Windows 10 end of life

Windows 10 goes out of support in October 2025, thats a while off yet, but it is good to know for those thinking of keeping older computers going.

Another two years might be enough to make keeping your computer living and breathing a bit longer worthwhile! Get in touch for more information.

Believe it or not there are still some computers out there being sold with Windows 10.

If you are considering one, please make sure it is compatible for a Windows 11 upgrade.

Learn more about Windows 10 life cycle here

See Windows 11 system requirements here

Facebook

Not really news but as it generated no traffic and didn’t do anything I have deleted the Facebook page for SR Computers.

Anyone who previously used FB messenger to contact me will no longer be able to use this.

As it never actually notified me of new messages it will stop any delays in responding to you.

Going forward the best way to contact me is by email or phone.

https://srcomputers.co.uk/contact

Working Hours

My working hours are now Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

I don’t work evenings or weekends.

Windows 11 has been available for over a year now.

I haven’t mentioned much about Windows 11 yet, mainly as its only just started to appear on retail machines in the last few months.

Microsoft have been quite specific about system requirements to run Windows 11. This has ruled out a lot of existing machines from being upgraded. This is another reason why I’ve not mentioned it as uptake on upgrades has been slow too.

You can check the requirements here. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-specifications#table1

Now the year anniversary has passed, and the second version (22H2) of Windows 11 is out I thought it time to comment.  Most of the initial teething bugs have been ironed out so I would say it is safe to upgrade if you haven’t already.

Whats it like?

Under the skin not much has changed, it still does the same job as Windows has always done. Microsoft have changed the look and feel of Windows 11 from that in Windows 10. Corners are more rounded, the font has changed, new colour schemes introduced, all to bring a fresher and more modern feel to Windows 11.

The main difference is that the start or menu button has been shifted from the bottom left of the screen to the centre. You can move it back if desired, but you can no longer move the taskbar around the edges as before. It now has to stay at the bottom. So if you liked your taskbar to the side or at the top…hard luck.

New Start menu.

The start menu has been revamped too, with the first box being populated by pins Microsoft think you want. Some are obviously paid partnerships; some are from the catalogue of Windows apps already installed. Under that are recommendations they think you want. This has received a mixed reception and it is notable that Microsoft have amended this already in the second version to be smaller and allow more pinned content.

Settings.

Settings is anther area that is expanding and has a new look and feel from that of Windows 10. Some areas of control panel have now been moved permanently over to settings. Whether this is a good thing is open to debate. Personally I wish they would make their minds up and either stick with control Panel or wholly commit to settings. Having two places to look is just confusing to the average user. One area that has received a negative backlash is the change in how the user can set their default apps. Microsoft have made this more diffcult in an obvious move to discourage users away from the stock Microsoft products, especially their Edge browser.

Finally.

Having said all this, don’t let it put you off upgrading. Windows 10 has just over 2 years of shelf life left before it becomes unsupported so you will have to take some sort of action by then by either upgrading your exisiting kit or replacing it with new.

As always if you have any questions just get in touch.

Back to Normal.

With restrictions easing, and life getting “back to normal” slowly, I thought it about time to put finger to keyboard!

It’s been busy over the last 10 months, as everyone has been using their computers more than usual. I’ve been helping them keep going and run smoothly. I’ve helped and advised people get new computers or upgrade their existing machines.

During this time, I have been taking precautions to keep my customers, and myself, safe. Despite the easing  I have continued to wear a face mask and keep sanitising before each visit. I think it is the right thing to do.

I have had both my vaccinations and have not yet contracted Covid. Hopefully I won’t and maintaining careful practices when working will hopefully see this continue.

Here to help.

As ever I am here to assist and advise on any aspect of your computer needs and use. I can upgrade existing machines where economic to do so. Or I can source and supply new or refurbished machines if not. I can also help you get the most out of your computer by helping you work smarter. This is especially helpful if you have an older or less powerful system.

Be careful.

During the last 18 months scams have been on the increase again. The scammers never go away, and Covid gave them new opportunities to try and hoodwink the general public. The common ones where they pretend to be from Microsoft, Amazon etc have not disappeared. They have just been joined by fake NHS emails, calls and text messages. As ever, if anyone, apart from a trusted friend or IT professional, calls and asks for access to your computer to ‘fix’ an issue DO NOT let them. No one apart from yourself can know what is going on with your computer. If you do get strange messages on your computer, or calls then please contact myself or another professional first to check.

Get in touch.

Please get in touch if you require any of my services in the usual way.

www.srcomputers.co.uk/contact

Keep staying safe, let’s get back to normal in the right way.

Damian

I thought I would broach the subject of scam calls again this month.

They are still around and seem to be on the increase again.

There are two mains attacks to be aware of at the moment, as follows.

Amazon

Firstly, and the most common is a scam where the caller pretends to be from Amazon and is calling about your Amazon Prime account. They claim that your payments have lapsed, and your account will be suspended.

Quite often it is a recorded message or computerised voice that you hear. This should be obvious that it is a scam.

Then they try to take payment from you to ‘reactivate’ the account. It is, of course, bogus and under no circumstances should you give them any payment information.

If you do, the scammers will try and take as much as they can from you. One customer of mine was recently a victim and the scammers tried to take nearly £20,000. Luckily, the customer’s bank stopped the transaction as they suspected it was fraudulent.

ISP

The other scam calls still doing the rounds are callers pretending to be from your Internet Service Provider, or I.S.P. for short.

They claim to be from B.T., Virgin or whoever your ISP may be. The premise is that they have detected a problem with your service and need access to your computer to ‘fix’ it for you. This is untrue in every case and under no circumstances should you let them have access to your computer.

Once they gain access you have no control of what they do and see. They can then install anything, including malware, key logging software or set up the remote access so they can continue to get access in the future without your knowledge.

Computer message

Another variation on this scam is one that starts on your computer. A message may pop up on your screen saying you have a problem and to call a particular number in order to ‘fix’ it.

This again is a scam, and you should not ever call the number displayed. They will, again, try to persuade you to grant them access to your computer. Usually these messages pop up as a result of a compromised advert on a webpage.

As ever if you have been affected by any of the above scams then please get in touch for assistance and advice as to what to do next.

Contact me

Thank you for reading,

Damian

I’m going to touch briefly on a few things this time. Just topics that have cropped up during day to day work that prompted me to get writing. So here are some thoughts on anti-virus, backing up and Windows 7.

Anti-Virus software

You should only have one anti-virus package installed at any time on your computer.  I recently went to a customer who was getting odd messages on his screen.

It turned out to be a second AV program conflicting with his main one, which caused the PC to run slow and the error messages to appear. Removal of the offending software solved the problems immediately.

Neither program was able to do its job properly due to the conflicts.

Backups

This topic is a common theme for me. I often meet customers who have no backup or only one inadequate manual backup on a memory stick or such like.

I cannot emphasise enough how important backups are, especially if you are in business. Most people do not recognise the importance until it is too late. By then they have had an incident and lost precious data.

As a minimum you should make a local backup and also an online backup using one of the commercially available solutions. I will write further on this in the future.

Windows 7

I talked about Windows 7 earlier in the year, this is just a reminder.

In January 2020 Windows 7 will reach its end of support from Microsoft.

This means that Microsoft will no longer push out security updates for Windows 7. So, when a bug or vulnerability is found it will no longer be patched or fixed. This will mean Windows 7 machines will become less secure. Users with such machines should upgrade to Windows 10 by either buying a new machine or upgrading their old one.

More information can be found here.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4057281

As ever, if you have any questions on any of these topics please get in touch.

https://srcomputers.co.uk/contact

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

First of all, Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all had a good break.

The holiday period is over and we are back at work or in our usual routines. It’s at this time of year people tend to relax their vigilance as they are still in ‘party’ mode.

So please whatever you do, don’t relax on your online and data security.

Watch out for seasonal themed emails that might have come in over the holiday period. It is so easy to drop your guard when dealing with a backlog when you first get back in to work. You then inadvertently click on something you ordinarily wouldn’t because you are in catch up mode.

That’s what the unscrupulous folk who send these emails out are relying on. So be careful and don’t give them the satisfaction.

It’s not just emails though, criminals are forever trying new ways to get your data or personal info. Compromised web pages are also a problem, many of them masquerading as actual industry companies such as Microsoft or Apple.

You may get a pop-up page advising that you have a problem and need to contact them immediately on a displayed number. Don’t be fooled, they are always a scam and are attempting to get you to call them or click on a so called ‘support’ link. Just ignore the page, close your browser using Task Manager (or force quit on an Apple), restart your machine and start again.  Most of these are delivered via compromised ads on the web page you were viewing.

That’s all for this month, and again if you have any queries or need assistance on any topic not just those above then please get in touch.

Computer motherboards

1) CPU

2) RAM

Thank you and welcome to my new blog.

Here I intend to blog on different topics, mainly related to computers and possibly other tech too, but also on what I’ve been up to in the world of computer support.

Hopefully there will be a new blog post every two weeks or so, not too often so you feel bombarded, but not that scarce you forget about me!

Future subjects will be topics such as buying a new computer, keeping secure online and sensible password use amongst others.

You never know I might even invite a guest blogger now and again!

I also post regularly on my Google business page which is shared on Facebook and Twitter. Go and take a look for a taster of things to come.

Looking forward to entering the blogging world, better late than never hey!

Damian.