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Internet Archive

admin — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 15:04:51 +0000

The Internet is an ever changing medium and this is of course one of the primary reasons for its huge popularity – Websites can be radically altered at the drop of a hat for a complete redesign or simply to include new or revised information. Whilst no one can argue that this is a predominantly good thing the fact that the old version of a website is quickly forgotten once updated is a cause for concern.

Hard copies of books and magazines cannot change and as long as they are stored safely you will always be able to dip back in time but once a website has been altered there usually is no looking back.

The well established Way Back Machine (www.archive.org) website sets to redress the balance by regularly storing copies of old websites so that at any point in the future you can look back at how a site used to be. Whilst not all sites are included in their database you will find that with hundreds of terabytes of storage space at their disposal that they do have most covered to a greater or lesser extent.

Primarily I have traditionally used this resource in the past just for killing a few minutes of time – it’s interesting to see how one of my sites used to look back in their infancy or indeed how one of the worlds biggest websites www.microsoft.com looked ten years ago. It’s simply a case of heading to archive.org, typing in the URL of the website that you want to see and providing they have it in their database you can select a date in time to travel back to.

Of course there are also more serious reasons for using the Way Back Machine than simply killing a few minutes of your time. One of the defining moments in this century was the tragic events of September 11^th but everything that you read now is written in hindsight however the Way Back Machine makes vast collections of archived websites available from the actual day itself. This means in the future people will always be able to relive the events unfolding on the various news sites and bulletin boards as they happened rather than reading a synopsis of the catastrophe in a book or article. Whilst I don’t think such events make for pleasant reading it is important never to forget what happens in our past which is something that this website definitely helps to achieve.

On a lighter note the Way Back Machine has a ‘web pioneers’ section which charts the progress of sites that over time changed the face of the Internet. As well as providing a brief synopsis of the contribution a given site has made to the Web there is also a links to number of dates in time you can choose to visit.

Some users may just consider this site a bit of fun whereas others may spend hours using it to delve in to the past. Whichever way you decide to use this free resource no one can deny that it is helping to do the valuable job of storing the history of this quickly changing world we live in.

Moneysavingguide.com

admin — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 14:09:25 +0000

A few weeks back I took a look at the uswitch.com website which allows you compare various utilities and products to allow you to select the one that best suits your needs at the keenest price. Keeping on the theme of money saving we this week feature the website www.moneysavingexpert.com which is a little more diverse in the advice it gives to help you out financially.

The site itself is completely free to use and rather than being paid for by advertising revenue it is financed by intermediaries such as the aforementioned uswitch.com. The content of the site falls into several main headings which I have outlined below:

Articles – This includes an archive of the articles all written by the man behind the site, Martin Lewis. Over the years he has written hundreds of them and everyone well written and full of common sense ideas so it’s certainly worth taking the time and looking back over some of his previous work.

Guides – This area of the site is dedicated to comprehensive money saving guides that are both factually correct and interesting to read. Whether you are looking to find a new credit card, save money on your mortgage or trying to organise your student funding for the next academic year you should find what you need here.

Money Tips – Every week you can opt to receive an e-mail from Martin with a number of interesting and unique money saving ideas. This category is an archive of all of these hints and tips spanning back to the beginning of the year.

There are several things that differentiate this site from other money saving websites that are out there and I think one of the most important factors is that rather than possibly saving money, if you take a few minutes to look around then you WILL save some cash. I regularly check my finances to ensure that I’m with the best bank, home phone company, mobile phone tariffs, gas supplier and the like but I still managed to find a hint after just 5 minutes on the site that’ll save me around £120 a year.

Obviously the information being current is an extremely important factor when you are looking at a website that is discussing financial products and services but as a lot of the current facts and figures research is left to specialist you can always rest assured that in the best buys section you will find up to date information.

One of the most impressive yet simple areas of the site is the search bar; simply type in a search term and within seconds the site will search its huge database which now spans almost three years worth of articles to look for something relevant. You can type practically anything into this search box and Money Saving Expert will come back with a way that you can save money when buying said items or changing said service.

Finally, the chat area of the site houses an active forum with contributions coming in via the 65,000 registered members. With so many people putting their heads together you are sure find some interesting posts or indeed get some helpful suggestions if you ask a question.

This site really is one worth checking out and book marking for future reference. I do promise you that you’ll find something that will save you money and if you don’t then you can sit back safe in the knowledge that you are an incredibly financially adept individual.

Online virus scan

admin — Sat, 15 May 2004 17:50:37 +0000

My idea last week of starting a dating agency for virus programmers so that they have something better to do with their lives than annoying normal hardworking people had a very good response however I’m afraid that I’m going to have to put this on hold for the time due to time restraints. First, I’m sorry to bang on for yet another month about viruses; I do promise that this is the last time for a while but it still seems that many of you are becoming infected with viruses which is needless when you consider that protection is available free of charge.

At present I am receiving around 20 (twenty) viruses a day via e-mail and the reason for this is that many customers and readers are infected and as such the virus is picking my e-mail address off of their systems and e-mailing itself to me. Whilst I’m not too bothered as my virus checker picks up the suspect attachments and deletes them immediate it could soon get to the stage where essentially my customers will be e-mailing me every minute with a new virus; thanks a million!

It is for this reason that this week all people reading my article are obliged to take 5 minutes out of their Saturday afternoon to run a completely free, up to date virus check of their system online. If a virus is found then you will be able to thank me as I will have just sped up your computer, avoided you passing it along to others and removed the possibility of the virus causing data loss. If nothing is found then I do apologise for wasting 5 minutes of your time but at least you will know that you’re in the clear for now and that you are virus free. This virus checker involves no software being installed into your computer and as I said is completely free of charge; just head to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and then click on the text that reads ‘Scan Now. It’s Free!’

It could take a few minutes to download the checker and the latest virus definitions that the site has to teach it and then it will ask you which locations on your computer wish to scan. Simply select your ‘C’ drive as well as any other hard disks you have in your machine, click on ‘Auto Clean’ and then click on scan. Now might be a good idea to go off and make a cup of tea or go down the pub as it will take a little while when you consider that Trend Housecall searches every file for the presence of viruses and will clean any that it may find; the process is completely automated so you are not required to sit and watch it. Even if you do have an existing virus checker on your machine then I would still recommend doing this today as the online virus checker couldn’t be more up to date and it may well detect a virus that your current checker doesn’t know of.

Ultimately the checker is free of charge, very easy to use and will only take a few minutes of your time. There is really no reason that you shouldn’t now be turning on your machine and going to the website address I gave above. If we get everyone in Torbay to do it then whoever it is with the infected machine which is sending me the NetSky virus will then know about it, remove the virus and hopefully me in peace to run my business!

Once your system is clean it may be an idea to install a new virus checker if you don’t already have an up to date one on your system. AVG (www.grisoft.com) is one of the best free ones I’ve discovered although I have reviewed this system in the past so I won’t go into details again here.

MSN Add ons

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2003 17:09:36 +0000

So, you took my advice a couple of weeks back and downloaded MSN Messenger 6 on to your PC, you’ve had a play around, added a number of friends to your contact list but now what? I’m not quite sure how I managed but I accidentally stumbled across the site www.mess.be which contains dozens of add ins and customisations for this fantastic little program. For those of you who are still somewhat unsure, MSN Messenger is a program that allows you chat to friends and even complete strangers over the Internet in either text, audio or audio/video conversations.

Most of the stuff on the add in site is ultimately useless but if you’ve got a few minutes to spare and use MSN Messenger on a regular basis then it is certainly worth checking out. For those of you who haven’t yet downloaded the latest version of Messenger head to http://messenger.msn.com and once installed, see what www.mess.be has in store for you.

We’ll start by a quick low down of the main features that you’ll find on the site :

- MSN 6 Skins – Microsoft Messenger 6 is completely customisable with ‘skins’ downloaded off the Internet which gives the program a new look depending on your mood. The add in site contains dozens of these to choose from.

- Messenger Plus – The site has the latest version of this utility which adds a number of useful features such as the ability to quickly hide MSN if your boss is on the prowl, 1110 character messages and the ability to check any e-mail account through Messenger rather than just the Hotmail checker that is built in as standard.

- Emoticon Packs – Microsoft Messenger supports additional add in ‘emoticons’ which allow you to use pictures to convey emotions (a smiley face to portray smiling for example). You can download additional ones free from here.

- Program Updates – The latest versions of MSN Messenger, as they’re released as well as any beta (pre release) versions of the software are posted to the site for all to download. In addition news about upcoming versions is also posted as it is discovered.

That’s pretty much it to be honest with you, although the site does offer a number of other features such as a comprehensive list of tips and tweaks which tell you how to alter MSN to how you really want it, screen name tools and various small utilities. A fun little area of the site that I found is a list of robots created that can be added to your MSN buddies list so that you can test out the AI of a number of computer generated ‘people’ by having real-time conversations with them; completely useless I know but it could help you while away a slow day in the office. The add ins section of the site includes dozens of files that can be downloaded to add to the original functionability of the MSN program such as messaging log generators, signing in as ‘appear offline’ and group blocking of people on your contact list.

It is important to stress that this is not a Microsoft certified site and that any files you download will most probably have been created by third party programmers and any news you read may not necessary be official or indeed correct. Having said that however, if you use this great little utility then, as I said at the beginning of the article, it certainly can’t hurt to try it out especially as it is completely free.

Virus Hoaxes

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2003 17:02:06 +0000

Another week spent seemingly doing nothing but clearing viruses off the machines of others; in such a day and age everybody reading this article should have a virus checker and those of you that don’t should certainly download one now.

One thing that Windows is still missing which it really needs is a good quality internal virus checker that comes packaged with the Operating System but whether they would be allowed to or whether it would be considered to be anti-competitive is yet to be seen. Personally I would like to see a virus checker built in to every new version of Windows that is update whenever you visit the Windows Update site but also one that could also be disabled in case you wanted to use a third party manufacturer such as Symantec who make Norton Anti-Virus. I can’t think of a single thing that Microsoft could do that would be more fundamental in improving the next version of Windows.

Anyway, with so many viruses floating around it is easy to get caught up in the panic and worry about every virus related e-mail but it is also a time to remain vigilant as a regular reader Tina Stockman will testify when she received the following e-mail:

Dear All

I’m sorry about this; but I received this E-mail from a client regarding a virus that was inadvertently passed on to everyone in their address book. I followed the instructions and YES, IT WAS ON MY COMPUTER. Since you are in my address book, I am sending this on to you as a precaution. NORTON 2002 DID NOT DETECT IT!

Here are the instructions on how to check for this virus and delete it if you have it too. It only took a few minutes, following these instructions. Be sure to notify all in your address book too (which will take longer than deleting the virus from your computer).

Since you are in our address book, there is a good chance you will find it in your computer too unless you have an Apple or MAC. The virus (called jdbgmgr.exe) is not detected by Norton or McAfee anti-virus systems. The virus sits quietly for 14 days before damaging the system. It is sent automatically by messenger and by the address book, whether or not you sent Emails to your contacts. Here’s how to check for the virus and how to get rid of it:

Am very sorry about this nuisance. This age of technology is not that great sometimes; we are victims!

Now there is a reason why Norton or McAfee didn’t pick up this file as being a virus and that’s because it wasn’t; a friend of Tina had fallen for this hoax earlier on, deleted a Windows system file and then forwarded on to everybody in his address book thinking that he was doing them a favour. To save yourself from doing the same further down the line, never listen to an e-mail that gives you instructions on how to remove a virus manually – If an e-mail does contain a warning then the most it should ask you to do is either update your anti-virus software or perform a Windows Update. Never delete any files based on an e-mail (even if it is from someone you know) and never open attachments claiming to remove a particular virus and if ever in doubt, check out www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html as this contains a fairly complete list of current hoaxes.

If you keep your anti-virus software up to date, perform a Windows update every couple of weeks and read Click to keep apprised of current threats and you should have nothing more to worry about; I used to believe that worrying about things like this was a little over the top but in recent weeks it has been especially important. For those of you who haven’t done so already, get hold of a copy of the fantastic free AVG virus scanner by heading to www.grisoft.com.