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BT -Particulars of a Claim against BT- get in touch-
Updated: 20 Feb 2012
Particulars of Claim against BT
A Breach of Contract
Failed in its basic level of service
Under Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982
Failed to be reasonable and skilful within a reasonable time
Misleading advertising- Unfair trading practice
- Contract made with BT and paid for who then cancelled it, but failed to offer another or correct their action all for £6.
- BT Connection engineer told us to leave the broadband hub power on or lose signal power. Effectively paying commenced when the hub was switched on not when computer connected to the internet.
- It took 10 days of low connectivity for “stabilisation to take place” after connection. Extreme frustration leading up to Christmas.
- The package we took out stated that “It was perfect for everyday internet use”. This misleading, inaccurate and deceitful statement has cost us extra every month.
- A slow Connection service continued but no response to formal complaints.
- Prompted by BT advert to buy a BT Vision box, as a one, off but was charged £90 when £60 was the agreed price.
- Overcharged £47 40 taken from my bank as a result and of an incorrect credit note, then re- charged the same on the next bill. Corrected eventually.
- Sky Sports 1&2 addition offered at £7.20 but charged £17.40-cancellation took too long.
- Openzone option included in the package but no password sent with the package or details in the User Guide.
- Network upgrading resulted in extremely slow connection speed for 13 days. This was after BT sent an email “We’ve upgraded our network”.
- In May we asked for the Phone line to be moved within our home,- 25 metres, to another live line, but it took more than one month and we were inconvenienced. After this we were told online “You do not have an account with us” when I was trying to check the connection speed.
- As we had spent hours on the phone sorting these problems out and received not one letter from BT until Nov 2011 we contacted Otelo ( Ombudsman Communication -who awarded us £30 and a BT apology. We told Otelo this would hardly cover postage stamps spent on communicating letters and phone calls to them.
- Charged for “free” weekend/ evening calls because wife on the phone for over one hour. Yet small print in BT contract took days to discover. Told by BT, when enquired, to switch off phone after 59 mins. and redial !
- Paid for one year phone connection but nothing signed or said about the Broadband connection being 18 months. Had presumed the total package was for one year.
- Requested BT give a Migration Code after 12 months paid contract to leave after one year. BT Refused -Instead they requested cessation fee of £282.
I am asking the Court to award a Migration Code and compensation of £500 plus Court expenses for complaint letters, time wasted, slow Broadband connection not settled at the time adequately.
Delays and Distress & any immediate cessation fees and cost of renegotiating a another contract with their competition.
Particular reference to
1.Re-engaging the Contract withdrawn involved considerable time effort and cost.
2.The slogan “Perfect for everyday internet use” which since has been withdrawn as an advert for their promotion Package BT Total Broadband Option 1. |
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Computer- Broadband Providers get it in the neck again
Updated: 18 Feb 2012
Ofcom calls for measures to stop 'slamming' by broadband providers
Regulator puts forward proposals that would see independent checks when people switch phone or broadband suppliers
Ofcom plans to stamp down on slamming
With hundreds of thousands of people finding their phone or broadband provider has been changed without their permission, Ofcom has proposed new measures to protect them.
The communications regulator said last year this practice, known as slamming, had affected an estimated 520,000 households. Ofcom also found problems when people changed broadband supplier, with one in five consumers losing their internet connection for about a week.
During a 12-month period, around 130,000 households had problems such as being given the wrong telephone line during the switching process or when moving house.
Now the regulator wants to introduce a process where the new provider would manage the switching process.
To guard against slamming, this switch would be checked and verified by an independent third party.
Ofcom Chief Executive, Ed Richards said: "Smooth switching processes are essential to ensure that consumers can change providers with confidence.
Many people think that the current systems are too difficult and unreliable which is why we have made it one of our priorities to tackle this problem.
"Ofcom has improved consumer information on broadband speeds and enhanced competition in the market but it is also essential that people are able to switch easily to exercise their choice.
"Today's proposals are designed to make the process easier, more reliable and safe from slamming.
We believe that the proposals would improve consumers' experience of switching and ensure that they continue to benefit from competition."
The new proposals are now in the consultation phase, but the news has been welcomed by Consumer Focus. Adam Scorer, the statutory consumer rights body's director of policy said:
"Making switching simpler should be the goal in these types of markets, so we welcome Ofcom's plans to make switching easier in the fixed line phone and broadband sectors.
"According to Ofcom's own figures households switching broadband supplier is relatively low, often a sign of weak competition in a market.
Hopefully these measures will lead higher numbers of people moving to better deals.
"We strongly support the plan to move towards gaining provider-led switching processes. When you switch to a new supplier, it should be responsible for making the process quick and simple – the company losing the business has few incentives to do this.
"When the new company handles the move it tends to bring down costs, limit disruption and encourage quick completion; all of which is good news for consumers.
"Ofcom should now also look at switching bundles such as broadband, TV and mobile as they are increasingly popular among consumers, but have switching rates even lower than broadband."
Read more: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2145254/ofcom-calls-measures-stop-slamming-broadband-providers#ixzz1mjI59bVr . |
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Computer -The Scandal of the Hated Broadband Contracts and Migration Authorisation Code delays
Updated: 14 Feb 2012
One small step closer to easier broadband and telephone switching
Tuesday 07 February 2012 20:27:58 by andrew@thinkbroadband.com">Andrew Ferguson
The launch of a full LLU service by TalkTalk in April 2006 saw demand for the product explode in the UK, and with Sky adopting full LLU as standard from September 2011, the need for a simple way for consumers to switch their broadband and telephone service back to another provider once out of contract is some years overdue.
Ofcom launched its first consultation into a new migration process in 2010, and it appears we can expect in the next few days (if the early February 2012 deadline is to be met) a second consultation.
Apparently the delay in the publication was caused by the complex issues arising from the multitude of switching options available in the market.
If it takes Ofcom 18 months from one consultation to another, then it would suggest that Ofcom has allowed processes unfit for the market to remain in place for a long time.
A lot of the confusion stems from two types of LLU service existing:
Shared LLU (SMPF) where the voice phone service remains connected to BT hardware, allowing for WLR products or CPS, with their relative ease of switching.
Only the broadband is unbundled connecting it to the providers own hardware, and switching onto and away from a shared LLU service is straight forward using the Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) process.
Full LLU (MPF). both voice and broadband are connected to the providers hardware at the exchange.
Moving to a full LLU service requires no codes from the losing provider, which sometimes leads to confusion over when billing should finish, resulting in the consumer over paying for overlapping services.
Moving from one full LLU provider to another one is pretty straight forward, in fact the ease of switching can lead to slamming.
Leaving a full LLU service, means finding a suitable telephone provider and broadband provider, many people end up going back to BT Retail for the phone line as they are keener than many others to handle the move.
It is not unusual for people to be without broadband for a couple of weeks when moving away from a full LLU service.
Lets hope Ofcom arrives at a process that works for the consumer rather than just being the minimum the industry is prepared to do, is cheap, simple to use, and guards against over keen sales staff.
Switching should focus on presenting a simple process to the consumer, and providers who do not follow the procedures should suffer penalties.
Ofcom has in the past taken action where providers transgress, but only after months of problems, we would like to see incentives for providers to follow the rules all the time, e.g. penalties for breaking the rules on a per end-user basis.
Fingers crossed Ofcom will ensure that whatever processes they arrive at, also work with fibre products and ensure number portability. |
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Computer- Wanted: An Internet Defence Squad
Updated: 09 Feb 2012
Wanted: an Internet defence squad
Wednesday, 8 February, 2012 6:47
Alex Wilks - Avaaz.org" <avaaz@avaaz.org>
Dear Friends
Governments are launching an all-out assault on the Internet, with new laws being quietly introduced across the world.
With 12.6 million people in every nation, Avaaz is the only movement that can meet this threat everywhere. If 20,000 of us donate now, we can support a rapid reaction network of campaigners to mobilize massive public opposition anytime and everywhere the net is threatened:
It's a showdown across the world. Almost everywhere, governments are launching an all-out assault on the freedom and promise of the Internet. But people are responding like lightning, and we can win.
An unholy alliance of freedom-curbing governments and profit-hungry corporations is bringing a flood of new legislation to censor and control everything we do and see online. New laws are being quietly tabled right now from Canada to Brazil to India. A whopping 3 million of us helped face down the threat from the US government 3 weeks ago, and almost 2 million of us have opposed the global ACTA treaty, but to really save our Internet, we need to go to the next level.
12.6 million of us are receiving this email, and we are the only global, rapid response, mass-citizen based movement that can meet the threat to the net instantly and massively wherever it rears its ugly head. If enough of us chip in, we can maintain a powerful watch system with rapid response campaigning, while also proactively pressing a few countries to become safe zones for the free Internet. The threat is immediate, but if 20,000 of us donate a small amount each right now, we can help save the net for good. It's our Internet, let's fight for it:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/an_internet_defence_squad_c/?vl
The Internet is proving to be the most empowering democratic tool since, well, democracy. It's helping us to take democracy to a new level of engagement and accountability and active citizenship, and it's having a powerful effect on our economies as well -- allowing small businesses to break the strangleholds of larger ones. And that's exactly why so many vested interests are seeking to curtail it. With members in every country on earth, our community has a unique potential to win this fight -- donations will support:
•a powerful network of campaigners that can watch for threats and respond quickly
•rapid, well-resourced campaigns that use the full range of media and advocacy tactics to safeguard the net
•proactive efforts to persuade key countries to offer protection to companies and sites, and eventually pass legislation that establishes safe zones for the free Internet
A threat anywhere can be a threat everywhere, because the whole idea of the net is that it is an open, borderless public domain. These national laws will carve up the net and erect chinese-style firewalls and censorship systems around national borders -- but they will also threaten all of us because any website with staff or assets in the country concerned will be forced to comply, affecting the entire global net.
These laws are being drafted in backrooms and quietly tabled in legislatures right now. The US law that 3 million of us fought was suddenly tabled on a Friday with a vote on a Tuesday. We can't afford to be slow if we want to win this. So we need to maintain a global network of campaigners that are watching and ready at a moment's notice to counter this threat. Click below to make it happen:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/an_internet_defence_squad_c/?vl
In the past few months we've helped beat back threats to Internet freedom in Italy, India, Brazil, India and the US. We’ve also provided the technology that’s enabled unbelievably brave Syrians to punch a hole in their communications blackout and show the world the atrocities their government is committing. The hope and enthusiasm of citizens rising to these challenges is beautiful to watch, and be part of. The momentum is with us, let's keep it up.
With hope and determination,
Alex, Ricken, Dalia, Benj, Emma, Diego and the whole Avaaz team
SOURCES
Can Avaaz change the world in a click? (The Times):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/48808533/The-Times-profile-of-Avaaz-and-Ricken-Patel-Feb-9-2011
From the web to the streets (The Guardian):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/60655424/From-the-Web-to-the-Streets-The-Guardian-s-Patrick-Kingsley-on-the-power-of-clicktivism
Success stories from the Avaaz movement worldwide:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/highlights--media-and-internet.php
A town crier in the global village (The Economist):
http://www.economist.com/node/16943875?story_id=16943875 |
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Computer-BBC to investigate cost of Ink -Jet Cartridges
Updated: 02 Feb 2012
BBC looking for people to take part in show
on the cost of ink-jet cartridges
The cost of ink-jet cartridges has been a source of contention for many people for some time.
The BBC is on the look-out for people who are willing to contribute to a televised discussion into the cost of ink-jet cartridges.
So the broadcaster has asked Computeractive to put out some feelers to see if any of our readers would be interested in taking part in a show that will look at a number of angles on this topic.
People who are interested in putting their opinions across need to be available for filming on Tuesday, 7th February, in Stratford, London.
So if you have an opinion either way on the cost of these compatibles and want to take part, contact Lyndsay Rowan at the BBC (lyndsay.rowan@bbc.co.uk) for more information.
Read more: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2143062/bbc-looking-people-cost-ink-jet-cartridges#ixzz1lC4QN4qF |
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Computer- America's Attack on the Internet
Updated: 27 Jan 2012
Dear friends,
Last week, 3 million of us beat back America's attack on our Internet! --- but there is an even bigger threat out there, and our global movement for freedom online is perfectly poised to kill it for good.
ACTA - a global treaty - could allow corporations to censor the Internet. Negotiated in secret by a small number of rich countries and corporate powers, it would set up a shadowy new anti-counterfeiting body to allow private interests to police everything that we do online and impose massive penalties -- even prison sentences -- against people they say have harmed their business.
Europe is deciding right now whether to ratify ACTA -- and without them, this global attack on Internet freedom will collapse. We know they have opposed ACTA before, but some members of Parliament are wavering -- let's give them the push they need to reject the treaty. Sign the petition -- we'll do a spectacular delivery in Brussels when we reach 500,000 signatures:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet/?tta
It's outrageous -- governments of four fifths of the world’s people were excluded from the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations and unelected bureaucrats have worked closely with corporate lobbyists to craft new rules and a dangerously powerful enforcement regime. ACTA would initially cover the US, EU and 9 other countries, then be rolled out across the world. But if we can get the EU to say no now, the treaty will lose momentum and could stall for good.
The oppressively strict regulations could mean people everywhere are punished for simple acts such as sharing a newspaper article or uploading a video of a party where copyrighted music is played. Sold as a trade agreement to protect copyrights, ACTA could also ban lifesaving generic drugs and threaten local farmers' access to the seeds they need. And, amazingly, the ACTA committee will have carte blanche to change its own rules and sanctions with no democratic scrutiny.
Big corporate interests are pushing hard for this, but the EU Parliament stands in the way. Let's send a loud call to Parliamentarians to face down the lobbies and stand firm for Internet freedom. Sign now and send to everyone you know.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet/?tta
Last week, we saw the strength of our collective power when millions of us joined forces to stop the US from passing an Internet censorship law that would have struck at the heart of the Internet. We also showed the world how powerful our voices can be. Let's raise them again to tackle this new threat.
With hope and determination,
Dalia, Alice, Pascal, Emma, Ricken, Maria Paz and the rest of the Avaaz team
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Computer- Twitter Revolution ?- Which came first ?
Updated: 24 Jan 2012
Twitter revolution?
Pluto author Joss Hands looks at the debates over the role of new social media in the Tunisian uprising.
Popular uprisings are now regularly accompanied with speculation as to whether they are ‘Twitter’ revolutions, and much of this speculation consists in counter-claims that Twitter’s importance has been overblown.
We have seen this now with at least three different events – in Moldova and Iran in 2009 and now Tunisia.
A flavour of this is captured in the debate between Evgeny Morozov and Clay Shirky.
A search through the many reports and commentaries on this topic suggests there is not some kind of consensus of the naïve, who are cheerleading for Twitter, and whose naivety can be knowingly upended.
Indeed there appears to be as much, or far more, scepticism on the topic than there is support.
In fact it is difficult to locate the explicit Twitter revolution arguments, against which many critical commentators claim they are reacting.
Even stories that do present a somewhat enthusiastic tone are still equivocal, one that has generated sceptical commentary is Elizabeth Dickenson’s piece on Wikileaks and Tunisia in Foreign Policy.com, but in fact this is still a fairly measured commentary.
The common feature of these critiques is that they tend to isolate Twitter from its context and frame it as an overhyped tool rather than as a capacity.
This attitude internalises a form of technological determinism.
A tool implies an object or technique used to directly leverage an outcome, and thought of in this way Twitter’s impact can be judged on some kind of scale to be argued over– and from here scepticism can easily spring.
Yet the ‘virtual’ and the ‘real’ are no more separable than ‘mind’ and ‘body’.
Twitter, social media or the Internet as a whole, can’t be isolated as the cause, or not, of anything, because they are part of the fabric of social life and the terrain of struggle.
What is significant in these uprisings is that Twitter, whatever its actual role, is a new element in the struggle.
From that perspective it stands out, and therefore is an inevitable subject of speculation – and so it should be.
Thus when there is discussion about a ‘Twitter Revolution’ in Tunisia it is not quite as stupid as the sceptics suggest.
The phrase should not necessarily be taken literally, but read as part of the necessary task of articulating a new element into the revolutionary process, in which new dynamics and new capacities need to be absorbed and understood.
So it is that ‘Twitter revolution’ can mean a lot more than a blunt empirical claim, but rather the recognition of a new historical moment.
Ethan Zuckerman rightly argues that ‘Tunisians took to the streets due to decades of frustration, not in reaction to a Wikileaks cable, a denial-of-service attack, or a Facebook update.’
But that is not to say that Twitter, and social media more broadly, haven’t helped set the tone for these uprisings. |
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Computer- Broadband Contracts Explained
Updated: 24 Jan 2012
Broadband Contracts Explained
The Check Small Print Guide is to help you understand the importance of checking the small print in your broadband contract so that you are aware of the potential pitfalls and at the same time a better understanding of the broadband providers commitment to you in terms of services they should deliver.
Not only should this help to avoid the pitfalls or hidden charges that exist in almost every broadband contract, it should also better prepare you if you have any problems with your provider that you are in dispute with.
Broadband Contracts Explained
In recent years, broadband has quickly become the preferred way of going online for the UK’s internet users. More than two thirds of net users have broadband connections, according to recent figures from the UK's Office of National Statistics.
Even more significant, 57% of broadband internet users go online every day, with the average time spent in front of a computer running to almost half an hour a day.
But as broadband use continues to grow sharply, so does the level of dissatisfaction with the service received by many users. Surveys regularly show that anything up to 25% of all broadband users are unhappy with the service they receive – and that percentage is growing.
The problem for many users is that when they sign up for a deal, they often don’t realise that they are entering into a legal contract with their broadband provider.
A contract works both ways: on the one hand, a user’s obligation is to pay his or her bills on time and not default on payments. Failure to do so can lead to penalties being imposed.
On the other hand, a broadband provider also has obligations as well: it must provide a service to you at an acceptable level, (i.e. a service level agreement) and meet its own side of any contract with customers.
So if the position is so clear, why is there still so much dissatisfaction?
Part of the reason is that most broadband contracts have a wide range of quirks contained in the small print, ranging from the charges you may face for exceeding your download capacity, to levying contract "cancellation fees" – even where a provider says there is no minimum contract.
Yet most users fail to spot these quirks in their contracts before they sign up. A survey by moneysupermarket.com recently found that the majority of people signing up for broadband (55%) fail to look for extra charges and catches contained within contract small print and many fall foul of them.
This guide will take you some of the various quirks and show you how to spot them. This will then allow you to steer clear of those providers whose contracts you don’t like.
It will also give you guidance on what to do if you are unhappy with any aspect of the contract you have signed – including who to complain to.
The small print when you sign up to broadband
Few of us bother to read the small print in any contract, but before you sign up to any broadband deal, it is vital that you do so.
After all, you are likely to be spending hundreds of hours online. And failing to understand exactly what is involved in your contract may means poor quality service – or paying excessively for a deal.
So what are the things you should be looking out for? Here are a few tips:
Set-up fees/upfront charges: Some providers will ask you to pay a set-up fee to cover the cost of installing the equipment in your home. Virgin Media, Talk Talk, Sky and Be ask for between £20-50 in one off set up fees.
Direct Save Telecom goes even further, as well as asking for a £40 set-up fee, it also asks for the first two months’ subscription upfront – at a cost of £33.90 – taking the total upfront charge to £73.90 before you even go live with broadband.
Charges for exceeding the download capacity: Some providers impose a charge if you exceed the agreed download capacity of your deal. BT, PIPEX and Madasafish charge 30p per GB, £2.70 for 3GB and £2 per GB respectively for exceeding your download capacity.
Sky and Orange will upgrade you to a new deal with a bigger download capacity and start charging you at the higher rate, but they will notify you of this.
Non-direct debit charges: These tend to hit people from lower income backgrounds the hardest as they may have reduced access to personal banking. The major brands levying this extra fee include Virgin Media, TalkTalk and BT, charging between £3.50 and £5 a month for non-direct debit payments. Vodafone at Home gives you no option but to pay by direct debit only.
Helpline call charges: Several providers provide 0845 or 0870 numbers that charge 3.65p (evening) to 7p (daytime) a minute, (AOL, Direct Save Telecom, Talk Talk, Tiscali).
However BT and Orange charge the highest amounts for making a technical support call, up to £1.05 and 50p a minute respectively. Vodafone at Home is the only provider that allows you to call customer service or technical support for free - but it has to be on a Vodafone mobile phone.
Free calls to UK landline charges: Free calls to UK landlines is a very attractive reason why people would want to switch to a broadband/phone deal. But be aware that these "free calls" offers only apply to numbers starting with 01 and 02. Meanwhile, making calls to 0845 numbers – used by many banks and businesses – continue to be charged at national rates.
The small print when you move home or leave your broadband deal
For many broadband users who find themselves in a contract they don't like, the thought of escape is uppermost in their minds.
But then they discover that the cost of ending the contract and moving to a better deal elsewhere is so high that it would cost them at least six months' worth of benefits from the new contract.
Here are some of the charges you could end up paying:
Late payment fees: Namesco, BT, Directsave Telecom and Virgin Media all charge late payment fees, ranging from £7.50 - £25, offering limited flexibility for people to pay when they can afford to.
Direct Save Telecom not only charges a £14.95 disconnection fee for late payment. You also pay a £14.95 administration fee for insufficient funds for a direct debit. Namesco charges a fixed £25 for any non payment or late payment.
Moving home charges: Madasafish, Namesco and Be*** all charge at least £50 to reconnect you once you have moved.
Contract termination fees: Cancellation fees are uniform across all broadband providers. The standard cancellation policy is that you have to pay off the remaining monthly subscription fees of the contract period - this could be anything up to 18 months.
Be aware however that if a provider says there is no minimum contract that doesn’t mean you won’t pay a cancellation fee. Some, such as PlusNet, Direct Save Telecom and Be Broadband, will charge a fixed cancellation fee of between £47 and £80 within the first 12 months.
Contract termination - equipment fees: BT charges a £45 equipment fee if you cancel your contract. Eclipse is probably the worst, charging £51 plus VAT for unreturned equipment.
What other small print quirks are there?
BT offers 250 wi-fi minutes a month for free but if you look in the small print this is for the first year only after which a monthly charge kicks in.
Pipex is entitled to charge the customer for internal relocation.
Vodafone at Home charges £25 per month for its service – but the fee rises to £35 per month if the customer cancels their combined mobile phone contract.
Eclipse, Orange, Tiscali and Virgin Media will request a security deposit upfront if the customer persistently defaults payments.
TalkTalk may request a deposit or impose credit limits before allowing the customer to use mobile and international services.
BT may ask the customer to pay an upfront deposit before receiving his or her broadband service.
What can I do next?
In theory, signing a contract with any service provider – including broadband – ought to be like marriage: you live happily ever after.
Unfortunately, things do not work out like that in practice. There may well come a time when you feel the service you receive is not what you signed up for, or the charges you are paying are too high.
This is even more likely to be the case in a situation where broadband suppliers vie with each other to come up with better deals all the time.
So what should you do when faced with a problem? Here are some tips.
If you think your provider has broken its contract with you, you need to be sure you are right in that view. So read your contract and check the small print carefully.
Approach your provider – by mail or phone - and tell them about the problem.
Keep a record of everything, including phone conversations and the name of the person you speak to (and their title). If you are sending letters, make sure they are posted by recorded delivery.
If you are unhappy with the provider's response, you can contact the Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman (OTELO) , whose job to sort out disagreements between public communications providers and their customers. OTELO’s website has masses on useful information on what to do next.
Alternatively, you may want to use the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS) , whose service is free to members of the public. CISAS also has details on its website of all companies that are members of to its arbitration service (http://www.cisas.org.uk/members.asp).
Another great source of information and advice is our own website, particularly our forum . It is likely that other users will have encountered the same or similar problems to yours and will have tips to offer on what to do next.
Also on our forums is an Ask the Experts section, where you can pose a question to our broadband experts and we will try to offer you advice or help.
Finally, we regularly receive requests from the media for help with stories they are writing.
They often want to interview people about their experience with various broadband providers.
It is worth checking into the Case Studies section of our forums to see if your experience matches a request for a case study.
We offer generous rewards for every case study you take part in.
Whatever you do, let us know what happens.
We want to improve our service to you and find out more about providers and how they treat their customers.
You can contact us on james.parker@moneysupermarket.com |
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Computer- Websites also supported Wikipedia "blackout"
Updated: 20 Jan 2012
Websites support Wikipedia move during 'blackout Wednesday'
Civil and open rights groups join Wikipedia to highlight problems
with US anti-piracy Bills by shutting down their websites for a day
• Dinah Greek
• News
• Web
• 18/01/2012
• Computeractive
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The Open Rights Group is one of a number of open-rights groups joining the protest by restricting access to their websites' contents
There has been a huge groundswell of support for Wikipedia's 24-hour web blackout protest against the proposed US anti-piracy laws, Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA).
A number of prominent open and civil rights groups and other organisations have joined in the protest and blacked out their web pages as well.
These include the Open Rights Group (ORG), Big Brother Watch and La Quadrature du Net's sites.
By restricting access to content on these websites, the groups want to highlight the harm they say would occur to a free internet if SOPA and PIPA are passed into law.
Peter Bradwell of the ORG said: "These two bills are so badly worded and too broad that perfectly lawful sites could be censored.
One reason we're joining these protests is that we face very similar issues in UK copyright enforcement policies. Highlighting these flaws should help UK policy makers avoid making the same mistakes."
Along with a number of civil rights groups including Index on Censorship, Amnesty International and Access, the ORG has co-signed a letter to US senator Harry Reid international civil society groups outlining why they are so concerned.
However in a statement that could be seen as superb irony considering it is one of the organisations pushing for the Bills and which has immense clout, the Motion Picture Association of America chairman and chief executive Senator Chris Dodd said that the move by the websites was "an abuse of power" , an "irresponsible response" and a "gimmick".
He went on to say "It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this "blackout" to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy."
All the organisations who have joined Wikipedia in the protest have posted messages on their home pages.
Many such as Fight for the Future, have also added links, so people can read more about the issues these organisations have with the Bills
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Computer- Virgin Media broadband outage
Updated: 20 Jan 2012
Virgin Media apologises for broadband outage
ISP customers around UK lose broadband services for around three hours last night
• Dinah Greek
• News
• Broadband
• 18/01/2012
•Computeractive
ISP apologies for service outage
Virgin Media issued an apology to its customers after they suffered a broadband outage last night.
The black-out that occurred on Tuesday evening between around 17:00 to 20:00 GMT was due to a problem with routers according to the broadband supplier.
This issue has now been fixed but the internet service provider (ISP) issued an apology to its customers; many of whom were unable to find out what the problem was because of the high volume of calls the company was getting.
A Virgin representative said the ISP was sorry people had been inconvenienced but the fault was fixed as quickly as possible.
"It was fixed before 8pm so less than a couple of hours after it started.
It was a routing issue whereby some customers were unaffected, some were unable to access certain sites, while others were without service for that short period," he said.
The outage came just days after Virgin Media announced that it would be doubling the speeds that more than four million of its broadband customers will get.
The upgrade will start next month, February and subscribers to the internet service provider's current 10Mbits/sec, 20Mbits/sec, 30 and 50Mbits/sec services will see their speeds at least doubled.
Users of Virgin's top 100Mbits/sec service will be upgraded to 120Mbits/sec.
The upgrade work is expected to take 18 months.
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Computer- Closing down the Internet - protest
Updated: 19 Jan 2012
Blackout - Save the Internet today
Wednesday, 18 January, 2012 20:16
Dear friends,
![]()
Today could be the day we save the free Internet. We've flipped the White House and Congress is on the back foot. Now Wikipedia's blackout has pushed the US web censorship bills to the top of the news. Today we've reached the tipping point. Let’s bury the bill for good. Click to sign the petition:
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Today could be the day we save the free Internet.
The US Congress was poised to pass a law allowing officials to censor access to any website around the world.
But after we delivered our 1.25 million strong petition to the White House, it came out against the bill and with public pressure at a boiling point even some bill backers are switching sides.
Now, the Wikipedia - led blackout protest has rocketed the public campaign to the top of the news.
We are turning the tide.
But the dark forces of censorship are trying to revive the bill right now.
Let’s bury it for good today. Click to sign this emergency petition to save the Internet now and if you've signed already, to email, call, Facebook, and tweet Congressional and corporate targets.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) would allow the US government to block any of us from accessing sites like YouTube, Google, or Facebook.
We got the White House to switch sides and now our global campaign and the growing public pressure is forcing Congress to abandon the bill.
Last weekend, Senator Cardin, who cosponsored the legislation, announced he will vote against it!
Then six prominent Republicans penned a letter requesting that the bill be shelved. Now the lower house vote is reportedly on ice.
Just days ago we were told it was impossible to stop the corporate censorship cabal, but now this is at a tipping point and amazingly we could win!
Let’s stop US censorship today.
But if we win, we will show that when people unite with one voice from all over the world we can stop the abuse of power anywhere. We have brought this bill back from the brink.
Now, if we amplify our voices today, we can put an end to the most powerful Internet censorship threat that the world has ever seen. With hope, Dalia, Ian, Alice, Ricken, Diego, David, and the Avaaz Team Sources:White House statement:https://secure.avaaz.org/whitehouse_internet_statementWikipedia joins web blackout in SOPA protest (BBC):http://www.avaaz.org/bbc_sopa_wikipediaAmerican Censorship's fact sheet on SOPA: http://americancensorship.org/infographic.htmlEverything you need to know about Congress's online piracy bills in one post (Washington Post):http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/everything-you-need-to-know-about-congresss-online-piracy-bills-in-one-post/2011/12/16/gIQAz4ggyO_blog.htmlSOPA and PIPA sponsors caving in to opposition (Talking Points Memo):http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/sopa-and-pipa-sponsors-caving-into-opposition.phpWhite House will not support SOPA, PIPA (Huffington Post):http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/14/white-house-sopa-pipa_n_1206347.htmlControversial online piracy bill ‘shelved’ until consensus is found (The Hill):http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/204167-sopa-shelved-until-consensus-is-found
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Computer- Talk Talk misleading advert banned
Updated: 10 Jan 2012
TalkTalk don't have safest broadband according to ASA
Wednesday 04 January 2012 17:21:12
The ASA have ruled that TalkTalk's claims that they have the safest broadband are misleading following some ads the company ran on television, in the national press and on posters.
BT and two members of the public complained about the ads stating that the claim "UK's safest broadband" were misleading.
TalkTalk backed up their claim by detailing that their 'HomeSafe' feature, includes network level security which doesn't rely on software being installed on computers which most other broadband providers offer.
In those instances, the software is usually only available for Windows computers so Apple Mac computers, games consoles and smart phones wouldn't be protected as they are through the TalkTalk system.
The ASA in upholding the complaints noted that customers could consider safety as referring to various features, including virus protection, or hacking protection, but HomeSafe only offered a basic range of security options.
TalkTalk were not able to substantiate that customers would enjoy the safest online experience.
TalkTalk have been told that the ads used must not appear in their current form, and that the basis for comparison of claims was made clear in the future.
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Computer- BT complaint !
Updated: 18 Dec 2011
Particulars of Claim against BT
A Breach of Contract
Failed in its basic level of service
Under Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982
Failed to be reasonable and skilful within a reasonable time
Misleading advertising- Unfair trading practice
- Contract made with BT and paid for who then cancelled it, but failed to offer another or correct their action all for £6.
- BT Connection engineer told us to leave the broadband hub power on or lose signal power. Effectively paying commenced when the hub was switched on not when computer connected to the internet.
- It took 10 days of low connectivity for “stabilisation to take place” after connection. Extreme frustration leading up to Christmas.
- The package we took out stated that “It was perfect for everyday internet use”. This misleading, inaccurate and deceitful statement has cost us extra every month.
- A slow Connection service continued but no response to formal complaints.
- Prompted by BT advert to buy a BT Vision box, as a one, off but was charged £90 when £60 was the agreed price.
- Overcharged £47 40 taken from my bank as a result and of an incorrect credit note, then re- charged the same on the next bill. Corrected eventually.
- Sky Sports 1&2 addition offered at £7.20 but charged £17.40-cancellation took too long.
- Openzone option included in the package but no password sent with the package or details in the User Guide.
- Network upgrading resulted in extremely slow connection speed for 13 days. This was after BT sent an email “We’ve upgraded our network”.
- In May we asked for the Phone line to be moved within our home,- 25 metres, to another live line, but it took more than one month and we were inconvenienced. After this we were told online “You do not have an account with us” when I was trying to check the connection speed.
- As we had spent hours on the phone sorting these problems out and received not one letter from BT until Nov 2011 we contacted Otelo ( Ombudsman Communication -who awarded us £30 and a BT apology. We told Otelo this would hardly cover postage stamps spent on communicating letters and phone calls to them.
- Charged for “free” weekend/ evening calls because wife on the phone for over one hour. Yet small print in BT contract took days to discover. Told by BT, when enquired, to switch off phone after 59 mins. and redial !
- Paid for one year phone connection but nothing signed or said about the Broadband connection being 18 months. Had presumed the total package was for one year.
- Requested BT give a Migration Code after 12 months paid contract to leave after one year. BT Refused -Instead they requested cessation fee of £282.
I am asking a Court to award a Migration Code and compensation plus Court expenses for complaint letters, time wasted, slow Broadband connection not settled at the time adequately.
Delays and Distress & any immediate cessation fees and cost of renegotiating a another contract with their competition.
Particular reference to
1.Re-engaging the Contract withdrawn involved considerable time effort and cost.
2.The slogan “Perfect for everyday internet use” which since has been withdrawn as an advert for their promotion Package BT Total Broadband Option 1.
Have you cause to complain about BT ?
Do please get in touch ! |
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Computer- Telehealth
Updated: 08 Dec 2011
Telehealth can reduce deaths by 45%, study shows
Wireless monitoring devices help patients be healthier, live independently
By Lucas Mearian
December 7, 2011 03:21 PM ET
Computerworld - Using remote monitoring technology to keep tabs on patients' blood sugar and cardiopulmonary disease can reduce the risk of patient mortality by up to 45%, according to a U.K. Department of Health study.
The preliminary findings (download PDF) showed that, if used correctly, TeleHealth can deliver a 15% reduction in emergency room visits; a 20% reduction in emergency admissions; a 14% reduction in elective admissions; a 14% reduction in bed days; and an 8% reduction in tariff costs.
More strikingly, the findings showed a 45% reduction in mortality rates.
In the U.S., the federal government is aggressively pushing for electronic health records (EHR).
Telehealth technology, which allows doctors to monitor their patients' health wirelessly in real time, could be combined with online health records for a highly accessible, interactive patient history.
Last year, a report from Accenture showed that the rise of inexpensive Internet connectivity and smaller, cheaper and "smarter" health electronics should deliver better, more efficient health care.
The U.K. Department of Health said its study was the first of its kind and one of the most complex and comprehensive studies it has ever undertaken.
It involved about 6,000 chronically-ill patients at 238 healthcare practices across three counties in the UK. It took two years to complete.
The study looked at how the adoption of telehealth monitoring technologies could reduce the mounting financial burden of healthcare for the chronically ill.
The study focused on patients with three conditions: diabetes, coronary heart disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
It also showed how technology supports people who live independently, and how they can be more in control of their own health and care.
"The first set of initial findings ... show that, if delivered properly, telehealth can substantially reduce mortality, reduce the need for admissions to hospital, lower the number of bed days spent in hospital and reduce the time spent in [emergency rooms]," the Health Department saidn in a statement.
"At least three million people with long-term conditions and/or social care needs could benefit from using telehealth and telecare."
Currently, six schools are evaluating the data, including City University London, University of Oxford, University of Manchester, and the London School of Economics.
The study looked at the data under five themes -- service utilization; reported outcomes such as quality of life; cost effectiveness; user and professionals' experience; and influence of organizational factors to adoption).
Three TeleHealth technology providers were selected for the program, offering remote patient management systems for study:
Philips HealthCare used its Motiva technology to monitor about 550 heart failure, COPD and diabetes patients in the London borough of Newham.
Philips Motiva is an interactive healthcare platform that connects patients with chronic conditions to their healthcare providers through a home television and a broadband Internet connection.
Newham, England is challenged with providing long-term healthcare for more than 17% of its chronically-ill population as well as being ranked as having the highest diabetes rate and death rate from stroke in the UK.
Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed . His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com">lmearian@computerworld.com.
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Computer -High Definition ?
Updated: 08 Dec 2011
High definition – what it means
It's hard to miss the HD hype, but what is it exactly?
We explain the jargon surrounding it and explain what you need to enjoy HD pictures on your TV and PC
Nigel Whitfield
07/12/2011
Large HD screens give much better picture quality than older TVs
The high-definition (HD) hype has been hard to miss.
Most new television sets bear stickers proclaiming them to be ‘HD ready’, broadcasters such as Sky have spent millions aggressively marketing packages of HD channels and even BBC One is available in HD, so equipped viewers can watch the latest Eastenders in full HD glory.
However, all the jargon surrounding HD can be confusing.
Venture into an electrical store and the assistant is likely to tempt you with phrases like 1080i, 720p, Blu-ray and much more – not to mention sell you a few expensive cables to improve the picture quality.
And that, of course, is just the equipment: there are numerous confusing TV-service packages to navigate, including cable, satellite and traditional over-the-air options such as Freeview and Freeview HD.
In fact, a surprising number of people still don’t know what they need to watch films or live TV in high definition. Some are even convinced that they’re watching HD when they’re not.
But don’t panic – understanding all the terminology attached to HD is quite straightforward, and in this article we’re going to explain all you could ever want or need to know about HD. By the end, you’ll understand the difference between standard- and high-definition pictures and have confidence that you’re watching HD.
Looking for clarity
No-one likes to receive a photograph with details that are hard to make out, watch a TV channel where the faces are fuzzy, or be handed a printout where the text and graphics are blocky and tricky to decipher (from a fax machine, for example).
Issues like these are often a matter of definition, or resolution – the amount of available detail.
However, trying to define definition is complicated and depends on various factors.
Fax machines send and receive images measured by the number of dots per inch (dpi), for example, while a traditional printed photograph’s definition can be traced right down to the film’s grain.
Electron gun
The resolution of television sets, on the other hand, was for a long time defined by the number of picture lines displayed by the screen, from the top to the bottom.
These lines were created by an extremely fast-moving electron gun that fired at phosphors adhering to the screen’s rearside.
On European sets, there were 625 of these lines (though some of these were used for the old Ceefax and Oracle teletext services, rather than the picture – but let’s not digress).
With the digital revolution it has all changed.
The TV screens and computer displays that we all use today have digital screens controlled by sophisticated electronics. The picture is made up of a matrix of tiny dots, called pixels.
Each pixel can have its brightness or colour changed to help make up the whole picture, whether that picture is supplied by the graphics card in a computer, a broadcast TV signal or a DVD or Blu-ray disc.
The digital equivalent of a traditional TV picture is often referred to as ‘standard definition’ and made up of a line of 720 pixels across the screen, and 576 lines, or pixels, from top to bottom; 576 may seem less than the 625 of analogue TV, but because of that old teletext information, the actual picture definition is roughly the same.
American pictures – which used to be 525 lines – have a height of 480 pixels for standard definition, but the same width.
A better standard
So, if that’s standard definition, what’s HD and why does anyone need it?
The second question is fairly simple to answer – with a limited number of dots, the bigger the screen or the closer the viewer is to the picture, the more they are likely to notice the individual pixels.
As TV screens in living rooms become ever larger, standard definition quickly starts to look less detailed. The same is true of a PC screen, incidentally, which is why they have more dots than a TV screen – typically at least 1024 x 768 pixels – because they’re viewed at much closer distances.
It would be nice to think that there’s only one way to describe HD but, unfortunately, that’s not quite true.
There are two distinct picture sizes that fall under the HD banner and, just to make it more complicated, some variations within those sizes.
To start with, the size of HD pictures can be either 1,280 pixels across with 720 lines down (1,280x720), or it can be even better at 1,920x1,080, a size often referred to as ‘full HD’ by TV manufacturers. Often, though, these two standards are shortened to just the number of lines, so you’ll see them referred to as 720 or 1080.
However, these two figures are themselves almost always suffixed with a letter ‘p’ or ‘i’.
These stand for ‘progressive’ or ‘interlaced’ and refer to how the picture is created on the screen.
When a picture is interlaced, first the odd-numbered lines are displayed and then the even-numbered ones.
Interlacing was a requirement of older TV technology, as electron guns could only move so fast: only half the picture was drawn with each sweep, but human persistence of vision helps to build a complete picture.
Some sensitive people may notice flickering caused by interlacing.
Interlacing is no longer a technical requirement of modern screens, but it has persisted because displays have needed to remain compatible with existing broadcasts: standard definition pictures are broadcast interlaced, and this is sometimes referred to as 576i.
The most common standards for HD are 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
In-store salespeople will often explain that the best TVs you can buy are the ones that can display 1080p and to an extent they’re correct.
However, before we explain why it’s important to think about not just the resolution of those HD pictures, but where they are coming from.
In the picture
As explained, regardless of whether they are standard or HD, pictures have a certain size – measured in pixels.
So too does a display, like the 1,024x768 of a computer monitor, or the 1,920x1,080 of a ‘full HD’ flat-screen TV set.
So what happens when they don’t match?
This is actually easy to see. Fire up a PC with a DVD player and often the video will first appear in a window that doesn’t fill the screen.
This is because the DVD is in standard definition (576 lines), which is usually rather less than the display’s resolution. There’s usually an option to play it full screen, but this will make it look a little less sharp.
Much the same thing happens when viewing a standard-definition picture on an HD TV: the picture has to be made bigger to fit.
This process, managed either by the TV or DVD player, is known as ‘upscaling’.
The results can be variable, with some upscaled pictures looking good, but others looking decidedly dodgy and disappointing.
Why is this important? For many people in the UK, much of what they are watching is still standard definition, even if the TV boasts ‘full HD’ on the front. In other words, much of the time your flash HD TV may be displaying nothing more than upscaled standard-definition pictures.
Where does HD come from?
Watch a DVD and it is standard definition.
Watch Freeview, cable or even satellite and most channels are standard definition too.
That may come as something of a shock, but only a small proportion of the channels on these services are broadcast in HD.
There’s no guarantee that programmes broadcast on HD channels were actually shot in HD in the first place, so they might be standard definition too.
Watch a Blu-ray disc on an HD TV, though, and the picture really is HD – it’s the best quality currently available to home viewers.
The point to understand here is that unless the source of the programme is itself HD, it doesn’t matter what the label on a TV set or PC display says, or how big the picture is; you are watching standard definition.
Remember that upscaling will have been used to make the picture fill the screen and, while technical trickery can make this look a bit better, a standard-definition source can’t magically be turned into HD.
Regardless of TV service, there are both standard-definition and HD versions of some channels – usually depending on the package chosen.
But even when there’s an HD channel available, viewers still need to select it.
BBC One and BBC One HD have different channel numbers, for example: tune in to the standard version, and you’ll be watching standard-definition pictures, regardless of the TV set.
Both Sky and Virgin Media subscribers can pay for packages that include HD channels, though the complexity of these deals is so great that we can’t cover all the options here.
Freesat and Freeview viewers don’t have to pay any extra for HD channels, but neither has as many channels as the pay-TV services.
There’s another element – a receiver that can decode and display HD pictures. Sky subscribers need a Sky HD box, Freeview viewers a Freeview HD one, and so on.
In many cases, new Freeview boxes and TVs have HD decoders built in, but it’s always worth checking before signing a contract or paying for an expensive new bit of kit.
Anyone who’s been with Virgin or Sky for a while may need to upgrade their box to be able to receive HD channels.
Are you really HD ready?
One area that causes no end of confusion is the ‘HD ready’ label that’s stuck to most new TVs, especially when it comes to people who want to watch Freeview without using a set-top box.
The HD-ready label – and its close relative ‘HD-ready 1080p’ – essentially means that a display has at least 720 lines (or pixels) from top to bottom and that it has one or more HDMI connectors, through which it can accept an HD signal to display either 720p or 1080i.
The 1080p version of the label means the set can display a 1080p image too, while ‘full HD’ usually means the display has a resolution of 1920x1080.
HD ready does NOT mean that the set can receive and decode HD signals.
That’s especially important in the case of a TV with a built-in Freeview tuner – and these days you’ll find that it’s hard to buy one without.
Crazy as it may sound, it’s common for a TV that’s labelled as ‘HD ready’, ‘HD ready 1080p’ or ‘Full HD’ to have a tuner – the bit that picks up the Freeview signal – that is only standard definition.
In fact, any set sold before around Easter 2010 will certainly fall into that category, as the first equipment capable of receiving Freeview’s HD channels didn’t go on sale until then.
In short, the HD ready label means merely that a TV is ready to display HD pictures – not that it can or will when you switch it on. Appalling, but true.
To be sure that HD programmes can be picked up through the aerial, look for the Freeview HD logo.
Without it, it won’t be showing HD pictures unless it’s connected to a separate device (such as a Sky HD box or a Blu-ray player).
Can I watch HD on my PC?
There’s no simple answer to this question, because it depends what you want to watch.
Most computer monitors can display HD pictures – some have a higher resolution than a ‘full HD’ TV set, in fact.
If a monitor has an HDMI connector, it will be possible to plug in a set-top box, or a Blu-ray player, and watch in HD.
If necessary, the picture will be scaled, just as on a TV.
Many newer PCs have a built-in Blu-ray drives, so can play HD discs and it’s also possible to play HD content downloaded legally from the internet.
When it comes to watching TV, though, things are a little more complicated. As a rule of thumb, the PC will need an up-to-date graphics card, as well as either a satellite or Freeview TV tuner card.
For satellite, a DVB-S2 expansion card is needed, and for Freeview HD, a DVB-T2 card.
In both cases, the ‘2’ is vital – DVB-S and DVB-T cards are cheaper, but use older versions of the standards and, in the case of Freeview, will only pick up standard-definition channels; while for satellite, many HD channels are switching to use DVB-S2.
Ultimately, though, watching TV on a PC tends to be a compromise: computer screens are designed to be viewed up close, not from a sofa across the room, and often the supplied software is rarely as simple to use as a real TV.
Simple facts
It might seem like there’s a lot to think about, but it is actually pretty simple.
If you want HD, then you need three things: a screen with enough pixels for an HD picture; something that supplies HD pictures – like a set-top box, a Blu-ray player, or a built-in Freeview HD tuner – and the HD picture itself, like the HD version of a TV channel, or a Blu-ray disc (rather than a standard DVD).
Unless all three are in place, you’re not watching HD – and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Read more: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/pc-help/2118776/definition-means#ixzz1fumS1oDo |
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Computer-Piracy on the Net
Updated: 07 Dec 2011
Digital mutiny sinks piracy bill
05 December 2011 by Jim Giles
An online revolt has forced US Congress to rethink a draconian piracy bill,
but the war isn't over
SO THAT'S what a digital revolt looks like.
A million-and-a-half emails and almost 90,000 phone calls to US Congress.
Public complaints from Google and Facebook.
Even a few thousand old-fashioned letters to the US House of Representatives.
This internet ire, marshalled under the banner of American Censorship Day on 16 November, came in opposition to the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), legislation aimed at tackling the online trade in copyrighted movies and music.
Claims that the act, if passed, will "break the internet" helped persuade several big companies, including a trade group which represents Apple and Microsoft, to withdraw their support.
Then, last week, SOPA's backers in the House said they were open to changing the bill.
Internet Activists 1, Big Media 0.
But elsewhere the media barons appear to be winning.
Over the past few years, several countries have debated or enacted laws that, in the name of tackling piracy, have handed more power to large companies.
In the process, say activists, the movie and music industries have gained the ability to censor websites.
The recent revolt was louder because SOPA is one of the more radical new proposals.
It would give copyright holders the legal right to have sites which they deem to be peddling stolen content shut down, a controversial power the European Court of Justice has just ruled against.
Concern here is less about blatant piracy, which gets limited sympathy from activists, and more about sites on which copyrighted content is used in creative ways.
YouTube, for example, is packed with satirical remixes of songs and films.
If SOPA were enacted, just one such mash-up could bring down an entire site, notes Eric Goldman, a technology lawyer at Santa Clara University in California.
"Talk about collateral damage," he says.
The bill also gives copyright holders the right to force search engines to expunge infringing sites from search results.
Google and others know that it is often impossible to determine whether a site is engaging in piracy or creative reuse or some combination of the two.
That's one reason why the search engine teamed up with Facebook and other sites to run a full-page advert opposing the bill in The New York Times.
Other moves by copyright advocates have been less crude and more successful.
This July, five big US internet service providers committed to repeatedly caution - and then potentially disconnect - subscribers who share copyrighted material.
The measure had limited opposition, but Goldman and others warn that it is not sufficiently overseen.
That's a fear shared across the Atlantic, where British activists have warned that any proposals to speed up processing of industry requests will erode courts' ability to assess claims of copyright breaches.
In Ireland, judges have already been sidelined.
After a legal battle in 2009 with a recording industry group, eircom, the country's largest ISP said it would no longer contest blocking requests from the group.
None have yet been submitted.
There is a lot of copyright theft online, and content creators have a right to demand protection.
Yet the reusers of content, from music remixers to bloggers, are also creators.
Striking a balance between the two will prove important if politicians want to stop the angry emails.
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Computer - Nokia Siemens to slash 17,000 jobs worldwide
Updated: 24 Nov 2011
Nokia Siemens to slash 17,000 jobs worldwide
The company will shift focus to mobile broadband and related services as it seeks to slash costs
By Mikael Ricknäs
Computer World
November 23, 2011 10:36 AM ETAdd a comment.IDG News Service - Struggling network infrastructure vendor Nokia Siemens Networks is planning to cut 17,000 jobs worldwide, as it aims to cut ¬1 billion (US$1.35 billion) from its annual costs by the end of 2013, the company said Wednesday.
About 23 percent of the company's 74,000 employees will be laid off.
The 4 1/2-year-old joint venture between Nokia and Siemens has been struggling to compete with Swedish Ericsson and Chinese vendor Huawei. Parent company Nokia's ongoing problems have made Nokia Siemens' situation even more difficult.
The announcement was not a surprise to Mark Newman, chief research officer at market research company Informa Telecoms & Media.
Earlier this year, the two parent companies gave up on finding an external investor, and injected ¬1 billion into the company, he said.
"We knew Nokia Siemens needed to make some decisions because sooner or later the cash injection is going to run out," said Newman.
Since its inception, Nokia Siemens has gone through different cycles. Between two and four years ago, the company was struggling to compete on price with Huawei and Ericsson, and became very aggressive on pricing with some success in winning new business, according to Newman.
"But the question was if that was a profitable business or not.
Today, the company is still aggressive, but not to the extent it was a year ago," said Newman.
Nokia Siemens has said a vendor has to be first or second in a market to be successful.
"It is setting themselves a pretty tough challenge, because Huawei and Ericsson are the most successful vendors in the wireless infrastructure business. It is difficult to see who Nokia Siemens is going to dislodge," said Newman.
Going forward, the company will focus on mobile broadband and related services.
Other areas like its wireline business will be sold or "managed for value," according to Nokia Siemens.
Besides savings from staff cuts, Nokia Siemens will also target areas such as real estate, information technology, product and service procurement costs, overall general and administrative expenses, and aim for a significant reduction of suppliers in order to further lower costs and improve quality, the company said.
"What we are seeing now is a genuine attempt to turn it into a single company with no overlapping functions," said Newman, who also hopes Nokia Siemens has a clear idea of where it is going to make cuts, so it doesn't turn into a drawn-out process that drags the company down.
Nokia Siemens will now begin talks with employee representatives in accordance with country-specific legal requirements. |
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Computer- The End of You Tube as you know and love it ?
Updated: 17 Nov 2011
The end of YouTube
Wednesday, 16 November, 2011 5:57
Dear friends,
Right now, the US Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world's Internet -- creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even groups like Avaaz! Under the new law, the US could force Internet providers to block any website on suspicion of violating copyright or trademark legislation, or even failing to sufficiently police their users' activities. And, because so much of the Internet's hosts and hardware are located in the US, their blacklist would clamp down on the free web for all of us. The vote could happen any day now, but we can help stop this -- champions in Congress want to preserve free speech and tell us that an international outcry would strengthen their hand. Let’s urgently raise our voices from every corner of the world and build an unprecedented global petition calling on US decision makers to reject the bill and stop Internet censorship. Click below to sign and then forward as widely as possible -- our message will be delivered directly to key members of the US Congress ahead of the crucial vote: http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl For years, the US government has condemned countries like China and Iran for their clampdown on Internet use. But now, the impact of America's new censorship laws could be far worse -- effectively blocking sites to every Internet user across the globe. Last year, a similar Internet censorship bill was killed before reaching the US Senate floor, but it's now back in a different form. Copyright laws already exist and are enforced by courts. But this new law goes much further -- granting the government and big corporations enormous powers to force service providers and search engines to block websites based just on allegations of violations -- without a trial or being found guilty of any crime! US free speech advocates have already raised the alarm, and some key Senators are trying to gather enough support to stop this dangerous bill. We have no time to lose. Let's stand with them to ensure American lawmakers preserve the right to a free and open Internet as an essential way for people around the world to exchange ideas, share communication and work collectively to build the world we want. Sign below to stop US censorship, and save the Internet as we know it: http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl In the past months, from the Arab Spring to the global Occupy Movement, we've seen first hand how the Internet can galvanize, unify and change the world. Now, if we stand together, we can stop this new attack on Internet freedom. We've done it before -- in Brazil and Italy, Avaaz members have won major victories in the fight for a free Internet. Let's take the fight global, and mobilize to defeat the most powerful censorship threat that the Internet has ever seen. With hope, Luis, Dalia, Diego, Emma, Ricken, Aaron, Antonia, Benjamin and the rest of the Avaaz team
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Computer- Friend or Fiend ?
Updated: 08 Nov 2011
Technology just makes us all busier
Computers have saved us all time, but what have we done with it?
asks Jonathan Wolff
Jonathan Wolff
guardian.co.uk,
Once upon a time, the departmental secretaries would type up teachers' books and papers over the summer break.
There was great excitement the year I started lecturing in the philosophy department.
Not, sadly, about me, but because we had obtained, for the first time, a usable computer in the department.
It was placed in an attic room, and I would get to work at eight in the morning to use it for two – well, OK, three – hours, before anyone else rolled in.
It was several years before we each had our own computer.
And a few weeks later, all were gone.
Security, covering their backs, insinuated that one of the faculty must have turned up over the weekend in a hired Ford Transit.
But now that the department actually possessed things worth stealing, the university installed some industrial-strength locks.
We bought some more computers and tried again, thereby learning other new ways in which modern technology can routinely ruin your mood.
It is hard to think back to academic life before computers.
I was there only as a witness.
My teachers used to write out the drafts of their books and papers by hand, with expensive, though smudgy, fountain pens, and the departmental secretaries would type them up over the summer break.
The secretaries also had to type all student references and important correspondence.
No more, of course.
Every few years, another computing triumph was achieved.
Email saved the time and trouble of printing letters, folding them up and putting them in envelopes.
The internet, eventually, put the resources of a reference library on your desk.
And, in the last couple of years, the widespread electronic availability of journal articles has cut out the need to root through dusty shelves and stand in line at the photocopier.
Just as the end of the Cold War was meant to produce a "peace dividend", we should now be experiencing a "technology dividend", luxuriating in the spare time we have created for ourselves.
But what has happened to all that time saved?
I vaguely recall a story in which the central character did everything he could to save time, counting out the seconds banked.
But at the end of each day he realised, to his despair, that just as much time had gone as usual, whatever he did. Beckett makes the point the other way round: Vladimir: "Well, that passed the time." Estragon: "It would have passed anyway."
Innovations are introduced with the promise that they will save time, or money, or make us safer or more comfortable.
But, as my UCL colleague John Adams observed, innovations can have a perverse effect.
Notoriously, he claimed that when seat belts were introduced, people simply took more risks when they drove.
If we really want road safety, he suggests, we should put a sharpened spike right in the middle of the steering wheel.
Then you'd watch your braking distance.
Karl Marx noticed something similar.
In early industrial Britain, he reports, a factory boy modified his machine in order to complete his day's work in a couple of hours, and laze around the rest of the time.
So impressed was the factory owner that he modified all the machines and multiplied the production targets.
I'm hardly the first to point out that instead of consuming the time-saving benefits of information technology by making the work day less pressured, we have found other ways of filling up the time.
Now that we have such whizzy computers, university administrators can do valuable things that we had no time for before, such as making sure every member of the department has signed a piece of paper swearing that they know where the fire exits are.
And what, as an academic, do I do with the hours and minutes I save by not having to traipse off to the library each time I need to check a reference?
I would like to tell you that I have finally taken up the tuba, or, at the least, am using the time for ever deeper reflection.
But the truth is I still begin every email with the line "Sorry to be slow replying, it has been exceptionally busy over the last few days".
• Jonathan Wolff is professor of philosophy at University College London.
His column appears monthly
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Computer- Internet Freedoms and Dangers- Who is your Big Brother ?
Updated: 08 Nov 2011
World unites to discuss internet freedoms and dangers
Updated 10:15 02 November 2011 by Niall Firth
The whole world has finally decided to talk about the internet.
The London Conference on Cyberspace, the first international gathering of its kind, kicked off today, bringing together senior political figures from across the world and tech royalty such as Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
Among the topics scheduled for discussion are how to ensure global access to the internet and dealing with net's darker elements: child safety, cybercrime and cyberwar.
Nations that try to restrict internet use, like China and some in the Middle East, particularly during times of peaceful uprisings, came in for harsh criticism.
"We reject the view that government suppression of the internet, phone networks and social media at times of unrest is acceptable," said UK foreign secretary William Hague.
People power
Underlining this point, Yemeni activist and blogger Atiaf Alwazir said: "Before the internet in Yemen, everything was controlled. This has changed: now we are in control.
"People say that Facebook and Twitter created the revolution," she added. "I disagree.
People are the agents of change and the internet helped accelerate the process."
US vice-president Joe Biden made an explicit reference to demands from China and Russia for more international regulation of cyberspace:
"What citizens do online should not, as some have suggested, be decreed solely by groups of governments making decisions for them somewhere on high."
He added: "No citizen of any country should be subject to a repressive global code."
Wales suggested that governments learn from Wikipedia's policy of openness.
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Computer- BT and Its Critics
Updated: 08 Nov 2011
BT Group latest quarterly and half year results
Thursday 03 November 2011 09:36:56
Half year profits £1100 Million up 17%
Ian Livingston, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said:
“We have increased cash flow, profits and underlying revenue2 in the quarter.
This progress has been supplemented with positive operational performances in most of our businesses.
We achieved a market leading 63% share of broadband net additions and another quarter of growth in fixed lines.
“We expect to continue to offset the economic headwinds through improved customer service and processes, better efficiency, and investment in the future of the business.
This strategy and our financial results allow us to invest when others are merely talking about it.
We are accelerating our fibre roll-out programme to cover two-thirds of the UK by the end of 2014 – one year earlier than planned and creating 520 new jobs.
With the already announced government support, we believe there is the potential for fibre-based services to reach more than 90% of the UK within a few years thereafter.
“We are also investing across the world and have announced a programme to double our business in key Latin American countries in addition to our expansion in the Asia Pacific region announced last year.
“Our performance in the quarter reinforces but does not change our outlook for the year.”
The latest quarterly results from the BT Group show growth in broadband customer numbers, which in the face of the competition from other providers such as Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk and others has to be seen as impressive.
BT Retail who market the BT Total and BT Infinity products, had some 166,000 net additions in the quarter (63% of the total new broadband connections), and this took them past the six million broadband customer milestone.
BT Infinity alone added some 88,000 new customers taking the total number of customers to 300,000 and represents a doubling in customer numbers in the last six months.
BT Vision the IPTV/Freeview hybrid continues to grow with another 41,000 installations taking the customer base to some 640,000 homes.
BT Wholesale has continued its roll out of the Wholesale Broadband Connect (WBC) network, which is now providing ADSL2+ on 1,450 exchanges covering 70% of UK households.
The Openreach division that look after the local loop actually added 11,000 telephone lines and the fibre to the cabinet (with a small proportion of fibre to the premises) passes some six million homes, with this expanding to 66% of UK homes by 2014.
"We expect to continue to offset the economic headwinds through improved customer service and processes, better efficiency, and investment in the future of the business.
This strategy and our financial results allow us to invest when others are merely talking about it.
We are accelerating our fibre roll-out programme to cover two-thirds of the UK by the end of 2014 – one year earlier than planned and creating 520 new jobs.
With the already announced government support, we believe there is the potential for fibre-based services to reach more than 90% of the UK within a few years thereafter."
Ian Livingston, Chief Executive
There are vocal critics of BT and its position as a dominant player in around a third of the country, but we should remember that without its dominance we would probably have a nation where ADSL and ADSL2+ was only available to perhaps 70% of households.
Additionally even in areas where BT is dominant there is still a vast area of choice of providers at the retail level who offer varying quality of service, alas the myth that where no LLU is available that all services are equal in terms of peak time performance still persists.
Broadband is the only utility in the UK to have consistently fell in price over its eleven year life span, back in 2000 a half meg service would set you back between £40 to £50.
The broadband provider that started the price war Pipex is now just another identity within the TalkTalk group, who in 2006 with their 'free' broadband launch took broadband in the UK to a whole new level.
The question now is who is the provider or application that will kick start demand for the superfast broadband products.
One possible candidate could be Netflix who if they launch with HD video in the UK that is as good or better quality than broadcast HD content as part of a subscription could lead to households finding a reason to switch to faster services
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Computer- Quick Quick Slow Broadband
Updated: 01 Nov 2011
Survey finds some people can save over £6 a month on broadband costs
Not everyone feels the need for speeds as we find out
People can save money by opting for cheaper, albeit it slower broadband packages
Nearly nine in ten people in the UK (85 per cent) are paying for high speed connections that they may not really need and could get a cheaper deal.
This was the findings of a new home technology study of 2,000 people which revealed many major UK broadband providers are guilty of charging customers for broadband speeds they never use to their full potential.
By investigating what people used their broadband services for, and then looking at the deals on offer, this latest survey from Computeractive showed that people can save themselves around £6.12 (based on the recommended average of £9.60) on a monthly deal.
The average person in the UK pays £15.72 for broadband without landline or any other service. However the majority of people use their broadband connections for low bandwidth activities.
This means a £5 per month broadband contract would easily accommodate their needs.
Only around 15 per cent of the 2,000 people surveyed used broadband for activities requiring a faster connection.
As the government ramps up the excitement around new superfast broadband set to roll out across the UK by 2015, before signing on the dotted line, people should slow down.
They should take the time to ask themselves if they really need a high speed broadband package.
The top ten reasons for using the internet at home are as follows:
Online shopping - 62 per cent;
Online banking - 58 per cent;
Social Networking - 57 per cent;
Reading Entertainment/ News sites - 45 per cent;
Watching online - 39 per cent;
Buying tickets - 32 per cent;
Downloading music - 31per cent; Work - 26 per cent;
Transport updates - 20 per cent and Downloading films - 15 per cent.
People should also read the small print because many high-speed broadband contracts have what is called a bandwidth cap.
This limits the amount of data that can be downloaded per month; so there is not much point having a high-speed service if the monthly allowance is comparatively low.
Other findings found that the 55 plus group is paying an average of £17 per month on broadband.
This is more than younger age groups, yet the older generation tends to spend the least time doing the very thing high-bandwidth services are designed for such as watching TV or video online
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Computer- Broadband + Telephone Service wanted without my becoming a nervous wreck
Updated: 31 Oct 2011
Computer
Broadband + Home Telephone
Talk Talk rang today asking for my support – I told them never again. I gave them a chance once before and I nearly had a nervous breakdown. “We have changed” said the caller. I was going to ask “ For better or worse”? Then I felt a nervous breakdown coming on so I hung up !
I’m with BT now and I nearly have had another nervous breakdown so I cant wait to drop them over the cliff.
I got a “sincere” letter of apology and £30.
I felt insulted and said so to Ombudsman Services- Communications.
I listed the 12 verifiable complaints and asked if I could press Button B.
What is it about these Broadband services ?
I am looking at Phonecoop, Plusnet, Primus, Utility Warehouse and Tesco for my next contract.
And I am trying to avoid my 19th nervous breakdown
Any suggestions ?
And I don’t mind paying a bit extra for a good service. |
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Computer- Complaints against BT
Updated: 26 Oct 2011
Complaints against BT
Why are there so many entries on Google
complaining about the service given by BT ?
I am not going to catalogue them here. It would take too long !
Because if you are a BT customer, you become exasperated at their ignorance in dealing with our complaints.
Contacting the Ombudsman – Communications is a waste of time.
I did and I thought they worked for BT
Just keep hammering away at BT you can get them off your back
Oh and tell 10 people about their poor service and sooner or later they will get the message. |
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Computer- What causes Broadband Outage ?
Updated: 25 Oct 2011
BT power fail causes broadband outage
Broadband services are lost for many after power goes down at a Birmingham facility.
By Tom Brewster, 3 Oct 2011 at 15:54
BT today admitted a power failure at a major exchange in Birmingham has left many without broadband.
Reports have suggested there were problems for businesses and consumers across the UK, stretching as far as Belfast and Cornwall.
BT said most services had been restored, claiming for the majority of customers the outage would have only lasted an hour.
“We can confirm that, as a result of a power failure at one of our major exchanges, some customers may currently be experiencing loss of broadband service,” BT said.
"Our engineers are on-site and the majority of customers' service has already been restored. We are working to restore service to remaining customers as soon as possible this afternoon.
Should any customers continue to experience difficulty in accessing their broadband service, they are advised to turn their hub or modem off and on again."
Many have taken to Twitter to vent their frustration at a lack of services, some complaining BT has not been answering its helpline.
Even comedian Richard Herring decided to post about the problems, tweeting: “BT confirmed massive broadband outage causing problems for most of their customers. Sounds like business as usual.”
As with any ISP, BT has had to deal with its fair share of broadband outages.
The last significant one was in November 2010, when thousands reportedly lost connectivity due to a fault in a switch at an exchange in the Edinburgh area
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Computer- Broadband problems with BT in Stepney Green
Updated: 25 Oct 2011
Major broadband outage affecting multiple providers
Friday 21 October 2011 10:46:55
At around 08:45 this morning, many broadband service providers experienced an outage lasting anywhere up to an hour due to a reported problem in Stepney Green with interconnects to BT.
Many affected providers including PlusNet which published details on its website. Indications are that services began restoring around twenty minutes later, although our broadband quality monitoring system indicated that many users were affected for longer periods in excess of an hour.
Some users may need to reset their routers to re-establish a connection.
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Computer- Hard Drive Disc production under threat in Thailand
Updated: 20 Oct 2011
Production of HDD severely disrupted by Thai floods
With the situation still volatile, prices could rise as companies panic buy
Disruption to HDD production could see price hike
The supply of hard disks (HDD) will be seriously disrupted and could see the cost of the devices rise following last week's massive floods in Thailand.
The factories of two of the world's biggest manufacturers, Western Digital and Seagate were seriously damaged by flood water. The disaster, which has affected huge parts of the country is causing even more substantial issues to the hard drive industry than last year's earthquake.
Two of Western Digital's factories were affected and the company said it would not be shipping any supplies of HDDs from the country until 1 November.
In a statement the company said that "it now expects that the flooding of its Thailand facilities, combined with flood damage to the company's supply chain in Thailand, will have significant impact on the company's overall operations"
Only one of Seagate's factories was directly affected by the floods, and it is still shipping but the affects on Thailand's infrastructure is having an impact.
"Given the volatility of the situation it is unclear what the magnitude of the supply chain disruption will be to Seagate's hard disk drive output from its Thailand operations.
"Seagate is actively managing its supply chain and factory output to align production capabilities and optimize its build schedule to meet customer requirements.
"As a result of the disruption caused by the floods, Seagate anticipates hard drive supply will be constrained throughout the current quarter."
Although Toshiba and Hitachi have not been directly affected by flood water damage to their facilities, Toshiba's factory is closed because of the Thai Governments evactuation orders.
What doesn't help the companies is the fact the authorities have given no indication on when this order will be lifted.
In addition component level supply for HDDs has also been severely disrupted which will also have an adverse effect on production.
Origin Storage Solutions therefore foresees the price rising sharply and product going into constraint as panic buying sets in.
It said it would be doing everything in its power to hold pricing; and give continuity of stock and would update all customers on the on-going situation.
Read more: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2118449/production-hdd-severely-disrupted-thai-floods#ixzz1bITCPYMM Software, gadgets, magazines and more in our webstore. Click here to see our latest offers. |
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Computer-2011 and still areas of the country with low or no mobile/internet reception ?
Updated: 10 Oct 2011
£150m government investment in mobile masts to improve coverage
£150m will be spent by the UK government on improving mobile coverage in the UK, the Chancellor, George Osborne, has announced today at the conservative party conference.
It's estimated that this will improve coverage for 5 to 10% of consumers and businesses in rural areas which often suffer for very poor or non-existent mobile coverage.
The government aim to reach 99% of the population and will release funding so that the roll out of new masts can begin from 2012.
Ofcom will be in charge of procuring the sites for these new masts.
It's imagined that the mobile networks would have to have equal access to these sites to ensure that the deployment does not unfairly favour one operator over another, and to ensure that coverage of all operators is achieved.
Ofcom could follow in the footsteps of Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), the body tasked with assigning funds for broadband roll-out through local authorities, to create an open-access wholesale mobile network that can be used by all operators, but this is likely to delay the roll-out and it could be difficult to achieve agreement from all the operators to ensure interoperability.
"We have maintained for some time that market forces alone will not solve these problems. In particular, poor and unreliable coverage, which exists mostly in rural areas, is likely to persist to some degree as there is limited scope for commercially-driven improvements."
Ofcom Statement
There could be some real joint incentives by working with BDUK on this deployment however. By ensuring that all new sites that are enabled will support 4G services, some broadband not-spots could be filled in and get access to faster services through the mobile network.
It's also a government ambition to get a fibre 'village pump' installed in all communities, and this may correlate with fibre-backhaul that is required by the mobile networks to support the new masts.
Whilst 99% coverage seems like a great target, lets not forget that the crucial 1% being missed does leave out over 600,000 people who will still receive little to no coverage, and there will be little incentive for the mobile providers to improve networks to reach these final people.
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Computer-Tories threaten consumer protection,say OFT
Updated: 05 Oct 2011
OFT says changes to consumer organisations will weaken regime
Watchdog warns that with no central body, consumer protection would suffer
Plans to fragment consumer protection will weaken the regime
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said the Government's plans to radically reform the UK's consumer protection regime could lead to a weakening of the way consumer law is enforced.
The Government's consumer watchdog also said in its response to the proposed changes that while it supports the aim of reducing complexity and overlap, it had sympathy with the views already expressed by organisations such as Consumer Focus, "that this is a missed opportunity to consider bigger changes that would make consumer protection 'fit for the 21st Century' ".
The plans announced by the Government in June would essentially split the way consumer protection in the UK is currently enforced.
In its review of publically funded bodies last November, the Government had already announced that it would axe Consumer Focus and farm out the consumer-related protection, advice, advocacy and research work carried out by this organisation and the OFT to other organisations.
It is planned that the charity, Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB), will be principally responsible for developing and delivering consumer advice and assistance. Local Trading Standards offices would have to take on a significant increase in regional and national enforcement actions.
There are also plans to create a new Trading Standards Policy Board (TSPB) which would take on "large complex [consumer] cases which may ... raise novel legal issues across the UK".
However, both Trading Standards and individual CAB bodies around the country are facing huge cuts to their budgets. Funding for local CAB and Trading Standards for example comes from a number of sources that have had to make huge budgetary cuts, such as local authorities.
The OFT also said it raised the question about the future of consumer educational campaigns it runs in conjunction with Trading Standards, such as its annual Scamnesty awareness month and website sweeps when it closes down fraudulent sites.
The OFT warned that these financial and structural constraints on both CAB and Trading Standard, coupled with the lack of a central body such as itself to coordinate and oversee consumer protection, means the proposed reforms will lead to "a weakening of the consumer protection regime's capacity to protect consumers where they need it most."
Read more: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2114358/oft-changes-consumer-organisations-weaken-regime#ixzz1Zs2qOveL
Software, gadgets, magazines and more in our webstore. Click here to see our latest offers.
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Computer-Cartridges Discount ?- Not any more
Updated: 04 Oct 2011
Cartridges Discount
I used to buy my Epson substitute replacement printer cartridges from this firm.
I had an Epson CX3200 printer until it broke down and repairs prohibitive.
So I returned the spare cartridges – 3 Black and 3 Colour to the firm and asked them for the equivalent for my Epson 3650 printer.
All at a cost of 2 pounds 60 pence in postage
Nothing except the return of my 3 black cartridges saying they were out of date. –
The cheeky sods kept the colour cartridges and sent no replacements.
So now I go to Ebay or Amazon for cartridge replacements and hey what ?
They are cheaper than Cartridge Direct !
Sorry "Cartridges Discount" don't trade or recommend you anymore.
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Computer-Broadband Speed test results expected
Updated: 04 Oct 2011
ASA report into broadband advert
speed claims expected this week
Monday 26 September 2011 13:01:45 by john@thinkbroadband.com">John Hunt
A leaked report seen by the Independent states that the ASA will allow broadband suppliers to advertise speeds claims for their products only if 10% of customers can actually receive these speeds.
The ASA launched a review last year in to how broadband products were advertised and this was carried out by CAP and BCAP on their behalf.
A small caveat though, the ASA have told PC Pro that there are inaccuracies within the Independent's story but they wouldn't say which bits were inaccurate.
The full report is expected to be published this week, which will give a clearer picture of where the industry will stand.
Broadband providers are also expected to have to clearly state in adverts what speed range 20% of customers and 80% of their customers receive and the average speed should be shown within the main part of the advert.
More information for consumers is a good thing, but there needs to be a sensible way of getting the information out that will not be confusing.
The guidance within the report are also expected only to apply to broadband providers who use copper wire.
This would therefore encompass all existing broadband products, including Virgin Media's cable products, but would exclude those delivered over Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH).
These don't suffer from slow downs in the same way as DSL based products as the speed is guaranteed from the end user to the local distribution point, but congestion and contention could occur elsewhere.
Mobile broadband and satellite products will be excluded, but this is a sensible decision as it is harder to predict the speed of these.
There is no mention by the Independent of the study that was occurring alongside this which was looking at the use of 'unlimited' usage limits and whether products that had fair-usage policies / traffic management could continue to use this wording.
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Computer- Big Brother is watching over us-Yahoo in this case
Updated: 03 Oct 2011
I'm afraid the change of editor is due to an upgrade of your existing editor due to security reasons.
(This is because I was having copy and paste problems, I never had before)
It is working differently because pasting can sometimes spread viruses and other nasties.
Ctrl + V automatically sort out pasted text to remove such nasties but a right click works differently so a box pops up.
I suggest you use Ctrl + V from now on to paste and the box will not pop up.
I have however tested the right click method with both Chrome and IE and they are working fine for me.
Are you using IE and at what version? |
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Slowest Broadband Street in UK-Computer
Updated: 27 Sep 2011
Slowest street in the UK? Really?
Tuesday 20 September 2011 14:59:12 by Andrew Ferguson
The ease with which an on-the-spot broadband speed test can be completed means that many users have tested their broadband connections speed using numerous web-based speed tests. Today a press release by uSwitch talks about the slowest fifty streets in the UK based on such data, confusing journalists and the public, based in part on the lack of clear information in the original release.
A number of news websites including The Guardian have mis-interpreted the 0.128Mb figure in the uSwitch report as 0.128 MegaBytes per second (MB/s), when it would appear to be 0.128 Megabits per second (Mb/s or Mbps). The original report should have been clearer and adopted a common notation such as 0.128Mbps (Megabits per second), i.e. show the full meaning in brackets the first time the units are used; missing off the time unit is a common shortening that pervades advertising and press releases for broadband. The average user struggles to understand the difference between a megabit and a megabyte, measurement units in a ratio of 1:8 apart (1MB/s or MegaByte per second = 8Mb/s Megabits per second).
One of the common ways of trying to explain what this means to users is to relate it to a 'real-world' example, however in this press release the company further confuses users by use of statistics which appear to, at least in our opinion, be questionable. It suggests that on these slowest connections, a movie would take 48 hours to download whilst a single music track would take 90 minutes. These numbers would equate to a movie being 2.7GB (Gigabytes) in size, although most standard definition movies manage between 1 to 1.5GB. Whilst this may be a perfectly valid point, it does warrant an explanation.
Getting the sums right
However what is more surprising is the discrepancy over the music track which based on their figures would have to be 90MB in size. Even taking an uncompressed CD-quality track, this would need to be 10 minutes in length, whereas most are shorter, and with common compression technologies such as MP3, most tracks are a fraction of this size, often around 5MB. At 0.134Mbps, a single 5MB MP3 single would take around 5 minutes to download. Even assuming the use high quality 160kbit/s (kilobits per second) encoding as used by the Apple iTunes service, the figures quoted by the compay are grossly over-estimated. Did they mean an album?
"Things are almost as bad on Forestfield, in the West Sussex town of Horsham, where the average broadband speed of just 0.134Mb again harks back to the Nineties. At that speed it may take up to a frustrating 90 minutes to download just one music track."
uSwitch Press Release
We have already seen evidence that broadband speeds are a factor which new home-buyers take into consideration when looking to purchase a property, so home owners on the streets labelled the UK's slowest may be concerned about how these types of results may put off potential buyers. The press release does not offer any detail on the statistiscal accuracy or sample size of the data at street-level, making the analysis at best, incomplete. If the results are based on repeated tests from a couple of properties for example, this could be grossly under-estimating speeds for the entire road, as speed issues could be caused by traffic shaping, selection of broadband package, wireless interference or problems with telephone wiring inside the homes. The use of 'mean' averages for this kind of statistic is perhaps also questionable, where medians or percentiles tell a fuller story. The company compares its results to the May 2011 Ofcom research, but surprisingly does not provide a UK-wide average of its data in the press release.
If we look more closely at the slowest street in the entire UK based on this data (Mount Pleasant in Hasleworth, Suffolk), this is less than 300 metres away from the telephone exhange based on uSwitch's own data and a nearby result 380 metres away is 5.9Mbps—We would very much like to see why the speed variation is so large if uSwitch believe this is the slowest street in the country.
Screenshot of test result nearby to the UK's slowest street; Source: uSwitch.com;
Map data by Google Maps/Tele Atlas.We agree there is a problem with broadband speeds which warrants discussion and debate and using case studies is helpful to translate this into plain english, but highlighting the 'worst 50 broadband streets' is often prone to problems as the data set is unlikely to be complete enough, even though they attract many headlines. We have already seen users contacting us some months ago to complain about their village being labelled as one of the slowest in Britain based on this type of press release, whilst excluding niche broadband providers which offer much faster services from the data set. When focussing on trying to name very small areas, in-depth analysis is very important. Average speeds tell us a story about the development of UK broadband, but they are difficult to compare statistically at street-level when reducing the figure to a single number. The range of speeds, providers and other information is essential before making judgements about an area.
We contacted uSwitch to seek clarification on the units, calculation methodology and statistical significance and received the following response:
"Firstly, we are referring to MB/s (Mbps) in the release. We use the shortened terminology as widely used by the UK's most popular ISPs. As for the calculations, the data is based on more than 1,500,000 speed tests were conducted through the uSwitch.com website between March and August 2011. The reason the map may have different results is because we do not show all results on the map - just the most recent tests for each postcode. However, all tests are logged, which is why we have such extensive data. The calculations are based on a uSwitch methodology, which uses our own data."
Statement by uSwitch.com
We're honestly not quite sure what to make of it. If this is the case, their figures are even more implausible. We'll try to seek further clarification and will of course update the article in due course.
Disclosure: We feel it is appropriate to highlight to readers that thinkbroadband collects and analyses speed test data of its own and therefore we are generally reluctant to openly criticise methodologies/analysis used by other sites which carry out similar functions, after all, it is in the consumers' interests to access such analysis from multiple sources. However, due to the number of significant concerns we have raised about this release and the fact it has already been covered in the national media, we believe that it is in the public interest for us to make our concerns known.
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Govt Scraps plan for Electronic NHS database- Computer
Updated: 27 Sep 2011
Government scraps plans for electronic NHS database
Services such as electronic prescriptions will remain unaffected by budget cuts
Some parts of national NHS IT system to be retained
The Government has scrapped plans to set up a national database of electronic patient records for the NHS, but some areas of the service's national IT programme will be retained.
Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, recently announced the Government is axing much of the £12.7bn scheme that was meant to link all parts of the NHS, but some areas are considered to be working well. These include the Choose and Book process for hospital referrals, patient archiving and electronic prescriptions will continue to be supported.
"There is no point throwing the baby out with the bathwater," a representative for the Department of Health said.
The national Programme for IT was set up by Labour in 2002 to save money and time. As the Cabinet Office's Major Projects Authority has pointed out, the ambitious IT project was not a single programme but "a portfolio of major programmes with interdependencies, different timescales and varied contributions to benefits delivery".
The core part of the project was the creation of a fully integrated, national electronic patient care records database. This would have allowed NHS practitioners to get instant access to patient notes, appointments and histories.
However, this fell behind schedule and of the total £6.4bn allocated to the programme in March of this year, £2.7bn has been spent on the electronic records system. But this part of the project has been widely criticised. In May, the National Audit Office said that delivery of care records systems, "continues to fall well below expectations."
Now the Cabinet Office majority projects authority has concluded in a report that the majority of the programme is "unwieldy" and has not "delivered in line with the original intent ..." and should be scrapped.
It sugggested "dismember[ing] the programme and reconstitute[ing] it under new management and organisation arrangements", otherwise it would be " hard to see how the perception can ever be shifted from the faults of the past and allowed to progress effectively to support the delivery of effective healthcare."
But it has also said that the overall impression that the National project has delivered no benefits is unfair.
"In fact, there have been substantial achievements which are now firmly established. The Spine, N3 Network, NHSmail, Choose and Book, Secondary Uses Service and Picture Archiving and Communications Service are all business as usual and form essential infrastructure," it said.
Lansley said last week: "We will be moving to an innovative new system driven by local decision-making. This is the only way to make sure we get value for money from IT systems that better meet the needs of a modernised NHS."
Read more: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2112001/government-scraps-plans-electronic-nhs-database#ixzz1Z7kaHRBc
Software, gadgets, magazines and more in our webstore. Click here to see our latest offers. |
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COMPUTER- AMERICANS ONLINE FOR SOCIAL GOSSIP INCREASES
Updated: 13 Sep 2011
Social networks eat up Americans' online time
Nielsen report shows social networking has reached 'killer app' status, one analyst notes (see chart below)
By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld
September 12, 2011 06:55 PM ET
Computerworld - A new survey shows that Americans are increasingly transfixed with social networking sites, with Facebook grabbing more of our time than any other blog or social media.
Social networks and blogs are taking up more and more of Americans time online, now accounting for nearly a quarter of our time spent on the Internet, according Nielsen's social media report. Internet users in the U.S. spend more than twice as much time on social networks than they do in the second-most popular category: playing online games.
Facebook is the top destination of all social networks and blogs. Nielsen reported that 140 million people visited Facebook in May. That's 70% of all active U.S. Internet users. Google's Blogger came in second with a distant 50 million visitors that month, while Twitter was in the third spot with 23 million.
In addition to more people using Facebook, they also spend the most time at that site.
According to Nielsen, Facebook users spent 53.5 billion minutes on the site this past May. By comparison, users spent 17.5 billion minutes on Yahoo in the same month. Google users spent 12.5 billion minutes there.
"I'm not all that surprised to see that people spend 25% of their online time on social networks," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "Social networks have become the online focus for many new computer users -- particularly older people who might not have extensively used computers in their working lives."
Olds is right. Nielsen reported that users 55 and older are the fastest growing group on social networks. However, people aged between 18 and 34 are the most active age group.
"I think social networking might have reached that 'killer app' status where it draws people into computing who haven't been there before," Olds added.
The report, which just came out this week, also notes that people are increasingly using sites like Facebook and Twitter when they're shopping.
According to Nielsen, 70% of active online adult social networkers shop online, 12% more likely than the average adult Internet user.
Time spent online
|
Category
|
Pct
|
|
Social networks & blogs
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22.5
|
|
Online games
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9.8
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|
Email
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7.6
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Portals
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4.5
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|
Videos/movies
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4.4
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|
Search
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4.0
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|
IM
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3.3
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|
SW mnfrs
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3.2
|
|
Classifieds/auctions
|
2.9
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|
News/current events
|
2.6
|
|
Other
|
35.1
|
Source: Nielsen Q3 2011 Social Media Report, measuring top 10 online categories for U.S. Internet users
"Social media's popularity continues to grow, connecting people with just about everything they watch and buy," the study noted. "In the U.S., social networks and blogs reach nearly 80% of active U.S. Internet users and represent the majority of Americans' time online."
And while we're connecting and shopping online more and more, we're also doing so with our mobile devices. Nielsen noted that about 40% of social media users access sites from their smartphones.
Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. |
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COMPUTER- WHOSE HACKING WHO ?
Updated: 07 Sep 2011
After hacking claims, second firm pulls digital certificates
GlobalSign is no longer issuing digital certificates as it investigates the incident
By Robert McMillan
September 6, 2011 07:30 PM ET
Computer World
IDG News Service - Digital certificates issued by GlobalSign have come under scrutiny after a hacker's claim that he broke into the company's computer systems.
If true, it would be the second such compromise in the past few weeks.
The hacker, known as Comodohacker, said on Monday he had broken into Dutch certificate authority (CA) DigiNotar and that he had access to four other such companies, including GlobalSign, a certificate authority based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
On Tuesday, GlobalSign said it was investigating the claim and had "decided to temporarily cease issuance of all certificates until the investigation is complete."
"We will post updates as frequently as possible," the company said in a post to its website. "We apologize for any inconvenience."
GlobalSign couldn't immediately be reached for comment, but earlier in the day, Steve Roylance, GlobalSign's business development director, said his company was "taking this very seriously."
Comodohacker, also known as Ich Sun, is the person who earlier this year claimed to have broken into security vendor and certificate issuer Comodo.
At the time he said he was a 21-year-old student who had also compromised another certificate authority, but he didn't name his other victim.
Little noticed by most Web surfers, digital certificates are an important part of the Internet's foundations. They help browsers know when they are visiting legitimate websites rather than fakes.
A country that has control over its Internet service providers and has access to fake digital certificates could create a website that would be almost impossible to distinguish from, for example, Gmail.com.
That's what some experts think happened in Iran last month.
A forensics report commissioned by DigiNotar found someone had hacked into DigiNotar and set up a fake Google.com site that was used in late July and August to spy on as many as 300,000 Iranians.
Most browsers no longer trust the DigiNotar certificates, but if Comodohacker's claims are true there could be further problems in store.
Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is robert_mcmillan@idg.com |
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COMPUTER- POLICY TO CLOSE CRIMINAL WEBSITES-BUT LOOK WHO DECIDES WHAT IS "CRIMINAL"
Updated: 07 Sep 2011
Nominet proposes abuse policy to shut down criminal websites fast
Registry for .uk domains discusses recommendations to speed up site closure
- 06/09/2011
- COMPUTERACTIVE
Nominet says there are strict rules governing taking down a site
Police may be able to shut down websites that use .uk domains for criminal activities within two hours if Nominet passes new policy recommendations.
In a response to a proposal submitted by Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in March, the registry for .uk domains is considering a fast-track method of shutting down these sites.
Normally the police have to obtain a court order to suspend a site, which means the longer it stays live the longer criminals have to carry out their scams. After the request from SOCA, Nominet set up a group to look at this issue, and it has recently released its first report.
The group has now recommended that Nominet introduces an abuse policy that “specifically addresses criminal activity in its registrant terms and conditions”.
Alex Blowers, Nominet’s policy and legal director told Computeractive that the group will now meet again on 21 September for further consultation. The recommendations will then go to the Nominet board for approval.
“There will be strict rules governing suspending a website. We can if needed take down a site within two hours but there are strict criteria. It must be a site that could cause serious harm to consumers and crimes that fall under the Serious Crime Act 2007. This would include fraud, physical harm, counterfeiting, fake pharmaceutical websites and those used for phishing and botnets,” Mr Blowers said.
A representative for SOCA said it was too early to comment on the move because the recommendations have not been approved.
However Mr Blowers said that although a number of steps still had to be worked out, if the recommendations are passed by the board, he expected the changes to be in place within a few months.
Read more: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2106998/nominet-proposes-abuse-policy-shut-criminal-websites-fast#ixzz1XELIhAtU
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COMPUTER- 82.3% OF BRITISH ADULTS HAVE USED THE INTERNET
Updated: 05 Sep 2011
82.3% of adults in Britain
have used the Internet
Wednesday 31 August 2011 15:34:01
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) have released data from their survey of Internet Access which encompasses both Households and Individuals in Great Britian.
41.26 million adults have used the Internet at some time in their lives whilst 8.73 million had never used it.
One of the key points illustrated within the reports is the increase in mobile use of Internet access with over 6 million people accessing the Internet from their mobile phone for the first time in the last year.
The rate of growth in this is highest in the 16-24 year old age group, with 71% now using a mobile phone for Internet access.
This is a rise from 44% in 2010 and 33% in 2009.
19 million households had an Internet Connection, representing 77% of households, a 4% increase on 2010. 93% of those questioned used broadband to access the Internet whilst only 2% used dial-up.
The remainder used a mobile Internet connection.
Of those not online, over half said they didn't need an Internet connection, whilst around a fifth said equipment costs were too high and another fifth said they lacked the skills to get online.
Internet use through Wi-Fi hotspots has also increased with a near doubling of the number of people connecting.
4.9 million people connected in 2011, compared with 2.6 million in 2010 and an estimated 0.7 million in 2007.
This is largely due to the increase in number of Wi-Fi hotspots and the number of hotspots that are available for free, whether this be free for everyone, or free through a bundle with a fixed Internet connection or mobile phone subscriptions such as through those available to BT broadband customers.
Social networking is ever popular, with over 91% of 16 to 24 year old saying they used social networking websites.
Interestingly, these are also popular with the older age groups, with nearly one fifth of Internet users aged over 65 using social networking. 66% of all adults had purchased goods or services over the Internet (a 4% increase on 2010), with clothes and sporting goods the most popular items, particularly with women.
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COMPUTER- ITS GOOD TO TALK UP PROFITS ! - BT PHONE & BROADBAND CONNECTION PRICES UP IN DECEMBER
Updated: 05 Sep 2011
BT announce higher phone bills for customers from December
Wednesday 31 August 2011 10:17:02 by John Hunt
The cost of broadband and using the phone is set to increase as BT have announced price rises for phone line users which will come in to affect from December 2011.
This follows a price rise which occurred in April, and one in October 2010 which saw call charges rise by 10%.
Line rental charges will increase by 70p to £14.60, an increase from £11.50 in 2009 and £9.50 in 2004.
Other costs are also to increase, including the daytime and evening calls, the call set-up fee (which is charged when a call is started), and the BT Anytime call plan.
Some options will remain unchanged, with calls to the main mobile companies to stay at current rates.
BT have said that the prices that are being changed will remain fixed until 2013, but there is no guarantee that other charges won't change.
Other operators tend to follow suit when price rises are announced, but it can still work out cheaper to switch.
O2, for example, offer a line rental fee of just £7.50 a month when you take an O2 home broadband package.
"We are making a series of price updates in December, but are then freezing some of our main prices until 2013.
This will provide our customers with greater certainty over their bills."
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COMPUTER- HELP MY COMPUTER IS SLOW- SYSTEM RESTORE HELPS ?
Updated: 25 Aug 2011
Help! My computer is slow!
There are several reasons why your computer can be slow. Especially when it happens suddenly, then it can be slow because of malware (spyware, adware, trojans, viruses..) present.
However, it's not always malware causing this.
Installing new software which may not be compatible with other software present already, a fragmented drive, uncontrolled applications, lack of maintenance, a full disk etc etc.. cause a serious system slowdown.
A lot of programs running in the background may cause a system slowdown as well, as they will steal away trace amounts of memory and processing time as your computer runs.
It is also a fact that older computers run slower than new computers. Unfortunately there isn't much you can change about this.
So, when your computer is slow, use next troubleshooting checklist to improve Computer Performance:
1. What are the Specifications of your computer, especially RAM (128MB, 256MB, 512MB, more...?)
To find out, rightclick My Computer and choose Properties > General tab.
If less than 512MB, pay attention to what software you install (memory requirement and processing time) and make sure you don't let them all start up with windows. The more programs that start up with windows, the more resources they need > result > slow computer.
Every computer needs Security software installed (Antivirus+Firewall) and should start up with Windows/run in the background.
This is called the Real Time protection. In case you are having 512MB or less, choose an Antivirus and Firewall that doesn't require that much memory and processing time.
So don't install "heavy" programs like Norton, Panda, McAfee, TrendMicro... in such cases. Because even though 512MB is enough to run them smoothly, keep in mind that there may be other programs installed/running in the background which require a lot from your processor as well.
So be selective here and check the system requirements first before you download and install them.
Even though you have more than 512MB ram and you have one of above Security Suites installed, test if it causes the slowdown by temporary uninstalling it (disconnect from the internet in a meanwhile) and see if that improves system speed.
If so, then reconsider another Antivirus/Security Suite. Look here for the ones I recommend.
I am especially talking about Norton (Norton Internet Security), McAfee Security Suite and Zonealarm because they are known to cause a serious slowdown on some systems. Zonealarm mainly causes a startup delay.
This is the same for other software. Desktop enhancement tools, for example Window Blinds, XP Visual Styles, DesktopX.. may also slow down your system.
Also take a look here: What Really Slows Windows Down.
Don't let several programs start up with Windows if you don't need them right away. Many programs add a key in the registry automatically during install to let it start up with Windows.
So once Windows has loaded, these programs stay running in the background without you really needing them. You can always start these programs manually via Start > All Programs when you need them.
However, it is still important that your Antivirus and Firewall stays enabled and starts up with Windows.
All the rest is optional and it's up to you to decide which programs you think are useful to start up with Windows or not.
To disable some programs from starting up with windows, go to start > run and type: "msconfig" (without the quotes). Select the tab "Startup" and uncheck what you don't want to start up with Windows. You can always enable them afterwards again by selecting them.
If you don't know some programs listed there or unsure if they are needed or not, leave them enabled, or use RubberDucky's StartUpLite.
This will display all unnecessary startupentries - so actually, everything it displays there is not necessary to start up with Windows.
The choice is up to you whether you need some to start up with Windows (in that case, select "No action" for them) - but you can always start them manually via start > all programs.
(Do not choose the "Remove" checkboxes, because this will delete it from the Registry - only select the "Remove" checkboxes if you are sure you don't want to enable them again in the future)
2. Don't install more than one Antivirus and Firewall with Realtime Protection enabled.
This is a common mistake many users make. They think that having more than one Antivirus and Firewall installed will protect them in a better way. It won't.. On the contrary..
Rather than giving you extra protection, it will seriously decrease reliability and effectiveness !
The reason for this is that if both products have their automatic (Real-Time) protection switched on, your system may lock up due to both software products attempting to access the same file at the same time.
Also, if more than one Antivirus and Firewall installed are not compatible with eachother, it can cause system performance problems and a serious system slowdown.
It happens quite a lot that a system won't even boot properly because of more than one Antivirus and Firewall installed.
When having general computer problems and you have more than one AV/Firewall installed, this can be the main cause of your problems.
Concerning Antispywarescanners, it's ok for you to install more than one.However, it's not advised that you let them all start up with Windows, running as a Real Time scanner. Only keep one running in the background and disable the rest, because AntispywareScanners are also resource hogs.
They are actually all doing the same, so it's really not needed to have more of them running in the background. After all, you do not use more than one different vacuum cleaner either to clean your carpet with.
Just let the Antispyware scanner(s) scan once in a while on demand.
3. Clean forgotten programs
Many users install Software and leave it installed without ever using it. They only use it a few times and never use it again because it's not exactly what they were looking for or not necessary anymore. In this case, uninstall them if you won't use them again.
In case you have software trials installed, keep in mind that most trials only work for a certain period of time. Once the trial expires, if you're not planning to purchase it, there is really no need to keep it installed, even running in the background/using extra disc space. So uninstall them.
To uninstall programs, go to start > controlpanel > software > add/remove programs and select what programs you want to uninstall. Make sure you reboot afterwards!
4. Clean unused files from your system
Deleting unused files allows Windows to run faster by freeing up valuable hard disk space.. These unused files are especially Temporary Files, URL history, cookies, Autocomplete form history, files present in Recycle bin...
Easy steps to do this manually:
* Clean Cache and Cookies in IE:
- Close all instances of Outlook Express and Internet Explorer.
- Go to Control Panel > Internet Options > General tab
- Under Browsing History, click "Delete". This should open a new Window.
- Click "Delete Files", "Delete cookies" and "Delete history"
* Clean Cache and Cookies in Firefox (In case Firefox installed):
- Go to Tools > Options.
- Click Privacy in the menu..
- Click the Clear now button below.. A new window will popup what to clear.
- Select all and click the Clear button again.
- Click OK to close the Options window.
* Clean other Temporary files + Recycle bin
- Go to start > run and type: cleanmgr and click ok.
- Let it scan your system for files to remove.
- Make sure Temporary Files, Temporary Internet Files, and Recycle Bin are the only things checked.
- Click ok to remove them
There are some free programs doing this automatically for you. Some of them I recommend are:
Check your Cache size in Internet Explorer to see if it has the recommended size. If the Cache size is set too low or too high, it can cause slower performance. You can check the Cache Size under Tools > Internet Options > General Tab > Temporary Internet Files > Settings (button) > "Amount of disk space to use". Ideal would be between 50MB - 100MB.
If you have XP, and you have System Restore enabled (recommended), it won't hurt to delete all previous System Restore Points except for the latest one.
This because System restore points may use a lot of disk space as well.
To delete all restore points except the latest one, rightclick your drive (C:\ for example) and select "properties".
Click the "Disk Cleanup". Click the "more options" tab and select "Clean up" in the System Restore dialog box.
As a sidenote.. I do not recommend Registry Cleaners. This because some may rather damage than cleaning/fixing your registry.
Only use it if you have basic knowledge about the registry and know if a certain key/value is safe to be removed or not. Cleaning the registry won't really improve system performance anyway even though there are a lot of orphaned keys.
If registry cleaning was really required, then Microsoft would have added this option already imho.
So use at your own risk. After all, a corrupted registry is a corrupted Windows.
Also, many people use tools to "tweak" Windows in order to improve system performance without really understanding what they are doing. Other people may instead manually tweak Windows settings such as disabling services, modifying the registry etc.
When doing this, it is important to be careful and fully understand the settings you are changing. Otherwise, this tweaking may not improve system performance, but actually cause future problems.
Just don't fix when it ain't broken.
5. Defragment Your Computer.
A fragmented drive causes a slow system.
Easy steps to defragment your drive:
1. open My Computer.
2. Rightclick on the drive you want to defragment and select "Properties".
3. Click on the Tools tab.
4. Select Defragment Now....
If all above steps were performed and you're still having the same problems - then check the IDE channels to see if they are running in PIO or DMA mode.
To do this, go to start > run and type: devmgmt.msc in order to open the Device Manager.
Doubleclick IDE ATA/ATAPI-Controllers > rightclick the Primary IDE Channel > Properties > Advanced Settings tab
In the Transfer Mode dropdown list - it should be set to "DMA if available"
Read here and here for more info.
The PC Pitstop Full Tests runs some tests on your computer and displays the results afterwards + tips how to fix certain problems.
For more detailed info how to Restore Your Computer's Performance (XP), read here.
In case above steps didn't work to improve speed/system performance, then you are most probably dealing with a Hardware or Malware issue. |
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COMPUTER- BROADBAND SPEEDS TO GET OUT OF FIRST GEAR ?
Updated: 22 Aug 2011
£363 million of broadband investment will go to England and Scotland
Tuesday 16 August 2011 12:45:09 by John Hunt
The government are to invest £363 million in England and Scotland to enhance the UK's broadband services it has been announced today.
The funding comes from £530m that has been set aside for broadband projects in the UK, to be distributed by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) to councils.
England will receive £294.8 million whilst Scotland is set to get £68.8 million, whilst Wales is getting £56.9 million and Northern Ireland £4.4 million.
"Fast broadband is absolutely vital to our economic growth, to delivering public services effectively, and to conducting our everyday lives.
But some areas of the UK are missing out, with many rural and hard-to-reach communities suffering painfully slow internet connections or no coverage at all.
We are not prepared to let some parts of our country get left behind in the digital age.
Jeremy Hunt, Culture Secretary
The government's intention is to create the "best super-fast broadband network in Europe by 2015", and also allow everyone to get online at speeds of at least 2Mbps.
Private industry is already progressing towards this, with BT looking to get 40% of the country enabled for fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) or fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband by the Summer of 2012, whilst around 2/3rd's of the country is expected to be reached without government assistance.
The funding being made available is based on where it expects the market will fail to deliver next-generation service to enough premises rather than it being based on the number of residents in the county.
As such, Greater London has currently been awarded no funding as it is assumed that the private sector will provide suitable coverage here.
Many rural areas will see the most help and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) have praised the government for helping rural areas the most.
"I am delighted the Government recognises that rural areas are missing out on all the benefits broadband brings and that the countryside should not be overlooked.
Rural areas are woefully underserved by even an adequate broadband service let alone superfast.
The CLA has argued for eight years that a Public Private Partnership (PPP) should be created to provide the correct level of investment for a superfast broadband infrastructure and today’s announcement by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt supports this."
William Worsley, (President) CLA
It will now be up to local councils to place the money toward suitable projects to ensure that enough people are given access to next-generation broadband.
They may also search for additional funding which may come from their own budgets or from matched funding from the private sector. |
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COMPUTER- TALK TALK FINED £3MILLION FOR CHEATING CUSTOMERS FOR SERVICES NOT RECEIVED
Updated: 20 Aug 2011
Talktalk fined £3million by Ofcom
Regulator raps ISP for incorrectly billing 65,000 Tiscali and Talktalk customers
- Jessie Donnelly
- 19/08/2011
- COMPUTERACTIVE
Ofcom said the fine would have been larger if Talktalk had not already made "goodwill payments" and refunds to its customers
The internet service providers Talktalk have between them been fined £3 million by telecoms regulator Ofcom.
The fine was levied after the ISPs incorrectly issued bills to 65,000 customers for services they didn't receive, in particular to customers who had closed their accounts. Tiscali UK was bought by Talktalk in 2009.
The independent regulator opened an investigation into the two companies in July 2010 after receiving more than 1,000 complaints from customers. It found that bills were wrongly issued to over 62,000 customers between 1 January and 1 November 2010. Following the investigation, Ofcom gave the companies a deadline of 2 December 2010 to "take steps to sort out their billing problems".
However, as Computeractive reported in February this year, complaints continued to come in, despite changes to Talktalk and Tiscali UK's customer management systems. Ofcom found that a further 3,000 customers were incorrectly billed between December 2, 2010 and March 4, 2011.
Talktalk said it was "disappointed" at receiving what amounts to the largest fine Ofcom has given to a telecoms firm, though Ofcom said the amount reflected the seriousness of the breach of its rules.
It warned that the fine could have been much larger had Talktalk and Tiscali UK not already made goodwill payments and refunds totalling £2.5m to over 65,000 affected customers.
Read more: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2103165/talktalk-fined-gbp3million-ofcom#ixzz1VWucpZux
Software, gadgets, magazines and more in our webstore. Click here to see our latest offers. |
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COMPUTER- AUSSIE COLLAR BOMBERS TECH GAFFE
Updated: 18 Aug 2011
The collar bomber's explosive tech gaffe
The man who said he had fixed a bomb around a girl's neck handed his name to police ... on a flash drive
By Robert McMillan
August 17, 2011 07:49 PM ET
IDG News Service - The man who claimed to have attached a bomb collar to an Australian high school student two weeks ago thought it would be a good idea to leave a ransom note on a USB stick looped around her neck. What he probably didn't realize is that he also left his name, hidden deep in the device's memory.
Court documents unsealed Tuesday describe the harrowing Aug. 3 incident, which began when a man broke into Madeline Pulver's bedroom wearing a striped balaclava and wielding a black aluminum baseball bat. He told her to sit down and chained a black box around her neck.
He also draped a purple lanyard over the terrified girl with a note saying that the black box was a bomb. The note included ransom instructions for Pulver's family, telling them to e-mail a Google address -- dirkstraun1840@gmail.com -- for further instructions. Also on the lanyard was a 4GB USB stick that contained a digital version of the note, saved as a pdf file.
The next 10 hours were a gruelling ordeal for the girl before a Sydney police bomb squad was able to determined that the threat was a hoax. But a closer look at the USB drive turned up a couple of files that the criminal thought he'd deleted. One of them, a version of the ransom note written in Microsoft Word, contained metadata about the document's author, including his name: "Paul P."
On Monday, U.S. authorities arrested Paul "Doug" Peters, 50, in La Grange, Kentucky, seeking to extradite him to Australia to face kidnapping and breaking-and-entering charges. It's not clear why Peters attempted such a bizarre crime, but U.S. prosecutors say he once worked for a company linked to Pulver's family. The girl's father, Bill Pulver, is the CEO of voice recognition software company Appen Butler Hill.
Police collected footage from surveillance cameras in a library where a computer was used to access the Gmail account. The footage, along with the USB drive and circumstantial evidence, such as purchases made around the time of the incident, link Peters to the crime, prosecutors say.
Even if the collar bomber had known his name was on the USB drive, it would have been very hard to remove it, according to Frank McClain, an independent computer forensics expert.
As computer geeks and investigators know, when users delete a file from a computer the file isn't deleted immediately from the hard drive. Instead, the computer takes note that the area of the disk where the file is stored is now available to be written over. So investigators can often recover at least snippets of data from files that are supposed to have been deleted.
With flash drives things are more complex, thanks to mechanisms built into the drives to prolong their lifespan. Because flash memory cells stop working after they've been overwritten too many times, flash devices use tricks called "wear leveling" to even out how the memory cells are used. A side effect of wear levelling is that it is "almost impossible" to completely erase data from a flash device, McClain said.
That can come in handy for people trying to recover photos or other files they've accidentally deleted, and there are many tools, some of them free, to help recover their data.
The collar bomber's first mistake was thinking he could delete something completely from his USB stick. But he also erred by not altering the metadata in his Word document. When Word saves a document, it automatically saves data, such as the user's login name, as part of the file. Office 2007 users can see this metadata by hitting the Office button, then "Prepare" and "Properties."
Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is robert_mcmillan@idg.com
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COMPUTER- THAT'S WHERE WE GET OUR OWN BACK ?
Updated: 18 Aug 2011
Anonymous claims release of BART police officers' data
Hack of 102 officers' data in apparent retaliation for last weeks mobile phone service service cut-off
By Jaikumar Vijayan
August 17, 2011 07:15 PM ET
Computerworld - Hackers claiming to belong to the Anonymous hacking collective this morning publicly posted the names, home addresses, email addresses and passwords of 102 police officers belonging to San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) agency.
The move was in apparent retaliation for BARTs decision to temporarily cut off underground cell phone service to commuters last Thursday in response to a planned protest against the shooting of a homeless man by BART police in March.
News of the attack was released via a Twitter account associated with Anonymous' attacks on BART. However, another Twitter account used by Anonymous noted that "no one claimed responsibility" for this morning's incident.
"Some random Joe joined a channel and released the data to the press," the tweet noted. Another tweet noted that the leak of BART police data "could be the work sanctioned by those who truly support anonymous, or agent provocateurs.
Stay skeptical."
This is the second time in less than a week that hackers claiming to be from Anonymous have attacked BART for the same reason. Earlier this week members of the group broke into a BART website and released user names, addresses and phone numbers of more than 2,000 BART customers.
BART did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment on the latest intrusion. But a brief statement posted on BARTs main site condemned the attack.
"We are deeply concerned about the safety and security of our employees and their families," BART's interim general manager, Sherwood Wakeman, said in the statement. "We stand behind them and our customers who were the subject of an earlier attack. We are deeply troubled by these actions."
As of late Wednesday afternoon, the BART police union website from which the data was accessed remained unavailable.
The attacks by Anonymous against BART are similar to numerous other attacks the group has carried out recently. Over the last one year, its victims have included PayPal, Amazon.com, Sony and Booz Allen Hamilton.
In June, Anonymous was labeled a cyberterrorism group by the Arizona Department of Public Safety after members of the group repeatedly attacked Arizona police union.
Most of the attacks have been in retaliation for some perceived wrongdoing on the part of the targeted organization. PayPal for instance was attacked for its perceived opposition to WikiLeaks, while the Arizona law enforcement websites were targeted to protest the state's tough immigration laws.
In BART's case, the agency has been targeted for temporarily shutting down cell phone service at several stations last week. BART officials claimed that the move was necessary to preserve public safety after several protestors planned a demonstration to protest the killing of Charles Hill by BART police.
Though BART has stoutly defended its action, it has been roundly slammed by civil rights groups for its decision. The FCC has said it will look into/a> the incident.
The continuing attacks by Anonymous are sure to increase pressure on law enforcement to track down members of the group. In July, the FBI arrested 14 alleged members of Anonymous for their supposed role in launching a series of distributed denial of service attacks PayPal last December. Similar arrests have been made in other countries as well.
So far, those actions appear to have done little to slow down the attacks. In fact, soon after the arrests, members of Anonymous and LulzSec, a splinter group, issued a joint statement vowing to carry on the attacks and daring law enforcement to catch them.
Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld. Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at @jaivijayan or subscribe to Jaikumar's RSS feed . His e-mail address is jvijayan@computerworld.com. |
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