10 things to make your computer safer, more efficient and practical

Luddite, experienced or one who goes where weeping angels fear to tread, on any given day of the week when you turn your computer on, you wonder, is there any way I can do this better, faster, safer. Can I get my personal slave be more cooperative and less of an accident waiting to happen. Well of course there is, but you have to be ever vigilant and ever so likely to spend more time at tech sites than most people are prepared to do. Over the last few months a few things have come along into this blogger's life to make his online life that much more pleasant.  Through dint of spending too much time googling, watching the interesting bits of BBC's Click and having too many computer engineers on my friends list, I have, I think, got the laptop down to the essential bits of kit any rational person should have if they are like me.

I'll get to the specifics in a bit, but it's important you understand the why of it all.

In no particular order, let's start with safe.  Safety is of paramount importance. While you can never have absolute perfection, you can come pretty close to it if you accept that some nasty little troll who really wants to get into your machine, will at some point, at least make your life difficult. In some cases, certain web sites and software, in the name if safety will make your basic browsing experience pure hell.  What you need is a set of software and services that will insure that your data, and financial transactions are safe secure and easy to do, even, EVEN.....EEEEVENNN if you aren't at home or even in another country. If you are careful and don't seek trouble, what trouble that will seek you out will be effectively stopped, sometimes despite  even yourself. Any combination of browser, add ons and antivirus  has to work seamlessly in order to keep us from loosing our cool or purpose when browsing, without ever forgetting that the one thing we want most from the software or service is that it do all the boring stuff quietly and efficiently in the back ground.

 The next thing you need to insure is that your browser isn't going to get all sticky with add ons or be an infected old tart who's been on the game for far too long. Crashes and freezes are annoying, but it's even worse if the browser is like a magnet to viruses. Avoid Internet Explorer.... use your brain, open your eyes, DO NOT DEPEND on what the pre packed stuff the computer seems to insist you use. Norton hasn't been THE BEST in a decade. The deadly combination of bad browser and lazy anti virus means you'll be behind the eight ball before you type in  Women of Star Trek. And on the subject of search engines, Google, as good as it used to be, has committed the crime of being so commerce driven, that any really useful results to "History of Doctor Who" are hidden away on page 3, behind, anything they can flog, Doctors who do surgery and assorted pills and creams. If that's not enough, Google now has joined it's privacy policy up to insure that they give you the best browsing experience by mining your e-mail, google searches and you tube history, all in aid of getting you to the stuff you want to buy faster. What? you didn't want to buy anything, you just wanted  some info? Too bad, because they are now assuming your information and activities belong to them and they could sell them on in some form or other.  I'd love to suggest a great, perfect search engine, but both Yahoo and Bing have their drawbacks and their good points, but if you wish to avoid the triple whamy of letting Google know your every move, you need to pick one of those two OR  Clear and disable your Google search history.

Lastly, your computer is also your telly, your radio and your telephone, if you aren't streaming, talking, listening and watching on the laptop, you are missing the best bit. 

So how do you avoid getting wrong in this minefield of competing risks and drains on your credulity? What is is the magic bullet that works for me?

Beginning with the browser most likely to satisfy me, Mozilla Firefox ( current version) will almost always be better than Chrome, if like me you enjoy fiddling with your settings and being master of your domain ( apologies to Seinfeld).  Firefox allows you to tailor your browsing with a number of add ons that insure your safety and ease  of use. The best are Adblock plus, it does what it says on the tin. Stopping most adds on ITV, 4oD, and forums and streaming sites that would normally get your browser to crawl to a stand still.  While Adblock can seem a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes, remember when that streaming site insists you disable Adblock, it's most likely just angry you've stopped it's cookies and viruses from entering your machine. If it seems to good to be true, if you just let the ads on, it is. Better Privacy does for you what most antivirus will do only in the paid version, and that's stop the cookies that track you and your locations. If like me, you can write in a few languages, Firefox has a number of dictionaries you can  install as well. Lastly and most  cool, Firefox has a wide variety of skins to dress your browser in. One is in Tardis blue with stars and the other is all Newcastle United.  You just try that in IE or Chrome. Now if you aren't that bothered with a lot of useful bits you can control with ease, then Chrome, aka Firefox light, is the browser for you. Still does a lot, still better than IE, but beware, the best add ons are written for the open source Firefox and will always be fixed long before Chrome notices there was ever anything wrong.

Give us your password

Antivirus software is the most important choice you'll ever make with your computer. The package is your personal security guard checking to see if some yobo looking to steal your passwords and overdraft is lurking in your junk mail and dodgier sites. While a good number of free antivirus programmes exist, they are not nearly as good as the one you pay for, and even then, you need to be careful. Recently, BBC's Click ( see Man in the Browser story )wrote a custom made Zeus file designed to trick you into giving up all manner of confidential banking information. Only three antivirus packs detected the new, previously unflagged virus, Bullguard, Kaspersky and another who's name now escapes me. That's three out of over 20 major choices, leaving old Norton and it's mates floundering in the gutter, mugged, bleeding and penniless. I however went with Kaspersky for a few reasons. 1- It's main office is just down the street where the biggest and the baddest hackers on Earth work. Surely the best choice. 2- Importantly, unlike Bullguard, Kaspersky has a world wide online presence that provides a quality assurance customer service second to none. 3 Lastly, the price was hard to beat. Kaspersky Internet Security 2012, for the price, did what all the other premium versions did, plus more, and for less. The more you buy online, the more you explore for Classic Doctor Who online, the more you will need to protect your money and your pass words. Bottom line, what ever you do, Kaspersky is probably the best at catching the new viruses, worms or malware the baddies have cooked up long before anybody else will.

Now here comes the cool stuff.....

VPN ( virtual private network) v Proxy:  That's easy, but let's see why. Proxy does what VPN does, it allows you to be in another country, even if you're in a different country. But unlike the VPN, Proxy services tend to be used by more than just revolutionaries, people just trying to watch a bit of BBC iPlayer away from home, or some CBS show they missed that month  while away on business. Proxy is dangerous, if only because it's a known tool used by people who are trying to counter security measures in illegal commercial transactions. So what! you say, you just wanted to catch up on Corrie or Match of the Day? Oh and if a load of people are all on the same server at the same time, you won't be getting anywhere near the bandwidth they promised you. No big deal? try and access your paypal account or do a bank transaction, it won't work, every bell and whistle and alarm will go off, and rightly so, because criminals are doing the same as you on IP addresses that change as often as babies change nappies. Using a VPN will insure a near uniform access, secure private and reliable connection that isn't being shared by a 1000 other people, including some pretty dodgy people up to no good. This also means you can access your accounts without having to worry. In proxy, doing so  resets all your cookies, and in the case of paypal, blocks your access till you reset your password. There is one other pretty compelling reason to go VPN, unlike proxy settings that are fiddly even for most nerds and need setting up on every browser and every application you use, VPN installs once, and connects to your server efficiently and quickly. My choice is VPNUK. A company that has not let us down yet. A brilliant service group that will with live help, get you set up, and if you need assistance later, sort you out promptly.  VPNUK charges about the same as others for a month, but affiliated with a multiplicity of online payment systems, is dead easy to get onto at £5.99. With VPNUK you bypass the hassle of international banking and you can still catch up with telly from home, and should anything happen, the live help is there most of the day.

What about BBC podcasts? I used to miss my favourite programmes or just get to listen just the once, but now with the deceptively easy Radio Downloader, I can select my favourite shows, leave it running and presto, I have the broadcast for as long as I want it. Yes you're right, just how many times can you listen to Jilted John or Oh Bondage up yours?  Well ... as often as I can some days, but for most people it's a wonderful way to record a unique event off the full spectrum of BBC radio. I'm particularly proud of the time I got a request read on the air, and now I can hear it again and again. Ok that's sad, but I also have the time Nicola Bryant was interviewed, that time him off the Rezillos talked about the formative years of the band or when The Happy Cats played live.

Are you on Facebook all the time, Facebook doing your head in with all the sidebars and tickers and other wee multi legged beasties they unleash on us?  feedfilter from Firefox  lets you customize just how much of the content you want to hide. Oh of course you can do that now without it, but only because Feedfilter came first, and it's still working beyond the call of duty hiding ads and other elements Mark Zuckerberg seems to think I need.

Now not withstanding the bollocking I gave Google before, G-mail has unleashed a cool bit of kit  for the entire year of 2012.... If you live in North America ( but not Mexico) you can ring people for free from G mail.  It doesn't matter if it's a mobile number or a land line, it's free. Before they wake up and realize what they've done, use it. Free phone calls anywhere in Canada or the United states from within Canada or the United States, assuming you have the people to talk to,  Get in !  Pity they didn't do it for the EU and GB, but hey, if you can use, you'd be a daft cnut not to.

I know most of my readers are Doctor Who fans, what with the incredible shrinking streaming universe, we need to appreciate the online services we have. Ideally you should buy the DVD of any Doctor Who ep, but what if you don't have access, what if the BBC still haven't released the tape to DVD, what if your local video shop is not Who friendly?  This web site is the best bar none collection of links to Doctor Who online.  It's nowhere near as good as owning the stories, but it's better than nothing and sometimes , nothing is all we have.  Crossing the WHOniverse is one stop for every era. You'll have to navigate a few places that  seem to think there were ever only 6 series, silly people, but if it's online, you'll find it here.

What about that collection of region one DVDs, maybe your mate from England gifted you an entire collection of BBC DVDs, or worse that collection of lush Jackie Chan stuff that just won't play on your machine.  And if you've changed your region more then the 6 times allowed, it stuck on whatever you were last watching.  VLC Media player comes to the rescue, after much searching and trying , it's the only one that works for sure without spending money and as good as any as the ones that cost. Install it, it's safe, it's easy and uncomplicated. I'd pay, but frankly the firms out there offering the software demand far too much information and will mostly try to get you to buy a load of stuff you don't need along with some tricky viruses.

Oh and feotus boy, why are you still paying to talk to people long distance????? Any of these are great, MSN, SKYPE, and now the GMail phone for North America. All allow you to talk for free on your comp, with or without video. You giant mentalist, paying long distance is insane if you can do it for free on this many platforms. All that texting, rofling ,  and chatting is killing the art of conversation and the ability of an entire generation to express themselves with words out loud or to converse AND pay attention to what the other person is saying. While I have your attention, don't use the ISP e-mail address they gave you, don't ever get tied down to your provider for e-mail services. Choose one , any one, I have always liked GMail, not least for it's ease of use and it's massive capacity for storage. If you ever leave your provider, you don't have to migrate yet again to another new e-mail address. Sounds logical doesn't it, but far too many are still too afraid to try any of the secure, free and reliable web based e-mails out there.

Clouds...... clouds are stupid, they are cumbersome and accomplish little, get a detachable data storage unit, a stick, a big external drive, it's faster and more secure.

For the nerds and anoraks who love canny open source stuff that works, Filzip for compressing files, CCleaner for cookies and other essential bits of cleaning and for the ones too skint to pay for Windows office Suite.. Open office is free to use and does the exact same thing.

Follow my advice and you'll be happy, safe and mostly trouble free. You could do this the hard way and try all sort of other things, but I hope you'll save yourself the palaver.

Last bit of advice if you're running a business, if you don't have an online presence, get one, if you have one but haven't optimized your site, do it, if you're thinking of doing it, don't let your 14 year old nephew  do it. Trust a professional and pay the price, Like all things on the net that require the slightest bit of talent, people want it for free. Be it writing, music or computer services.

I would have loved to do a review of the best paypal type services, but that will be for another time. I hope this has helped. Surf safe, surf happy and be aware that sometimes you need to pay to get something in return.

If browsers were auto-mobiles; Firefox v Chrome

Dear blog readers, I have been these last few months sacrificing my own sanity and stability for the sake of improved browsing. I decided to beta test Firefox 4 when my regular 3.6 Firefox started crashing every time I watched a youtube clip or tried to read certain types of e-mails. I reckoned if I went on the Beta it would at least keep me from doing what at least a good 1/4 if not more of Firefox users had done, which is to switch to Chrome. Chrome, the browser that replaced my previous secondary browser, Safari, has the good sense to pretend it's Firefox. It looks like Firefox, it works like Firefox and occasionally has a java crash just like Firefox. What Chrome does not have, is the full range of options and features that Firefox has. It never will either. No amount of catching up will help it, as IE already knows. More on Chrome in a bit.

Have I had fun Beta testing? Well not really. But it did keep my long established bookmarks and browsing habits intact. Depending on the version of Beta4 FF, it would or would not accept my UK English dictionary, a deal breaker for me. The dictionary issue seems to have been sorted now for good. It had issues with certain add ons I depended on intermittently, but as it accepted the important ones, I wasn't too fussed. What really kept me going, was the anticipation that with every new version I'd have a new toy to play with. And in this regard, FF 4.* never disappointed. One new function I love is the tab grouping function or Tab Candy. If for example I have 6 tabs , all of which are iPlayer pages, I can sort them into one box and set them aside, or if I'm researching an article and need several related web pages, they're all in one spot. If I'm honest, I didn't immediately warm to this as I have my own way of doing things, but it works a treat if I choose to use it only when I need it. The other feature I cannot live without now, is the placement of the tabs on top and my bookmark bar where I need it ..... as close as possible. Before, if you weren't careful , you were triggering all sorts of things and moving tabs into new windows. What about Synch? I think I like it, but I'm not too about it. The assumption is that you and you alone are sole master or mistress (depending on your bits), of your computer. As it happens, we have two lappies and both my wife and I use both. Who's new bookmarks get precedence? I don't know, and being far too busy with other things, I'm not in the mood to experiment with something that isn't broken. But if it in deed does save both with little bother, then I'll be a convert.

As a Firefox pioneer going back to 2004, I have been loyal and not moved or been tempted till the crashing problem started with the 3.6 update. Till then, nothing would move me and I assumed that Javascript and Firefox were walking in lock step. But it turns out that for at least a while, they weren't. At one point it even seemed like Javascript was going out of it's way to make Firefox user's life a living hell. With the advent of the Javascript crash protector feature, you just reload the page now and don't loose your entire browser. This however was a temporary measure till the previous reliability of Firefox, pre 3.6 returns. In the current Beta 4.7, I have yet to crash, in fact not since the start of the Beta process have I crashed. Even my Blogger stats page functions without any difficulty now.  You still have to occasionally reload a page if the Java buffer gets too full , but that's not really a problem  anymore. More importantly, Youtube works fine as well as paypal and a variety of similar sites. I now feel the same confidence browsing I felt prior to 3.6. The current official Firefox 3.12 has much the same feel but not as many as the new features in the Beta, but at least it doesn't crash anymore.  As the release version of Firefox 4 creeps ever closer, I feel the subsequent versions of the Beta will change very little outwardly now.

If I had to choose which browsers to include on a computer, I'd without hesitation recommend Firefox as your default and Chrome as your back up. What having a back up like Chrome does, is it gives a  comp the option to have two users on at the same time or more importantly opening a separate google ID in Chrome. For those of you who just use Gmail, you don't need this much bother, but for people like me who are in Gmail, blogger and calendar, Google has assumed you are not sharing and will bugger your tabs if you dare check a different email or blog. Consequently, you need to separate your identities on different browsers. As well Chrome could be your media player, allowing you to delegate online radio functions to a session that isn't connected to your Firefox work. I use Chrome to play BBC Radio Newcastle as well as several other stations. Because Chrome copies your bookmarks so well, you don't have a lot of faffing around with new settings and just go straight to your radio links.

Why Firefox as your default then?  Simples, If browsers were auto-mobiles, Firefox would be the Mercedes S class. Firefox from the first version was light years ahead of Internet Explorer and open source. It has consistently kept ahead of the spammers and stopped pop ups and phishing cold on my computer without resort to all sorts of outside softwares. Like the S class, Firefox is the place where features you'll see on other browsers are born on. Why wait for the others to catch up? And now that the javascript problem is fully fettled, you don't have the crashing feeling that might have infuriated you before. Beta download

Chrome if it's anything, is the economy model of the top cars, as I said before, it looks and works like Firefox mostly, but it's got limitations. Some of them are quite serious. To start you can't save an RSS feed into your bookmarks, this is such a red flag I'm surprised to learn it's not a a priority for Chrome. The tabs are where they used to be on Firefox, just above your current page, seeing as how a clear preference was shown by users to move them out of harms way, I can only conclude, Chrome are playing catch up. Chrome's themes are also less than perfect in several regards. Where Firefox has a vast selection of themes ranging from Doctor Who or Star Trek to AC/DC, Chrome has none of that. Their user created themes are faulty in as much as they still blot out your web address line with colours that render the letters unreadable. Where Firefox has sorted the javascript issues, Chrome has not, and often the iPlayer or feedjit will simply stop working within seconds if you have too much javascript going. For those using a proxy server, the settings on Chrome are automatic but tend to take an eternity to realize you've disabled Foxy Proxy.  It's not all doom and gloom though, you can import your Firefox settings in one go through the tool box on the right. This is cool as you have almost no adjustments to make once you've imported. If you've got a list of customized search engines you use in Firefox, you know how easy is to switch them out, but in chrome you need to go the toolbox and it's a limited choice that greets you. About the toolbox. If you are like me and like tinkering and fine tuning, Chrome doesn't give you a lot of wiggle room, if anything, it's pretty basic and the help feature about as useful as a Delhi tour guide on the Isle of Man. I suggest reading every part of the tool box and exploring, it's still the best way figure it out.

Safari , my old back up browser, is for Macs, I'm sure it's bloody brilliant on Macs, but on non Mac machines, it's rubbish, don't even bother, too complicated to fettle, too married to extolling the virtues of Mac and flogging the big news sites. the floating web page menu sucks RAM like a thirsty camel but offers nothing special in return.... This Delorean promises a lot but delivers nothing.

Internet Eplorer, the browser that time forgot. They keep improving it, but who really cares? They are always months behind Firefox and Safari ( if you use a Mac), and the only reason many people keep it on the computer is because we can't get rid of it. Now I'll tell you, about half my readers still use IE. Why? because frankly many of them are too afraid to try the other browsers, don't know how to find the other browsers or cant be bothered to set up all the bits they think they need to, to feel at home with it. IE is like an old Camero, it goes in a straight line, works fine till it doesn't , then sends pop ups to you till you close your machine down. Even now ( about two weeks ago), I tried IE, the new one, as it was the browser in the library, I never again want to go on there. Still pop up infested and the vast majority of viruses and worms are written for IE. Why would you want to take these kinds of risks?

I won't praise or criticize Opera or the other mirade of browsers out there, as I've not used them,I'm sure some of them are perfect for specific users and have incredibly loyal followings, But I Am, have been and continue to be a Firefox man.

Choose your browser carefully, do not settle for IE, it's not worth it, and be demanding of your browser, a good one will want to know the good and the bad and will react much faster than Microsoft ever will.

Happy browsing, I'm off to watch Children in need now.

What I did for my Summer vacations or How I migrated to Windows 7

Yes yes I know, it's only been since the third ep of Sherlock aired that I went missing, but I think you need to know why an opinionated person such as myself has been silent for what seems an eternity to me.

A while ago I heard a report that Windows XP would no longer be supported by security updates or online driver services. This news came to me as a hammer blow being a loyal XP user for as long as it's been around. I studiously avoided Vista and only grudgingly bought a previously  loved lappy with Vista. So it was with regret and great sadness I made the trek to my computer gadgee Lamine. Asked him to upgrade both comps to Windows 7 and could he do it with as little fuss as possible?! That was a month ago like. So I here I sit with two machines that are finally up to almost acceptable standard, only now pouring out words gasping to be written for so long. So what happened you ask, well even if you aren't asking, I'll tell you.

The first machine , the one with XP on, kept crashing when the new OS software was installed. Two weeks later and many tweaks later, I got the Acer back and began the long job of resetting the look content and utility of the laptop to pre upgrade perfection. If you haven't spent a week installing software, inputting saved bookmarks and passwords on top of restoring files saved over a lifetime ( in my case since the tinternet was made easy to get), then you haven't been tortured properly. The one silver lining in all of this was that the Acer could now connect to the internet from a cable ( more on this in a minute). I could of used the other machine I hear you say...And you'd be right. But we are not alone using a computer, I had to let my wife do her things as well. So that was any real productive time shot to hell. Now the newer Vista infested laptop went in. Piece of piss you're thinking...won't be a problem. Well it was. took an age to get the machine back when it turned out he couldn't just upgrade from the hated, reviled, unloved Vista. I had to back up all my data and bring the computer back. At least it went faster this time. No crashes, no nothing. Well almost nothing. Got the machine home and  spent the prerequisite week restoring my vision of perfection. However, during this week I discovered that the hitherto Shangrila like Windows 7 had a hick. Seems some wireless LANs don't seem to work on W7. So now I still have a comp that only connects one way, but now it's the Sony that won't go wireless. I'm told there's a patch on the way, but I still haven't found it.

So how are the old new computers doing? It could be worse and it could be better. The machine that was XP'd can now properly mirror on the telly. This is huge, as for donkeys years we've wanted to watch films and other things on the telly in the kitchen. One of the benefits of W7 is also the canny magnification feature that easily allows recently deprived 20/20 types and older people to read things without resort to specs.  Now while these featured and many more are in Vista, unlike Vista, W7 does not go stupid and keep asking you 30k times for permission to turn off applications. I'm no engineer, but it feels like the damn thing is learning how we use our computers and adapting. I still hate voice activated functions. My English is such a dog's breakfast of accents and words that I think it will take longer to teach the comp than the machine will be of any use. Imagine me dictating in Word some text that include the words gan, dalek, pierog, kielbasa or kvetch. I tried that for fun and the poor thing didn't even get Newcastle United right. Giving it orders in my voice and vocabulary is definitely out of the question. I'm imagining with great amusement great armies of Geordies, Scousers, Brummies and my wife's relations in Brooklyn trying to instruct a machine.  

One of the best reasons to  move toW7 is the simple fact that Firefox, the world's best browser, is developing version 4 on the back of W7. Even now the Beta 4.4 runs better and almost never crashes. It would be nice to see the Adobe/Java script errors sorted sooner than later. It seems the platforms are not taking into account these programmes or Adobe is just not keeping up. Java script is the only real problem that persists in ruining what is otherwise the pop up free, user friendliest browsing experience around.  Speaking of open source freeware, Open Office has replaced Office Suite. Just as good, often updated and compatible to most of our correspondents. I'll be replacing Windows Media player as soon as I can as well. As a long time proponent of being able to "open up" and tinker with my OS, I love the less than complicated path you take to personalise the regional and basic settings. Mirroring or as I call it, watching the computer on telly, is dead easy. The personalization toys available are a treat, I have unashamedly played with them for at least a day.  Still not clear on how to make a home network , as I'm not a Wizard robe wearing IT type. My mate has been duly bribed with a large meal to set up our network and shared printer.We expect him any day soon.

On the whole it was worth the effort and the money. But I'm glad I did it when I had a month to devote it. Only last night I spent the better part of 2 hours restoring a stack of mp3 discs to the hard drive. It's not the 6,000 plus tunes I had a few years ago, but at least we now have the music library that any ageing activist/anarchist/footie/socialist would be comfortable with if not proud of. Still need to restore my celtic rock, punk, ska and indie rock files lost to mates not returning things. What I find amazing was the amount of Goth wrist slitting rubbish I used to listen to. Not binning Muse, but most of the HIM will have to go. How depressed do you have to be listen to that? Equally embarrassing was the file filled with bad 80's pop music. I swear I have no idea how it got there. On high note, Mr Spock singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, Weird Al, including the Bohemian Rhapsody polka, along with AC/DC and the Beatles are back in pride of place.

If you've been putting off upgrading to W7, don't wait any more. Microsoft have gone out of the way to make us happy this time. Make the move now before you to have to loose a month of computer time.

As always, this blog brought to you by Nick Robert's "Beat Surrender"" heard every Saturday evening on BBC Radio Newcastle.