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Our most recent poll was ‘Do you use iPlayer?’ 67% voted ‘Yes’, 33% ‘No’ and thankfully there were no votes for ‘What is it?’

However, for those of you who don’t know what BBC iPlayer is read our Brandstar post about BBC iPlayer from back when it was introduced! See ‘BBC iPlayer – catch up on missed TV‘

Here at PCToolbox we think that the likes of the BBC iPlayer are brilliant and in the future I reckon they’ll be the main way people watch TV shows!

ITV (PCToolbox Review), Channel 4, Channel Five and Sky all have their own equivalents. Check them out!

Don’t forget to vote on this month’s poll…’where do you access Facebook?’

It’s the time of year when we’re all trying to get all our Christmas presents for friends and family.  Last year we did our 12 Days of Christmas Shopping and we thought it would be good to remind you of some great places to purchase gifts online!

1. Apple
2. 123-Reg
3. Dell
4. Amazon
5. AVG
6. Misco
7. CD WOW
8. Dabs
9. HMV
10. PC World
11. The Carphone Warehouse
12. I Want One Of Those

We hope you find this helpful for ideas!

Here is a table comparing the latest AVG packages.  They are all currently available from Brandstar with a 15% Discount!

Free Anti-Virus software doesn’t protect you, your files or your identity while:

• Shopping online
• Banking online
• Chatting to friends
• Downloading music, files and films

Feature	AVG Free	AVG Anti-Virus	AVG Internet Security
RRP – 1 Year	Free*	£27.99	£39.99
RRP – 2 Years	Free*	£38.99	£59.99
Anti-Virus – Makes sure you can get or spread a virus, worm or Trojan horse
Anti-Spyware – Prevents unauthorized information access by spyware and adware
LinkScanner ® – Ensures every page you visit is safe – before you go there
Web Shield – Lets you download and exchange files without risking virus infections
Advanced Anti-Rootkit Protection – Ensures even the toughest and most sophisticated hidden threats are kept out
Game Mode – Keeps you safe without interrupting you while you’re playing
AVG Identity Protection – Keeps your private information safe from known and unknown threats.
Anti-Spam – Blocks spammers and scammers from clogging your system
Enhanced Firewall – Prevents hackers from seeing inside your computer
System Tools – Optionally customize how AVG Protection works with your system
Free Support – Free 24/7 support from AVG
Download	Free	30 Day Trial	30 Day Trial
Buy at Brandstar	N/A	Buy at Brandstar	Buy at Brandstar

Nearly everyone that opens a PDF file will use Adobe’s Acrobat Reader.  But have you ever wondered if there are any good alternatives to the widely used program?  Here at PCToolbox we think we’ve found the ideal alternative in the Free Foxit PDF Reader (Download here).

The program involves a short and easy download/installation process.  Once installed you can then get cracking.

Foxit’s has the usual features that Acrobat has…but of course the designers have put their own mark on the software by introducing new features.  The actual interface (see right) of the program is simplistic with icons available to make the reader easy to use. You of course also have the option to use features through the usual menu/right-click routes.

A great feature is the annotation tool.  This enables the reader to add comments and annotations to the pdf as they go along.  It allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes.  You can then either save the annotations or print a copy of with the comments included.

When you open the reader there is also a welcome screen (see right).  This makes usage extremely easy.

One of my favourite features is the ability to use tabs (see below).  I don’t know about you but if I’m using a PDF I don’t usually have just one open, I normally have several.  Foxit have taken the idea of Tabs from the typical Internet Browser and applied it to PDF. So you can have several PDF’s open but in just one window!  This means it’s considerably easier to move between files so the experience you have when using the software is much more pleasant.

Finally there’s the text converter.  This ingeniously enables you to convert an entire PDF file into a simple text document.  I think you’ll agree with me when I say that this feature can could definitely be a time saver!

I am tremendously impressed by Foxit and I really do think if people give it a try they’ll make it their first choice PDF Reader!

Take a look at the latest package to be introduced by Wild Hosting!

‘Wild Hosting is pleased to be able to offer Wild.Mail a service where people can have their own domain name and therefore personalised email address without a website.

Why are we excited about offering this service?

• More and more people are wanting a unique and special email address that is different from the normal ISP email or a free web based alternative.
• Fancy something like firstname@lastname.me.uk? or yourname@yourhouse.me.uk?
• Really making use of the pretty unused .me.uk domain suffix you can have an email address for you and your family that is special and independent of your email provider.
• You don’t have to stick with me.uk if you don’t want to, pick any available domain and we can set it up for you!
• Download your emails through you favourite email program such as Microsoft Outlook/Windows Mail/Thunderbird and if you are on the move and need to check your mail, find somewhere with an internet connection and quickly and easily log onto our webmail service and check your messages there!’

This will cost you just £12 per year + VAT!

For more info check out wildhosting.co.uk!

The site saynoto0870.com is a genius little website which saves you money!

It offers alternative phone numbers to numbers starting in 0500, 0800, 0808, 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871…all of which charge you!  These numbers also generally charge you even if you have an all inclusive landline or mobile phone deal, whereas the 01 or 02 is more likely to be included in your pre-paid minutes!

All you need to do is click ‘Search to find an alternative number’ and then search the company or type the number in and wait for an alternative!

What a great site!

Our most recent poll was ‘Will you upgrade to Windows 7 straight away?’  50% of voters said yes they would compared to the 29% saying no and the 21% saying maybe.

To those who said no or maybe we want to urge you to upgrade to Windows 7.  Here at PCToolbox and Brandstar we’re huge fans of the new operating system.

If you’re not sure about the upgrade and you’d like to find out more check out our Windows 7 posts on PCToolbox and Brandstar!  Over the next few weeks we’ll continue to add to our range of Windows 7 posts!

So to conclude…buy Windows 7!

A South African Pigeon….faster than broadband!?  In this day an age nobody would place their bet on a pigeon being faster than a broadband connection.  But in this case nature beat technology in delivering a 4GB memory stick!

Well done Winston the pigeon! (pictured right)

Want to find out more?…Read the BBC article

We recently wrote a post about performing a ‘Disk Cleanup’ on XP and we thought it would be a good idea to do one for Vista too! Disk Cleanup is a computer maintenance application included in Microsoft Windows operating systems. It’s designed to free up disk space on your computers hard drive. Therefore, it’s worth performing a cleanup every so often. The feature searches and reviews your hard drive for files which are no longer necessary. It will then, after you’ve made some selections, remove any files that are not needed on your machine.

Here is how to perform Disk Cleanup on Vista:

1. Firstly click on the start Orb and type ‘Disk Cleanup’ in the box.  Then click on the ‘Disk Cleanup’ option under programs (Click on image to enlarge)
   
2. Secondly, select whether you’d like to perform the task for just your account or every account on the system.
   
3. Next choose which drive you would like the cleanup to be performed on.  For this example we’ll use option (C:).  You can choose the drive from the drop down list.  Once you’ve chosen click ‘OK’
   
4. The computer will then scan your selected drive
   
5. Next you should make selections regarding which files you would like to be removed.  Simply click on the option, read the description and if you’d like this to be removed click in the box next to the option so it has a tick in it. (Click on image to enlarge)
   
6. To confirm your selections click ‘delete files’
   
7. Your computer will now perform a Disk Cleanup
   

We hope this has been helpful. Running Disk Cleanup can be a great way to increase the performance of your computer.  If you have any questions comment below!

Recently a client had a bizarre discovery about PCToolbox. They typed the URL address into the address bar as normal, however they found the website was blocked by the school Internet filter.  They then looked further down the page to find that they website was classified as ‘Match Making’! (Click on image to enlarge)

Maybe it’s time for the West Sussex Grid for Learning to review their school Internet filtering service!?