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Another year has flown by, in a seemingly supersonic
fashion (oh, yes, so it's the same for you, huh?). It's
been a year dominated, more than ever, by security issues
- a LOT of virus clean-ups were undertaken, often involving
data recovery, where at all possible, and with not a
little success. But it does tend to emphasise the importance
of staying on top of the game - that game you'd rather
not play at all, but which is
the reality of the battlefield represented by online
Internet activity. Phishing activity seems very common
still, and many are caught out by emails which link
to fake sites with drive-by trojans lurking. Another
factor that continues unabated is the apparent non-awareness
of the online threats concerning teenagers and their
love of MSN, Limewire and similar file-sharing programs
~ there is nothing innately bad about these programs,
but they are more risky than other types by their nature.
One not only needs to trust the source of files that
get transferred via these programs, one also has to
be much more aware of the capabilities AND limitations
of the security software installed. I am not aware of
any useful level of teaching at schools about security,
so where I find a household with teenagers using computers,
I tend to find the same problems cropping up time and
again. I could write loads about this, but suffice to
say there's an easy way, and a hard way, to learn the
lessons that need to be learned in order to avoid (probably
temporary) loss of function and (possibly permanent)
loss of precious data.
On
another note, there have been quite a lot of my customers
who have opted for a new PC or laptop. Some make the
most of their budget by spending time shopping around
AND researching the latest technology. And, well, others
don't! The range of machines and accompanying gadgetry,
quality, responsiveness and general all-round performance
is really very wide. Like cars. You want a car to get
you from A to B... eventually? Then you don't need to
spend a huge amount. But if you'd like something which
speaks of quality, and responds swiftly to your every
request, then you need to revise your budget upwards.
The trick is to lop-off the extremes of the scale, and
get something reasonable which is going to last, and
behave nicely for you. Stands to reason. Computers are
not 'born equal' - in fact, they are not even a single
entity. They are lots of hi-tech gadgets cobbled together
- customising a build online will generally get you
a much better deal than that garish bargain blurted
out on your TV screen.
As
usual, on both these matters, TechScope
can advise and assist as necessary!
Other points of note:
- I'll soon be heading
into my 5th year of trading!
- After some doubt, it
has been decided to retain the Remote
Support facility that proves so very valuable
when the need arises!
- I will try to wash my
car more often - but I do travel regularly into some
very out-of-the-way, muddy areas, so don't be surprised
if I look like I've been off-road (I probably have!)
- My rates remain the
most competitive in the area - which is good news
for those rough times ahead. (And if you want the
low-down on some of the financial travesties taking
place, I can recommend The
Market Ticker site (American) - a good read, but
don't stay too long, otherwise one may lose some perspective!)
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