Webster's latest thoughts...

Webster's latest from The Oldie

Webster — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:00:41 +0000

March 2012

You won’t generally find a more died in the wool proponent of the internet than I am, but I have been out-done by the Swedish in such a way that I can’t even begin to compete.

Believe it or not, the Swedish authorities have decided to recognise internet based file-sharing as a religion. And not an April Fool in sight.

Security software links

Webster — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:11:05 +0000

In the January 2012 Oldie, I recommended some free methods of protecting your Windows computer; here are the links to the sites I mentioned:

Microsoft Security Essentials, which runs all the time and protects against most things. Note - you should not have this and another similar product (such as AVG Free) installed at the same time. They will argue!
Click here to download Security Essentials
Spybot and Ad-aware – use these to run scans of your system every so often; they will find stuff which you want rid of, and which sneaked in under the radar. Most of it will be benign, just related to advertising, but it will certainly be slowing you down. You can install both of them at once without problems.
Click here to download Spybot
Click here to download Ad-aware Free version

I’d be pleased to hear how you get on; email webster@theoldie.co.uk or click here

Another scam warning...

Webster — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:03:52 +0000

I've written before about the crooks who ring you up and try and give the impression they are from Microsoft, then load foul stuff on your computer and take money. Click here to read the full details of just such a scam, drawn to my attention by a reader (thanks).

Rule 1: Microsoft will NEVER telephone you out of the blue to "sort out" your computer. If someone does call making those claims, put the phone down at once and pat yourself on the back.

I've written about scams here and here.

Lock-a-folder - a warning

Webster — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:37:31 +0000

In the latest edition of The Oldie I recommmended a useful little widget called Lock-a-folder, which is supposed to put passwords on individual foldres.

It's a good idea, but it seems that the latest version (not the one I tested) has some bugs in it, so PLEASE DO NOT TRY IT until I am satisfied that it is corrected.

I will post a note here when the coast is clear.

I'm very sorry if you've been caught out by this - it's very irritating.

How to find your stolen computer

Webster — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:35:06 +0000

There is a great story in The Telegraph about how a bright chap was able to find his stolen laptop, by connecting to it after it dissappeared...

It would have been even easier for him if he had installed the Preyproject software that I recommended in my column.

Click here to see the full story

Amuse and baffle your relatives...

Webster — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:01:14 +0000

Creating life on a beach - sort of...

Webster — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:09:00 +0000

Check your wedding history free (for a bit)

Webster — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:07:21 +0000

To tie in with the Roayl Wedding, Ancestry.co.uk (one of the largest family tree tracing sites) is making the UK marriage indexes free for a short time.

They have more than 96.4 million records of marriages from 1837 to 2005, and The Royal Collection, detailing half a million people born into or descended from royalty, the peerage, nobility and the landed gentry free to access from the 21st to the 30th April 2011.

Worth a look.

Cocktails for two...

Webster — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:03:18 +0000

A short memory from a long time ago.

Spike Jones and his City Slickers from 1945

3-D Pop stars - forget the real people...

Webster — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 22:11:34 +0000

Japan's newest singing sensation is a... Hologram. Really. They are actually selling tickets to projector concerts using a live band to accompany a virtual performers like Hatsune Miku. Regardless of being a Hatsune Miku fan or not, just seeing what technology can accomplish is pretty astonishing.

Miku's voice comes from Yamaha's Vocaloid synthesizing technology and is formed from a real person's voice, Japanese actress (but not singer) Saki Fujita. So it can't really do everything.