Sussex view. Updated every few minutes. Dark at Night!
Our other live cameras


HOW TO FIND US
Index to our site
Village Road Map
Local weather report
6 Sussex webcams

PLACES TO VISIT
The Bluebell Railway
Two and a half pubs
More local attractions
Local web sites


IF YOU LIVE HERE

Local information
Local computer help
What's happening?
Council Minutes
Situations Vacant
Please slow down
Bonfires
Rubbish
Power Cut Misery
Free local ads

IF YOU WANT TO LIVE HERE!
Property for sale

HISTORY
Photos old and new
Old  Maps
Historical scrapbook
Village Memories
How it was in '86
School history
Church history
The Martindale Centre
Family history search

Ouse Valley Railway
Our French twin

PLACES TO STAY
Local accommodation
Add your establishment here

OTHER PAGES
Filming news & Extras
Your own village email address
Your own local business web site

Your family web site

BBC Southern Ways

Wireless HotSpot
 

 

  YOU ARE IN: COMPUTERS

UPDATED LOCAL VIRUS INFORMATION - DEDICATED PAGE

Get Firefox!
 
         Jellyfish Swim School 07950 127517

AVG Free Upgrade
May 2008

The free anti virus program that many in the village are running has been updated to version 8. This means that it will require reinstalling sometime in the next few weeks but the programme plus regular updates REMAINS TOTALLY FREE.

When you have a few minutes to spare and are happy that a restart won't get in the way you should download the new version direct from http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe it really isn't difficult.

We suggest that you untick the box to install the AVG toolbar. It doesn't do any good and is a nuisance. Please note you will have to do a restart during the update, and Windows will stick its nose in to tell you that you are reinstalling the anti-virus program - but you already knew that didn't you? ;-)

If you are still not happy doing this update then provided you are fairly flexible on time so that we can fit it in when passing, we can come round and install it for you at a specially reduced fee. All payments go towards meeting our costs hosting and running the Horsted Keynes web site.

 

COMPUTER GETTING SLOWER AND SLOWER? WE'LL SORT IT FOR YOU!

It's quite amazing how many village computers have slowed down to a crawl lately. There can be many causes but the cure does NOT usually involve the purchase of a new computer nor in most cases much money! Please get in touch if you would like some help.

Worried about upgrading to wireless?

As many of you know we are pleased to help villagers with their computer problems. Since Christmas it seems that just about everyone in Horsted Keynes wants to go wireless - and it also seems that many people are apprehensive about getting their system to work.

If this includes you then please give us a ring 791624 or drop us an email. We have set up well over 100 wireless networks in our time - and they all work!

We can  either fit a kit that you already have or supply the whole thing, it's up to you.

So if you'd like help, or you just get stuck half way, you know where to come!

HORSTED KEYNES . COM RECOMMEND NETGEAR FOR NETWORKING!

 

Don't let Dell mislead you!

We were recently asked if we could meet the price for a laptop on the Dell website. They had what appeared to be a genuine Dell wide screen laptop for £299 including delivery! Now we all know that Dell have a base price for a computer that will just about run but when you go into the details to get a full specification computer you have to pay more - a lot more. When we we looked into the prices we found that we couldn't even buy a basic Dell computer for this price trade! So what is happening?

Quite simply Dell used to offer really high quality computers - some would say built like the proverbial tank - but they were solid and worked and usually lasted for ages. Now it seems that Dell are meeting a demand for rock bottom cheap laptops by selling computers that they are buying ready made in bulk from China and are just badged as Dell.

OK that's fine anyone is allowed to sell whatever they like as long as they don't mislead, but naturally the public see what they think is the bargain of the year, a computer that is the same build quality as any other Dell computer for a bargain price. We were taught that if something looks too good to be true it probably IS!

So please - make sure that you are comparing like with like, one Dell is NOT like another. Don't be mislead!

 

Replacement for Vista "out in Beta inside 18 months"

If you, like us are still waiting to upgrade to Windows Vista we thought that you might be interested to hear what is the latest on the rumour mill. It is that Vista is "so popular" that the replacement (called "Windows 7" by the designers) is to be released in Beta form "within 18 months"!

Now even if this is not true it certainly does seem to confirm that Vista is a huge problem for Microsoft, and that's not forgetting their customers too!

If we hear more we will pass it on but we aren't rushing out to obtain 9 copies of Vista for the computers in our home. That's even at the latest price of £40! Yup, Microsoft have stopped checking and it seems that anyone can obtain and install the reduced price education version of Vista even if the nearest they come to education is watching "Play School" on TV!

If you have children, or even know a child then you are fully entitled to this discount too. Don't waste your money!

It seems that Windows 7 will have some great features. For example you will  be able to go to any computer, anywhere - as long as it's on line of course - and get your own desktop, emails, even programmes as you use them. Now that might be well worth having. Seems that Vista might turn into another Windows ME. An operating system that people are embarrassed to have on their computer.

 RUN TWO COMPUTERS WITH JUST ONE MONITOR,
MOUSE & KEYBOARD!
 

SAVE DESK SPACE OR RUN YOUR LAPTOP ON THE SAME KEYBOARD!

We have for sale a clever little device which attaches to two computers so that you can run them both on a single monitor, mouse and keyboard!
Incorporates an electronic switch to select one computer without upsetting the other one. (Normally a computer objects when you disconnect anything while it is switched on)

 FOR SALE Complete with all necessary leads for just £20 if you collect it from us.
Alternatively we will deliver locally and set it up for you for £30.

 PLEASE RING HORSTEDKEYNES.COM ON 791624

SUITABLE FOR DELL AND MOST OTHER COMPUTERS
Your computers must have standard PS2 connectors for mouse and keyboard -
(the normal round green and mauve connectors that almost all computers have).
We can supply suitable mice and keyboards if necessary.

 

Windows ME and Windows 98 users must upgrade NOW!

It's been a long time coming but Microsoft announced that from 11th July 2006 they will no longer support or help in any way with the above versions of the Windows operating system. Beyond that they will no longer issue ANY UPDATES for these users so pretty soon it will be stupid to use these on the internet.

 

This is rather important if you like to keep your computer activity secret!

We are currently writing this notice so you may see some errors in punctuation etc.

Are you seeing a new warning on your screen which says that your copy of Microsoft software is counterfeited? If so you are not alone in the village and your software is possibly perfectly OK! By the way did you know that your computer now contacts Microsoft EVERY TIME that you switch it on and tells them your location and enough details so that they could contact you? We bet that one escaped your knowledge! Read on...

Microsoft, who are beginning to act rather more like Big Brother than Big Brother have updated your computer with a new piece of software which checks if your Windows software is valid and not counterfeited. Well we suppose that they should be allowed to do that, but the story goes a little further than that.

Firstly the software is giving lots of "false negatives" in other words telling villagers that their computer contains illegal software when it doesn't. The reason for this is somewhat complex but involves blocked ActiveX and ports on routers. All beyond the average user of course. Microsoft are "working on a solution". We can offer an instant solution, stop checking!

Unfortunately the self same software has been designed to "ring home" or communicate with Microsoft EVERY TIME that you switch on your computer, or if you are the sort of person to leave your machine on all the time it rings home at the same time each day.

You will LOVE Microsoft's explanation for all this! "We didn't know if the software had any errors so we designed it to call home each day so that we could turn it off if we needed to"! We kid you not!

Now we at HorstedKeynes.Com would have thought that software that worried legitimate computer users by telling them that they were using illegal software WOULD be classed as faulty, not by Microsoft though!

More as soon as we can.                                                                                                                  8 June 2006

 

Horsted Keynes now has (up to) 8 Meg Broadband!

We are delighted to announce - well let's face it nobody else has bothered - that the DaneHill exchange has now been upgraded so that we can all have faster than 2Meg broadband, up to 8Meg for some villagers..

How does this work?

Provided your ISP can supply the faster service (they should have been in touch) you sign up for the new faster service. That's the easy bit, it then gets a bit more complicated (you thought that anything to do with broadband was easy?)...

On the day of changeover to the new higher speed you must reboot your router/modem or simply switch off your computer if you have a simple USB modem. Then EVERY day for the next ten days you must reboot your router/modem or again switch off your computer remembering to REMAIN ON LINE FOR AT LEAST 1 HOUR each time!

On each day the system will automatically try different connection speeds and will see which speeds are stable and which cause problems (this really should be transparent) but your connection speed may well seem to be a lot lower than the theoretical maximum of 8Meg. In practice we doubt that anyone in Horsted Keynes will get a connection speed above 5Meg, but this is still better than 1 or 2Meg that we get now.

This is IMPORTANT! At the end of 10 days (rebooting everyday remember) the system will have decided your best speed and will leave it set at that.

What happens if you change your equipment after that, time will tell, but we guess that a call to some automated computer at BT will start the whole business off again!

Once we have more experience of how the speed upgrades work we will report it here, so please look back.

 

Norton Antivirus now available on the internet free!

If your anti-virus is out of date you can now get a copy of Norton AntiVirus 2005 complete with 6 months updates free!

Simply go to the new Google Software Pack http://pack.google.com/ where you will find the option to download lots of programmes. What you may not know is that you can select any, or all, or none of these programmes. Simply select the Norton download and that is all that you will get!

It is simple, you don't get spammed, and you have nothing to lose! We understand that this sudden volte-face is because Microsoft are to soon issue a free (for now!) addition to their present AntiSpyware programme offering an anti-virus component.

You may know that we have until recently thought that Norton were the best anti-virus makers in the market but recent updates to the software which can slow some computers immensely, are making us rethink our opinions. Perhaps we are not alone! This may be a reason why Norton are having to consider giving their software away!

Try it, and please let us know how it works for you.

 

 Beware what is not "included" with your new computer!

Several villagers who bought computers over Christmas have been well and truly "conned", hence this small article. What was wrong? Quite simply when you buy a computer these days the manufacturers (especially the household word ones who advertise a lot) often won't tell you clearly what software is included. You will assume that everything will be supplied, and manufacturers just love assumptions!

Obviously you will get a full version of Window XP Home edition included which is fine for controlling almost everything that you are likely to want to do with your computer but what about the programmes that actually do the work - Word for letter writing, Access for data bases, a photo editing package, an anti-virus and spyware programme. Until recently it would have gone without saying that all these programmes, and many more, would have been included in the package. This no longer applies!

Write letters is usually at the top of the list for new buyers and what will not be made clear is that if the manufacturers include a Microsoft product such as "Works" it may only be a demonstration version which expires after a few weeks! Likewise the anti-virus programme. In the olden days (last year) you would have got a fully functioning programme such as Norton or Mcafee and it would have worked for a year before asking you to pay to keep it up to date.

Today many manufacturers give just 4 weeks cover before expecting you to pay up to £60 for the next 12 months anti-virus cover. The odd thing is you can buy a full years cover in the shops for just £40!

Hence this warning if you are looking to buy a new computer. If you want to write letters, edit photos, or just look at the internet without catching a virus you will almost certainly have to pay a lot extra to do the job properly. Beware cheap computer offers - the manufacturers will want to get their money back one way or another!

p.s. We just heard of a villager who bought what they thought was a complete computer package and they didn't even get a keyboard or mouse!

 

The following is the text of an article to be published shortly...

Is your Windows installation legal?

Dozens of computers in the village are not running genuine Windows software. In this case “not genuine” does not mean counterfeit, it means that the key used to unlock the Windows has been used on another computer before.

In the past when Windows was very expensive it was common practice to use the key from a friend or colleague, or from the office to set up your home Windows computer. Now that a copy of Home Windows XP can be bought for about 50 quid (without installation) the reason for using a friends key is not nearly so valid, but there are still many people who are unknowingly running what Windows (who delight in scarring and intimidating its potential customers) still calls “fake” or “illegal”.

Building an operating system such as Windows is not an exact science. Indeed when Windows XP was first released it was quite literally “full of holes”, mistakes in the programming which anyone who knew what they were doing could use to either take over another machine, and cause it to crash, or more likely use it to “hijack” another computer and look inside to find credit card numbers, passwords etc.

For this reason Microsoft issue Windows updates on a regular basis, and if your Windows has been installed properly the updates are applied when the computer is otherwise idle, most people know nothing about it. Occasionally you may be asked to restart your machine when you are in the middle of something, but normally the actual work is done when you turn off your computer at night.

Now Microsoft are realists, and until recently they calculated that there must be many millions of computers running fake or clone keys, apparently 90% of Chinese Windows computer installations are in some way compromised! If all these computers remained unpatched the security of ALL internet users could be compromised. So until now Microsoft decided to not ask for any confirmation that your computer had a genuine Windows key before updating it with essential security related upgrades.

For a couple of years Microsoft have been phasing in a confirmation protocol for OTHER Windows XP updates, and especially updates that private users might want, such as the latest “Windows Media Player” which has now reached incarnation number 10. If you want to download this all singing and dancing (literally) media player then you have to go through what Microsoft calls “Genuine Advantage” checks before being given the software. Those in the know could sidestep this requirement in seconds, but for the average person in the street this did warn them if their Windows installation was fake so they could do something about it.

The clever part of this strategy was while most users didn’t mind if their music wouldn’t play with a pretty picture on the screen, they most certainly would object if they couldn’t type a letter or send an email. Gradually home users and especially the young who use their computers for entertainment more than work would in this way become aware that they were missing out on what their friends had if their installation wasn’t genuine.

Had Microsoft been more restrictive they could have prevented ANY upgrades to Windows systems without a definite verification each time. The main problem with doing this is, believe it or not, in-house computer departments who are renowned for not only employing “engineers” who rise to a level one above their knowledge and experience, but who are also renowned for taking every sidestep that they can.

A large business may have paid Microsoft for 1000 copies of Windows, which would give them a few CDs together with a list of 1000 genuine numbers. The fact is that an organisation with a large number of computers will have technical problems with some of them. Mix these faults in with such a large number of machines and it won’t take long for the actual machines to become muddled up. If each machine had a different 25 digit number attached to it and were that number required each time that a computer had to “check in” with Microsoft before any even vital updates, the whole enterprise could literally overnight grind to a technological halt! Therefore it is common practice for in-house technical support departments to use a SINGLE number for all their 1000 computers.

Following on from this it didn’t take their poorly paid employees – the ones that often knew a lot more about computers than their bosses - to work out that using a single number for all 1000 machines meant that there were 999 numbers which Microsoft had authorised but which were sitting completely unused in a drawer or residing on the in-house database. Couple this with easy ways to sell things on sites such as eBay and suddenly Microsoft had a huge problem. If they came down hard on those who had used a single number for many installations they might quite easily close down the systems of some of the larges computer users in the world. It is rumoured that the first day that Microsoft tried to harden up their update procedure the very first organisation to loose its updates belonged to….the North Wales Police Force!

The requirement was quickly and quietly removed. Microsoft had to think again, quickly!

For the reasons explained above therefore until now Microsoft have been policing (!) their registration keys with a very light touch….until now!

Microsoft now reckon that the latest updates to their operating system means that it is very secure from invasion and hacking (yes, I said Microsoft now reckon…) so were some updates to go uninstalled it wouldn’t be the end of the world, not for Microsoft anyway. A second and rather more compelling argument is that within a few months Windows XP will be old, ancient, in fact to many as old as Windows 98. There is a new Windows coming out this Autumn called “Windows Vista” which will have a massive publicity at launch. So were large users to suddenly find that some of their machines were to “go wrong”, i.e. have software failures, it might be just the nudge that they needed to look at getting the “latest and greatest” new operating system Windows Vista!

For this reason there is every chance that when you next switch on your computer you may get a polite gold coloured notice appear in the bottom right corner of your screen saying that unless or until you “verify” your installation you will get no more updates, even vital ones.  

Following on from this it doesn’t take much stretching of the imagination to see that the next warning might say…”If you don’t verify your installation within 28..27..26.. days then your operating system will prevent you altering any data on your computer”. Just as happens now when you don’t activate Windows XP on first installation. Note, we don’t think they will ever prevent you actually accessing your data as this would apparently be illegal in some areas of the world. Areas EXCEPT the United States where such restriction to data IS legal. So if your computer system has been set up to the default settings by an idiot then it will think that it is in the USA despite being here in Sussex. In this case, and you can tell this if when you type an @ (at symbol) you get another symbol) it’s time to be afraid, be VERY afraid!

We were going to stop here but then received a very valid question…

“What happens if I perform a “Genuine Advantage Verification” and then accept Microsoft’s recommendations to try and make my installation legal?

Well it would be great to report that Microsoft said.. ”Thank you for your honesty, we will reward you with a new valid key for just a few dollars. After all your system is working ok, and we don’t actually have to do anything except sell you a new 25 figure key”.

Unfortunately Microsoft don’t only THINK money, they ARE money, so instead they will expect you to pay them well over the shop price for a valid key. THIS IS MADNESS! It has been possible to buy in the UK a 100% legal copy of Windows Home for just over £50 including VAT. Unfortunately you cannot (legally) use this key to make your present Windows system legal unless you rub the whole hard drive clean and start all over again! Yes, you have to loose everything on your computer and start with a “clean installation” to make your machine legally acceptable to Microsoft. There ARE ways around this, but these take time and you will certainly have to pay an experienced engineer for several hours work to install this system – with the continuing risk of losing data. Indeed even Microsoft warn you that you may lose all your data if you use their expensive update! Add to this the fact that when you reinstall Windows you may well find that your Word and other Microsoft programmes won’t run on the new more modern version of Windows. – This does happen quite often!

So what is the best thing to do? Buy a new computer, with the latest operating system, erm, that’s Microsoft Vista isn’t it? Now we are not suggesting that Microsoft are doing anything illegal but they did set up the system in the first place. Do you understand why Bill Gates is so rich, and why there are organisations out there whose sole purpose in life is to sidestep Microsoft at every step?

On line computer help

We regularly get villagers 'phoning us up with their computer problems. Whilst we are happy to help please remember that we sometimes don't have the time to advise you there and then. Therefore if you can get on line we ask that instead of ringing us you email your request. We are then very happy to give you a considered reply to your query and we intend to publish some of the more interesting replies here - without naming any names of course! Please send your questions to the address at the foot of this and every page.

Until we get some questions sent in to us here are a couple of telephoned questions that we have recently answered...

My printer has lost one colour, I have replaced the ink cartridge without any difference.

We found out that the owner had tried cleaning the print head by running several "purge" cycles without effect and suggested that as the printer was several years old the best bet would be to buy a new printer as the print head was obviously completely blocked. Unfortunately the design of inkjet printers means that if they are not used regularly ink residues will gradually build up and one of the colours will eventually become totally clogged. Whilst you can try using a solvent to clean the print head this seldom works for long as the holes through which the ink runs are microscopic and will simply clog again - that's if you can even get at the fixed print head at all!

The main difference between old printers and newer ones is that when you replace the ink cartridge on modern models you actually replace the print head at the same time - problem solved at a stroke! WH Smith have some Lexmark printers for just £30. Obviously these come with a very small quantity of ink so you will have to buy a new cartridge very soon. There is also a printer scanner for just under £50.

Obviously if your printer is a specialised or very expensive model then we could try replacing the print head but the cost would almost certainly be uneconomic if the parts were still available.


I can't get my brand new wireless laptop to connect to my home network.

This was a simple one! Quite simply the new laptop, a Dell model, had a built in wireless card. The owner had bought a Netgear router complete with a free USB "dongle" receiver. Her computer got very confused with both receivers connected at the same time especially as she had also installed the Windows 98 drivers on her XP system!

The answer was to remove the dongle and then perform a Windows system restore to bring the computer back to how it was when it was delivered, which neatly removed the faulty drivers and any registry references to the unneeded Netgear dongle. Windows XP has very useful device called system restore which regularly "takes a picture" of the computer system settings. If you get a problem you can reset your computer to how it was, hopefully removing any problems with it.

 
 
© May 2008  All exclusive content on this web site (including photographs) is copyright and may not be published in any media or  reproduced on any other web page without express written permission. This will not be unreasonably withheld as long as you ask FIRST!-
We are very unusual in allowing almost all pictures on H.K.Com to be viewed or downloaded in full resolution for PERSONAL use only. Just click on the picture that you want to study and it will open. If you then see a little + symbol left click again to view it full size.
To save the picture right click and then "Save As". You may NOT however copy the picture onto another web site without permission.
You can contact the webmasters by sending an email to webmaster@horstedkeynes.com or ring 791624.        Web Design by Chris Philpot