Be in control of your digital life

Most of us have a Facebook account and an email address and a lot of people have Twitter accounts too, not to mention the plethora of other social media platforms that demand our attention. When all of these accounts are gathered up and put into a smartphone or a tablet you suddenly have a portable digital cloud and full notification centre and for some it's fine but if you are like me I do not want a constant stream of beeps. I have an iPad for getting things done and a 7" Android tablet that I have had for ages plus an Amazon Fire HD6 - a recent acquisition. 

It was the purchase of the Fire that brought this feature to mind. I took it out of its box, turned it on and began the familiar set up process, (most tablets and computers are the same here) choosing your preferred language and country, select and connect to a wireless network then sign in or create your account. I did this on the Fire and simply watched as a few seconds ticked by and all my books simply appeared and after a few minutes I was notified of a system update. Once all this was done and I had installed a few apps - not games, I'm just not into them much I then proceeded to read the book I had been reading on my Android tablet. As I expected the book opened up exactly where I had left off before, all the familiar controls were there too so it wasn't long before I was immersed in a different world happily reading, page after page. A few days later it just dawned on me that although the Fire HD6 has an email app I had not bothered to set it up and I had not signed into Facebook either - my mobile phone does Facebook as does my laptop but that's it, my tablets don't do Facebook. As a result of this I had uninterrupted reading, no bleeps ding-dongs or anything, just reading - fantastic. So I appreciate there may be those out there who want whatever device they have to be adorned with all their social media but for the rest of us, yes you can have peace in the garden or just sat indoors in complete silence. 

An Android tablet will require you to sign in with your Google account or create one and sign in and once this is done your Google email is instantly set up on that device, a Windows tablet will do the same as you are signing in using your Microsoft account and an iPad will at least ask you to set up with an Apple account and generally you will get an iCloud email address given to you. The bottom line here is that Amazon do not provide email addresses so there is not really a need to set it up and it's definitely not required for purchases on a Kindle or Fire HD.

You can of course on an existing Android tablet go into the settings of your email app and turn off notifications thus giving you a similar experience. 

Superfast Email

Click here for details

Many people today, including me use web mail. Two of the things I always hated with web mail was its speed and adverts - this is the reason I changed to a paid email service. Some may view that as expensive but I don't, it costs me $40 per year, about £27 on my recent renewal and for that I get 15Gb of email storage but more importantly a very well laid out email system with all the features I need. 

Fastmail has been in operation for 15 years now and I cannot fault the service one bit, plus you can get your email on your mobile or tablet and if you have your own domain name then Fastmail can integrate with your domain name to handle its email as well. I still have email accounts with just about all the other providers like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo etc but these accounts can be fed into your Fastmail account too so you can manage everything from one speedy location. There are a variety of different plans to choose from and of course you can try before you buy. Click the link above for more information.

      

Working with "Zip Files"

If you have ever had to work with a zip file then you might find its very straight-forward, on the other hand it may be as clear as mud. There are quite a few little programs around the internet that will get you working with zip files in their own way, however, for sheer simplicity I prefer "7-Zip"

7-Zip is free and works with most formats of zipped archives and even some bundled set up files like a downloaded HP Printer set up file so you can get just the files you want. Take a look at the illustrations below for a little help if you need it, hopefully they are clear enough. &-Zip come in versions for 64 and 32 bit versions of Windows. Almost everybody on XP will want the 32 bit whereas the majority of those on Windows 7 and 8 will want the 64bit version.  At the bottom of this post I have added how to check your system is 32 or 64 bit.

7-Zip can be downloaded here : http://7-zip.org/

Illustration of the website

And to Zip a file

64 Bit or 32 Bit ?

In Windows Vista and Windows 7 simply click the Start button (Usually Bottom left) and then right click "Computer" and finally left click "Properties", the resulting window will eventually tell you what version and 64/32 bit you have.

If you have Windows 8 or 8.1 then take your mouse to the top right of the screen and choose the "Settings" icon and then choose "PC Info", the resulting page will give you the information you need.

Safe web browsing

There are many little software add-ons that help keep your web browsing safe and everybody that uses them has their preferred ones. For me there are two such tools that I wont go without, Trusteer Rapport and Adblock Plus, furthermore, I dont have any toolbars other than my bookmark toolbar.

If you are already getting plagued with pop-ups etc then your computer may need a clean up first.

Adblock Plus is free and will block the majority of adverts but some will remain, usually the non harmful ones. It is very easy to install and you can pretty much forget about it once you have.

For more information visit : http://www.adblockplus.org

Trusteer Rapport also free will provide a good level of protection when doing financial transaction online and help keep your personal information personal. Installing it is just the first stage as you also need to be pro-active and actively protect all the websites you visit on a regular basis and doing that takes just two mouse clicks. See below.

For more information and to download : http://www.trusteer.com

Download Microsoft Office 2007 / 2010

Got a keycard or product key but no disk?

If you already have or have recently purchased Microsoft Office 2007 / 2010 for Mac or Pc and you don't have the disk to install it then you will need the website on the link below. Using a keycard of Office 2007 / 2010 even if recently purchased from somewhere like Amazon you may find that you cannot activate it via Microsoft Office on line, this is because it seems Microsoft Office online only works with the latest version 2013 or 365. All is not lost, the link below will allow you to download your version of office be it for Mac or pc.

http://products.office.com/en-GB/download-back-up-restore-microsoft-office-products

Installing Windows 10 Technical Preview

Click here to read my first impressions

'Undetectable' Peter Pan computer virus threatens UK businesses - Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11081602/Undetectable-Peter-Pan-computer-virus-threatens-UK-businesses.html