homehelp - Services

What is Broadband?
Broadband gives you permanent Internet access without all the delays and messing about with modems and dialling-up.  Broadband is less than £20 per month so it is also cheaper than having a second phone line with 'unmetered' dial-up access, and it is probably cheaper than pay-as-you-go dial-up for moderate users.  With broadband, you only need one phone line and it is never tied up (at least not by your computers!).  There is no shortage of choice of good value broadband ISPs with no frills and even some with no download limit.  Two good places to start your search are thinkbroadband and uSwitch.com.

Sharing Broadband
One of Broadband's many advantages is that it can easily be shared, so all your computers can be on the Internet simultaneously, even while someone is talking on the phone.  To do this you need a piece of hardware called a 'router'.  We can advise you what to buy and we can install it for you.  See here for pricing.

Wireless Broadband
Wireless broadband is the computer equivalent of cordless telephones.  You plug in a base unit near the phone socket and the computer can then connect to the Internet from anywhere in the house.  The alternative is running a cable to each computer.  Most of our clients choose wireless for broadband sharing, because it is flexible, unobtrusive and now relatively cheap.  Unfortunately it is not nearly as reliable as using wires - it is one of those technologies that works well enough, most of the time.  Wireless is slower than wired, but this does not matter since it is much faster than your Internet connection.

Wireless Security
Wireless technology does not respect household boundaries, so it is possible for people nearby to 'piggy-back' your Internet connection unless it is secured using WEP or WPA.  This can be inconvenient and can cost you money if your download limit is exceeded, but the real danger is that a drive-by piggy-backer could be doing something criminal, such as in the Nowakowski case.  Recently some ISPs have been supplying customers with secured equipment, but if yours is an 'open' network, we can setup WEP or WPA for you for a fixed fee.

What is Dial-up?
Only about 15% of home users still connect to the Internet by 'dial-up networking'.  Your computer makes a phone call to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) every time you want to look at Web sites or send an e-mail.  The technology is decades old and very slow, but it works almost anywhere that there is a telephone line, including these days on cellular mobiles and global satellite phones (but at a hefty price).

If You Want Dial-up
We advise anyone who has the option of broadband to go for it - we have yet to come across anyone who has regretted it.  If you really don't want broadband or it is not a viable option, or for example you want the facility to connect your laptop away from home, we can set up dial-up Internet access for you.  See here for pricing.

'joe@bloggs.com'
If you have ever wondered how people get themselves a really good e-mail address such as 'joe@bloggs.com' or a website such as 'www.joebloggs.me.uk' then read on...

The answer is, they buy themselves a "Domain Name".  In the above examples, bloggs.com and joebloggs.me.uk are domain names, just like bbc.co.uk.  It isn't expensive and we can help you with it, whether you just want advice or want us to set up a domain name for you and configure your e-mail to work with it.  Read our Domain Names page for more about domains.

What is E-mail Configuration?
Traditional e-mail is quite separate from the World Wide Web, although both are part of the Internet.  Instead of a Web browser, you use an "e-mail client" to send and receive e-mails.  E-mail clients are much more powerful and generally easier to use than WebMail, but a disadvantage is that they need to be configured with the right settings before they can be used.  Also, the settings usually need to be changed if you change ISP or change from dial-up to broadband.  We can of course do this for you; see here for pricing.

Why Bother - I Use Hotmail/gMail/Yahoo
If you value your data and your privacy, we recommend that you do not use Hotmail, which is part of MSN (part of Microsoft), or Google's similar gMail or Yahoo mail.  If you have stopped to wonder why these organisations give away huge amounts of storage space to their e-mail clients, the 'Privacy' Statements give you the answer.  However we suspect few people bother to read MSN's for example, given that it is over 6,000 words long (March 2005)!  In a nutshell, they encourage you to store all your e-mail on their computers so that they can sift through it to build up a picture of your likes, dislikes, hobbies, family status and anything else they can glean to use or sell for marketing purposes.

Instead of WebMail, we suggest that most e-mail users are better off using traditional e-mail for most purposes.  This gives you much better facilities, full control of your private data, and makes you less vulnerable to the whims of multinational marketing companies such as MSN, aka Windows Live.

Why Do I Need Protection?
Connecting your home computer to the Internet should be straightforward, but it is not, because it exposes you to many problems such as viruses and spyware, which can cause a lot of hassle for the unwary and the unprotected.  Windows XP does not include Anti-Virus or Anti-Spyware software.

How Can I Protect My Computer?
Everyone using the Internet should protect themselves with these three fundamental safety systems:
- a working two-way Firewall;
- up-to-date Anti-Virus software;
- an up-to-date effective Spyware blocker;
Our popular Internet Protection Package makes sure that you are protected.  Installation of suitable free software is included if you do not have up-to-date commercial products.  See here for pricing.

Safe Surfing
In addition to the above, you should also practice 'safe surfing'; for example don't say 'OK' to any dialog boxes that pop up without reading them and working out why they popped up (be especially suspicious of anything offering a free service).  And don't click on links in e-mails, or open unexpected attachments.  Use your common sense and look things up that you don't understand - the effort will pay dividends!

Friendly and Jargon-Free
Do you feel you could get a lot more out of your computer, if only someone would explain it or show you?  We don't just fix computers - we also help many people to use their computers more effectively.  Our Personal Tutorials are friendly, jargon-free and go at your pace and your level.  They are also very affordable.  See here for pricing.

Repair, Upgrade or Scrap?
"What you need is one of these."  Anyone who has been to a few computer shops will be familiar with this phrase.  This is not us!  If computer shops are like garages, then we are like the AA - we supply a technician who has extensive experience, an amazing toolbox and basic stock of spares who can do most repairs in your home straightaway, saving you extra callouts and wasted time.  See here for pricing.

Many problems, especially the 'my PC is too slow' variety, turn out to be fixable with little or no change to the hardware.  For example stopping unnecessary junk software from starting every time your computer starts up can make just as dramatic a difference to the speed of your computer as adding more memory.

Upgrading
Computers are often worth upgrading a certain amount, but sometimes not.  We believe it is always worth your while discussing with us what you want to achieve before you decide to spend any money on hardware or software upgrades.  Our telephone advice is independent and free.

You're Not Alone...
Everyone has problems with their computer at some time, especially if they have a PC running Windows, because computers and the software they run are inherently unreliable.  And although hardware failures are much rarer, they do happen.

Help is At Hand
We can't change the design of your computer or its software, but we can diagnose and fix many of the problems they can cause.  Sometimes we can also help you to avoid future problems.  So far we have a 100% record of successful troubleshooting!

No-Fix, No-Fee Troubleshooting
We recognise that nobody wants to write a blank cheque, so unlike some of our competitors we cap our troubleshooting fee.  If you have a problem that we don’t have a fixed price for, we charge our sliding scale of hourly rates up to 1½ hours to diagnose and fix it.  In the event that we have not managed to fix the problem within 1½ hours, and you do not wish to proceed further, then no fee is payable.

If you want to continue and the technician thinks it is possible then he will agree with you a ‘no-fix, no-fee’ fixed price to complete the diagnosis and/or fix the problem.

Isn't it Cheaper to Buy a New Computer?
No, not usually.  Most home computer problems we deal with are not hardware-related, even if they appear to be - for example "my modem has stopped working" is unlikely to be a faulty modem.  Even if it is a hardware breakdown, most of the unreliable components of a standard desktop PC are pretty cheap and not too time-consuming to replace.  Laptops are a different matter - usually only the power supply, memory and hard disk are replaceable at a reasonable price.

What are Viruses & Malware?
Malware means undesirable software such as 'spyware' and 'adware'.  Viruses are specific types of malware that are able to spread themselves.  Malware comes in many forms, ranging from rather irritating to very costly or destructive.  Some are particularly difficult to remove.  Even the best Anti-Virus software cannot remove some of the trickier viruses, although it will detect them; the same goes for spyware.

How Big is the Risk?
We regularly see and fix seriously compromised computers.  If you use the Internet without adequate protection, it is fairly certain that your computer will be infected with at least some malware.  If your computer is also used by typical teenagers it is almost guaranteed that you will have a great many infections of viruses, spyware and adware.

Protecting your Computer
The Good News - in 6 years we have succeeded in removing all malware in all but one case!  And all without losing any data, even from PCs that had become totally unusable.  Most of these infections, if not all, would have been prevented by our Internet Protection Package.

What are the Symptoms?
Malware symptoms are as varied as the causes.  Many types of spyware show no symptoms to the untrained eye - they are designed to be covert.  At the other end of the range, some adware is so intrusive that you can't fail to notice the constant pop-up websites and messages, often quite offensive in nature.  Other types of symptom include loss of Internet access, huge phone bills (caused by a 'rogue dialler') frequent 'crashes' or complete failure to start up.

What Should I Do?
If you suspect a malware infection, we first recommend backing up your important data if you can, then running a full system scan with both up-to-date Anti-Virus and reputable Anti-Spyware software - a lot of infections can be removed automatically.  Also, some common symptoms are mistakenly assumed to be malware.

If you haven't got current Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software then we can install it for you.  We recommend our hourly-rated Malware Removal Service only if your scanner detects an infection but cannot remove it.  We do not guarantee complete success, but if we cannot remove at least one detected virus, there is no fee.  See here for pricing.