Category Archives: In the News

Tech news and opinions

Microsoft Security Essentials – hands on…

1 Reply

It was in tech news today that Microsoft has let loose its new free security system to replace Windows Live OneCare. It’s been expected for release for quite a while but we didn’t know an exact date.

So, GEEK! decided to have a quick go with the new software and see whats up.

You can download it for free here, providing you have genuine Windows software. The download is under 5MB, so you don’t have to worry about a large download. Once it is downloaded and you run it, it will do a verification of genuine Windows software, and then it will install. Installation is remarkably quick, and before you know it the software will be downloading updates.

Surprisingly, this took a very long time. It took nearly 10 minutes for my mid-spec laptop (dual core, 2GB RAM) to download the relevant updates.

Once it had finished, I did a quick scan. This wasn’t too bad actually. I was quite pleased at how little resources this used. While it was scanning, my computer told me it was using about 7MB of RAM and very little CPU power so I was very impressed at how quietly it runs.

I also did a couple of hours of browsing around the software. I have to say it is extremely simple to use and navigate.

I’d like to see it become popular because I’ve always had my views that paid antivirus is a waste of time.

In my case, I won’t be keeping it because I like Comodo Personal Firewall a lot, but if you’re a novice computer user and you need a simple way to get protected, this might be for you. It will work on Windows XP, Vista and 7 and as long as you have genuine Windows software you can get it for free.

I have to say I like it, but I’m looking forward to seeing if it gains any form of popularity.

Vodafone joins the iPhone club in the UK

Leave a Reply

Well after news recently arrived that Orange was gaining the iPhone later this year, there’s been more information.

Vodafone has apparently also managed to organise a deal to sell the iPhone. They won’t be as quick as Orange to get it, with news going round that they will have it sometime early next year. Orange have said that they aim to have it in stores “before Christmas”.

However, it does mean that iPhone sales in the UK will probably rocket up as it becomes available on three providers.

I think Vodafone was beginning to worry that they were going to be missing out. If O2 and Orange had the iPhone, T-Mobile and Vodafone would be the only large network providers not to have the iPhone. Now, T-Mobile will soon be merging with Orange, so Vodafone will be left out on the iPhone.

Information still demonstrates that the iPhone is still in high demand, so it would be a big miss out for Vodafone to loose the iPhone.

Well, I’m looking forward to seeing this on the market. It will definitely bring on a nice price war!

Orange gets the iPhone

1 Reply

It has been announced today that Orange will get the iPhone 3G and 3GS in the UK, after Apple reaches a deal with a further company. This means that O2 will no longer be the only UK provider of the iPhone.

Orange is saying that it will hopefully have the iPhone in its stores before Christmas, which will hopefully boost their sales quite dramatically. It will also hopefully mean that prices for the iPhone will fall as a price war initialises.

Personally I think it is great news that we finally have a second operator in the UK to provide the iPhone. I am not a great fan of O2 (mainly because their 3G and HSDPA coverage is pretty dreadful) and am glad to see that Orange are going to be taking a share in UK iPhone profits.

Bring on the price war!

Windows 7 almost here – will you be rushing for the upgrade?

Leave a Reply

Well, now we’re less than a month away, I’m beginning to think about whether it being worth it upgrading from Vista.

At the moment, I’m actually not too bothered about it. I think I will upgrade eventually, but I don’t think there’s and rush to do so. Windows 7 only has a few major features over Vista – speed and a couple of handy interface upgrades. But for now, I think I can wait and will do the upgrade towards the end of the year.

What are you thinking of doing? Of course, if you’re planning to get a new PC or laptop, you’ll get Windows 7 included – either by a free upgrade on October 22nd or included automatically after that date. But what if you already have XP or Vista and you’d like to upgrade. Do you think it is worth it? Can you see any big advantages in Windows 7?

I’m kind of stuck in the middle – not sure what to do. I do really like the new Start bar and the cool interface, but I don’t really want to spend £60 (or whatever it is) to upgrade…

50p phone line tax – what a waste of time!

Leave a Reply

OK, so I was reading online that the government in the UK has decided that the 50p phone line tax may well take place after all. You may have heard that it was fought over a while back, but the government seems to have brought it back into the finance equation.

Anyway, if you don’t know already, the government is imposing that every fixed phone line payer in this country pays an extra 50p per month on their phone bill. With this the government aims to have 90% of homes/businesses in the UK on next generation broadband lines by 2017, or at least that is the target.

I, personally, have a large number of problems with this and have listed these below:

  • The government recons 90% of homes/businesses in the UK will be on next gen broadband by 2017 with the help of the tax. OK, so what about the remaining 10% of homes/businesses in the UK with phone lines. They are paying 50p per month (£6 per year) on something that won’t even reach them. So the government is, frankly, stealing £6 per year from 10% of fixed phone line bill payers in the UK and they get nothing in return. Isn’t that some sort of fraud?
  • Many elderly people do not broadband, and probably never will, so what benefit is this tax to them?
  • Low income families will find this tax difficult to pay.
  • By 2017 (that is 8 years time!) it is most likely 20MB broadband (or whatever they are considering next generation) will not be next generation. Internet (as a service) has come long way in the last 8 years, so in a further 8 years time what we consider now as next gen will most likely not be next gen.
  • I personally think this will encourage a lot of people to cancel their fixed phone lines and move to their mobiles. Think about it – this is a great opportunity for mobile contract broadband providers to start offering large amounts of minutes to customers for cheap prices, and that may well make people scrap their phone lines altogether.
  • There’s no guarantee that this 90% figure will be reached by 2017, so we might well end up paying even more tax.

I’m sorry Gordon, but this doesn’t make sense. However, if the government can get this tax on our bills before the next general election, we aren’t going to have much choice on whether we pay this tax or not.

The government really needs to get its act together on broadband – their plans to make our country “next generation” are just pretty pictures and unrealistic imaginations.

The government wastes too much of our money on stupid MP expenses so they’ve hardly got my trust in a brighter future for broadband.

This is a waste of time Gordon.