Computers in Mablethorpe by Tiny Island Computers

New Tiny Island Computers Website

2009-07-04T13:36:00.004+01:00

I've been playing with a new website for the business for almost a year but have never got around to finishing it but I recently realised how out of date the old one was and swiftly put up what I've got at www.tinyislandcomputers.co.uk.

An old boss of mine used to recite 'the cobblers boy always has broken shoes' when we complained our own IT systems weren’t as good as those we installed for our customers and I can see his point. There's just not much fun in designing you own website when you know you could be doing the same work for someone else an being paid for it!

Vista - About to be put out of its misery

2009-06-15T17:39:00.002+01:00

Vista has been a massive flop for and with Microsoft realeasing Windows 7 in October it's clear they want to move on.  MS will tell you that they have sold over 200 million copies of Vista - and while that might be true it's very misleading.  Take the 3 laptops in the picture right, they were sold running Vista but with an XP 'downgrade' option which I am exercising here whilst preparing them for an office that remains standardised on Windows XP.

So why was Vista a flop?  Well everyone has an opinion but here are a few of mine.
1) Business don’t replace their PC's as often as MS would like and often skip an OS as a result.  Many offices went straight from NT4 to XP without ever buying a copy of Windows 2000.
2) When Vista came out I predicted it's biggest problem was that XP worked so well no one would want to upgrade - I think I was right!
3) Users are very quickly irritated when the interface is changed.  I hear people say they 'hate' Vista - and I couldn’t even publish what they say about Office 2007!  If you’re going to change things you had better make the new system massively better than the old one or I'll keep on hearing the phrases 'if it isn’t broke don’t fix it' and 'why couldn’t they have just left it as it was?’ being bandied around offices.

So will Windows 7 be any better?  Well the previews are all very positive - but - all the new features seem like incredibly minor additions / changes / fixes.  It really sounds like the finished version of Vista and, if it is stable and compatible then I’m sure people will start to buy new PC's with it on (I bet we never see a 'Vista Downgrade!').  I’m sure enthusiasts will love it but for people who just want to get their work done.... well I just hope they haven’t moved things around too much!

Computer Networking

2009-04-27T20:59:00.006+01:00

Tiny Island Computers took advantage of the Easter weekend to install a 39 point network for a customer in Grimsby using some 630 metres of cable in the process.

Pictured is the data cabinet featuring a pair of 24 port Netgear smart switches and a Cisco router. IT professionals will recognise I take pride in a nice, tidy job here - not all data cabinets end up so organised!

I couldn’t impress the office staff with cabinet but they are happy that network browsing, printing and data transfers are so much faster and crucially that they are no longer loosing work due to the wireless network dropping out. This morning the CEO extended his person thanks saying he was 'delighted' with the results which is great to hear.

Mablethorpe Webcam

2009-04-20T14:06:00.005+01:00

Just a brief link to the Mablethorpe webcam (installed by Tiny Island Computers) which is back online after the last camera died. The camera is hosted by the Extreme Horizon online surf shop and can be found by scrolling down its homepage.

Blu-ray - coming to a PC near you soon?

2009-03-06T20:01:00.009Z

Now that HD-DVD is all but forgotten Blu-ray is quickly beginning to appear in PC's and laptops with internal BD (Blu-ray Disk) drives starting at £55 and writers around £130. Blank media remains pricey however with 25GB blanks costing around £25 for 10 - still that's 250GB of backup - around 53 DVD's or 357 CD's.

Another reason to buy a BD drive would be to watch HD movies on your PC but beware. Home movies aren't a problem but for commercial releases your setup has to support HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection), a system aimed at preventing copying of HD content that applies to your BD drive, graphics card, software player and even monitor.

Luckily CyberLink has created the free CyberLink Blu-ray Disc Advisor utility which scans your PC and reports which items are compatible and which need replacing - don't even think of buying a BD drive without checking - even owners of fairly new systems are likely to be disappointed.

Those poor folk who bought HD-DVD movies will be cheered to know that LG do a drive combining a BD reader, HD-DVD reader and DVD read/writer for £80 which may help them make the switch to Blu-ray without losing the use of their existing movies.

Finally an obvious point that seems to be lost on many - remember for the true HD experience you need 1080 horizontal lines and that means a 24" screen or larger!

Mobile internet access - buyer beware!

2009-02-01T21:53:00.003Z

Mobile internet access has been around for a while but is finally going mainstream. You add a USB 'dongle' to your PC, pop a SIM card in it, and hey presto you can access the internet anywhere you can find a mobile signal.

All the providers are on board with pay as you go and contract deals and despite being a fairly new product prices are reasonable.

However! Tiny Island Computers urges you to decide exactly what you need to do with your dongle and be sure to buy the right one. I have several customers using Vodafone dongles (both pre-pay and contract) to access secure VPN's via Citrix but not all providers would allow this. Amazingly I have heard that the Virgin product doesn't even allow SMPT mail server access!

Back at work!

2009-01-12T17:18:00.003Z

I started back on the 5th and, on top of other urgent jobs, have managed almost 40 hours programming in seven days - so one week after returning to work and I'm ready for a break!

Now the programming is finished I'm running around catching up on the smaller jobs. Tomorrow I'll be seeing 3 customers in Alford, 1 in Burgh Le Marsh, 2 in Skegness and 1 in Sutton on Sea. And people keep asking me if business is slowing down...

Christmas Opening Hours

2008-12-23T20:47:00.002Z

After a particularly busy three months I've decided to close from now (Dec 23rd) until the 5th of January and have some time to relax. Happy Christmas!

Argos Conference

2008-11-20T16:17:00.004Z

I really have been too busy to blog lately but as things wind down for Christmas I hope to make amends and also (finally) launch the new Tiny Island Computers website.

One of the more interesting jobs of recent weeks was working at Mablethorpe’s 'Golden Sands' Haven Holiday park who were hosting two conferences for Argos.  I was called upon to prepare the wiring to link 2 projectors and a screen to a PC for power point presentations etc and to assist the 7 suppliers, each of which had their own laptop and projector setup.

In the event I also ended up in the sound both triggering presentations, working the stage lights, playing music and riding the microphone volumes.  A big thanks to Rick who assisted with the music.

This is the fourth conference I have looked after and by far the biggest with 500 people attending on the busiest day.  It's always quite stressful but I enjoyed working with both the Haven and Argos staff and doing something out of the ordinary.

Wireless Hot Spots

2008-10-22T12:28:00.003+01:00

Pubs, guesthouses, hotels, cafe's - everyone wants to provide free wireless internet access to their customers and I've seen many different solutions employed.

The most basic method is to remove the security from an existing wireless router to let your customers join your existing network. This is a very bad idea as not only can your customers interfere with your equipment, they can interfere with each others.

At the opposite end of the scale are providers like BT Openworld but they all seem to have draw backs, for example BT want to sell access by vouchers that expire after 24 hours - no good for a 10 minute email/eBay check each day whilst on holiday.

So what's the right solution for a typical Mablethorpe business? I recommend a wireless access point that provides an additional wireless network in which connecting computers can access the internet but not each other. This runs alongside your existing network and shares the same ADSL line so keeps costs down.

Why not give me a call if you would like to be able to offer free wireless broadband access for the next season?

Happy birthday Google

2008-09-04T12:06:00.002+01:00

Google is 10 years old today and has emerged as the 'daddy' of all search engines - in the UK 9 out of 10 searches are carried out on Google.

It's still not clear if Google is the friendly, cuddly organisation it claims to be or an evil empire in the making finding ever more ways to harvest our personal information, browsing and shopping habits (did you know that Google Mail scans your emails, picks out keywords and shows you relevant adverts while you read them)?

What is clear though is they want to compete with Microsoft and to that ends Google has just released their new new internet browser Chrome. It lets you look at web pages in tabs, has history and bookmarks and is free to download and install. Why create a free product that does exactly what several other free products already do? Some suggest it's just to annoy Microsoft but I wonder how closely Google is watching the pages you look at, the emails you send and the purchases you make using Chrome. With absolutely no reason to use Chrome I'll avoid it, at least until we find out if Google is cuddly or evil.

Acer Aspire One Mini Laptop

2008-08-24T11:27:00.006+01:00

When the ASUS Eee was launched I wanted one to carry in my toolbox. I held on for the upgraded models but they came upgraded prices. Knowing that some 25 similar machines were being produced I waited a little more and have just bought an Acer Apsire One for a little over £200.

Mine is an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor with 512MB RAM (which I'll upgrade to 1.5GB) a 120GB hard disk drive and 1040x600 9" screen. I saved a few pennies by buying a Linux equipped model and upgrading it with one of my copies of Windows XP using the Acer supplied XP drivers.

These new mini-laptops or 'netbooks' are taking the IT world by storm and I'm amazed how much I have got for my money.

EPROM Programming

2008-08-09T10:10:00.005+01:00

I’ve mentioned before that I sometimes get called on to repair PC based arcade machines and recently I’ve been duplicating the EPROM chips used by fruit machines to replace damaged units.

Firstly a set of good EPROMs are borrowed from a working machine and read using a programmer connected to a PC onto which the data is saved. The replacement EPROMs first need to be blanked using an EPROM eraser – a small box with an ultraviolet light at the exact frequency required to reset the chip.
Finally the new EPROMS are placed in the programmer and the data transferred from the laptop to the chip.

It sounds simple but there’s a few tricks you need to learn and since the equipment came without English instructions I had to learn by trial and error. So if you need and EPROMs copying or programming it’s yet another service that Tiny Island Computers can offer.

Remote IT support service based in Mablethorpe

2008-07-18T15:18:00.002+01:00

Mablethorpe is a challenging setting for any business with half of our catchment area being populated only by fish and the reminder mostly fields with a few small towns linked by very poor roads. I believe offering a remote service is the logical response allowing me to spend more time working and less driving.

Tiny Island Computers has made a significant investment in a remote support service allowing me to log into remote computers to troubleshoot problems without the need for a site visit. The service is very professional and used by big companies like Sage, Honda and O2. Many problems can now be fixed almost immediately with no need for a callout charge - it's even better for the environment!

At this stage remote support is only available for existing customers by prior arrangement (i.e. call first).

Amazon Merchant Transport Utility

2008-07-12T21:36:00.006+01:00

I haven't quite shook programming yet but at least I'm doing some interesting stuff at the moment.  A nationwide company has begun selling stock direct from its warehouse through a variety of online sales portals.  I have been tasked with writing some software to pick up the sales, print invoices and update the in house stock control systems.

I started with Amazon which proved to be a doddle thanks to the Amazon Merchant Transport Utility (AMTU).  The AMTU handles all the coms and all I have to do is pick up text files from a folder at regular intervals and process their contents.  As an added bonus I can drop appropriately formatted files into a second folder to send information back to Amazon e.g. when goods have been shipped.

It's funny that in the age of online coms and data integration we've come back to moving text files around and parsing them but it's simple and it works a treat.

Now that the system is running smoothly I am integrating data from their own web shop which is held on an MS SQL server.  The next target will be eBay which, I'm told, has a system very much like Amazons.

Arcade Machines Running Windows

2008-06-19T20:01:00.006+01:00

Mablethorpe has many arcades and therefore a fair few arcade engineers who service and repair the machines.  However sometimes the engineers call Tiny Island Computers in because the majority of the machines today have a Windows PC inside!

Last week I fixed some data corruption on a unit that couldn’t boot to Windows.  The 'Let Me Dance' machine videos you and adds your image onto a pop video which it then burns to DVD.

It uses two screens, a camera, a DVD writer with an automatic feeder to insert and remove the DVD's, a printer for the DVD labels and a dispenser for the DVD case.  It's so complex I'm amazed it can get through a day without some form of attention but at least it's on XP - most of the other machines are still running Windows 98!

How will the slowing economy affect Tiny Island Computers?

2008-06-07T10:17:00.001+01:00

The hot topic with both suppliers and customers is that they are beginning to feel the start of the economic slowdown. One supplier of reconditioned PC’s this week sent a stock list of parts (rather than PC’s) stating that, in the face of slowing sales, repairs are keeping many of us going!

My business model is based on low overheads and steady growth serving a broad range of customers. I couldn’t be better placed to ride out a recession and I feel totally validated in choosing not to run a shop, hire staff or take on any debt. I did jobs in Chapel St Leonards, Skegness, Mawthorpe, and three locations in Alford yesterday so the perhaps the biggest change to my business, considering the rising cost of fuel, should be switching to a smaller engine car...

iBall

2008-05-24T10:41:00.002+01:00

I always intended to blog my more interesting and unusual jobs so here's proof that I really will tackle anything that connects to a PC.

The iBall is a plastic sphere with a vertical strip of LED's spinning around inside drawing pictures, text and even animations onto the surface of the ball. The software to configure the iBall is atrocious but where others had tried and failed Tiny Island Computers persevered and was able to install this eye catching device in Mablethorpe's The Fairway pub in time for the bank holiday weekend as the owner requested.

CompTIA A+ Certified IT Technician

2008-05-20T21:21:00.005+01:00

I'm pleased to announce that today I have passed the second of the two exams required for me to become a certified Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) A+ Technician.

CompTIA A+ certification validates the latest skills needed by today's computer support professionals. It is an international, vendor-neutral certification recognised by major hardware and software vendors, distributors and resellers. CompTIA A+ confirms a technician's ability to perform tasks such as installation, configuration, diagnosing, preventive maintenance and basic networking. The exams also cover domains such as security, safety and environmental issues and communication and professionalism.

This certification, along with my existing training from Microsoft, Netgear and BTEC, underlines the quality of service offered by Tiny Island Computers.

Further exams are already booked - watch this space...

Mablethorpe web cam back online

2008-05-16T20:07:00.002+01:00

I spent most of this morning laid on dusty concrete in the roof space of the lifeboat station replacing a dead router. Not the best working environment (although I've known worse) but the practical upshot is that the Mablethorpe Web Cam is now back on line after about a week of down time.

Fake emails

2008-05-07T11:09:00.002+01:00

It has become obvious that someone is sending emails out to local business in my name using the address christopherdrew.is@googlemail.com (not one I use). These emails appear to be designed to damage my excellent reputation. If you receive an email claiming to be from Christopher Drew and / or Tiny Island Software / Tiny Island Computers that you are suspicious of please do not reply but contact me using the details on www.tinyislandsoftware.com.

The police are investigating this and other, possibly related, incidents so it is important that we gather as much evidence as possible.

Website for Beverley Golf Club

2008-04-15T20:49:00.004+01:00

I have recently completed a website for the Beverley and East Riding Golf Club which uses a voice over on the course tour.

To record the audio I invested in a Zoom H2 which contains 4 microphones, records to an SDCARD and connects to a PC via USB. I think you'll agree the sound quality (even after compression) is excellent and it was allot easier than taking a microphone, amp, analogue to digital convertor and a laptop!

The only problem now is finding a use for this gadget. I might have to begin pod casting...

Another interactive gallery

2008-03-28T21:20:00.003Z

I'm really pleased with this interactive gallery for the Mablethorpe Visions project designed to get members of the community to upload pictures of the town.

Teenager + Limewire + Norton Antivirus = Disaster

2008-03-04T10:25:00.003Z

When I'm asked to look at a PC that is so full of virus's it's almost too slow/unstable to be repaired I can assume the following:

It is used regularly by a teenager

Limewire has been installed

And increasingly - Norton AntiVirus is installed

IT professionals have long turned their noses up at the Norton (and McAffee) packages because they are bloated and charge an annual subscription. Up until recently though, based on my own experience, I couldn't really have argued that the Norton product doesn’t adequately protect your PC - but now I am.

So next time Norton wants you to pay for another years subscription give me a call and I'll set you up with a more effective, less obtrusive solution for less than the cost of renewal.

Formatting Windows PCs

2008-02-26T10:28:00.008Z

Prior to Windows XP many of us formatted our PCs every so often just to keep them stable. It was a long job and you lost everything that hadn't been backed up. Windows XP changed all that and now a format is required more as a disaster recovery task than routine maintenance.

I avoid formatting customers PCs whenever possible as it's expensive, risky in terms of data loss and, generally, unnecessary. However I have formatted a number of PC's in the last month at the customers request and in doing so have observed that it doesn't take as long as it used to - here's a list of reasons why:

Faster hardware - new PC's charge through the installation

Windows driver compatibility - XP has so many drivers built in the average PC will be about 80% functional after a clean install

Broadband - For those drivers that do need updating broadband internet connections let me download the latest drivers quicker than you can find the out-of date disks

Broadband routers - They know your ISP username and password so we are straight online - no hunting for old paperwork or ringing the ISP help line for forgotten passwords!

USB flash drives - If that critical network driver stops you connecting to the web then I can simply download it on another PC and use a USB stick to quickly install it - much faster than burning CD's or trying to split a driver across multiple floppies

Quality PCs - I see far fewer unbranded PCs of the type built by small computer shops. With brands like Acer, HP/Compaq, Lenovo and Dell I know I can get the right drivers from their support site with no fuss.

While a format is just as serious and risky propesistion as it ever was, at least it's quicker these days. I wonder if Vista will require it more or less often than XP?