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Are you struggling with a dilemma?  Do I need a desktop or a laptop ?

We can help…. A few questions will help you decide and if you are still stuck then you can always call us to discuss further.

Do you need portable computing? if not then a desktop may be a better solution for you.

Do you have any problems with vision or dexterity? if you do then a Desktop solution can offer more options and be lower cost.

Do you want gaming capability? This one’s not so easy because there are laptops that can be used for gaming however they usually run hot , are heavier, poorer battery life and are much more expensive than a gaming desktop, upgradability is also very limited.

This may seem an odd question because with new hardware you have no choice right?

Wrong with PC-BMI you can have a Windows 7 desktop built or have a Windows 7 laptop supplied.

Windows 8 is the biggest change in the Microsoft Windows Operating system for over 10 years! The user interface has had a major overhaul and is geared towards a touch based interface. So its ideal for a tablet or all in one PC which have a touch enabled screen or the Windows 8 phone which has a touch screen…

However for a desktop or standard laptop some tasks take more mouse clicks to do the same job. The start menu has gone and there are extra mouse clicks to just shutdown.

Think that there will be a learning curve to it and expect some compatbility issues with older applications.

The desktop is not there on startup and you cannot configure it to go there automatically, at least not in a Microsoft supported way.

On the plus side it is quicker to start up and a cheap uprade is available until January 2013.

If you have windows 7 and are using a desktop or laptop then Windows 8 may not be for you unless you want or need to learn a new way of doing things…

What if your desktop is about to expire and you don’t like Windows 8, well PC-BMI can help and supply a Windows 7 machine customised to your requirements. Call today to get a quote….

All computer access requires a password and the growing number of online services all require one.

This can be a real problem to manage a growing list of passwords and the temptation is to re-use the same one or use easy to remember words.

It is important to use a different password for every service because if any single service is compromised then that password will be tried on all other services before you know it.

Don’t use pet names, family names, house names or easy to guess passwords because they are much easier to compromise and are less secure.

The best passwords should contain a captial letter, a number ,a special charater such as ! and must be over 8 charaters, anything less is insecure and some services will not accept them. A password of 14 charaters or more is much more secure.

Example of a poor password - jimmy

Example of a better password – J!mmy7AX$

Example of an excellent password – D”c8*b@3%p2Nk5£

Passwords can be cracked by use of free tools available on the internet and my first example would be cracked in seconds, a good while for the second but would take years for the third example.

Never store a list of passwords on your computer in a word or excel file for instance this is not secure.

Change your passwords on a regular basis to further improve security.

Never send or tell anyone a full password, the banks etc will never ask for the whole thing.

Do you need to change your Internet Service Provider(ISP) ? also know as your broadband service.

There are many deals to be had these days with everything tightening up and services suppliers trying to win your business.

Changing your ISP may not always be an advantage, ask yourself these questions…

Why am I changing? is it just cost?

Will my email address change? Can I update my settings?

What is the support like is it UK based? Free call or premium rate?

Will it really be faster or is my line already maxed out?

How long will my internet be off for the change?

If the router is changed will everything still work?

What is the contract details? is there a charge if I want to change again?

In the past few months I have seen some users change ISP with quite major impacts with services not working, lines going dead, bad contracts, poor response to setup problems.

If your email address is tied to your supplier such as BT then if you leave BT that email address will go dead and you will get a new one from your new supplier and you will have to inform everyone of the change including all those websites you buy from and your bank etc etc..

There are good reasons to change ISP such as if the service is poor, very slow when others near you are ok, email often has problems, poor helpline, no longer a competitive deal and speed improvements.

If its just a cheaper deal you want and you are happy with the service etc then try talking to your existing supplier about a new deal, very often a ISP will want you to stay and will offer you incentives to stay. I’ve seen it happen when a customer is on an old deal and thought about moving but called their current supplier up and said they were thinking of leaving and got a great deal with none of the hassle of changing ISP.

Cheapest is’nt always the best option….

There has been a virus relaesed into the wild that can infect the Apple Mac computers and as a Mac user reading this you need to take action.

Its very simple to protect from this latest threat- update your Mac to the latest patches from Apple, run software update and install them all…Check every week.

The question many may ask is do I need paid for Anti-Virus software and the answer is not a clear one.. It depends on how you use your Mac and how vigilant you are at identifying risky sites and what you download.. The fact that there are Anti-Virus solutions from the likes of Kaspersky and others mean that the risk is a real one and as the Mac grows in popularity the risks will increase. If your business depends on your Mac then its a good idea to have additional protection…

Assuming your Mac is imune to Virus infection is now rather naive and you must think more securely.

Best protection as always is to make backups either to external drive or to the cloud.

Have you thought what will happen to your music collection when you die? Can I leave it to a relative?

This used to be an easy question when all recordings were sold on physical media only such as Vinyl records, Cassette tapes and CD’s, so it was easy to leave a collection to a relative as an inheritance..

With the advent of digital music downloads a modern music collection where none of the music is stored on physical media. The music was downloaded from an online store and stored only on a device such as an iPod or MP3 player.  Music collections are now virtual with no physical proof of purchase, no tangible media…. You need a user id and password to access it and this is not transferable, at least not legally….

So how do I leave a collection as an inheritance and this question when presented to the major online music stores is met with silence. The collection is only available to the original purchaser with no way to legally leave it to anyone, essentially your collection which maybe worth thousands will die with you…

Can anything be done?  Of course the simplest is to buy your music on CD and rip to your device which is legal for personal use, at least at the moment!

Will this cost more?  not usually,  I have found that some music is cheaper bought on CD than as a digital download and the quality is vastly better too.

Have you had a call asking if your computer is slow?  Many have and its a dangerous ploy to con you the unaware computer user.  The caller will say they are from Microsoft or more recently BT.  These companies will never call you and offer to fix your computer.

The call can consist of convincers with the caller asking you to go to a page on your PC which only Microsoft or BT could know about.  This is a lie and the info. they tell you is untrue and often refers to a serial number on your computer that is not unique to you machine.  This is designed to give you a sense that you can trust them and that they are genuine. THEY ARE NOT!

If they get past this stage they will ask you to go onto a website or run a program that will give them the authority so they can connect to your PC and help you fix it this phantom problem. Do not do this because once they have control of your PC they can install malicious software to get information off your computer even after the call has ended. It’s usual that the software they install can make your PC even slower.  They will then offer to fix it.

Sometimes they will ask for a payment at this point and want your credit card information. This is the big con. as they can now take money from your credit card. This charge varies from £30 to £100′s. Or they take control first and insist that your computer needs more work and want further higher payments.

These bogus calls have cost many people hundreds of pounds and their PC is left in a mess. Some now have UK phone numbers so you are able call back as a further convincer but these can route back out to anywhere outside the UK. So the fact they have provided a UK phone number is irrelevant.

Never ever let anyone take control of your PC unless you know them or you have called a support company yourself.

If you think you have been a victim of this then please contact us to discuss, we can help put right what was done so wrong…

The popular free online file sharing service has a feature many may not know about if a casual user.

Dropbox keeps file versions and even deleted files do not get really deleted for 30 days.
So if you have a corrupted file or one that was deleted within this timescale then it will still be available to recover.

Could be a lifesaver when that file you spent hours or days creating won’t open anymore or it got deleted by mistake and you are using dropbox for those files.

Have you seen how the price of hard drives is soaring and wonder why or is it just more profits?

There is an underlying cause for this major problem that is now becoming a bigger issue.
The major supplier to the world of hard drives is located in Thailand and a few months ago this country was badly affected by floods which have shutdown many factories and suppliers to these factories are also flooded and even now several months later these factories are shutdown with no quick solution to re-open. Whilst there are other manufacturers of hard drives these cannot replace the output of such a major supplier. Therefore the supply cannot meet demand and as with anything in short supply the prices increase and these have been significant in recent weeks in the order of more than 200%.

The effect of this is that PC and laptop prices will rise as stocks in warehouses run out…