Never believe anything in emails

You should never believe anything that is written in an email. The reason is that it is so easy for someone to create a fake message that appears to be from someone else that you simply can't trust them. What you think is a message from your bank, MySpace, Facebook or wherever, could in fact be from a malicious person that is out to steal your username, passwords and anything else they can get you to reveal.


For example, there have been a couple of messages going around the internet recently that appear to be from MySpace and Facebook. The Facebook message says "Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed. You can find your new password in attached document." You can be that the attached document is a virus or something that directs you to a website that infects your PC with a virus or asks for your login details. Don't open it. Just delete the email.

It's obviously fake, even though the sender looks like it is facebook.com. For a start, the greeting is "Hey mail," instead of referring to me by name. Spam and phishing messages never contain your name and the best they can do is to include the first part of your email address before the @. No first name and no last name.

The MySpace message says "Dear MySpace user! Please be informed that you are required to update your MySpace account. Please update your MySpace account by clicking here: http://accounts.myspace.com.iuuuujek.co.uk/msp/index.php?fuseacti..." Dear MySpace User is a dead giveaway, but the URL you have to click on is obviously wrong too. People read from left to right and the URL starts off OK and might look fine, but computers read URLs backwards from right to left and if you do this you will see that it's definitely not MySpace. It's not how URLs start that's important, it's how they end.

So when you get these emails, just delete them. And do the same with any other emails of a similar nature.

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Chrome OS - will anyone use it?

It is amazing how much gets written about Google Chrome OS and I've just been reading another big article about it. The strange thing is that the product does not exist, at least not outside of Google's development labs. No-one has seen it, no-one has run it, no-one even knows its features. Yet there are comments and articles around the web and in print that predict the end of Microsoft and Windows.

That's going too far and there is absolutely no justification for saying things like that. For a start, Google Chrome OS is based on Linux and only a small number of people use Linux. It has something like a 2% share of the computer operating system market.

Even if Chrome OS is the best Linux in the world, it won't make much difference. The problem is that people aren't interested in operating systems. Instead, they are passionate about applications and so some people will ask "Does it run Microsoft Office?" It won't and therefore businesses won't use it. Others will ask "Will it run Dragon Age, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (or whatever the latest game is)?" The answer is no and therefore home users won't want it. A few will ask "Will it run Photoshop?" Again, it won't, and there's another group of users that won't want Chrome OS. The only way that it will be successful is if there is some killer application that people absolutely must have, and that isn't available on Windows.

Chrome OS's market share is unlikely to ever reach double figures, after all, look at the Chrome web browser. No matter how good Google claims it is, it still only has about a 3% market share. It is very hard to make people switch from their favourite application.

What is interesting though, is that Google Chrome web browser has been a lot more influential than you'd think by looking at the market share. It's speed and features have made rivals put extra effort into their own browsers and it has raised the standard of all web browsers. It will be the same with Chrome OS. It seems likely that only a few people will use it, but it will probably have a big influence on rival operating systems like Windows, OS X and Linux. Basically, competition is good for the market and is to be welcomed.

If you want to keep up with the latest developments with Chrome web browser and Chrome OS, take a look at The Chromium Blog, Google Chrome Releases, Google Chrome Blog, The Official Google Blog, Google Chrome Fans, and Chrome Story.

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Keep Windows 7 running at top speed

Windows runs quickly and seems the most responsive when it has just been installed or when you buy a new PC. Very slowly over a long period of time it seems to get slower and slower. Why is this?

There are several reasons and one is that as the disk drive fills up it becomes less efficient and files become fragmented. Fortunately, there are some good disk defragmenters that can solve this problem. Windows has it's own disk defragmenter, but if you are looking for a better freebie then try IObit Smart Defrag, it's compatible with Windows 7.

Another reason why Windows slows down is because of updates. Extra features, bug fixes, patches, and service packs are downloaded and installed by Windows update and they add code to the system. The more code there is, the slower Windows runs. Unfortunately, you can't really avoid this and it is a good idea to leave Windows Update turned on for security and stability reasons.

A third reason why Windows slows down is that you install lots of software. Even if you uninstall software you don't need, it's sometimes impossible to remove all traces. As the software builds up on your computer and dlls, registry settings, configuration files and other items are added to the system, Windows gets slower.

Sometimes you can avoid installing software. For example, a device like a digital camera will often work fine if you simply plug it into the USB port of the computer. Windows will detect it and offer to open a window to display the photos on it or download them to the computer. You might not need to install the software that is bundled with the camera. It's the same with other devices - see if they work just by plugging them in and only install software if you have to.

Some software is essential though, such as an office suite or a photo editing program, but even with these you can sometimes get away by not installing anything. Instead of a regular software program, look for what is called a portable app. These are programs that are designed to run from USB flash memory drives (which is why they are called portable), and they don't install anything into Windows. There is a portable version of OpenOffice, Firefox and GIMP, for example. You just unzip the programs to a folder on the disk and that's it. And if you ever decide you don't need a portable app you can just delete the folder. This removes everything and leaves nothing behind. You won't get any uninstall errors or other problems that you occasionally get when removing software.

Sometimes you will find a portable app on a website with the regular app and you just need to look for it. There are also websites that specialise in portable apps, like PortableApps. There are other places, like this article listing 100 portable apps, this Wikipedia article, and Pendriveapps.

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Which Windows 7 version is best?

There are three versions of Windows 7 to choose from (OK, there are more, but the choice is mainly between three), so which one should you go for? There is Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate, and you may be wondering what the difference is. Is is worth buying the top-of-the-range Ultimate edition?

The Professional and Ultimate editions allow you to run software designed for Windows XP in XP Mode. This is basically a virtual machine running Windows XP and there are alternatives to Microsoft Virtual PC that you can use instead, such as VirtualBox. The only difference is that you'll need an XP installation CD to install XP into VirtualBox.

Another feature in Professional and Ultimate, but not Home Premium, is the ability to join a domain on a network. A large company with many networked PCs will split up the computers into small groups called domains. It's a handy feature, but home users won't ever use it and won't miss it if it's not there.

The Professional and Ultimate editions allow you to back up to a network, but it's another feature that few home users are interested in. It's much easier to plug in a USB drive and back up your files to it than to fiddle around with network servers. Besides, there are dozens of backup tools, some of which are free, that can back up to any device or network location.

BitLocker is only available in the Ultimate edition and it encrypts the contents of the disk to prevent thieves from stealing the data that is on it. It's useful for everyone, but it is not the only option for preventing data theft and Home Premium and Professional users could employ third party tools, some of which are free.

Finally, the Ultimate edition enables you to easily switch between 35 different languages. Do you really need to do this?

The obvious choice for most people is Windows 7 Home Premium. It has all the features you need and those that are missing are easily added using free software you can download from the internet in a few minutes.

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Apple iTablet - where will you use it?

The rumours around Apple's tablet computer/hand-held device still persist and it seems like there is a news item somewhere on the web almost every day. Is Apple working on a tablet or not? The answer is definitely yes. Do I have any inside information then? No.

The thing is that many computer manufacturers have been working on tablet computers for years. They have been around a long time and if you want one a quick search at Google will turn up a supplier and you can order one today. With big companies like HP already having tablet PCs on the market and no doubt new models under development, it would be surprising if Apple didn't also have a tablet computer, at least in prototype form. I bet there's one at Apple's headquarters or development labs right now.

Many computer manufacturers have experimented with tablet computers and no doubt they would love to create a new market sector, but none has been successful so far. Netbooks have grabbed a large slice of the market and their success has been rapid and surprising.

Tablets have been around much longer than netbooks and they can be found in niche markets, but the wider general public just isn't interested and sales are poor. The question is not whether Apple is working on a tablet, but whether it can make one a compelling purchase. The problem facing Apple is how to coming up with a product that appeals to more than just a tiny market niche. This is probably the reason why it hasn't yet launched the iTablet.

No matter how good the hardware and software, you have to ask where people would use an iTablet. If you are at home then you'll have access to a desktop or laptop computer. If you are at work then you'll have a desktop or laptop computer. So an iTablet would only be useful when you are out of the home and office. However, an iTablet would not be as portable as a smartphone and you wouldn't want to carry a large device around. And if you need more than a smartphone offers, it makes sense to take a netbook or laptop.

It would be very difficult to sell the idea of an iTablet. Microsoft and Intel tried the UMPC and even produced ads showing people walking down the street with them in their hands as they shopped or went to work, but people don't want a device that won't fit their pocket. It's too much of a hassle. Putting a touch screen on a Mac and enabling it to swivel round and sit flat on the keyboard as current tablet PCs do, just won't sell any more than MacBooks or current tablets from HP and others.

It's easy to see why smartphones, netbooks and laptops sell, but it is hard to see a market for a tablet no matter who produces it.

Current rumours suggest it is more like an ebook reader that also has web access to allow newspapers and magazines to be read. That's interesting, but at current prices ebook readers are just an expensive toy for rich people. Prices need to fall by at least 50% before they'll take off in any numbers and Apple really wants to sell high price quality kit, not cheap stuff. Predictions of the end of newspapers and current ebooks readers are wrong. They aren't going to go away even if Apple's iTablet is the best thing since sliced bread. MP3 players haven't been killed off by the iPod and there are plenty of alternatives.

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Should you upgrade to Windows 7?

The release of Windows 7 is just a few days away as I write this and inevitably the question of whether to upgrade the current version of Windows on their PC will occupy many PC users’ thoughts. Is it worth upgrading?

The advice for most people has to be No. It’s not that Windows 7 isn’t worth it, it is actually a great version of Windows and it’s one of Microsoft’s best. The problem is that a lot of people have old and/or cheap PCs that may not be suitable for Windows 7. An old PC running XP should not be upgraded to Vista. Firstly, it’s probably running XP just fine and there is an old saying that goes, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” Even PC’s running might be best left alone too.

The only Windows users that should consider upgrading are those that have recently bought a new PC. If it is only a few months old then by all means upgrade Windows, but anything more than a couple of years old is best running the operating system that came with it.

Don’t rush to get Windows 7. When you buy a new PC it will come with Microsoft’s new OS and that’s the cheapest way to buy it and it avoids any compatibility problems. All new PCs from October this year will come with Windows 7 and will be designed to run Windows 7.

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Install software properly in Windows 7

Isn't installing software easy? It is certainly supposed to be, but occasionally you can run into strange problems. It can start when you get a new PC or install a brand new operating system like Windows 7. With Windows 7's launch not far away now, here is a simple technique to avoid problems later.

What you might do is to boot up your brand new computer or install Windows 7 and then set about installing all the software you need. Later on you might then create user accounts for the other members of the household. However, this is the wrong way to do things.

What you should do is to create all the user accounts you will need as soon as you boot up. When they have all been created, log off and log back on with each account. Just logging on with an account and going to the desktop will create all the default settings for it.

Once this is done, you can install the software you want to use. During installation it can see the other accounts and set itself up for them. After each program you should log off and log on with each account. Start the new program and then close it and log off. What this does is to initialise the program settings for each account.

During installation the software might need to apply settings for each account, so by installing it after creating the accounts it can then see them if it needs to. And by logging on with each account and running the software once, it can create default settings and you can answer any setup questions it might display. You don't want other users of the computer to be faced with technical configuration questions when they first run the program.

You may do this anyway, but it's just something to remember when you get your hands on Windows 7 and it can avoid problems.

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