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.

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

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