I’m a student doing art studies and also a regular reader of your column ‘Click’ in the Heard Express. To assist me with my course I’m currently [...]]]> This week I’ll once again take the time to answer a question recently sent to me by a Click reader.

I’m a student doing art studies and also a regular reader of your column ‘Click’ in the Heard Express. To assist me with my course I’m currently looking for a good quality colouring program that I can download for free. Whilst I have downloaded programs in the past which were excellent they are all limited by 30 day trials and as a schoolgirl I don’t have enough money to buy to buy the full versions.

I was wondering if you would be able to recommend a good program that is available free of charge?

Lisa Penny, Torquay

When you say ‘colouring program’ I’m assuming that you’re after a drawing package which is capable of handling basic functions such as line, text and fill tools as well as more advanced features such as layering and if this is the case then there are two programs that I can confidently recommend. They are both completely free of charge and are very compact in size which will result in you having to spend little time on the Internet downloading them.

The first application goes under the name of GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) which I actually reviewed a couple of months back so won’t go into great detail here but to summerise my previous review, GIMP is quite a capable drawing program which is completely free of charge. It can be easily downloaded by heading to http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html and remember that if you do happen to miss any of my Click articles they can always be read online at www.computerarticles.co.uk

An alternative I discovered just recently is Inkscape which again can be downloaded free of charge from www.inkscape.org. The application, like GIMP is open source meaning that members of the public rather than big companies are responsible for its development and for adding new features

The first thing that you notice about Inkscape is the user interface which is very well laid out making the program extremely easy to use. When you first start up the program it looks very much different to the standard Windows application with many icons unique to Inkscape and they are used to great effect to clearly indicate their respective functions and the relation to similar functions present in the application. The user interface also relies a great deal on you learning keyboard and mouse combinations which whilst making the process of using the application faster also results in a fairly steep learning curve.

If we look at the features of the application they include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Whilst these are all fairly basic functions which are standard on most drawing applications, Inkscape sets itself apart from the competition by making them very easy to use and manipulate.

Inkscape is currently running at revision 0.43 and as this version number suggests is very much a work in progress application but nevertheless it is very capable and of course completely free of charge. Both applications I have mentioned here are extremely competent and as I am reluctant to recommend one over the other I would recommend that readers who have an interest in drawing should download them both and then pick the one that suits their particular needs best.

Once again I’ll be spending this week answering a question recently sent in by one of my readers.

Just to inform you that I recently bought a #17 Black cartridge from Lexmark for my Lexmark X1160 printer from Argos [...]]]>

Once again I’ll be spending this week answering a question recently sent in by one of my readers.

Just to inform you that I recently bought a #17 Black cartridge from Lexmark for my Lexmark X1160 printer from Argos in Torquay, I am very disappointed with the Lexmark brand as it seems to have lasted only a few weeks with only probably 50 x A4 printouts. Can you tell me if this is usual and what is the difference between the cartridge numbers 16 & 17 Black or the 26 & 27 Colour in respect of longevity? Can you give me any suggestions for a decent replacement set of cartridges for my machine?

Tom Blakesley, Paignton

For some reason the majority of the people in Paignton seem to own Lexmark printers and so I thought I’d take a minute to explain why you should probably bin yours and go out and buy a cheaper printer to run. Firstly, to answer your question, Tom, the Lexmark 16 and Lexmark 26 are the high capacity versions of the Lexmark 17 and Lexmark 27; the cartridge you purchased was the lower capacity cartridge but still getting only 50 print-outs is abysmal and it may be worthwhile taking it back to Argos to see if there is anything they can do to help you.

Obviously, since I run a printer cartridge company I can get quite passionate from time to time with the ludicrous price that some people are paying for replacement inks when it really isn’t necessary. Whilst Epson and Canon printer owners can often buy a set of cartridges from us for as little as £4.98 for the pair, those with Lexmark (and to a lesser extent, HP) are stuck buying cartridges that can cost around £50 for a pair. What really rubs salt in to the wounds is that the £50 cartridges often contain less ink than the £4.98 cartridges and so suddenly the twenty quid printer that you bought at such a bargain price several weeks ago doesn’t seem like such a good deal.

To make matters worse, Lexmark are practically giving their printers away to system manufacturers such as Dell who then provide them with it as part of a package deal when you buy a new PC. I’m not saying as such that Lexmark printers are rubbish but just think that if you consider buying 2 sets of replacement cartridges at £50 a set then you’ve instantly got £100 that could be used to buy a printer that uses much cheaper cartridges; an Epson or Canon printer for example. Then every time you replace the cartridges in your machine you’re making a saving; I would consider it an investment more than anything else.

Personally I would like to see more of an effort made by the large chain stores to make customers aware of the ongoing costs of running a particular printer before it is purchased; you wouldn’t buy a car for example if the salesman told you that it could only use a specific type of fuel that cost £1.49 a litre or a mobile phone that although only costing £9.99 to buy would then cost you 99p a minute whenever you used it. Customers are made aware of the ongoing costs of running pretty much anything they purchase but yet there is no universal system in place to compare the price per ml of ink when it comes to buying replacement original, remanufactured or compatible cartridges. Such a system would certainly help to avoid people getting ripped off in the long run.

I sent a copy of the above reply back to Tom a few days ago and received a nice poem he composed about Lexmark by return which unfortunately the editor wouldn’t let me print for legal reasons. In addition, after my article about smoking support sites last week he has told me that has now tried to quit smoking and so the best of luck to him.

How fast the last year appears to have gone; It seems only weeks ago that I was looking forward to the start of summer and as I sit here, Christmas is looming just around the corner with barely a month left until the big day and although I have no [...]]]>

How fast the last year appears to have gone; It seems only weeks ago that I was looking forward to the start of summer and as I sit here, Christmas is looming just around the corner with barely a month left until the big day and although I have no idea how many shopping days that equates to, I’m sure that at least one of you has been bored enough to sit down and work it out already.

I thought that a good idea over the next couple of weeks would be to recommend sites that could be of help to you when buying presents for loved ones as there are plenty of savings to be made online. One such site I stumbled across recently after feeling absolutely fleeced by shopping for aftershave in Torquay is www.dutyfreeperfume.co.uk.

Although the site name is fairly misleading (after all, I’m sure that customs and excise would be interesting in a site that was commercially selling duty free fragrances), it is still definitely worth a visit. The site itself is split into five sections – ‘Female fragrances’, ‘Male fragrances’, ‘Female bargains’, ‘Male bargains’ and ‘Cosmetics & Skincare’ and I’m sure by this point you’re not having to much difficulty with guessing the gist of this online store. The site allows you to browse 100’s of fragrances with fairly significant savings off the high street prices with free delivery to all UK addresses. That in itself is fair enough but the area of the site that interested me the most was the bargains section which offered unboxed fragrances with huge savings off the standard price. These products sold are unused, full sized sample products and although it was my understanding that these samples should not be resold, the site does have relationships with many perfume houses so I’m sure everything is above board.

I haven’t yet bought anything from them, primarily because I would feel extremely guilty walking into Debenhams, trying out all their testers on myself until I found the one I wanted and then leaving to buy it on the Internet; it just seems like an extremely tight-fisted thing to do however if you do already have something in mind that you like the scent of then this site would be perfect for making a purchase.

I’m going to leave off reviewing the cosmetics side of the site as to be perfectly honest with you, makeup isn’t my forte. They did seem to have a large number of products online however and even if you make savings of only a couple of pound per product and save yourself the hassle of going into town then surely it must be worth it?

My article last week on Blueyonder struck a chord with a number of readers who thought they would write to confirm that they’ve had good experiences with the Telewest Blueyonder service and one such reader is Mr. Hare whose letter I shall print below.

Having read your Herald [...]]]>

My article last week on Blueyonder struck a chord with a number of readers who thought they would write to confirm that they’ve had good experiences with the Telewest Blueyonder service and one such reader is Mr. Hare whose letter I shall print below.

Having read your Herald Express column today I am pleased to see that you have stumbled across Blueyonder at last – I have followed your rantings over BT broadband over the last few months and often wondered who you hadn’t mentioned Telewest Blueyonder.

Personally, I am fortunate to live in a cabled area of Torquay and have been with Eurobell/Telewest for a couple of years and with Blueyonder Broadband since it first became available in September.

You ask about horror stories? I haven’t got any – Blueyonder broadband is fast and reliable; my own website is hosted on Freenetname but forwards to my personal web space on Blueyonder so I can update it using broadband which is very fast and transforms the website maintenance process into an enjoyable experience. Please feel free to check out my website which I designed myself, initially with Microsoft FrontPage but now moving to Dreamweaver MX at www.hometreasures.co.uk.

Incidentally, I have just looked at your website and checked you out for printer cartridges. I note you quote very low prices for the Epson 740 – Are you sure about them, if so I’ll be buying from you. Do you stock cartridges for Epson C62 yet? Best wishes with your column.

Tony Hare, via E-mail

Although this is going to seem like a fabricated letter in order for me to comment on my cartridge distribution side of my business, I guarantee that this letter from Mr. Hare is genuine! Anyway, I will start by talking about Blueyonder who are still set to install at my house on Friday 24^th of this month (It’s Tuesday 21^st as I write). It seems like the service provided by Telewest is reliable, fairly cheap and best of all, it comes with all the equipment you need to set it up and a qualified engineer will come around to your come to set it all up for you. For those of you in a Telewest cabled area, I recommend you have a look by going to www.blueyonder.co.uk and let me know how you get along, the good points and the bad. I’ll let you know how my installation has gone in next weeks Click and we’ll eventually establish the best broadband deals to be had in Torbay.

As for the cartridges that you speak of on my website, these are what are known as ‘compatible’ cartridges which are available on the market for a substantially lower price than their brand name counterparts. This is primarily because when you purchase a printer from your local stockist, the manufacturer doesn’t really make a profit on the actual sale of the machine as they plan to make their money by then selling you printer cartridges which cost pennies to make for around £20 every time you need more ink.

Imagine the situation where you get another manufacturer to come along who can make these printer cartridges to the same specification but doesn’t have to worry about recouping the small amount of profit initially made on the printer and think how the cost of the cartridges could be bought down; this essentially explains the idea of compatible cartridges to you. All the cartridges we stock are made to, or exceed the manufacturers’ specifications and are widely considered to be amongst the best compatible cartridges available on the market. Check out the prices online at www.refreshcartridges.co.uk, where you’ll find Epson cartridges starting at £2.89, Canon cartridges from £1.99 and also the full range of recycled HP cartridges. Payment can be taken online by credit card or paid by cheque, all our prices include next day delivery and if you are not completely satisfied, the cartridges can be returned for a full refund. I should state that these cartridges are available from other sources but Refresh Systems is probably one of the cheapest sources of these cartridges, not only locally but also nationally and we will attempt to match any price.

I had a letter this week from a reader regarding a subject I have failed to mention so far in my numerous articles of computing on the move. Mr Ian MacMillian wrote in with the following, enclosing a cutting of a recent article from the Sunday Telegraph regarding the new [...]]]>

I had a letter this week from a reader regarding a subject I have failed to mention so far in my numerous articles of computing on the move. Mr Ian MacMillian wrote in with the following, enclosing a cutting of a recent article from the Sunday Telegraph regarding the new phone boxes that BT are setting up which are similar to traditional phone boxes however they also allow you to e-mail, SMS or use the Internet using their inbuilt computer systems:

Please find the enclosed cutting from the Sunday Telegraph which might be of interest to you.

From a local viewpoint, there are already two phone boxes in Torquay which can send e-mails and SMS text messages to mobile phones. There is one opposite Burger King in Fleet Walk and one at the bottom of Market Street. I had a go on the one in Fleet Walk and found that it was easy to use. It has a QWERTY keyboard and computer-style screen and can send an e-mail or text message for 20p. These boxes opened in July 2001, but they don’t seem to have received much publicity, so many people may not know that they are there.

BT also has phone boxes offering full Internet access. The nearest one is at Granada motorway services in Exeter, but I have not seen or tried this one.

When BT announced its programme of introducing e-mail and Internet phone boxes, some critics argued that in an age when most teenagers have mobile phones, the boxes would not prove a huge success. This is slightly unfair because they are good value compared to a cyber café, particularly for the e-mails. They should also prove attractive to students and tourists as they can send an e-mail anywhere in the world for a fraction of the cost of a voice-based call.

I am not in the business of doing free publicity for BT, but it does seem a bit odd that so little fanfare has been given to these new boxes in Torquay. In a few years’ time boxes of this type will become more common and maybe there will be boxes of this type in Paignton, Brixham and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the two Torquay boxes are the only ones of this type within the Torbay area.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. MacMillian for his comments and positive feedback for this column. I have had the opportunity to use one of the Internet payphones in Heathrow airport although it was not manufactured by BT. The unit was extremely easy to use although I am still slightly sceptical on the success these units will have due to two points which I envision.

• It seems in this day and age that technology is so rapidly changing that the units may have to be continually updated to take advantage of new technologies such as Broadband access, new graphics technologies of web pages etc. This will obviously cost BT a great deal of money as to do such an upgrade will probably require a complete replacement of the system which could be costly. In addition, it will be more expensive to perform regular maintenance and repairs to an e-payphone box than a standard phone booth.

• It is not uncommon to walk around any town or city and see a vandalised phone box. Obviously, if this phone box also houses a computer with TFT screen then its repair may be quite a bit more costly. Many of us will remember the ‘Internet Bench’ that Microsoft pioneered which was vandalised within days of its construction not so long ago.

Aside from these reservations, I think that the theory is good; it will be interesting to see how the rollout of these boxes continues and quite how much of a success they will have both in the Torbay area and over the country. If anybody has any feedback on this issue, or indeed anything unrelated then please e-mail me via editor@thisissouthdevon.co.uk or write to Chris Holgate, c/o Herald Express, Torquay, TQ2 8JN.

To come to a close this week, I would like to thank you all for reading Click over the last 52 weeks exactly and that I hope that you’ve enjoyed and learnt something from these series of articles. I hope that you all have a very happy Christmas, and I’ll see you again, next Saturday before the New Year.

This week I will again answer some of the mail that I have been receiving recently in the hope that it will resolve a number of problems that my readers have been having.

I read with interest your article a few weeks [...]]]>

This week I will again answer some of the mail that I have been receiving recently in the hope that it will resolve a number of problems that my readers have been having.

I read with interest your article a few weeks ago concerning connecting laptops through mobile phones to the Internet. I currently have a Nokia 6150e and will be going to the Med next year on a boat.

I hope to be able to connect to the net via laptop and mobile phone and would appreciate any info you can provide that will allow access. I had hoped to just have ‘Pay as you go’ but you said this does not work. Why?

Also if it’s not possible to connect via our system of Pay as you go, is it possible to use the Spanish system instead? I’ve tried to find information on the Net but have not had much luck.

I have found the ISP providers that are free in Spain and hope to use one of them for my net connection, instead of phoning back to the UK for my e-mails.

Terry, via e-mail.

Matthew Rhys-Davies of Carphone Warehouse Torquay replies:

The Nokia 6150 is data compatible but requires a Nokia Cellular Data Suite for it to communicate with your laptop which usually costs around £89.99 as the phone itself doesn’t have an internal modem.

Assuming your phone is unlocked (meaning that it can take any SIMcard) then you should be able to use it on another network; unfortunately however I don’t believe that data is supported abroad on pay as you go as it’s such a basic service. Foreign SIM cards typically cost around £20 – £30 and would allow you to benefit from cheaper calls when abroad however as data is a bit of a grey area to be honest and although I am very doubtful it would work, I would not be able to confirm this 100% unless I were to go out there and test it for myself.

Please also bear in mind that if it did work, very few networks support 0800 access and if using a Spanish SIM card then you would require a Spanish ISP to get the cheaper call costs.

For a while I have been meaning to design my own webpage to put onto the Internet but am increasingly confused with what I have to buy in order to make the process as painless and economical as possible. I know that I require to buy a web address but am not sure where to go from there. Any help you could give on designing a webpage would be most appreciated.

John Mills, Roselands.

Since this is a question I am often asked, I have decided that it probably warrants running a series of articles on the subject. You are correct that you do require a website address in order to set up a homepage and so it would probably be best if you or any other people that are considering designing a webpage were to get this situation sorted before the series kicks off next week.

There are many ways in order to gain a website address, probably the cheapest would be use the space that comes free with your ISP (Internet Provider), however there are a number of disadvantages which you should be made aware of:

- You would be obliged to continue using this ISP for the entire time that you required your website to be on the Internet – If you left their service then you would more than likely lose the website address.

- The web address would more than likely have a very cumbersome name. For example instead of www.johnmills.co.uk you may be issued with an address such as www.freeserve.co.uk/johnmills which obviously doesn’t look as professional.

Because of these reasons, I suggest you register your own personal name on the Internet, such as in the first instance (www.johnmills.co.uk) which is incredibly simple and surprisingly affordable.

My personal favourite for this task is a company called Redstation Internet (www.redstation.co.uk) which allows you to register a name of your choosing for £9.40 all inclusive. If you wish to follow this series over the next couple of weeks then I suggest that you get your Internet name registered this week so it will be ready for use when we continue next Saturday.

Some of my more regular readers may recall that over the past 2 weeks we have been covering the teaching resources available to all people in Torbay, last week we did Paignton and the week before Torquay and so it only seems natural that this [...]]]>

Some of my more regular readers may recall that over the past 2 weeks we have been covering the teaching resources available to all people in Torbay, last week we did Paignton and the week before Torquay and so it only seems natural that this week I should cover Brixham. For those of you that live in Paignton or Torquay and missed those respective articles, I should point out that all previous articles are available on the Webwise section of the Herald Express’s website at www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk.

This week I will also cover the subject of Individual Learning Accounts (ILA’s) which are available for all people over the age of 19 to support their return to education. In addition to some of the courses that I will detail today, several of those we’ve discussed in past weeks are available for support via an Individual Learning Account, the purpose of them being to make it easier and cheaper to get access to tuition. For example many courses, not just those in the computing field will be discounted by up to 80% and others by 20%. In addition the first million applicants for an account will receive up to £150 off their learning as long as they put in £25 of their own money. For more information and to apply call 0800 072 5678 or go to the website www.my-ila.com.

Shooting back to look at Brixham Community College, not only do they have a large number of interesting and cheap courses that I’ll divulge in just a second, but a large amount of the resources at Brixham seem to be tailored to helping the less able bodied. Such courses include ‘Photos’ (using Scanners, digital cameras and colour printer to improve your photos), ‘Next Step: Word-processing’, ‘Cards & Fancy Types’ and ‘Tame Your Computer’ (Learn to create folders, delete files etc). Sometime in the future we should be following up these courses in more depth to look exactly what equipment is available and how the centres are equipped to assist the less able bodied.

In terms of their other courses, Brixham College has a number to choose from, with several starting from only £5. In addition, most also include some form of certification when complete. I was unable to find out the full details of starting dates for all courses; however the next batch will start around the beginning of June and last for around 5-6 weeks. Details of those included are as follows:

Computing for Beginners: As the name suggests, this course dispels the fears for those new to computers, touching subjects such as opening programs and using their basic functions.

Scanning & Digital Photos: Brixham Community College has facilities available such as digital cameras, scanners and colour printers that you are free to experiment with on this course. It is a somewhat more involved than many of the others, as reflected in the £32 price tag however for your money you learn how to apply Special Effects to images, clone and layer them, using Colour Correction etc. In addition, the tutor, Anita Wren is a columnist in “Digital Photo” magazine so you can be assured that she is an expert in her field.

OCR CLAIT (Desktop Publishing): This course focuses on what some readers may be familiar with, Desktop Publishing (DTP). This software is used to design pages for newspapers, adverts etc., and can be studied practically on this course as part of a nationally recognised CLAIT certification.

Computing, Lets move on: Focussing on the slightly more advanced aspects of Windows, for example learning to customise the Desktop, create shortcuts etc., as well as learning about associated programs such as Microsoft Word.

Computing for the Older & Bolder: As the name suggests this class is suited for the older learner. This course allows you to learn at your own pace in a small, relaxed class.

For more information on any of these courses, or others available, please contact Brixham Community College on 01803 853302. Also ask about other concessions available, outside of the Individual Learning Account we looked at earlier, such concessions can allow you to obtain up to 50% off certain classes obviously depending on your financial or age status. I have tried to ensure all information is accurate, but please check with the institution prior to making any special arrangements.

Keeping in line with the current subject of essential ways to care for your computer and keeping it running in peak condition this week I will answer a number of questions that I have received from our readers over the past couple of weeks.

Keeping in line with the current subject of essential ways to care for your computer and keeping it running in peak condition this week I will answer a number of questions that I have received from our readers over the past couple of weeks.

‘Problems with programs restarting Scandisk’

“Hi Chris,

Following your article entitled “Computer Health Check” in Saturdays Herald Express I thought I would give it a go since I have no computer knowledge as such and so I rely on people like yourself for information as to what I should be doing to look after my computer. I ran the Scandisk program you suggested but after about 5 minuets I got a message on the screen saying “Scandisk has restarted 10 times” and that I should close all other programs so it can finish sooner. I don’t understand this because I was not running any other programs as I had just turned the computer on to run Scandisk.

I would be grateful to hear any suggestions you may have as to the reason for this and how I can overcome it.

Many thanks

Mike Wayne, Torquay”

Hi Mike

The message you have received is a result of any program that is currently working in memory accessing your hard disk in some way, for example to load or save a file. Obviously this is cause for concern for a disk checker such as Scandisk or a Disk Defragmenter as the contents of your hard drive are constantly changing and so it is difficult for the program to get an accurate representation as to what is on your hard drive – Image trying to complete a puzzle that it always changing.

You mention that you had only just turned on the computer and so there shouldn’t be any programs running in the background, however, as featured in last weeks article, many programs will automatically load themselves as part of Windows whether we want them to or not. I have e-mailed you last weeks article for details of how to remove these programs permanently, however here is a short term fix for you and any other readers at home that are having problems running Scandisk or Disk Defragmenter properly because of this reason. Okay then, when Windows has started up press the following keys all at the same time. ‘Control (Or Ctrl), Alt and Delete’, you should now see a small Window that lists the programs currently running in memory. Click on one of these and then click ‘End Task’, keep doing this until you have removed all programs except for ‘Systray’ and ‘Explorer’. Don’t worry, all the programs you remove will load up again when you restart your computer, now simply run Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter as usual and then reboot.

‘Cannot find the Scandisk program’

“Hi Chris,

Following last weeks article regarding using Scandisk, I went to start the program up from System Tools and the program wasn’t on the menu at all – Could you shed any light on this matter? I am using Windows 98 and have never run Scandisk before.

Many Thanks

John Wotton, Stoke-in-Teignhead”

Hi John,

First off, lets try the simple approach, it is possible that Scandisk is on your computer, but just doesn’t have an icon present in the start menu. To test out this theory first click on ‘Start’ and then ‘Run’. Type in ‘Scandisk’ and see if anything happens. If you get a message that the program cannot be found then we will have to install it, as detailed below.

If my memory serves me correctly, Scandisk is an optional part in some versions of Windows 98, therefore it is quite conceivable that Scandisk simply hasn’t been installed on to your computer. This is easily fixed; simply go to ‘Start’ and then to ‘Control Panel’ and ‘Add Remove Programs’. Click on the ‘Windows Setup’ tab on the window that will open and scroll down to ‘System Tools’. Click ‘Details’ and then check mark the box next to the text that says ‘Scandisk’ and click OK. Windows will now attempt to install and setup Scandisk; you may need your original Windows 98 CD-ROM for this.