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Ok, so for the whole of December we thought we would scrap the quick tips and instead post amusing YouTube videos that had some link to computers! So to start us off we have a couple of videos for PC verses Mac…PC’s response to the Mac Ad’s earlier this year!

Enjoy!

A slightly different tip this week..it is for those of you looking at some of the Apple hardware! No matter if you are interested in the latest ipod touch, imac or xserve Mac Rumors is a great site for all the gossip on what is happening in the world of Apple!

The best and in my mind the most useful page on the site is the Buyers Guide, it advises you when updates to Apple products are due for release and also has posts about what the updates are likely to be. Apple tend to change their products at regular intervals so it isn’t to hard to suss out when a new update is due and that it is not wise to buy just before they release that update! So check out the MacRumors Buyers Guide for all the news from Apple including the iPhone

Maybe we should have had this as site of the month one time..

The question I get asked so often is how much is the cheapest laptop? Which isn’t as black and white as people seem to think (or maybe hope!). Using our favoured supplier Dell let’s look at a some prices and see what we get!

The Cheapest…

Going on Dell laptops for Home you can buy a laptop for £269 including VAT and Delivery. Not bad. But what will the laptop be any good for? Well this is an inspiron Mini 9 running Ubuntu (not Windows) and really is designed solely for internet, emails and maybe the odd word document. But you won’t get much more out of it than that. It is small with a 8.9″ screen so isn’t designed for people who use a PC/Laptop a lot and want an everyday machine. Something portable for checking emails etc whilst on holiday or travelling then this is great! Otherwise…read on.

The Cheapest we would recommend for the average user…

For the cheapest machines you need to look at the Inspiron laptops of the Dell range and they currently start at £329 inc VAT & Delivery. I personally would upgrade the processor to an Intel Core 2 Duo from the Celeron and also increase the memory to at least 2GB rather than 1GB so therefore giving a cost of £439. Not so much because the user would need the specification straight away but most people will look at this being a long term investment and not change it as often as some businesses would. So for the extra £110 I would say it is well worth it.

Sound advice? We believe so, but contact your local independant IT Supplier and see what they have to say too.

The Short Answer

£269 but I would say spend £439 if you want the machine for more than just emails and internet.

I have found a few clients recently having a problem with AVG updating and it says “Invalid Update Control CTF file.”

This should be fixed with the latest version of AVG reinstalled over the top, but if you don’t want to do that we stumbled across a little tool that does the job nicely, AVGMechanic and can be downloaded from StrategyOnline.

We can’t support the use of this tool, so if you are concerned about using it please contact your local IT support but we have found it works nicely. All it does is removes the AVG CTF files that are causing the problems and then you will be able to update.

In the past we have written about recognising spoof emails trying to acquire some form of personal information on you, whether it be from a hoax bank email or website, the problem is becoming much more common and serious.  In September 2008 there were over 8,621 Phishing Sites/Emails found and verified.  Our previous posts on this topic are:

Phishing – general advice to help you stay safe online

Advice on Hoax Virus Warning Emails

Quick Tip: Stopping Spam

Today we came across PayPals 3 Part Phishing Guide.  We think that articles are well worth a look.  They are primarily based on helping identify PayPal spoof emails, however much of the information applies to general spoof emails.  The links below link to each Part of the Guide:

Part 1- Understanding Phishing

Part 2 – Recognizing Phishing

Part 3 – Fighting Phishing

With more and more phishing sites/emails being found each month we all need to be on our toes with what’s going on!

Safe Surfing!

We posted a while back about ways to get an auto generated security password for wireless access.  We came across a site called ‘GRC‘ today that claims to give you a UNIQUE and perfectly secure encryption password for your wireless setup.  In our eyes possibly a little over the top for most home users, but if you are particularly security conscious or want to know a bit more about security passwords then the site might be worth a read.

By security passwords we are talking about WEP/WPA security…also known as the network key required to access a secure wireless network.  Hope it is of interest to some, we found it a good read, although a bit long in places ;o)

No excuses not to be wifi secure! )

This weeks quick tip is the last of the Shortcut Series.  Today’s topic is Winkey Shortcuts.  For those of you that don’t know the Winkey is the Windows Key on the keyboard.  Usually the key is second in from the bottom left of your keyboard.

Winkey Shortcuts:

WINKEY + D – Bring desktop to the top of other windows
WINKEY + M – Minimize all windows
WINKEY + Shift + M – Undo the minimize done by WINKEY + M and WINKEY + D
WINKEY + E – Open Microsoft Explorer
WINKEY + Tab – Cycle through open programs on task bar
WINKEY + F – Display the Windows Search/Find feature
WINKEY + Ctrl + F – Display the search for computers window
WINKEY + F1 – Display the Microsoft Windows help
WINKEY + R – Open the run window
WINKEY + Pause/Break – Open the system properties
WINKEY + U – Open utility manager
WINKEY + L – Lock the computer (Windows XP & Later)

Have you found the Shortcut Series helpful?  Are there any other shortcuts that you’d like us to do a quick tip on?  If so, give us a comment and we’ll try our best!

Disclaimer: pctoolbox.co.uk cannot be held responsible for any problems that are caused from using the shortcuts.  All shortcuts work to the best of our knowledge.

Today’s quick tip is the penultimate of the Shortcut Series.  Our category this week is Microsoft Outlook Shortcut Keys.  We think that it is worthwhile remembering a few of these shortcuts because they are bound to come in useful!  Please Note: Some shortcuts may not work in Outlook 2007.

Microsoft Outlook Shortcut Keys:

Alt + S – Send the email
Ctrl + C – Copy selected text
Ctrl + X – Cut selected text
Ctrl + P – Open print dialog box
Ctrl + K – Complete name/email typed in address bar
Ctrl + B – Bold highlighted selection
Ctrl + I – Italicize highlighted selection
Ctrl + U – Underline highlighted selection
Ctrl + R – Reply to an email
Ctrl + F – Forward an email
Ctrl + N – Create a new email
Ctrl + Shift + A – Create a new appointment to your calendar
Ctrl + Shift + O – Open the Outbox
Ctrl + Shift + I – Open the Inbox
Ctrl + Shift + K – Add a new task
Ctrl + Shift + C – Create a new contact

Next week is the last of the Quick Tip Shortcut Series.  The Shortcut topic will be Winkey Shortcuts

Disclaimer: pctoolbox.co.uk cannot be held responsible for any problems that are caused from using the shortcuts.  All shortcuts work to the best of our knowledge.

Week four of the Quick Tip Shortcut Series.  This week we have Excel Shortcut Keys.  We think that it is worthwhile remembering a few of these shortcuts because they are bound to come in useful!  Please Note: Some shortcuts may not work in Excel 2007.

Microsoft Excel Shortcut Keys:

F2 – Edit the selected cell
F5 – Go to a specific cell
F7 – Spell check selected text and/or document
F11 – Create Chart
Ctrl + Shift + ; – Enter current time
Ctrl + ; – Enter current date
Alt + Shift + F1 – Insert new worksheet
Shift + F3 – Open the Excel formula window
Shift + F5 – Bring up search box
Ctrl + A – Select all contents of worksheet
Ctrl + B – Bold highlighted selection
Ctrl + I – Italicize highlighted selection
Ctrl + C – Copy selected text
Ctrl + V – Paste
Ctrl + D – Fill
Ctrl + K – Insert Link
Ctrl + F – Open find and replace options
Ctrl + U – Underline highlighted selection
Ctrl + Y – Underline selected text
Ctrl + O – Open options
Ctrl + N – Open new document
Ctrl + P – Open print dialog box
Ctrl + S – Save
Ctrl + Z – Undo last action
Ctrl + F9 – Minimize current window
Ctrl + F10 – Maximize currently selected window
Ctrl + F6 – Switch between open workbooks/windows
Ctrl + Page Up + Page Down – Move between excel worksheets in the same document
Ctrl + ‘ – Insert value of above cell into current cell
Ctrl + Space – Select entire column
Shift + Space – Select entire row
Ctrl + W – Close Document

Next week our topic is Microsoft Outlook Shortcut Keys!

Disclaimer: pctoolbox.co.uk cannot be held responsible for any problems that are caused from using the shortcuts.  All shortcuts work to the best of our knowledge.

This week it week three of the Quick Tip Shortcut Series.  The topic for this week is Microsoft Word Shortcut Keys.  We think that it is worthwhile remembering a few of these shortcuts because they are bound to come in useful!  Please Note: Some shortcuts may not work in Word 2007.

Microsoft Word Shortcut Keys:

Ctrl + A – Select all contents of the page
Ctrl + B – Bold highlighted selection
Ctrl + C – Copy selected text
Ctrl + X – Cut selected text
Ctrl + N – Open new/blank document.
Ctrl + O – Open options
Ctrl + P – Open the print window
Ctrl + F – Open find box
Ctrl + I – Italicize highlighted selection
Ctrl + K – Insert Link
Ctrl + U – Underline highlighted selection
Ctrl + V – Paste
Ctrl + Y – Redo the last action performed
Ctrl + Z – Undo last action
Ctrl + J – Justify paragraph alignment
Ctrl + L – Align selected text to the left
Ctrl + Q – Align selected paragraph to the left
Ctrl + E – Align selected text or line to the center
Ctrl + R – Align selected text or line to the right
Ctrl + M – Indent paragraph
Ctrl + T – Hanging indent
Ctrl + D – Font options
Ctrl + Shift + F – Change Font
Ctrl + Shift + * – View or hide non printing characters
Ctrl + <– (Arrow Left) – Move one word to the left
Ctrl + –> (Arrow Right) – Move one word to the right
Ctrl + Arrow Up – Move to the beginning of the line or paragraph
Ctrl + Arrow Down – Move to the end of the paragraph
Ctrl + Del – Delete word to right of cursor
Ctrl + Backspace – Delete word left of cursor
Ctrl + End – Move cursor to end of document
Ctrl + Home – Move cursor to beginning of document
Ctrl + Space – Reset highlighted text to default font
Ctrl + Alt + 1 – Change text to heading 1
Ctrl + Alt + 2 – Change text to heading 2
Ctrl + Alt + 3 – Change text to heading 3
F1 – Open help
Shift + F3 – Change case of selected text
Shift + Insert – Paste
F7 – Spell check selected text and/or document
Shift + F7 – Activate the thesaurus
F12 – Save As
Ctrl + S – Save
Shift + F12 – Save
Alt + Shift + D – Insert current date
Alt + Shift + T – Insert current time
Ctrl + W – Close document

Next week is Shortcuts for Microsoft Excel!

Disclaimer: pctoolbox.co.uk cannot be held responsible for any problems that are caused from using the shortcuts.  All shortcuts work to the best of our knowledge.