Wednesday 25 December 2013

Cryptolocker - We Can Help!

Make no mistake, the Cryptolocker virus is going to cause a lot of heartache in the next few months, or possibly years.

But what is Cryptolocker and why should you care? Well, if you switch on your computer and are greeted with this screen...

If you see this screen, your docs, pics and music are inaccessible!

...then you are in trouble. For this is no idle threat. Your personal files ARE indeed encrypted and you will not be able to access them. To make matters worse, to release your files, you will have to buy a key before the countdown clock expires or your files will be locked forever!

Choose a 'convenient' payment method!!!

The difference between this and other 'ransomware' is that the threat is real and the release key is virtually unbreakable.
Running Anti-Spyware software can remove the infection but it will not remove the encryption. Your files will remain locked!


SHOULD I PAY THE RANSOM?
Definitely NOT! There is NO guarantee that you will be sent the unlock code or that your PC will not immediately be re-infected (and you will have to pay over and over again)!

THE GOOD NEWS
We have had great success in recovering files locked under this virus. It is a time consuming process and we would require your pc for several days, but you will have your precious data returned to you and the infection removed. Please contact us through our Website for more details.








Thursday 5 December 2013

Use Windows ReadyBoost to Improve PC Performance

How to Use ReadyBoost to Speed Up Windows 7

One of the most useful features of Windows 7 that is often overlooked is ReadyBoost. It was first introduced with Windows Vista but many users found the technology less than impressive. However, Windows 7 has seen a vast improvement and can lead to significant gains in computer speed and data handling.

ReadyBoost is simple to set up and requires no special skills. The only item required is a blank working USB Flash Drive (aka USB Memory Stick) between 1-8Gb in size. Although smaller and larger sizes will work as well.

As the USB drive will be connected to your pc for some considerable time, it would be best to choose a location somewhat out of the way - say, at the rear of your computer.

Ok, let's start:-

1) Plug your USB Flash Drive firmly into the pc and watch for this screen to appear on the monitor:


2) Click on 'Speed Up My System' and the next screen will appear:


3) Choose the option 'Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost' Apply & OK.

ReadyBoost is now set-up and operating.

You will see that in My Computer it shows as a extra drive with a red line underneath it. This informs the user that it cannot be used to store data.

If at anytime the USB Flash Drive is temporarily removed or changed, the ReadyBoost set-up procedure will have to be repeated.

Tuesday 19 November 2013

DON'T Change Your Email Password!



This article concerns those users who use a desktop email client such as Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Outlook or Windows Live Mail. In other words, where emails are stored on the computer and not accessed via a webpage.

Every now and then, when you open your email client, you may get a message telling you that your email cannot be downloaded because your username or password is incorrect.

If you've had no problem downloading your email in the past, then this standard message is going to be very misleading. The best advice is NOT to panic and NOT to change any details.

If you can still access the internet through your web browser, then the fault is very likely to lay with your Internet Service Provider (ISP). All ISP's have problems now and again, and these are usually speedily fixed. You should give your ISP at least 12 hours to fix the problem.

Check the Service Status on the ISP's website to confirm any problems they might be experiencing. You could even access your email through the online webmail facility (you will need your username and password to login). 


If the user loses patience and starts to change usernames and passwords, these will be remembered by the email client and when the ISP comes back online, the username and password really will be WRONG!

Monday 4 November 2013

Laptop Overheating Explained


As a laptop gets older, one of the most common faults is overheating. There are two main causes: blockage of the cooling system by dust and fluff, or a faulty fan. Bad design can also be to blame but we shall not be looking at that cause here.

How Does The Heating System Get Blocked?
Laptops produce a significant amount of heat that is generated by the CPU, GPU and other components; this needs to be evacuated as quickly as possible. Without getting too technical, a fan draws cool air in and directs it over a radiator where the heat has been directed by copper pipes (similar to a car engine).
As a result of the cool air being drawn in by the fan, particles of dust and fluff are also sucked in. It's these particles that collect in front of the radiator, building up over time to form an impenetrable barrier. Cool air cannot pass over the radiator and the components overheat as a result.


Dust and Fluff Can Clearly Be Seen on the Fan Intake
The Cooling Fan
A faulty, or underperforming fan can occur due to a failed motor, missing blade(s), or some form of obstruction. All fans eventually fail and an early replacement can extend the life of a laptop considerably.


This Fan is Totally Chocked With Fluff and Dust!

Signs of Overheating
The laptop base gets VERY hot! It may be too hot to put on your lap!
Little or no air coming from the exhaust port.
The laptop cuts out or throws up a blue screen.
The Laptop becomes very slow.
The fan becomes noisy.


A 'Carpet' of Fluff Completely Blocking the Cooling Radiator 

Consequences of Overheating
Most laptops have a thermal cut-out in place that detects overheating and stops the machine working. However, this is not always quick enough to prevent damage to the CPU or GPU. Once this happens, there is no alternative but to replace the processors (very expensive), or scrap the laptop!
Once a laptop is overheating, its useful life is considerably reduced.

How We Repair
Despite mis-guided advice to the contrary, there is only one solution to this problem, and that is to dismantle the laptop, remove the motherboard and clean out the accumulated dust blockage by hand. It cannot effectively be removed by vacuum cleaner or poking around with a paper clip!
Renewal of a faulty fan also requires the removal of the motherboard.
Our repairs include the complete removal of all particle blockages and a complete cleaning of the internal laptop cavity and components. Should the fan require lubricating or replacing, we can also include that procedure.

Our work is carried out extremely carefully and by our most experienced technician. After the procedure, you will be able to work normally once again, as the operating system and data will be unaffected.

Monday 17 June 2013

Back-Up Your Data, Now!

At PC Partners we are constantly advising our customers to back-up their data.  The complete loss of pictures, documents and music due to hardware failure can be a real shock.

First of all, let's remind ourselves of what a back-up really is. It's a copy of your data in TWO or more places. It is not a transfer of data to an external storage device that removes it from the original location - unless you are making two or more copies on different devices in separate physical locations.

Even back-up devices can fail and, if you only have one data copy on one device, the risk of losing everything remains the same.



You can back-up to various devices such as an external hard drive, USB memory stick, online cloud-based facilities or optical storage (cd's, dvd's etc.). There are other devices, but you get the idea.

I don't intend to discuss the merits of each device, but I do want to stress that ANY back-up, on ANY device is better than nothing.

Wherever you choose to store your data, make sure you do it regularly. Once a week for the light home user, or everyday for the heavy data generators (authors, etc).

IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE ANY DATA UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES...

Always keep a copy off-site. That is, with a neighbour, a relative or at work.
Accidents can happen - fire, flood, children, parents and dogs have all been known to destroy precious data.

Make your back-up NOW and sleep better at night.

If you think you have lost data, visit our data recovery page, we can help.



Sunday 16 June 2013

Can't Like or Dislike Youtube Videos Anymore?

A recent update by Google has made it seemingly impossible for some users to like or dislike Youtube videos.

The answer is that from now on, you will only be able to like or dislike after you have watched the whole video! And even then the active thumbs up or thumbs down buttons have moved the to top of the finished video.

Don't like this change? You are not alone. Google seem to be making a habit of upsetting users these days with their seemingly arbitrary meddling. All in the name of making even more profits!

Friday 26 April 2013

More Spam with Outlook.com!



As an IT company we have several Hotmail accounts for testing purposes only.  They have been set-up for years and never used to mail third-parties. Our spam boxes have remained empty up until now.

However, since being transferred to Outlook.com, our spam count has suddenly soared from zero to ten a day, on all accounts!

Is this just coincidence or has the unthinkable happened? Are Microsoft really selling email addresses on?

Has anyone else noticed a sudden increase in spam since the roll-out of Outlook.com? 

Saturday 20 April 2013

Browsing The Internet Without Ads!


We all know how irritating it is when you are bombarded by advertising on practically every website you visit. Sometimes it's even difficult to tell the ads from the content. Let's face it, no one visits a website for the advertising, do they?



Before: Weatherbug site with Three blocks of Ads


What can you do? Here's one of the best solutions; it works and it's free!

First of all, visit here and pick up the latest version of Mozilla Firefox browser. Once you have set up the browser, make sure you right-click on the top bar and put a tick by 'Menu Bar'. You'll then see the standard 'File Edit View' menu appear at the top of the browser.

Secondly, from this top menu, click on Tools and then Add-ons. That will open a new tab for the Add-ons Manager. From the left menu, click on Get Add-ons .

To the top right of the tab, you will see a search box. Type in 'Adblock Plus 2.2.3' (without the ') and click search. If the top results do not show Adblock Plus, click on 'See All 85 Results' at the bottom of the list. The next tab should have Adblock Plus at the top of the list. Click ' +Add to Firefox ' and follow the instructions. Adblock will work after you close down firefox and open it up again.

Go to the website with the advertising that annoys you most and test it out. You should notice a big difference. If you want more ads to disappear, carry out the instructions in the previous paragraph and this time search for and install 'Ads no more 2.1'. It's quite safe to have the two add-ins running at once.



After: Weatherbug site with all ads gone!

The examples shown here with the Weatherbug site illustrate just what can be achieved. There's nothing quite as satisfying as visiting a favourite website that was once infested with ads, to find that they have all disappeared and you're left with pure content...which after all, is what you went there for in the first place!




Tuesday 26 March 2013

Create A Windows 8 Recovery USB Drive



If you've just bought a Windows 8 laptop, you might have noticed that it does not come with a COA (Certificate Of Authenticity). That's the blue sticker on the bottom of the laptop with the Windows key printed on it.

The authenticity key for Windows 8 is now more commonly encrypted on the recovery partition, which is usually hidden to prevent accidental deletion.

This state of affairs can have serious ramifications should the hard drive fail  terminally. If it does, the key is lost along with the recovery partition and the user will have to buy a fresh copy of Windows 8. Good news for Microsoft but very bad news for the user.

Luckily, Windows 8 allows the user to back-up the operating system and the recovery partition on to a USB memory stick. We recommend all users carry out this procedure as soon after buying a new Windows 8 laptop as possible.

Here's how to do it :-

1) In the Search utility type: create a recovery drive  and click on the result.

2) Say 'Yes' to the User Account Control warning.

3) Make sure 'Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive' is ticked and click Next -


4) At the next screen, you will be advised how large your USB drive should be (usually about 8Gb).

5) Insert a USB drive of the recommended size and once recognised, click next


6) You will be warned that everything on the USB drive will be deleted. Click Create -


6) Copying will now take place. Do not disturb the computer during this time.



7) Click finish, DO NOT DELETE the recovery partition if offered, remove the USB drive, label it, and store it in a safe place.

8) You can make as many Recovery USB Drives as you wish, BUT each one is matched to the computer you created it on. Do not try to use it on another computer.

Friday 22 March 2013

Turn Off Data Harvesting in Outlook.com

Microsoft have recently been complaining publicly about Google's practice of gathering data from Chrome and Gmail so that advertising can be targeted for  the individual user preferences. How noble.

Wait a minute, not so noble. Guess who's now doing exactly the same thing? Yep, Microsoft!

With the transference of Hotmail accounts to Outlook.com, Microsoft has turned on all the data harvesting tools by default.

But, at least this can largely be disabled by the user, even though the link to the menu is tiny and most people would miss it altogether.

We're going to tell you how to turn off nearly all the data tracking -

Open your account in Outlook.com. In the bottom right-hand corner, you will see a tiny cogged wheel. Click on that and you will be taken to a page called My Data.

Click the link at the top of this page called My Choices. All the data gathering tools will be turned on as indicated by a green tick. If you click on the top tick, you will change them all to a red cross.

However, if you click on the More Services link, you will see that Microsoft are collecting even more data on you through Windows, MSN and XBox.

This does not mean you will be advertising free on the Outlook.com site, just that your browsing data, email content, etc., will not be collected...for the time being anyway!

Check these settings regularly as they could easily be turned back on by an Outlook.com update.


Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition Retired for Windows 8

If you are running Windows 7 or Vista, you may be using Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition. Briefly, it gives you a fully featured Word and Excel package in return for a small square of advertising. All for free.



This has proved very useful for ordinary folks who want to write the occasional letter or create a small speadsheet without having to pay huge amounts of money for the full edition of Office.

But this small act of generosity is against all that Microsoft believe in and the bean counters at MS have decided that they can bear it no longer and Office Starter Edition for Windows 8 has been withdrawn. Microsoft cite incompatibilities with Windows 8; which is strange as the full edition of Office 2010 works just fine with the latest operating system.

So, if you're running Windows 7 and Office Starter Edition, do not be tempted to upgrade to Windows 8, or you will lose your Starter Edition and have to find an alternative.

Talking of alternatives, why not try Open Office. It is fully functional and compatible with all the MS Office incarnations. We highly recommend it. You can download it Here.


Saturday 16 March 2013

The Memory Stick Massacre


Many of our customers have accumulated a drawer full of USB memory sticks, most of them broken. When I say broken, I mean they no longer function as they should, rather than being simply smashed to bits.

Is this memory stick massacre necessary? Are they of such poor design that they inherently stop working after a few weeks?

The answer to both questions is no. By taking a few simple precautions, you could extend the life of your memory sticks considerably and save some money into the bargain.
Memory sticks require power (5 volts) and it gets this from the USB slot. Each time the stick is inserted and withdrawn, a tiny arc of current is formed across the contacts. Under normal circumstances, this has little effect on the electronics within, but when the stick is withdrawn whilst being written to, the arc is powerful enough to short across the neighboring contacts. The result...a blown memory stick! 

If that last paragraph made you glaze over, it doesn't matter. Just follow these few guideline for extended memory stick life:

1) Always use the 'Safely Remove Hardware' feature on the bottom right of the screen, near the clock.

2) Never remove a memory stick whilst it's still writing or receiving information.

3) Never use a faulty memory stick after it has failed. It could kill the USB socket. Throw it away.

4) Always make sure the memory stick is pushed fully into the socket.

5) Blown USB sticks will rarely work normally again. Don't collect them, recycle them responsibly at your local recycling facility.

6) Always make a backup of your memory stick information.

7) And finally, if you have a faulty memory stick with information on it that needs to be recovered, don't keep putting it into different pc's or laptops to see if it might magically spring into life....it won't, and you might destroy the information beyond recovery. Take it to a reputable Data Recovery company like PC Partners to be assessed.

Friday 22 February 2013

FREE Website Design Software

Compared with 5 or even 10 years ago, there are now very few free website design programs; especially highly specified ones.

Kompozer is one such program. It's fully WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), with a raw HTML tab and a split tab of the two. It boasts a markup cleaner and a W3C call function to validate your HTML against current standards. Available to suit Windows, Mac, and Linux, it has a strong focus on standards compliance and clean code.

That is not to say Kompozer is easy to use if you've never designed a website before. It would certainly require plenty of homework on how to use its facilities properly. But, it is free and on an almost comparable level with many of the design packages costing many hundreds of pounds.

Let's have a look at some screenshots:





You can download the full, free version from here:-
Kompozer Download

Sunday 17 February 2013

FREE Movie Software

Avidemux

Avidemux is a name you may not have heard of but if you're interested in video editing and want to make things easy for yourself, then it's a name you want to become familiar with.



This free video editor is designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs.


As can be seen from the screenshots, the interface is easy and there is plenty of support via the online documentation.


As always, if you don't like it, just uninstall.


If you do like it, there are forums to give you help and advice. Download from this page Avidemux Download

Saturday 16 February 2013

Secure Your Wireless Router

Most people sigh a breath of relief after they have successfully logged their laptop/tablet/smart phone onto the home router...and then forget it. Forgetting it could get you a criminal record! Let me explain.

It is possible IT savvy criminals to hack into your router and visit illegal websites, or perform illegal acts over the web using YOUR internet connection!
As your router has a unique identifying code linking it to you and your address, any illegal activity will be traced to you. Not a very pleasant thought, especially as this could result in an early morning call by the Police!

Can this scenario be avoided? Absolutely. Here's how...

1) Make sure your wireless router has a password. If unsecured (without a password) anyone within range can log in to your router and, at the very least, use your internet connection for free.

2) Your router password should be changed regularly, say once every six months.

3) The password should be cryptic with letters and numbers. Make it 8 characters or more. Avoid using common names.

4) Keep an eye on the router lights. You will notice that several of the lights will flicker madly when you are using the internet. When nobody is accessing internet, the lights should calm down to an odd flicker now and then. If the lights are still very active 30 minutes after the last user has logged off, you may have a hacker.

5) If your internet connection is unusually slow, you maybe sharing the router with an unknown third-party.

6) If you live in our area, PC Partners can help you secure your wireless network. Otherwise, call your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and they will advise you.

Wednesday 13 February 2013

More Free Graphics Software

Since putting a review and link up to the free graphics software Gimp, I've been asked if there is another similar package that is not so complicated and a bit more intuitive. The answer is yes!

The program is called Paint.NET and here are a few screenshots to illustrate how it looks:




You can download the program from this link:- http://www.dotpdn.com/downloads/pdn.html


Tuesday 12 February 2013

Who's King of the Global Search Engines?

As you would imagine, Google is King of the hill (or should that be Emperor) when it comes to World rankings accounting for a 65.2 percent share with 114.7 billion search queries during November and December 2012.

Ranked second is China's Baidu with 14.5 billion queries and an 8.2 percent share.

Settling for third was Yahoo with 8.6 billion queries and a 4.9 percent share.

Russian search engine Yandex came in fourth recording 4.8 billion queries and a 2.8 percent share.

The big surprise was Microsoft's Bing dropping to fifth with 4.4 billion queries and a 2.5 percent market share.

What conclusions can we draw from these figures? Well, it's clearly obvious that Bing has made very little inroads into the Russian and Asian markets. The reasons why are many fold, but the most important of these must be Microsoft's close ties with the US. Both Russia and Asia largely reject American ideology and Microsoft by association.

Both Google and Yahoo are perceived as Global companies, rather than tied to the US. Therefore, they do better globally.

If Microsoft are to increase their share of a global market, cutting the umbilical with the US might be their only resort. Can it be done? Probably not.

Monday 11 February 2013

Free Graphics Editing Software

GIMP

From time to time we recommend software that's worth more than a second look. Gimp is versatile, powerful, fully featured and FREE! Although if you're new to this area, it will take some time to get used to all the features. 
The Gimp publicity sums it up nicely:-

"Looking to do some advanced photo editing and digital painting but can't justify the expense of Adobe Photoshop? Try GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program. 
An open-source graphics editing software packed with the ability to edit on layers and masks, GIMP is a powerful set of editing and manipulation tools for the amateur and budding pro alike. Plugins and scripting support allow for additional automation of repetitive tasks and the ability to work with animation."


This screenshot will show you what you can expect and reflects the sophistication of the software. You can download it here:-

Give it a try, it won't cost you a penny.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Microsoft buys Dell Buys Dell

Yes, I know, the title of this piece is confusing but all will become clear.

The media have been full of story about Michael Dell buying back his old company Dell Computers. Partly true.

Michael Dell is, in fact, funded by Microsoft, so it's actually Microsoft buying Dell with Michael Dell as a figurehead.

I'm sure Microsoft are rubbing their hands with glee in anticipation of getting their mitts on those lovely phones, tablets, laptops and pc's; all soon to be running Windows operating systems.

But is it all too late? Dell have slipped down the rankings in recent years. Poor customer service, high prices and an outdated company perception have all served to lower profits and caused it to join other IT companies on the slippery corporate pole. And when you're on the slippery pole, there's only one way to go!

Branson Doesn't Back Britain!

After all the fuss Richard Branson made in recent weeks about buying British and staying in the European Community, he has now sold his Virgin Media business to an American company!

Like politicians, many business leaders say one thing and do the opposite. They do what's best for themselves, their shareholders and their companies. It's a fact of life.

It's also no coincidence therefore that Virgin Media has put it's prices up this month by around £42.00 per year for the average customer. A nice sweetener for the new American owners.

One thing's for sure, we have not seen the last of regular price rises from Virgin Media.

Goodbye Richard and thanks for showing us your true colours...

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Website Security


The hacking of websites is nothing new. It can happen for a number of reasons, some ideological, some downright illegal. Overnight, the original site can be erased and replaced by advertising, religious messages, pornography, loans, practically anything.  When it happens, the owner is usually shocked, with a strong feeling of being personally violated.

However, it is usually nothing personal, just a hacker taking advantage of weak website security. A bit like a burglar looking for a house without an alarm system.

As access passwords are nearly always changed by the hacker, taking back ownership can often be difficult, sometimes impossible if you don't take the right precautions.

Website owners can minimise their risk by following these 10 important guidelines:-


1) Change your website access password frequently, at least once every 2-3 months.

2) Use a long cryptic password with a mixture of upper and lower case letters and numbers, even certain symbols if allowed by the hosting company.

3) Keep your password as private as possible.

4) Use a reputable and reliable hosting company with a verified postal address based in your own country.

5) Try not to use free hosting companies as they tend to be less secure and less reachable in an emergency.

6) Check your website at least once a day. Don't forget to refresh your browser window at the same time, otherwise you may be viewing the cached version stored on your computer each time.

7) Back up the whole website frequently, preferably once a week, to a local computer. If you are hacked, your site will be erased and if you have a recent backup, restoring it will be more straightforward.

8) Don't abandon a website. It could be hijacked for criminal purposes and if it is still in your name, you'll be the one getting into trouble!

9) Make sure you verify your identity with the hosting company, so that if you are hacked, you can recover the site quickly by being able to prove ownership.

10) It's imperative that hosting and/or domain fees are paid promptly. If you leave it too long after expiry, you may find that you've lost your website and the domain name! You have been warned!

Thursday 24 January 2013

Windows 8 for Everyone?

Well, I think we've had enough time to gauge the reaction of our customers to Windows 8. Frankly, most people think it stinks! For the ordinary person with a desktop or laptop the most common questions are "why do I need this?" and "why have I been deserted by Microsoft?".

I have a great deal of sympathy with this point of view. Most users are at home with a Start Button, Desktop and Program Menu. They feel there is no good reason to change. But Microsoft did not listen to this market, they were more interested in getting a bigger share of the phone/tablet market. BIG mistake! Windows 8 sales figures are pathetic compared to Windows 7 and XP.

Don't get me wrong, Windows 8 is quite adequate for phones and tablets but it fails miserably with desktops and laptops.

We now spend a great deal of time using our skills to make Windows 8 look like Windows 7! Complete with boot straight to desktop, Start Button and Program Menu.

What a shame Microsoft prefers to listen to its accountants rather than its customers...!

What Browser?

We often get asked what is the best web browser to use? The answer is, as you would expect, not black and white. We use different browsers for different purposes. Over the next few weeks, I'll outline a few browsers and our reasons for utilising them.

But by far our most popular is SRWareIron. A name unfamiliar to many but if you've seen Google Chrome, you've seen SRWareIron. The front-end is almost identical. In fact, Iron was in existence long before Chrome and both are based on free open source software.

Iron is a no-frills fast browser that respects your privacy by not collecting any information about your browsing habits. Chrome on the other hand has been developed to collect as much information as possible about your web preferences. You can read about more differences between Iron and Chrome here: http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_chrome_vs_iron.php

You can download SRWareIron here: http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_download.php

It works for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8, 32 & 64-bit platforms. Try it, you won't be disappointed.

Friday 18 January 2013

Oh No, Snow!

Owing to the snow, our call-out appointments today are cancelled. All affected customers have been informed and re-booked. Let's hope for a quick melt!

Thursday 17 January 2013

BBC vs Sky News

The BBC news has proved yet again what a lumbering elephant it is when it comes to news gathering.

Sky News was reporting on the tragic helicopter crash in London a full 10 minutes before the story was finally aired on BBC.

The reason is simple: Sky news are more integrated with social media technology and its followers are continuously keeping them updated with reports, pictures and videos. The feeds are going straight to the news anchors who can break it to the viewers in seconds, while the supporting news team prepare follow up details.

It is also fairly obvious that Sky News is fully staffed very early in the morning, as opposed to the BBC who seem to drift into work around 10am!

Try flicking between BBC News and Sky News and you will see that Sky is always first with breaking news, and their coverage is far more comprehensive. Unless the BBC embrace new technology, they are going to be left behind completely.

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Return to Facebook

The announcement of a new Graph Search from Facebook seems to have left all the technology pundits totally underwhelmed. But, coupled with the trial to charge for sending emails to other FB users, this could be another idea to generate much needed income.

You get the idea - you search (using Graph Search) for others who share the same interests or whatever as yourself. You see someone you'd like to contact, and because they are not in your list of contacts, you then get charged $1 to send them an email.

It's a very crafty idea slipping in the backdoor.

But let's be clear, Facebook is no longer a private company, it's floated on the stock market and in effect, is owned by the stockholders. Stockholders are not known for being very charitable or very patient. They want a return on their investment and quick. Currently they are not getting any. Zuckerberg is racking his brains to come up with ideas to make money and satisfy the stockholders. Bearing that in mind, charging to contact others on FB now makes sense and is bound to be introduced.

Zuckerberg's famous quote, "Facebook will be free...forever" is starting to look a little ragged around the edges. If the stockholders had their way (and they eventually will) FB will be charging for everything sooner rather than later! 

Monday 14 January 2013

We Were Only Talking...

...today about the number of major high street chains going under. Even so, the news that HMV has gone into administration still came as a bit of a shock.

We are undoubtedly going to see more familiar stores disappearing as our shopping habits migrate further and further towards the convenience and lower prices of the internet.

Saturday 12 January 2013

Would You Pay $100 To Send An Email?

$100 is the amount you will have to pay to send an email to Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook. There is no guarantee he will read it or that you will get a reply; but it is guaranteed to get into his inbox at Facebook.

Maybe he's short of loose change, who knows.

Maybe this will start a precedent whereby 'celebrities' will put a price on access to their inbox (and, of course, the higher the celebrity status, the more it might cost)! I'm sure we're not far from this scenario.

Friday 11 January 2013

Skype to replace MSN Messenger?

Yes, it's true. Messenger is being phased out and Skype will take its place. Not too surprising as Microsoft own Skype and they were both performing almost the same service. Of course, Skype also makes money and Messenger doesn't! Another good reason to dump Messenger.

So, if you get a message in your inbox telling you to switch from Messenger to Skype, it's not a scam, you'll be using Skype exclusively very soon.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

This is the start of our new blog. From time to time, we will inform our customers and other interested parties of developments within PC Partners and our opinions of all things IT.

In the meantime, don't forget to visit our website at http://www.pcpartners.uk.com/ for all the contact information and latest services/offers.