There is not alot to report of late but to tell you about a couple of things.

1. My workshop became the first CompTIA A+ Authorised Service Centre in France!!! This is for computer companies that have demonstrated key skills in the maintenance and repair of computer equipment working to the highest standard and giving the best customer care available.

2. Microsoft is ceasing support for XP Sp1 (not XP in general, just the Service pack 1) as of the end of October 2006, upgrade to Service Pack 2 to obtain the latest fixes and patches.

3. There is a very good FREE Antivirus program out at the moment, one that uses perhaps the most advanced scan engines around: http://www.activevirusshield.com . However don' worried all AOL have done it appears is to have put their logo onto the front of it and rename it, other than that it appears to be a basic version of Kaspersky Antivirus 6 (complete with Umbrella motif too!). Just download, register your email address and it will take care of the rest.

4. Wanadoo/Orange/France Telecom have been having problems with some users, where their ADSL service was working but now the modem, livebox or router will not syncronise. I personally spent over 2 hours on the phone either being cut off or being told that they are too busy and that I should call back later. This is (to be fair to Orange/Wanadoo) France Telecoms poor customer service and to that end a problem regardless of service provider... but since Orange is the largest ISP in France the chances are more people are having this problem attached to their service than the other ones. The number to ring at Orange is 3900 and the FT ones are 1013 and 1014. Good luck.

5. I hope to be introducing the ability to settle factures online soon and would also like to open my online shop before the end of the year. The shop will sell new and second user equipment as well as all associated peripherals and kit you might need. I shall be stocking alot of Internet Telephny equipment at reasonable prices, from earpieces to IP deskphones...so keep your eyes peeled!

6. Oh and the last one is a couple of pieces of Internet Telphony software I think can save you alot of cash, www.voipstunt.com and www.freecall.com both give you 5 hours of free calls to the UK, France and Australia (amongst others) a week. Have a look, it's freely downloadable software, but have a look at their rates first!

That's all for now.

Andrew

I've left it far too long to update this blog. Only a few things of note to let you know about...

Some Dell laptops have faulty batteries, please see here: http://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/ to make sure you are not affected or to find out how to get your free replacement.

"Potentially affected batteries were sold with the following models of Dell notebook computers or separately as secondary batteries:
Latitude: D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810
Inspiron: 500M, 510M, 600M, 700M, 710M, 6000, 6400, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 9400, E1505, E1705
Precision: M20, M60, M70, M90
XPS: XPS, XPS Gen2, XPS M170, XPS M1710
In addition, these batteries may have also been provided in response to service calls. The batteries were shipped to customers between April 1, 2004 and July 18, 2006. The words "DELL" and "Made in Japan" or "Made in China" or "Battery cell made in Japan, Assembled in China" are printed on the back of the batteries. If your battery does not reflect one of these markings it is not part of this recall, and you may exit the site. "

!!!!!Expat headsup!!!!!

VOIP SOFTWARE TO MAKE FREE CALLS TO FRANCE AND UK LANDLINES!!!

I have been using VOIPSTUNT (http://www.voipstunt.com) for a little while now and it is indeed free to call UK landlines. Sound quality is better than a regular telephone and it is very flexible.

I will be taking stock of VOIP phones that anyone with a broadband connection (which is most of you) and either speakers and a mic or a headset. Contact me on andrew@charente-support.com if you are interested. I have headsets, phones (USB and network) arriving in the next couple of weeks. They are well worth getting and will save any expat money on international calls to their loved ones!

Anyway, I'll keep you abreast of anything new and won't neglect this for as long as I have!

Andy

Hi,

Apologies for the lack of updates lately!

Well, alot has happened lately and there are a few things I can share with you regarding upcoming things and current curiosities.

Microsoft are due to to releasing the long awaited new operating system Windows Vista in the new year. This will be the product that will replace Windows XP Home and Professional, although I would imagine that, for one reason or another, people will be sticking with Windows XP for a good while yet!

Windows Vista blurb can be found here: www.microsoft.com/vista .

A brief outline of it sees that it will require a fairly fast PC to just be able to run, it requires a bare MINIMUM of a 20gb hard drive, at least 256mb of memory and at least a 1ghz CPU. All in all it will be, of course, impressive and as with each windows release, more reliable than the former. It will have better secuorty features, a revamped version of Internet Explorer and enhanced multimedia features for those who like to use their systems as a mediacentre.

Also, another piece of software I think is worth mentioning is VOIPBuster. This software is freely downloadable and is a challenger to SKYPE, it has some features that SKYPE doesn't. It allows you upto 300 minutes a week calling to a list of developed nations landlines(UK, France, USA, Australia, NZ and a raft of others). You can find it here: www.voipbuster.com it is available in English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese. It requires that the PC must have either Windows 2000 or XP, be of a reasonable spec, and that you have a method of speking into and hearing from your PC! The rates to the UK are slightly cheaper than SKYPE at 0.01 euros a minute. But put together that and the 300 minutes a month free it might work out cheaper and therefore better for you!

I've been trying it out and it's not bad, although I am more of a SKYPE man, I will use this a bit more and report back!

Let me know if there is any information you might like to know for my next post which will be very much sooner, well, pre-world cup that is!

Andrew

Hi,

I am asked alot these days about the common threats or irratiations people are told are lurking around every corner on the net. Whilst threats are not exactly "that" common, they are real and do exist. Taking very basic steps to protect yourself (as well as keeping them uptodate) shouldn't be seen as optional, but absolutely vital t keep your data both secure and private.

The 4 main categories of threat are essentially:
i) Hackers - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker
ii) Spyware - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware
iii) Viruses - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_viruses
iv) Spam - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_spam

To combat these, there are several pieces of software that you can download to counteract these threats.

A firewall is a great way of protecting yourself, and is so important that it should be installed or enabled (if using the Windows XP one) before even trying to connect to the internet. There are several freely downloadable FREE firewalls out there to keep you secure.

A spyware blocker is used to filter out the annoying software/malware that installs itself onto your machine surreptitiously and can transmit sensitive, private data to unknown third parties.

Antivirus software is used to block and/or remove the software that can be transmitted to a computer via a network, flash memory, floppy disk, CD/DVD or email. Antivirus software sits alongside a firewall as the most necessary software other than Windows!

Antispam software is available but is not always 100% effective, as they require training, meaning that it might flag emails from certain "friendly" users as spam and REAL spam as legitimate email. Some users find antispam programs can be more annoying than having to delete spam that arrives in your inbox.

Contact me at mailto:andrew@charente-support.com if you want anymore information!

This is only meant to serve as a basic guide to the threats on the internet, best bet is to look around at some of the large companies such as:

Fee/Subscription based products
Symantec/Norton - http://www.symantec.com who make popular software that is subscription based.
Panda Software - http://pandasoftware.com
Mcafee - http://uk.mcafee.com/?cid=10451
F-Secure - http://www.f-secure.com/
Computer Associates - http://store.digitalriver.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayHomePage&SiteID=caconsum&Locale=en_US&Env=BASE

Of course there are many different packages but those are the most common on workstations at the moment. They all have their pros and cons, feel free to get in touch if you are in any doubt as to what is right for you at mailto:andrew@charente-support.com

FREE Software (freeware)

There is an excellent FREE Firewall made by http://www.zonelabs.com called ZoneAlarm and is an excellent product, although it is for PERSONAL USE ONLY, business users must choose a subscription based product.

Antispyware is another problem that not all packages properly protect you from. I can personally recommend SpywareBlaster as the best product to keep you free of annoying software, it can be found at http://www.javacoolsoftware.com and is free to download.
***SOFTWARE CAN ONLY BE EFFECTIVE IF IT IS KEPT UP TO DATE!!!***

AVAST! is a fantastic FREE FOR HOME USERS Antivirus program and can be downloaded from http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html . It must be registered even though it is free!

I cannot recommend any decent FREE Antispam product as I have not come across one yet, I will keep you upto date!

Andy

Hi and welcome to my blog!

Let me introduce myself. I'm Andrew, I have lived in France for just less than a year and run a small computer business here.

I have created this blog as a way of helping users understand more about the computer systems that they use, and ways in which they can be used to make life both easier and cheaper!

Soon I will be letting users know about ways to make the most of their systems as well as how to keep their computers and networks safe in the internet age!

Stay tuned, more to come.

Andrew