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

Windows 7 is broken…….

……or is it?

The question most people are asking about Windows 7 is “Will my computer stop working now it is out of support?”

The simple answer is NO.

But should you still continue to use Windows 7?

The correct answer is also NO.

Even though it will still work and do everything it always did, it no longer receives security updates. As time goes on it will become more vulnerable. Therefore, your online activities become less secure.

Banking, shopping and any other financial activity will become riskier over time. These sites may also stop you logging in to them at some point. This happened to Windows XP and Vista users when their support ended.

When security loopholes and vulnerabilities in Windows are found, they will NOT be fixed in Windows 7 any longer. Windows 8 & 10 will get fixed. Therefore the sensible option is to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Do this before you encounter any problems or get infected with malware or ransomware.

My advice is to upgrade or replace your Windows 7 computer as soon as possible.

Contact me for further information or advice about doing this.

Further information from Microsoft is available here.

Windows 7 end of life page

Photo by 🇨🇭 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash

Software and operating systems are being updated and upgraded all the time.

Android 10 from Google, iOS 13 and MacOS 10.15 from Apple are being released. I thought a few words about upgrading and updating operating systems would be in order.

There are two distinct camps when it comes to this question.

Camp 1:

Upgrade now to get the new shiny look and awesome features!

Camp 2:

Wait a month or two to let all the first people iron out the bugs and instability in the new system.

Camp 1.

Quite a lot of these folk are also the ones who buy new kit when it is launched. They will have new iPhones or new Pixel devices that already come with the new OS from the start. I like to think of them as the guinea pigs and beta testers for the rest of us.

There are always some bugs and issues with new products and new operating systems. Despite what manufacturers tell us nothing is ever perfect straight out of the box.

Despite that most stuff these days does work pretty well when first released.

So, adopting early means you get to try the new features first.

Camp 2

These people are the more cautious type. Their current setup works just fine and they don’t want it messed up. They are happy to wait and see and then upgrade/update a month or two later. This will give time for any problems and bugs to be highlighted and fixed.

When they do eventually upgrade the system will be a more stable version. They should have fewer teething problems with the new software.

Computer OS upgrades.

There is a slightly different approach to this, especially for business users. When new operating systems are released there is always a chance older software may not work as it did. This is especially true of the latest macOS 10.15 release as it no longer supports 32-bit applications. Therefore anyone using 32-bit software will have problems if they upgrade.

A circumspect approach is recommended, especially if you have business critical software. It is essential to ensure your software will work as it did on any new system. The software developer themselves should be able to confirm this. It may mean you have to upgrade the software when you upgrade the operating system.

Verdict

My opinion is firmly in Camp 2.

It is nice to have the latest apps or features but only if they are problem free.

With software it is always better to wait a while before committing to an upgrade.

However, in some cases if you wait too long your old system may become more vulnerable to attack from malware and cyber-crime.

Finally- upgrading for security reasons is always a must.

As usual, if you have any thoughts or questions please get in touch.

https://www.srcomputers.co.uk/contact

Windows 7 will roll over and die in January 2020!

I talked about this last time and earlier in the year.

We are getting closer to the time that Windows 7 will no longer be supported.  So, I thought it worthwhile to go over what’s going to happen, what the likely issues will be and how to make sure you are prepared and know what to do.

What is happening to Windows 7 in January 2020?

As I said previously, January 2020 is the month when Windows 7 will reach its end of support from Microsoft.

This means that Microsoft will no longer release security updates for it. When a bug or vulnerability is found it will no longer be patched or fixed. This will mean those machines will become less secure than they were.

Newer versions of Windows will get patched, Windows 7 will not. Therefore, cyber criminals and hackers will likely try to take advantage of this fact and target the more vulnerable Windows 7 machines.

How will this affect me?

It is likely, as it happened when Windows XP and Vista reached their end of support, the most noticeable effect is that websites you regularly use will no longer allow access from computers running Windows 7.

Sites such as banking, shopping, travel and all those using secure logins and connections will prevent users from logging in from unsecure browsers.

Internet Explorer is one such browser and is integral to Windows 7.  Support for it is also ending in January 2020. Even users of Internet Explorer on Windows 8 & 10 will find they are affected.

There is an easy solution for those users. They can easily switch to using another newer, more secure browser such as Edge, Firefox or Chrome.

Windows 7 users will not have such a quick and easy option as the newer version of those browsers will not be available on to them.

What do I do?

The answer for Windows 7 users is simple. Upgrade your computer to Windows 10 or replace the computer with one running Windows 10.

I’m sure most will opt for a new machine as many computers running Windows 7 are now at least seven or more years old and are nearing the end of their life anyway.

As ever, I can help with the transition, whether you choose to upgrade or replace. If you are unsure, I can provide the necessary information and advice to help make your decision.

My main advice would be to do it sooner rather than later. Prices of new machines are likely to increase as the time draws nearer.

More information can be found here.

Windows 7 end of support.

If you have any questions on any of these topics please get in touch.

Contact

How many of you have experienced that irritating wait when booting your computer or waiting for an application to launch?

You’re not alone, many of us have, at some point, suffered this. Unfortunately, Windows in all its various incarnations, tends to slow down over time.

No one really knows why this happens, and a full re install of Windows can usually alleviate the problem, for a while anyway.

It tends to happen after a few years, and even after a couple of years on a well specified machine running Windows 10, (my own family PC!).

It should not have happened, the machine has a high-end CPU, plenty of RAM and no games or other 3^rd party software slowing it down. The main software installed is Office 365 only. This got me wondering what could be behind the slow down. A little bit of investigation later and I had identified the culprit. The 3TB hard drive, which was hardly full at all, a paltry 220GB used out of the 3TB.

There was nothing wrong with the drive per se, but it was getting a lot of use from Windows 10, even in an idle state. I had checked to make sure there were no sneaky non-Windows processes running in the background. I could only conclude that Windows 10 itself accesses the drive regularly in its operation.

So why don’t all Windows 10 machines run slowly then I hear you ask.

Quite simply it is down to the type of storage drive used where Windows is installed. Most average machines with a reasonable amount of storage use traditional hard drives with a magnetised spinning platter and arm, like the one pictured above. In speed terms of modern CPUs and RAM, this is actually a bottleneck. The necessary mechanical action of the hard drive internals is slow compared to the rest of the system. This causes data transfer to be slowed down comparatively.

The solution is simple, replace the old mechanical technology drives (HDD) with newer solid-state drives or SSDs as they are known. These solid-state drives have no moving parts and run at the same speeds as the rest of the system. Thus not causing any slowdown of data transfer.

Once upgraded to SSD you will see much reduced boot up times and speedier opening of applications on your system. Older systems really do benefit. Previously where start up could take several minutes it could now be ready to go in under 30 seconds.

What’s the catch I hear you say.

Well there is always something, and the cost per GB of storage space is higher for SSDs than HDD. However, over the last 8-12 months prices of SSDs have dropped dramatically. Typically, a 1TB HDD will cost around £40 on average, whereas, a 1TB SSD will be over £100.

However, most people I encounter only use a fraction of the capacity of their drives, myself included. Therefore, it is not necessary to replace a 1TB HDD with a 1TB SSD, a lower capacity will suffice, thus reducing the cost dramatically.

Typically, a 128GB SSD will come in around £30 and a 256GB around £60. Much more affordable when revitalising an older computer.

I’ve done lots of these upgrades over the last twelve months. The reaction when people see how quickly their computer now responds is brilliant.

If you want to know more then please get in touch.

Thanks,

Damian.

https://www.srcomputers.co.uk/contact