Category Archives: Small Business

Computer information that might be useful to a Small Business

Home User, IT Tips and Hot Topics, Small Business

Is Microsoft Sneaking Win 10 onto Your Computer?

Some people are having the Windows 10 upgrade pushed to their computers without them actually accepting it, so what’s going on?

Microsoft are treating the Win 10 Upgrade as a recommended update for people who reserved a copy.

If you reserved a copy of Windows 10 and your Windows Updates are set to automatically download and install Recommended updates then Microsoft are taking that as a green light to install the upgrade – and if your computer is not ready that can be a big problem.

If you aren’t ready for the Upgrade just yet we’d recommend that you check your Microsoft Updates status, and cancel your Win 10 reservation.
Continue reading Is Microsoft Sneaking Win 10 onto Your Computer? →

Computer Hardware Reviews - IT Tools & Toys, Home User, IT Tips and Hot Topics, Small Business

Windows 10 – A WalkThrough by Jen (The non-Technical half of Help Me Dave)

I thought I’d have a play with one of the new Windows 10 machines and let people know how it feels for a regular Win 7 user to be dropped into the deep end of Win 10.

Dave loves new tech (and retro tech and any kind of tech) – which is great because he enjoys keeping up with anything his clients might throw at him. I tend to prefer the comforts of familiar formats and my PC is still running Win 7. The new “tiles” that Win 8 and Win 10 use are all new to me, and I waited until Dave left the house so I could explore without too many helpful tips (he lives to help me with new tech :))

Continue reading Windows 10 – A WalkThrough by Jen (The non-Technical half of Help Me Dave) →

Computer Hardware Reviews - IT Tools & Toys, Home User, Laptop, Small Business, Workshop Photos

You can use your Laptop DVD drive as an extra hard drive for storage and backing up.

I’ve recently replaced the hard drives in my Toshiba test laptops with 120GB SSD drives. The speed of the SSD’s is fantastic, but the larger sized models are still a little pricey, so I’ve ended up with limited storage.
Laptop hard drive caddy
The open hard drive caddy on a Toshiba laptop. Ready to slide in a removable hard drive for extra storage space or backing up.

On the other hand I have a DVD drive that I never use.

Solution?

Continue reading You can use your Laptop DVD drive as an extra hard drive for storage and backing up. →

Home User, IT Tips and Hot Topics, Small Business

Win10‬ free upgrade – Deal or No Deal?

Microsoft are offering Windows 10 as a free upgrade for anyone who’s currently using Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows 8.1. The download will be available in Australia from 29th July 2015, but a lot of people are worried about whether it will be safe.

For the most part the answer is probably, maybe, with a few exceptions…

Continue reading Win10‬ free upgrade – Deal or No Deal? →

Home User, IT Tips and Hot Topics, Small Business

The Death of XP – Do I really need to Upgrade XP?

A lot of people are starting to feel the pinch after XP’s expiry last year, so we thought we’d discuss what the expiry means and how it might affect you.

The extended support on WINXP finished on the 8th April 2014. Aside from not getting any more Microsoft updates… nothing much happened.

The problems are starting to mount up now, though, because XP users can’t get updates from any of their OTHER software packages.

What sort of problems will XP users encounter?

Continue reading The Death of XP – Do I really need to Upgrade XP? →

Home User, Small Business

Do you switch off in a storm? Computers and Storm Damage.

A few things you may not know about computers and lightning.

Lightning strikes during a storm can damage computers.
Lightning strike over our neighbours roof in a storm!

We’ve had some rough weather lately and one of the downsides is the rash of calls we’ve had about storm damaged computers. Here’s a few things Dave taught me about computers and storms this week:

It doesn’t have to be YOUR house that’s struck by lightning.

Continue reading Do you switch off in a storm? Computers and Storm Damage. →