this time my float has been eroded by one of our other pets having a huge abscess on her jaw at the same time - more vet's bills. Again normally the float covers all these things but recently I have been having cash flow problems with customers being very slow to pay their invoices so I have been borrowing from Peter to pay Paul so to speak.

The crunch came when we had to cancel our holiday because I needed the money to pay the vet. Some of our slowest payers were on holiday having a good time and sending me email requests and instructions for more work together with photos of themselves enjoying their break. This was the straw that broke the camel's back because when I started working with computers my wife had said that she didn't mind what I did as long as my activities didn't effect the bills being paid and our family life wasn't curtailed by them. Having to cancel the holiday we both badly need was seen as my activities doing just that.

Omega Cottage will close for new business on 1st September. I will miss the work and the friends I have made in the years I have been trying to help folk to get the best out of their computers. It is going to be a wrench stripping down and selling off the infrastructure I have enjoyed so much building here in my study but there is no point keeping more than a single computer as I will not need the servers and Macs I have now to do the bit of web surfing and maintenance on my personal web site.

Thanks to all of you who have been customers and friends down through the years, I will miss you.

Milo in trouble - again

Three weeks ago we took Milo to the vet to have a wart taken from his left eye. According to our vet it was a simple procedure that should take about ten days to heal. Milo in a bucket is not a nice animal to have around. He is so clumsy that his bucket looks as if it has been run over by a tank and the walls and doors around our home look as it has been the site of a demolition derby. As you can see Milo is a Chocolate Labrador. They are not the most graceful of dogs at the best of times, add a bucket and you have a lethal moving object. He has knocked us off our feet more than once and we are covered with bruises from the edges of the bucket. Thankfully when we took him to the vet this morning, Aunty Margret (our vet) confirmed that the ulcer is at last beginning to heal.

With everyone away on holiday it is very quiet here with no books or scripts needing work. However I do have a web site request from a firm that has rebuilt our conservatory roof, replaced the windows and generally tidied up and refurbished the whole conservatory. The firm is Calder Windows and I can thoroughly recommend their services and workmanship. You will find their website (draft version) at http://www.calderwindows.co.uk.

While things are quiet I am adding some more templates to my templates page. I have downloaded 20 or so new templates that I think folks may find interesting and give them some ideas of what their web site may look like. Over the next few days I will add them to my site and you can browse through them.

It is the time of year when I go looking at prices for car insurance. I was directed to the SAGA web site and the quote it gave was very attractive, almost £70 less than Direct Line's quote. The way SAGA quote is you give them the registration number of your vehicle and they identify it from a database based on the DVLA one that is used by most if not all of the Insurance companies to guard against fraud. The database identified my vehicle as a Vauxhall Combo Tour 2000 CDTI. There is and never has been such a vehicle as Vauxhall confirmed when I rang them. SAGA couldn't or wouldn't believe that this mistake had been made and insisted on trying to insure my vehicle as a combo panel van. AS that quote came in at over £400 pounds and was again for the wrong vehicle, I gave up, gave Direct line a ring, told them what had happened and got them to reduce my quote for renewal by £40. The lesson from this tale is check carefully any legal documents you are sent as anything based on a computer is not infallible, it is just as likely to be wrong as something produced by a human being.

A New Look

One of my customers suggested that if I was offering to build web sites for people then I should have some way of showing my skills and abilities. This seemed a good idea so I built a new template (called Misty after this little lady).





I have been playing with rounded corners in CSS so the template Misty uses them. This template is a fixed width, three column page with static background. Which lends itself to lists and short paragraphs of text. It is not ideal for tutorials or articles but works just fine for a contact page (see pic on right) or a list. I already have a list of example templates on one of my sites but it had a severely plain and utilitarian background. It is only a three page site just to demonstrate the type of templates that are available for use as free downloads from the web. I don't mind using templates as a lot of hard work has been done for you and the cross platform issues have in many cases been solved. It is then a matter of adapting the template to the customer's needs by adding logos and content. To have a look at the templates go to OmegaCottage.org .

My next task is to change the apperance of the page I use to test new projects. At the moment it looks as sever as the old .org page did but I will select a very different template and adapt it to take the links to the project(s) I am currently working on then add a contact page so that folks can tell me what they think and/or ask for a quote for building a site for them. You will find the page at OmegaCottage.com .

Just a short post today - see you next week.

Setting up the new computer

The computer Jackie won has arrived. It is huge (24" x 24" x 9") and very heavy. We unpacked it and plugged it in and it proved to be as fast as was claimed. However although it was loaded with Vista Ultimate, there was no DVD or licence. Now I know that when you win something you should be grateful for what you are given but when it comes to a computer, then one without an operating system is like a car without an engine. I rang the people who built the computer and was told that it was loaded with Vista and that was that, but as a Microsoft Partner I knew it shouldn't be delivered like that.

The competition was run by PC Format so I rang them to find out just what I should have received. I was told the computer should fully complete and ready to run. I told them what state the operating system was in and that the accessory pack for the computer case was missing too. The Editor Alan Dexter told me he would contact the computer supplier YoYoTech and find out why I had been supplied a computer with an illegal copy of Vista on it.

I am glad to report that yesterday morning a parcel arrived containing all the missing bits. The computer is now up and running with a fully legal operating system and I have been able to add the wheels to the case plus a few other bits like a floppy drive. I am glad PC Format were able to sort this one but if the prize had been won by someone with less computer knowledge than my own would they have been able to argue with the builders or would they have found the computer stopped working when Vista wouldn't activate and had to go and buy a copy at the full retail price?

I have loaded all my usual software on to the computer and it all seems to run just fine. The next test is what it will do in Windows 7. Windows 7 is released on 22nd October. I have signed up at Amazon for the pre-order scheme and hopefully saved my self about £50 on the full price. I am at present using the RC 1 version of Windows 7 on two of my computers and I like it. So far I have had no problems with it as most of the hardware manufacturers are bringing out Windows 7 drivers ready for the launch. The one exception is Matrox who can not or will not say when or even if they will be bringing out Windows 7 drivers so I can't test my multi screen system using my normal P690 graphics cards. In view of this I have abandoned Matrox altogether and switch back to ATI graphic cards. I don't have the massive three screen desktop you get with Matrox but the three desktops I do get with ATI are nearly as good and whats more are reliable and stable which is more than the last set of drivers for Vista 64 bit were from Matrox.

BT Internet seems to be having problems again. Several of the people I am in touch with use this ISP and all have lost their connection over the past few days and several of them also report missing email. BT Claims there is nothing wrong but if not, where are all the missing emails?

That's it for this week - bye for now.

Who's a spoilt brat then?

On Thursday of last week my wife Jackie received the following email

---

Hi Jacki
Ref Yoyotech Competition PC Winner

Your PC will be shipped out on Monday 27-07-09 via City Link, and will be with you on Tuesday 28-07-09

If you do need to adjust the delivery day please inform us before Monday 2pm

--
Regards

Kul Singh
Antech Direct Ltd T/A Yoyotech
30 Windmill Street
London
W1T 2JL

---

She was just about to delete it as spam when she thought on to ask me to check it out for her. I rang the company and after the usual why are you ringing and who are you etc I was told that she had indeed won a computer and it would be delivered on Tuesday. I asked what is the spec of the machine expecting an Office machine or middle of the road family computer. What she is getting is this computer which is an ultra fast, ultra powerful games machine full of all the latest bells and whistles.

I began to think about how to shoehorn this beast of a machine into Jackie's corner of the lounge where she happily does several hundred Internet competitions a day. This is where I was turned from a puzzled husband into a spoilt brat because Jackie told me she didn't want it "What would I do with all that power?" and that it was mine if wanted it.

Now, bearing in mind that the number of times I have played a computer game can be counted on one hand, I had to work out if this powerful machine could be converted into a very powerful workstation instead of a games platform. The simple answer is that at this moment in time I don't know. I do use some very memory hungry programs (Adobe InDesign for example) and MS Office is notorious for hogging memory. But on the other hand these days I have to be able to handle book sized Word files as that is the way book manuscripts arrive from the author for typesetting.

The graphics card that is in this machine is a very powerful one but will it run a three screen system? Again I don't know till I try it as the Matrox website doesn't cover this graphic card. Quite a few graphics cards are not compatible with the Triple Head to Go hardware or drivers so it may not be as simple as plugging it in and linking up to my three screen system. Oh well, I have just finished typesetting a book so after the machine arrives tomorrow, I suspect I will be in for a few happy hours researching just how to configure this machine for best performance as a Desk Top Publishing, Web Designing and MS Office applications machine. It will be a bit like using an F1 racing car to pop down to the Co-op but you never know I might just take up flight Simms and learn to fly.

It is only when something like this happens that you take stock and realise just how much you can take your partner for granted without realising what is happening. Like most men, I can easily become wrapped up in what I am doing and lose sight of the big picture. Jackie just puts up with me staring at a computer screen for hours on end and still the house is spotless, the meals always arrive on time and I am never short of clean clothes - see what I mean - I am a totally spoilt brat especially when I get a wonderful present like this computer.

All Change - Day 2

By the end of day one I have activated my new server, setup my domains (all 4 of them), uploaded my websites to the new server, setup email accounts and started to setup the server and permissions.

Day two started by getting all the email accounts working as they should. I then began to try to add the databases to the domains. I found I had to learn a new way of working because the new server did not accept the settings and code my previous server worked just fine with. This meant out with the manuals, fire up Google and try to work out what was different. I eventually tracked down the main difference to the path statement. My old server used

'Server.MapPath("../private/database.mdb")'

to point to the data source. The new server required the full path to be used in the connection string like this

'sConnString="PROVIDER=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & "Data Source=C:\inetpub\vhosts\\httpdocs\private\database.mdb'

quite a difference but it does now seem to work just as it should.

Late in the afternoon the publisher I worked for arrived with a script that needs correcting so I guess that as my new server is working reasonably well, it will now have to wait till the bread and butter stuff is done and I can find some time to start fine tuning.

All Change

I have decided that the time has come to move up a level and start to host my own web sites and email on a server I control. As part of the move I am also going to change my ISP (Internet Service Provider) to try to get a more stable service as my present ISP has been having to tweak my connection almost daily to keep me connected. I am sticking with a business service as the contention ratio tends to be better and you don't get the server drops that plague residential connections. I thought a diary of what I am doing might just help any of you that are considering changing your Internet connection or hosting services.

Right where did I start?

The first place is on the web to look for an ISP that offers the services that you want. Many folk buy just on price or because the man in the pub says that this service is the one to go for. Many folk also take as gospel what the TV adds say and promise. A better way is to find out which service all your neighbours are using and then pick another one - why? let me explain.

The Internet works in a way that is similar to your mobile phone. Residential customers are divided up into groups (cells) of 50 connections and the ISPs gamble that not all 50 customers will log on at the same time. This is called the contention ratio. If they do all log on the service just disconnects people until there is enough bandwidth to allow connections to the web. These are the slow downs and dropped servers that are very familiar to Tiscali, AOL, TalkTalk and other popular ISP customers. I pay a bit more a month for a business connection and get a 20 to 1 Contention Ratio. Because I live in the middle of a residential estate there aren't many other business customers around here so I don't get dropped servers or suffer the slow downs all my neighbours suffer. This time round I have plumped for a local business ISP here in Yorkshire (PlusNet) which should give me a similar service to the one I got from Eclipse before they grew too big to give an individual service to all their customers.

Once you have chosen your new ISP you have to ask your present ISP for the MAC code (Migration Access Code) that allows you to switch ISPs without any downtime other than having to type in your new User Name and Password to your router. The only problem you may get here is that some ISPs try to delay giving you your MAC code so that you get fed up waiting and stay with their service. This is against the code of practice and usually if you make that known to to your ISP the MAC code arrives by email within a couple of hours. All you need to do once you have got it is pass it on to your new ISP and then wait till switch over day.

I have done this and been given the switch over date of 28th July. In the mean time I can log on to PlusNet and setup my email mail boxes ready for switch over so that I don't miss any email. I am not going to detail what you need to do to make mailboxes as every ISP is slightly different but most ISP have a help page that gives you detailed instructions how to setup mailboxes and the settings you need for the email program on your computer. This my ISP's help page for setting up email for example.

I have also signed up for a virtual server with ServerChoice who are a sister company of the domain registration company who manage the registration of my domains for me. The server should come on line today so I should be able to tell you how I get on configuring it tomorrow.

In the mean time I have received the Mac code from Eclipse and passed it on to PlusNet so my new broadband connection should be up and running on the 28th July.

Scam Warning

This week I have become aware of a nasty little scam being run on the websites of some major players on the web like Easyjet, Interflora and Vistaprint. You may see an offer on the order confirmation for money off the next spend, If you take up the offer you're taken through a lengthy process in which you're joining up to the Shopper Discounts & Rewards programme run by Webloyalty and agreeing to a monthly direct debit or continuous payment. The offer is a hefty discount on hundreds of major shops and eBay but try to use it and you will find out it is not a discount at all.


My bank tells me that the way they operate this scam is by getting your card details from the firm you have ordered from and then using the details to set up a recurring debit on your card. The banks can't refuse to pay it so the only way to stop the scam is to cancel your card with all the inconveniences that causes.


If you want to read what other people think about this scam and how it works look at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=819869. There is also information on this site about what to do if you are caught.


I had another attempt to complete the rewiring of my network this week. When I torn the nail off the thumb that is in plaster I gave up. My study looks like it has been trashed by a determined police rummage team and I can only just get to my main computer but it will have to stay like that till I have got both my hands back.


The publisher I do occasional work for has decided that one of his sites needs a face lift. This site was originally written using an ecommerce program called Zencart. For a small business like his, Zencart has proved to be unwieldy and needs a lot of expertise in PHP to maintain. Also Zencart seems to be biased to selling music on line and adapting it to sell books has not been fully successful. His other company website uses osCommerce http://www.oscommerce.com/ which is more lightweight, much more intuitive to maintain and has a good number of people writing first class templates for all sorts of online stores including bookstores. I am meeting with him on Monday to decide which template to use so watch this space to see how we get on. The site we are updating is this one http://senbooks.co.uk/ so keep an eye on it.

That's all for this week I'm afraid, typing one handed isn't good productivity wise.

Post op week 2

I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised by the lack of pain from this op on my hand. The previous three ops all had me taking pain killers for weeks and my hand was totally useless as the slightest pressure on my thumb or fingers was extremely painful. This time round, it took until the morning after the op for the anaesthetic to fully wear off and my fingers to start moving again but when it did I was pleased to find that there was very little swelling, hardly any bruising and very little pain. Within three days I was using my hand to type with one finger. Now apart from the clumsy great pot on my hand and not being able to grip anything properly I hardly notice the op at all. I also don't need to take any more than my usual dose of pain killer to keep my arthritis under control.

I haven't managed to do any work on my network due to my hand but I have been busy doing other bits of upgrades. I have rejoined Skype using a wireless head set and web cam bought from eBay. The camera is tiny but give a good image even in the dark due to the LEDs that supply illumination. The web cam is compatible with Skype but not with Yahoo messenger so I can talk to some of my friends and customers but not others.

The wireless head set is a multi purpose one. It can be used for online audio/visual chat, It can be used as a baby monitor although wearing a headset all the time isn't my idea of comfort. It can be used wireless headphones to listen to music or DVDs without disturbing anyone else so it wasn't bad value at just less than £6. I haven't worked out how to wire it in permanently to my system as crawling about under the desk is a no no with this pot so it is just plugged in to the front mic and earphone connectors for now where it seems to work perfectly once I had told Vista what it was and where it was connected.

Earlier this week I was reading an article about how to make curved corners in CSS. It looked to be a lot of hard work just to make boxes with rounded corners so I thought I would have a go. I set to and designed a template for a web page called Curved Corners which you will find here if you want a look Curved Corners Test Page . It is a bit rough and ready at the moment but it wouldn't take much work to make it fully functional if anyone out there would like a site built using it.

I often find myself grinding my teeth at the claims of WYSIWYG web site editors who claim to be able to write perfect cross platform code first time every time. The simple fact is they can't as the following example will show. On Curved Corners is a small piece of code that produces a search box like this:-

<li id="search">

 <h2>Search</h2>

  <small style="margin-left: 25px">Search this site</small>

    <form id="searchform" method="get" action="">

 <div>

   <input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" style="height: 27px;" />

   <input type="submit" value="Search" style="height: 29px;" />

 </div>

    </form>

</li>

What this is supposed to look like is this :-

What you get is this in Mozilla :-

In Internet Explorer 8 you get this :-

And in Avant you get this:-

I am told that the WYSIWYG editors can sort this out but I think the above examples from my template show they are not quite as good as they claim. When I have debugged the code and made them all look the same I will let you know what had to be done to the CSS and HTML to get it right.

On Tuesday the heavy pot comes off, the stitches are removed and a light weight pot put on for the next four weeks. I am hoping that I will get a bit more use out of my hand although I will have to care full not to over use it.