Free Anti-Virus Software

I have always rated GriSoft’s Free AVG and still do… But… I am seriously looking at AVAST Home Edition as a great alternative that is also FREE!!!

Emails are getting too informal!

I might regret moaning about this (when someone points out that I am an offender…) but does anyone else agree that emails seem to be getting a little ‘informal?’

Colleagues seem to be forgetting their manners and nobody seems to care even though it can cause under-lying resentment and bitterness.

Lately I have been sent a lot of emails that could be mis-interpretted. This is why I started getting a downer on emails.

I am fed up of people sending stuff that only results in me having to phone them anyway (which would be made a lot easier if people included their phone numbers etc – which they don’t always).

The other thing that really offends me is people sending emails that make me think that the sender must know me really well. You know, those really chummy emails that could only have been sent by an annoyingly close and well-informed best-friend who is allowed to shorten your name on a whim.

Possibly the last thing that irritates me about emails is that some people seem to think that I have nothing better to do than to trawl through the thousands of names that got the email before me. Do they even realise that they can delete all that rubbish so that I can just read the message? Or do they think I’ll be impressed that they got it from Becky who was just one of a hundred people who got the email from charlotte who was amongst a large group that got it from Trevor who works at a bank and nobody has actually met?

If ever there was a case against friendly-spam, that would be it. I have included a couple of my favourite spams from so-called friends on this blog previously…

Junk Mail

I can’t believe that junk mail is still such a problem!!! It is nearly doing my head in…

If folks use email services that already include filtering systems but just don’t use the tools available. The other big problem is that a lot of our PCs have become part of a BotNet without us knowing. This means that our own computers are actually part of a network of hijacked machines that are used to send spam!

The first bit of advice is to make sure that your internet browser is right up to date and to make sure that you have a reputable firewall.

Another ‘biggy’ for me is to NEVER EVER reply to spam. This only confirms that your address is an active one and that someone checks it. This would make you an even more attractive target for other spammers, especially those with dodgy intentions. If you get spam, just delete it without even opening it.

Another technique I have used is to create multiple email accounts for different online transactions. Use Hotmail or Googlemail for this. Make the address obvious… For example, if you insist on buying stuff from the High Street’s biggest cowboys and getting yourself conned at Argos, then include ‘Argos’ in the email address. Only give the address to the business you are doing business with (if you can call being ripped off by a huge company that doesn’t care about individual customers ‘doing business’) and if you get any spam, you will know where it came from. You will know that you should not use that company (especially Argos) again and you can close the account that was spammed.

GMail / Googlemail has a feature where you can add ‘+Argos’ or whatever rubbish company you’d like to use, which simply adds on to your usual GMail address. The emails will arrive into your normal inbox and if any arrives from this address, you will know where the spam came from. DO NOT use your address to reply to spam as this will reveal your real email address to spammers. You can create a filter that automatically deletes the emails to your ’spam-proof’ addresses.

Yahoo also offers a similar service that allows you to create disposable addresses but it is chargeable and there are also programs (such as Nyms from www.anonymizer.com) that makes replies look like they came from the disposable address.

If you want to get revenge, use something like BounceBully (www.BounceBully.com) which returns spam to whoever sent it and reveals where in the world it came from.

Can a recession be a good thing?

It will come as nor surprise to many that I have a list of retailers that I would like to see ‘recessioned’ and I’d be interested to know if anyone else has too.

It’s been a while…

I don’t like blogs that seem to be made up of rubbish for the sake of it but I wanted everyone to know that I am still alive… So I thought I’d best post something here…

This week I will be mostly window-shopping at Screwfix…

Seriously though, there is a great deal on a 17th edition compliant Wylex consumer unit with a free set of screwdrivers… The only complaint about Screwfix (apart from the inconsistent pricing of hot drinks from branch to branch), is that you get bored of hearing “it’s like Argos for blokes” – and you all know how I feel about Argos!

Easter Bonnets

My daughter is having to do the ‘Easter Bonnet’ thing at nursery… I suggested buying a winning bonnet off eBay as a joke but it got me thinking. Possibly keep hold of the bonnet with a copy of the certificate for first place, hang on to it until the following January and list it! Imagine the bidding war…

A quick trawl of Google Trends reveals that ‘Easter Bonnet for sale’ does not have enough traffic to generate a report. HOWEVER, ‘Easter Bonnet’ does. Check it out.

Notice how, below Australia, Milton Keynes shows the most interest in Easter Bonnets. That doesn’t surprise me at all. Good old Brum comes next (no need to tell you that but it is good to see Birmingham above London in any sort of table that’s not linked to deprivation).

Fascinating that interest in Easter Bonnets peaks around this time (each year for the last 3 or 4 years) and then gets no attention for the rest of the year.

Parents who want Easter Bonnets could try a ‘reverse-auction’ like on eBay’s Want It Now pages. This will get the sellers bidding against each other to get your custom. WARNING: Do not get scammed. Insist on seeing the certificate that the school / nursery awarded.

So… Parents who have squirreled away those treasured keep-sakes that you don’t really have the storage space for, turn the Easter Bonnets into cash. The kids will thank you for it one day.

Time well spent

I have spent all my spare time for a whole week (which doesn’t seem much to me but must have been more than I’d admit) learning how to solve a Rubik’s Cube. I have struggled to understand the last step of the instructions that came with it but have got there and just need to get quicker and remember the techniques.

ONLY TO FIND there is a good source of help here on this chaotic internet… http://www.howtodothings.com/hobbies/how-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube wish I’d known that sooner!

Existing customers not welcome – Not my words…

Again it must be my age… I have a pay monthly mobile phone contract…

I could have had a handset upgrade more than 12 months ago (you can have one every year) but because I hadn’t seen anything much better and to do my bit for the environment I didn’t bother taking up the offer.

I had considered getting an iPhone but thought the N95 seemed better value. I contacted my phone company ‘3′, and was told (accidentally it seems) that the handset was not for retention of existing customers. I had thought the adverts regarding this sort of behaviour by the banks was funny but it turns out they’re all at it!

I just hope that companies like this lose more ‘existing’ customers than the number of new customers they gain. In future I will not renew contracts but will become a regular new customer by becoming a regular ex-customer.

Inflation?

I must be getting old or something… I had to pay £10 for a Rubik’s Cube the other day. AND that was from TESCO! You’d think it would be cheaper there. Don’t get me started on TESCO…

To think… I used to love Wetherspoon’s!!!

I know I was thrown out of Wetherspoon’s once for taking a baby in a pushchair in at a time when they had no child licence… I wasn’t bitter (get it?) but a bit disappointed.

They have done a lot to bring real ale to a bigger market and I applaud them for that… They have increased competition in the sector, notably offering good value on drinks and pioneered the ‘two for a fiver’ meal offers. Again all very good!!!

BUT I am not happy that they have put a two drink limit on parents (even if they are only soft drinks) citing child-cruelty caused by making children sit in the pub. Perhaps it IS cruelty to have to sit in THEIR pubs… Who limited the amount of time we had to spend watching our parents having a drink? Didn’t that sort of thing teach us patience and how to occupy ourselves.

My own experience is that children are losing the ability to occupy themselves and, unless everything is sparkly and fun then they are bored. When will children learn about how to behave in social situations if their time to experience these situations is limited? If parents are not welcome in places such as pubs then I hope you will all join me and not even give them your custom for the kind offer of two drinks. Leave the chain to attract whatever customer they think they want and parents (whether you’re with the children or not) should not spend money in there.