| Today is World Backup Day! |
| What, you didn’t know it was World Backup Day? Hmmm, perhaps that’s not a surprise. If there was an award for “most overlooked really important thing in computing”, backups would win. Every year. To get you off on the right foot we’ve got three tips to help you backup your devices. • Make backups – Yes, our first tip really is “make backups”. Why? Because backups are the dental floss of cybersecurity—the thing that everyone knows they should do, that everyone intends to do, that nobody actually does. • Make them automatic – Once you decide that you’re going to make regular copies of your data you are, in all likelihood, going to get bored of doing it and slip up on your rigorous, well-intentioned schedule. Humans just aren’t good at doing the same thing, the same way, every day. But you know what is? A computer. • Make sure they work – If you’ve followed tip two and automated your backups then you can sit back and relax right? Sure, you can. But if you want to know for sure that your backup solution will be there for when you need it most, you need to test it. |
🦠 Virus Removal Tools 🦠
Here’s some of the best virus & malware removal tools, And they are all FREE!
Norton Power Eraser LINK Yes, I’m not the biggest fan of Norton. But this should be your first line of attack if you think your system may be infected.
Kaspersky KVRT LINK Next up would be this Kaspersky tool. Though the company may be under a bit of scrutiny, KVRT is a mighty killer of nasties!
Hitman Pro LINK The third line of attack would be Hitman Pro. Owned by the makers of “Sophos” AV.
(You have to fill out a little reg’ form to access this download, but you don’t have to be too honest!)
Adware Cleaner LINK After Hitman, run this little bit of magic to help cleanse anything that may still be hiding.
Malwarebytes LINK Once all the other scans have completed, Install Malwarebytes as a “Trial” version to give your system one last scan.
One of the best places that I know for Virus Removal tutorials etc is “Bleeping Computer” Click on the link link to take you there: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/
If after running that little lot you still feel uneasy, give us a shout.
🛜 Broadband Social Tariffs 💻
Did you know that you may be eligible for a discounted broadband service?
If you are in receipt of certain benefit’s (like Universal Credit and Pension Credit), you may qualify for a substantial discount on your internet connection.
Here’s a link to a very good article by Which? that could help you save a lot of money!
Article Link: All you need to know about broadband social tariffs: Which?
or copy/paste:
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/broadband/article/all-you-need-to-know-about-broadband-social-tariffs-awnIU5c9XS7G#full-list-of-broadband-social-tariffs-and-providers
The article has a list of all the suppliers that offer a “Social Tariff”, but even if your supplier is not listed or you are a different benefit to those shown, It’s worth giving your provider a call to ask what help may be available during this cost of living crisis.
We’re going Ultrafast….At Last!
They have finished the upgrade to Full Fibre here on Frolic Street in Newtown, so I’ve booked Bluesdigital in for a major speed increase.
Next month will see a big jump from our already reasonable 80Mb internet connection to just over 1Gbps. This will allow us to work faster & help us to develop even more services to assist our clients.
Zoom, Zoom!
BTW, we’ve been using TalkTalk Business for our connection for over 10 Years, and have always rec’d great customer service. If you may be interested in changing over to them, click on the following link, and we could both get up to £200 of Amazon vouchers!
LINK: https://refer.talktalk.co.uk/Rl82y5
Windows 11 Installation & Tweaks
If like me, you find Microsoft’s latest & Greatest Operating System, Windows 11, a little bit bloaty & nosey, You should try using Debloos! (LINK)
It’s a great little tool to help you quickly & safely remove some of the “Bloatware” & Pseudo Spyware that is packaged in Windows 11.
I would always advise you to do a back-up of your important files before using ANY tweaking tool, just in case!
If you fancy trying out a “Clean Install” of your Operating System, and you want to make a better USB Bootable installer than what you get with Microsoft’s own “Media Creation Tool”, you should give “RUFUS” a try. (LINK)
Among many of it’s very useful features, it will allow you to download the required operating system ISO’s safely. Furthermore, you can remove those pesky requirements for 4+GB RAM and Secure Boot. TPM 2.0 & the need for a Microsoft account, just to install Windows!
For more computer services, pop in to see us at Frolic House ( between Newtown Medical Practice and Driving Test Centre ) | Call 01686 610 106 | Message 0783 222 7823
iMac Woes
Had a lovely iMac 27″ in the other day with a dodgy hard drive.
Replacing the hard drive in these can be a bit of a nightmare, as you have to remove the screen to get at the innards, and that’s no mean feat!
It’s not a job that I look forward to as the screen is very big & liable to damage quite easily.
But as my client had a spare 2TB external SSD, I managed to get it set up with that, saving a lot of time trying to strip the beast.
It took quite a while to get it running again with all the usual Apple crazyness, but in the end it’s now running fast as ever.
Phew!
Pesky Printers
Just had a local Farmer from Dolfor pop in with a little Epson printer that has been giving him grief over the last few days. It’s been refusing to print anything, but giving no error messages on his computer to help him resolve it. He was going to chuck it out, but thankfully he gave me a call first.
Turns out it was just his black cartridge that had run out, phew!
After replacing it with a good quality compatible, it was up & running within a couple of minutes.
JWST Pictures
You have probably seen some of the new pic’s from the James Webb Telescope all over the media.
The one that grabbed my attention was the “Tarantula Nebula”, Wow!
After looking at it for a while, I thought a little magic in Photoshop may be called for.
With some help from the HDR tool to bring out the full range of colours in the image, and a healthy amount of contrast, the image was absolutely transformed.
Take a peek for yourself:
If you want a copy of my tweaked version for your desktop….. Click Here
Or you can pinch this one!
All Image Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, etc, etc, etc
Newtown Family Fun Fest…
Been doing some posters for the Newtown Family Fun Fest on Saturday 17th September.
Lot’s of great stuff for all the family from 11am – 3pm, in the Town Hall Grounds here in Newtown.
